As he entered it he found a beautiful memorial A half circle of statues almost life size, surrounded a plaq. Samuel walked up and read the plaque. "Dedicated to The Third Platoon Of The Third Brigade, United Nations expeditionary force in Lybia. They held the bridge in Shadingar."
Samuel began to walk around admiring the statues. Suddenly one caught his eye. He looked at the name plate below it and his suspicions were confirmed. The face was younger, happier, but it was Speaker Polley! He hurried back down to the dock. The old clerk smiled at him as he came up.
"Excuse me, sir," Samuel began, "but do you know the people in those statues up in the park? Do any more of them live sround here besides Speaker Polley?"
The old man took on a look of sadness. "I'm afraid not, son!" he answered. "They're all at Arlington, you know, the military cemetary in Washington? Knew 'em all! I saw 'em get off the ferry, take their gear, and march up to the trucks waiting up there on the road."
"What happened?" Samuel asked.
"One of those things in war," the old man answered. "The UN forces were doing really good, driving old Gadhafe's troops back on all fronts. Then somehow they got around behind them. The only place they could be stopped and held was at a bridge in a place called Shadingar. But there was nobody to send except one platoon of raw replacements, just arrived. But they took everything they could get, rushed up to the bridge and blew it up, then held for twelve hours until reinforcements finally got up there, and drove the Libyans back. But by the time they got there only one of them was still alive, and that one just barely.
What a shock to the world when they finally captured that son of Gadhafe and they found out he was actually a SHE!"
"I'd like to meet that lady some day!" Samuel put in. "Imagine pretending to be a man all that time and doing all she did! Thank you!"
He went back to the memorial and was still admiring it when he heard singing. He came back to the entrance, saw half a dozen young men coming from the town dressed in cadet uniforms. At first he couldn't make out what they were singing, then he heard it clearly.

"They're The Third Platoon of The Third Brigade
They marched off to war,
They're the damndest fighting people
That you ever saw!
They held the bridge at Shadingar Ridge,
They fight forever more!
They're The Third Platoon Of The Third Brigade!
They marched off to war!

Well, there's pretty Marie and John Magee,
Mike Murphy and Dunmore,
They held the bridge
at Shadingar Ridge,
They won't be back no more!
They're The Third Platoon
Of The Third Brigade,
They marched off to war!"

As the young men came abreast of the memorial their leader cried "Party halt! Form up! AttenTION! Salute! Party at ease! Carry on!"
The young men continued on down to the dock and Samuel followed. He came up to his belongings and stared at the cadets curiously. They began to stare back at him.
"You know, comrades," their leader remarked, "I think we have a new arrival!" He came over and bowed politely. "Greetings," he began "I'm Rajah, but everybody calls me Roger. Over there is James T, Harry W., Arthur, Gregory and Henry. Are my suspicions correct? Are you bound for our alma mata?"
"Sure am!" Samuel answered. "I've heard it's quite a place. Can somebody tell me a little about it?"
One of the cadets laughed. "Did you ask the wrong question!" he managed between chuckles. "Roger will talk about the Academy all day. He knows every inch of it on the island and, on the shore."
He was interrupted by the toot of a whistle. They all turned to see the ferry rounding the bend, smoke puffing from her stacks.
"Here's The Lady Of The Lake!" Roger cried. "Let's get on board. There's a map on the observation deck. I can show you EVERYTHING on that. The facility is incredible! Really! After you've been there a while you realize how beautifully it's been designed."

Page 19