{"id":403679,"date":"2025-04-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=403679"},"modified":"2025-04-06T23:42:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T23:42:12","slug":"ties-that-bind-a-250-year-legacy-of-american-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=403679","title":{"rendered":"Ties that bind: a 250-year legacy of American service"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Lt. Col. Brandon Mace (right) poses for a photo with his son, Pfc. Thor Mace, at Thor’s basic training graduation in August 2024 at Fort Sill, OK.
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\n Three generations of the Mace family pose for a photo at Thor’s basic training graduation in August 2024 at Fort Sill, OK. From left to right is Lt. Cmdr. (ret.) Robert Mace, Pfc. Thor Mace and Lt. Col. Brandon Mace.
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\n Pfc. Thor Mace poses for a photo during his airborne school training at Fort Benning, GA in September 2024.
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\n Three generations of the Mace family pose for a photo at Thor’s airborne school graduation at Fort Benning, GA in September 2024. From left to right, Lt. Col. Brandon Mace, Pfc. Thor Mace and Lt. Cmdr. (ret.) Robert Mace
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\n Lt. Cmdr. (ret.) Robert Mace pins airborne wings on his grandson, Pfc. Thor Mace, during Thor’s airborne graduation at Fort Benning, GA in September 2024.
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FORT BELVOIR, Va. <\/em>\u2013 In the spring of 1775, the world order was in question. After decades of onerous taxation by the British, independent-minded American colonists sought to throw off the yoke of their cross-Atlantic governors and were prepared to do so at the point of the bayonet.<\/p>\n

Such were the tinderbox conditions on the fateful morning of April 19, when colonists from across the state of Massachusetts assembled to confront the British in a series of engagements that Ralph Waldo Emerson would later immortalize in his Concord Hymn<\/em> with \u201cthe shot heard round the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the sun rose that day, a young volunteer corporal in the Lexington militia, Moses Stone, collected his flintlock rifle, powder horn, shot, and ramrod and left his home to make a stand against the disciplined soldiery of the greatest military and colonial power on the planet. Thanks to a robust rebel spy and communications network, the British soldiers bound for nearby Concord on a mission to destroy colonial military supplies were caught unawares by Stone and his fellow \u201cminutemen,\u201d so called for the speed in which they would respond and assemble for combat.<\/p>\n

With a surfeit of bravery and a dearth of numbers, six dozen colonists stalked out of a nearby tavern and assembled in two rows near the edge of the triangular field in Lexington\u2019s town center, eye-to-eye with over 700 advancing redcoats and immortality.<\/p>\n

After a tensely drawn standoff, the first shots of the American Revolution were fired, and as Thomas Jefferson would later observe, \u201cthe tree of liberty [was] refreshed\u2026with the blood of patriots and tyrants.\u201d The skirmish in Lexington Common briefly stymied the British advance, but the seasoned force moved inexorably forward towards its target destination in Concord.<\/p>\n

In the first major engagement of the American Revolution, a force of hundreds of colonists confronted the British at Concord Bridge, halting their progress and ultimately prompting a full-scale retreat towards the protection of the Royal Navy\u2019s blistering ship-mounted cannons and the additional garrison stationed at the British center of power in Boston. Within two days, over 15,000 armed colonists surrounded the city in siege.<\/p>\n

Stone and other colonists, under the command of the newly appointed general George Washington, secretly placed artillery on the hills of Dorchester Heights surrounding Boston under the cover of night in early March. Their position compromised, the British hand was forced. They began a hasty evacuation of the key coastal metropolis, less than one month after the \u201cshot heard round the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bellicose movements of the British military at Lexington and Concord prompted immediate action from the newly-minted colonial government. Assembled in Philadelphia, representatives from across the 13 colonies recognized the immediate need for unification.<\/p>\n

On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress took a dramatic step forward towards national independence with the creation of the Continental Army. The nascent force was to be comprised of militia forces from across the Eastern Seaboard, now represented under one banner and thus becoming America\u2019s first national institution, preceding the Declaration of Independence that would come just over a year later.<\/p>\n

Stone\u2019s service at Lexington was the beginning of a singular family tradition of service to the American military that would span the next two and a half centuries. Stone would continue his exemplary service to the revolution after his contributions at Lexington and Dorchester Heights, serving during the pivotal Ticonderoga campaign which featured the first American offensive actions of the war.<\/p>\n

The nearby town of Stillwater, a crucial military position for the Ticonderoga conflict, saw a young New Hampshire private, Andrew Mace, begin his service for the Granite State and the fledgling United States. After the war, Mace\u2019s son would marry Stone\u2019s granddaughter and commence a sterling branch of military lineage that continues to this day.<\/p>\n

The Mace family has service in almost every major American conflict from its foundation. Cornelius Stone Mace, a private in the Maine infantry during the Civil War, fought at Port Hudson, Winchester, Cedar Creek, and the pivotal siege of Petersburg that broke the back of the stalwart Army of Northern Virginia and led directly to general Robert E. Lee\u2019s surrender at nearby Appomattox Courthouse. George Washington Light, another descendant, served as a corporal in the Connecticut infantry and artillery during the war, serving at the watershed battle of Fredericksburg where he lost his hands to an explosion.<\/p>\n

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\n During World War II, Eldon Mace, an officer in the Army Air Corps, flew for the 14th Air Force, an elite group of air-to-air combat specialists that sparred with the Japanese air forces over the Burmese jungles and in the remote mountain regions of southwest China.
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During World War II, Eldon Mace, an officer in the Army Air Corps, flew for the 14th Air Force, an elite group of air-to-air combat specialists that sparred with the Japanese air forces over the Burmese jungles and in the remote mountain regions of southwest China. A crack pilot, he was credited with multiple kills in the remote mountain regions of southwest China, when incoming fire took down his P-51 Mustang.<\/p>\n

After ejecting from the cockpit, Eldon flew into the tail of the plane, shattering his ribcage and cracking his teeth, before parachuting into a nearby river. His bad day got worse as he was met by incoming fire from Imperial Japanese troops lined across riverbank. That\u2019s when he saw the tracer rounds whizzing from within the dark jungle forests on the opposite bank. His son Robert, the eldest surviving member of the Mace\u2019s military clan, remembers his father relating the story well.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said he just figured, \u2018if I\u2019m looking at Japanese, and there\u2019s somebody on the other side shooting at \u2018em, those are probably the good guys.\u2019 So he swam that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision was the right one, and he was whisked away by the mysterious riflemen through the secretive pathways maintained by the Chinese underground resistance, obscured from the predatory eyes of the patrolling Mitsubishi \u2018Zeroes\u2019 by impenetrable jungle canopies. Four and a half months later, he reached the safety of an American air base, where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.<\/p>\n

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\n U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Robert Mace (right), poses for a photo during an award ceremony in 1993.
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Robert continued the tradition of service, the first in his family to attend the prestigious United States Military Academy at West Point. Upon commissioning, he became an Airborne and Ranger qualified reconnaissance officer, serving in a light armored battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division. Despite his quickly mounting accolades as a soldier, Robert still longed to follow in his father\u2019s footsteps as a pilot. There was one problem: his eyesight.<\/p>\n

\u201cArmy aviation required perfect eyesight, anyone in the cockpit of one of the choppers is a fully qualified pilot,\u201d he explained. \u201cI wore glasses, so I said, let\u2019s think deep thoughts here. Navy\u2019s got back seaters\u2026let\u2019s do this a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

He transferred to the Navy to become a Naval Flight Officer, the so-called \u201cback seaters\u201d who are responsible for equipment management on the highly specialized planes. For decades, he flew in the P3 Orion, a surveillance and anti-submarine airplane that was a critical deterrent during the height of the Cold War.<\/p>\n

Robert\u2019s inspiration to serve came from an immersive exposure to military service in his youth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in the post-World War II era,\u201d he said. \u201cAll the people we knew, parents, uncles\u2026everyone was a veteran. That was the perspective we grew up with. It was an honorable thing to do, and everyone stepped up and did their duty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through the course of his service, his family moved countless times, setting down temporary roots in locales from the exotic to the mundane. The adventurous life left an indelible mark on him, teaching him of the importance, the sacrifice, and uniqueness of life in uniform. Most influential to him was the sense of camaraderie.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives you something. I\u2019ve got people around the world that if I need help emotionally, if I need help financially, they stand by you. If things go really bad, we\u2019re in this together and we\u2019ll stick around and save each other. One of these guys will throw me over his shoulder and they trust me to do the same thing for them. If we\u2019re ever in the proverbial foxhole, we can handle this also. It\u2019s very comforting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert\u2019s career also left deep impressions on his two sons, Brandon and Matthew, who would both go on to follow, in their own distinct ways, in his footsteps as American soldiers.<\/p>\n

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\n Pfc. Thor Mace (left) poses for a photo with his uncle Lt. Col. Matthew Mace during Thor’s rigger school graduation at Fort Gregg-Adams, VA.
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Matthew, the younger of the two brothers, was motivated by his family\u2019s service. He took an ambitious, if relatively conventional approach. After graduating ROTC, he began his Army career as a quartermaster officer and went on to connect with his family\u2019s legacy of service. He served as a logistics officer in the 82nd Airborne Division where is father had previously served as a tank platoon leader and intelligence officer.<\/p>\n

Now serving at Fort Gregg-Adams, VA in Army Futures Command and slated for battalion command, Matthew was recently pinned as a lieutenant colonel in a ceremony attended by the entire extended Mace family. \u201cWe are proud of the generational service our family has been able to give to the country and look forward to continuing that into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

His elder brother Brandon took a far more avant-garde path into army greens, beginning his career as an actor, singer, and dancer in dinner theaters along the I-95 corridor through his mid-twenties. As a married junior in college, he was contemplating his future options when the 9\/11 attacks shocked the world and changed his perspective.<\/p>\n

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\n Prior to his military career, Brandon Mace was an actor, shown here in a performance in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2001.
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He researched into the Officer Candidate School and immediately set about applying. In short order, he was selected to compete in a selective military board against current soldiers to earn his slot. While the sharply dressed soldiers streamed in and militaristically marched into the room, Brandon realized he may have been out of his depth. His attire did not help.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have a single suit to my name, but I happened to be in a play at the time that had an olive suit as part of my costume, so I just used that,\u201d he laughingly recalled. \u201cI didn\u2019t know whether I was supposed to shake their hands or salute them.\u201d<\/p>\n

His theater training kicked in, and he observed the soldiers before him knocking at precise intervals and marching towards the center of the room to mechanically click their heels and report for further examination. With his cues now understood, Brandon played the part\u2026and got the role.<\/p>\n

After a successful career in the Army\u2019s public affairs community, Brandon, currently a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve<\/a>, has performed in a series of impactful positions in the Army\u2019s marketing division. In his current role as the Chief Marketing Officer for the Office of the Chief of Army Reserve, he balances his time between high-profile briefings to senior officers and coaching young Soldiers through film spots across the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still get to do what I love, every day,\u201d he said. \u201cI get to run the gambit of every phase of the production cycle, on camera, behind it, getting our brand recognized and getting the Army Reserve out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brandon\u2019s passion for his role is palpable, a clear byproduct of the fortuitous blending of his family\u2019s military history and his theatrical background.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really, really love the Army,\u201d he continued. \u201cI get to go out and tell stories of young folks, I\u2019m not caught in an office. I\u2019m seeing young people thinking they can\u2019t do something and learning they can. It\u2019s a good organization\u2026and it\u2019s my personal mission to give young people the opportunity to make the right choice and see if it\u2019s for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

His marketing expertise landed one critical recruit, the youngest member of the 250-year-old Mace military clan. Pvt. 1st Class Thorton \u201cThor\u201d Mace, Brandon\u2019s son, currently serves at the U.S. Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, Ga. as an airborne qualified parachute rigger.<\/p>\n

The family ties came full circle during Thor\u2019s completion of airborne training, when the patriarch of the family, Robert, flew in with the rest of the family to pin his wings on his chest. Thor understood well the implications of his grandfather\u2019s act.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a really emotional moment for me,\u201d he said. \u201c\u201cMy grandpa pulled out his first set of wings to pin me. It was so special because it was someone who went through the training on the same soil, on the same ground, jumping in \u2018chutes just like I did. It was a proud moment, for me and my grandfather.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the U.S. Army approaches the sesquicentennial anniversary of its founding in the stifling heat of Philadelphia\u2019s Independence Hall in 1775, the family has had a great deal of reflection on its role in the process. With service members in every branch of the military back to the fateful first shots at Lexington Common, Brandon considered his service not as part of a continuum, but as a series of independent decisions to the same end.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandfather didn\u2019t say you have to do this, this wasn\u2019t planned,\u201d Brandon explained. \u201cWe all joined for our own reasons, because it meant something to us. I love this country, and I want to be a part of seeing it succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he continued, the parallels of selfless service through the centuries became clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was always a willingness to serve. Stone was in the militia, he responded, he opted to grab his weapon and respond to the Lexington Alarm. My grandfather, father, son\u2026we all made the choice, we all volunteered, we all wanted to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

While considering his lineage with characteristic humility, Robert brought attention to the balance between the citizen and the soldier that has been the hallmark of the American army since its foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were farmers, entrepreneurs, wheelers and dealers, cowboys, bankers, engineers, oilmen,\u201d he said of his family. \u201cWe weren\u2019t hoping for a war to come along. When our time came to serve, we did it. There was nothing extraordinary about it. If the nation needed help, we stood up and did it, isn\u2019t that what my neighbor is supposed to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

Young Thor paused for a moment as he considered his family lineage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe word soldier itself is such a strong word,\u201d Thor said as he pondered the one descriptor that ceaselessly binds the Mace line back to America\u2019s founding. \u201cIt sounds tough. I\u2019m a soldier. My dad\u2019s a soldier. My family were soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Lt. Col. Brandon Mace (right) poses for a photo with his son, Pfc. Thor Mace, at Thor’s basic training graduation in August 2024 at Fort Sill, OK. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 2 \/ 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Three generations of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403681,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-403679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=403679"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":403691,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403679\/revisions\/403691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/403681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=403679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=403679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=403679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}