Alright Marine, LISTEN UP ! Stack Arms, Pull Up a Case of C-Rats and the Smokin' Lamp is "Lit"!
Forebearers of my family have fought for this country since the Revoluntionary War. I remember as a young man, my great uncles complaining of physical problems caused by being "gassed" in the trenches of WWI as members of the Rainbow Division. The most prominent memory is an uncle whose father deserted the British Army in Canada in the late 1800's to establish a farm in northern New England. This man lent his son to the Rainbow Division where he spent some three days between the lines in a shell hole. Suffering from wounds and a gas attack, he finally made it back to friendly lines.
Some other uncles were WWII veterans that flew the "Hump" over Burma with shrapnel wounds. One was a member of the "Manhattan Project", which was the atomic bomb. Another fought across WWII Europe with an artillery unit and another was a member of combat engineers in the late '50's stationed in Germany, part of a blocking force against communism. The last one,which had problems with what was called in those days, "Shell Shock", "Combat Fatigue" or "Post Traumatic Stress Syndrom" today, after having been at Henderson Field as a Marine in WWII. Today he suffers from Alzheimer's and still thinks he's back home as a teenager, at the age of seventy plus.
Once I joined the Corps in '58, my great uncle who had served in "The War To End All Wars-WWI" as a member of the great Rainbow Division, presented me with the name "cannon fodder". You see, his son, my cousin, had died in the first wave at Iwo Jima as a Marine.
My tour of duty with the Corps began in September, 1958, which covered a period of great change for the Corps, that went from M-1's to M-14's to M-16's. It also went from 8 man squads to 13 man squads. Yes, you can question me on the 8 man squads, that was the period during vertical envelopment development. Passenger requirements of choppers would only allow 8 men, which required that drill and boot camp meant right wheel and left wheel as opposed to column of files from the right or left. I saw changes in weaponry that meant the loss of the BAR, the advent of the M-60 machine gun and M-79 grenade launcher. I also saw changes that included the Mule, the ontos, changes in boot camp from 13 weeks to 8 weeks, draftees, and a war in Vietnam that almost tore my beloved Corps apart. Afterwhich, I served as a recruiter for that beloved Corps to help try and rebuild it. Perhaps these few humble pages will reflect that attempt.
From Belleauwood to Vietnam
"click on the cat" This portion of my webpage is dedicated to POW-MIA's from ALL wars, just to name a few; WWII, Korea, and most importantly Vietnam. We must NEVER FORGET OUR BROTHERS!
"TELL THEM THE PARTY IS OVER!!"
/ Odds 'N Ends / / Friendship / / Holiday /