Gunny McCallum's letter allowed me to look back to when I had a Spec Number of 521, Basic Marine, later it became a 745 Rifleman Spec Number when I earned it. Then in 1946 we went from Spec Numbers to MOS and I became an 0311. Through my years of Service I have been A Rifleman, a Photographer, A Sentry, Prison Chaser at a Naval Prison, Chief Night Cook on a Troop Ship returning home, Recruiter, Weapons Tester, Recon, Small Arms Repair, Rifle Team Armorer, even a Nuclear Weapons Specialist, and even doing duty as Rifleman at Burials (when they returned the bodies at the end of WWII). I've always looked at my Career as something special because I was able to do what I was called on to do (not always to my liking).
When I retired I was looked at as something of an Anomaly. I served in the "Good" War, the "Forgotten" War, and the "Bad" War, and Survived. Many Civilians are seemingly not aware that not everyone is wounded or killed in Battles.
My best friend after Retirement was an Army Air Corp Tail Gunner on a B26J. If you are not familiar with a B25J, they had 12 (I believe) .50 caliber MG's on them (some even carried a 75 MM Canon). They flew low over the Pacific Islands, each plane laying down five pounds of .50 caliber bullets a second over a wide area, with a Squadron of them side by side, they could create havoc on the island (don't believe the weight as I give it? Figure the rpm of the Aviation M2, divide by 60). When they reached the main encampment or the Air Field, they dropped Frag Bombs with delay fuses and got the h-ll out of there. As the Tail Gunner, he was spraying the field with .50's and had turned on the camera to get movies of what they did. Look them up, interesting and daring as H-ll. This was 1943-44-45. Like tales of Daring? Read about these guys!
We've had our Samar's, Belleau Woods, Iwo Jima's, Inchon's, Hue Cities and Fallujah's in the last One Hundred years that reflect our Service and Courage. We know who we are… but… It seems that new weapons, new strategies, new Dictators, always something new that Challenges our Nation so off we go again. Like the old song, "Sally and Sue, Don't be Blue, we'll be gone for years and years… and then… we'll be shoving right off for home again!"
It's a barren place in this world if there isn't a Marine standing Duty somewhere.
GySgt. F.L.Rousseau,
USMC Retired