Sgt Grit,
Attached are three pictures that I just came across yesterday while looking through old photos. The top photo is of me marching as the guide next to Sgt Mazenko on graduation day (Oct 27, 1981 – Platoon 2063 Parris Island).
Back then for graduation we marched in Columns of two with the SDI out in front and the "junior" DI's each marching in front of a section of the platoon, but not sure how it is done today. I was a squad leader at times during boot-camp (got fired several times, by Sgt Ishmail and always reinstated by Mazenko, but that is a story for another time), but never served as guide, so when Mazenko selected me as his guide for Graduation Day, I was all filled up with extra pride. My dad took the photo, but I did not know he took it – must have zoomed in, because he never got that close to the parade deck as far as I know.
All three of my DI's were excellent, but Mazenko was just first-rate in my opinion. A hard-azs prick, as was his vocation, but I respect him so much even to this day! He was a Marine's Marine and I would really like to be able to get in touch with him one day and thank him for turning me into a Marine!
The second photo was taken in the (back then) newer brick barracks on Camp Geiger sometime around 1983 after we returned from the bush, but before leaving for our second Med cruise and eventual return to Beirut. This would have been just after the bombing.
All the guys in the picture were 0331's. My best buddy Tim Wheeler, who I keep in touch with to this day is on the far left. He was too "short" to make a second Med, so he ended up getting transferred out to the rifle range working the firing lines before he got discharged… "All ready on the right, all ready on the left, all ready on the firing lines"…
The guy next to Tim is Danny Wilson who was a tractor-trailer driver before joining the Corps but who was put into the Infantry, and the guy who is third from the left is Thor Dellerson, who never drove a car much before in his life before the Corps because of where he grew up in Manhattan, but who was put into Motor-T when he joined the Corps driving the cattle-car trucks that we all rode in. The Marine Corps idea of a joke, right? Anyway, Thor requested a transfer to the infantry, where he became an 0331, and one of the best machine gunners I ever saw. He was deadly accurate with the M-60 from the tripod or firing "John Wayne style" from the hip – just plain lethal! We were all serious about our craft, but he was a just a natural handing that weapon.
Aside from me, who never shot higher than 216 with the M16, all three were expert rifle marksman, and in the case of Dellerson, he was also wickedly accurate with his .45 and fired expert with that weapon as well. Incidentally, he had the highest pain threshold of anyone I ever knew. I once saw him accidentally hit himself in the back of the head while working out with num-chucks (or whatever the h-ll they are called) and all he did was flinch and rub the back of his head slightly – no noise whatsoever! The last I heard from him back in the late 80's, he was working as a prison guard at Sing-Sing I believe.
Danny Wilson was the platoon's resident auto mechanic. At any given time, you could possibly find him out under someone's hood fixing their car before swooping home on the weekend for a 72 or 96. He was quiet, but had a wicked, dry sense of humor. I really miss all those guys! I am on the far right in the picture – the guy with the ratty stash!
The third picture is of my cousin Freddy Kunkel and the photo is dated 1963 on the six of the picture. I have not heard from him in years since he moved out to western Ohio, but from what I recall he served in Barracks duty and I think he was in the Hawaiian Islands. Can any of you old-timers look at the photo and recognize where it was taken? Thanks for your help!
Thanks for the great newsletter Sgt Grit!
Semper Fi
Mike Kunkel
Cpl, 0331
Lima 3/8, Weapons Plt