In my Marine Corps I almost always had good Chow. Now here’s the facts, There’s Officers Mess, Staff NCO Mess, NCO Mess, and the Mess Hall where we went to eat CHOW, call it what you want, it was Chow. I have to admit I grew up during the Depression and my Mother couldn’t afford great lunches, but going into the Corps didn’t enlightened my life by finally getting better food.
Mother told me when I married (and was making but $50.00 a month) “no matter what happens, no matter where you are, Make sure your family has a Steak at least once a week. One good meal helps make a week,” and I followed her advice, it did make many a week.
Now Marine Corps Chow in my time went like this, Breakfast, SOS, fried potatoes, Fried eggs, toast and coffee oatmeal (for the mush lovers). It could vary with bacon or ham (even fried horse c-ck), medium boiled eggs, but always toast and coffee. Lunch could be a lot of things, horse c-ck, bread with some veggies, and coffee, even soup with crackers. Supper ran the field with Steak, Pork chop, Ribs, all kinds of meat dishes with potatoes and gravy, other veggies and stuff. Usually a great meal after running over the hills of Pendleton, Lejeune, PI or SD.
Most guys couldn’t get away from the way their Mother cooked their meals for them, WOW, Rare steaks, mashed spuds, Turnips, carrots and peas, then after that they got, MOM’s Apple Pie, ain’t no where you can get better than that… join the Corps and Mom’s apple pie comes in a big flat tray like affair and you usually got a 4 inch slab on your tray, but (and you gotta admit this) you could get
some of the best Ice Cream in the World Popped on your tray (or a slice of cheese). Chow down.
The Marine Corps always tried to feed you a healthy meal, but it wasn’t always what you wanted. I remember in my whole time overseas, War or not, dipping my canteen cup into a garbage can full of cold water and apple jelly mixed in. Never got used to it but also didn’t dislike it mainly because it was cold and refreshing.
In my 26 years, I remember traveling from here to there on an APA or MATS ship, having beans for breakfast on Wednesday and Sunday mornings. I, Also, remember Steak and Eggs for breakfast, the so-called Invasion Breakfast and seeing it all over the floor of a LCVP or AMTRAC prior to landing.
I remember “K” Rations, “C” Rations and “MREs”. “K” Rations had their time and are gone, “C” Rations were changed so many times and just from WWII to Korea the change was awesome to a few and not so much by a few more. Vietnam Rats were different again, and in my book were better than we had before, but for MREs… I really relished the Korean MREs.
Coming in out of the cold in Korea and getting my MESS Kit filled with “C’s” the cook had dangerously started the stoves of the day and heated the rations for us which warmed the icy hands and feet plus going on to warm the cockles of your heart. Korea was a journey into nothingness with mountains tall and rice patties rank and smelly. Sleeping in a bunker in Korea during winter was your time in h-ll because of the cold. Sleeping in a bunker in Vietnam was your time in H-ll with the Heat. The “C” Rats were always there and some even heated their C’s with the explosives in a Claymore Mine set on fire, (note picture). So the “C’s” can’t be too bad for someone to heat like that.
GySgt F.L. Rousseau, USMC Ret.
Glad to see you back Gunny….Bob 1381, Vietnam 66/67
Hi Bob,
Vietnam ’66/’67 here too. I know a Marine who was there in ’67. We served in the same area, ‘I’ Corps,
Quang Tri Province, Dong Ha. We were the first U.S. in Quang Tri Province. We dug and built a compound on the south end of Dong Ha, got our water from the river and purified it with chlorine for a week before drinking it. With regard to this article about the chow, we ate C-Rations morning, noon and night. Loved the’ beef and potatoes’, ‘beans and wieners’ and the ‘ham and limas’.
I was a SSGT in the Air Force. We took our ‘lumps’ from ‘charlie’ in the process, but the Marines started coming up in late June as the buildup for Operation Hastings was heating up. It kicked-off in early August ’66. We housed, fed and showered many Marines and participated in the process.
Hope I haven’t bored you too much,
Alan Moriarty, SSGT, USAF
1961-1969
Hey Alan,
I was with Co. A, 3rd Shore Party Bn. We were at Dong Ha on the south side between the LZ and the big ammo dump. I don’t remember when it happened but a Phantom had to make an emergency landing on the short runway and slid off of the west end across and the roadway. It was still there when I left in August, 1977…..Bob 1381 Vietnam 66/67.
Alan,
I didn’t get in country till 10th of Dec 1966, but I did befriend many marines that were there the year before me. For you to think you were the first US in Quang Tri Province I think is funny. That’s right they always send the Air Force in FIRST, to build a landing strip to fly the Marines in. If you have been telling this story this many years and people believed it, then I know why there is such misinformation in the world today. Tell your story but don’t take credit of being the first US in Quang Tri Province. Dong Ha was the rear area for us. Con Thein was even a resting spot. The Marine you must have known was not a field Marine. Murray 1371, Vietnam Dec66 to Aug 68 back in May 69 toAug69 went with 1/9, 2/9,3/9, 2/26 and others on many operations. May be I am wrong. Can just tell you what I Think.
Murray
Did you come over with the 3/26? I was with Charlie Battery 1/13 attached to the 3/26 and came over by ship. Landed in Dong Ha, Dec ’66 and a few days later started Operation Chinook which became Camp Evans. Named after Paul Evans who was the first Marine killed in Chinook. I have all the details in my book, To Hear Silence. Check it out on Amazon. You might be in it. We left Nam in Aug ’67.
Ron,
No, I flew in to Da Nang. I was a 1371, 3rd Eng Bn demo went with the grunts to blow bunkers and booby traps. Murray
Ron,
I was on Operation Chinook in support of the 4th Marines. We came in from a little north of Camp Evans where had been for the past couple weeks as a blocking force.
We came down by convoy and when we pulled into Camp Evans and stopped the Convoy Commander had every truck move up one space so the last truck wouldn’t be outside the wire. Our truck moved up and the truck behind ours pulled off wher we would have, hit an explosive device with its right side front wheel and blew up. It wasn’t but a few yards from field med so there were Corpsmen the in a matter of a minute or so. I never did hear how badly the Marines in that truck were injured. Luckily, as I remember, it was a truck l0aded with gear so the driver and “shotgun” were the only two on board.
I have read your book and can identify with many of the accounts you reported. Thanks for a reliable history from one who experienced it first hand……Bob 1381, Co A 3rd Shore Party Bn. Vietnam 1966/1967
FYI, the letter by GySgt Rousseau is a reprint, he passed away in late 2016. I knew him and had written grit informing him, but that was the time frame when the new format was just starting to be used and I don’t know if it ever got published. I am enclosing the letter I wrote to Grit on 1-27-2017. He was a hell of a good man.
Frank Rousseau
It is my sad duty to inform the many readers of his stories over the years, that GySgt Frank Rousseau has passed away. He was a 3-war Marine, but I knew him as a Bermuda marine. We all enjoyed his stories and recollections over the years. He was
a weapons expert, and what most people don’t know is that after retiring from the Corps, Frank started a very successful
business supplying Hollywood with weapons, many of which he designed and built himself, including the rifle that Chuck Norris used in his “Braddock” movies. Also, in “Rambo 2”, he designed the machine gun used in the helicopter scene where Rambo and
the POW’s he rescued are abandoned by the rescue helicopter. Frank told me that nobody in the cast could handle the gun, so he fired it himself. He can be seen in the door of the helicopter firing the gun. His business was carried on by his son Chuck. If you take the time to watch all the credits at the end of “Rambo”, “Missing in Action”, and other films, you will see his name listed as
“weapons consultant”. If there are ever any weapons required behind the Pearly Gates, you can be sure Frank will handle it.
Cpl. Paul W. Lindner 1959-1963
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Author Paul Lindner
Posted on January 27, 2017
Categories Main, Marine Corps Stories
16 Comments on GySgt Frank Rousseau
In This Issue
“I’ll trade you beef stew and the cigarettes for beans and franks.”
Beans and Weenies will always be my favorite. Harry
Gunny,
I gotta say, I really can’t complain about Marine chow. Parris Island chow aside, because I really can’t remember tasting anything as it was flying down the gullet (except for super dry corn bread one day), but I was stationed on Camp Geiger for my four years except for two meds and two tours in Beirut with Lima 3/8, and I thought the Geiger chow was pretty good. My only complaint was that they served two different meats per meal, but would only let you get one or the other. Had to go back through the line to get the other meat if you so desired. The E-Club food and the NCO Club food ob Geiger might have been a variation of fast-food or pre-cooked food, but I recall it as being fairly decent. NOW…Navy chow on the Nausau and Inchon was very good in my humble opinion. Sorry Marine cooks – I love ya, but I gotta speak the truth here. I’m 58 now, so this is the memory of my 20-22 year old, uneducated meal-wise stomach! Semper Fi Gunny.
Mike Kunkel
Cpl 0331 – 81-85
Lima 3/8, Weapons Platoon
The best chow I remember was when i was with 8th Engnrs. at the new barracks at French Creek Lejeune. Harry
Harry – When were you with 8th Engr Bn? I was Comm Chief of 8th Engr Bn in 1977-78 and would often have lunch in that Mess Hall because it was so good.
Hey MSgt Edd.I was there May 69 to Aug 70 with 7months TAD Rifle Range and 4 months Camp Garcia Vieques. Harry
I was with 8th Marines back then and ate in that mess hall. Good Chow !
I just had to comment on Marine Corps chow.My Mom,who I loved dearly.could not cook worth a damn.She sometimes paid me to eat.I would stare at my brothers and sisters and wondered how they stomached what my Mom dished out.Then I arrived at Parris Island.What a nightmare except for chow.I was in pigs heaven.I loved the chow.From my first meal at P.I.,I had the utmost respect for our mess men.The incredible job they did ranked them right up there with our beloved ‘grunts’.Huge respect for their MOS.Semper Fi.
I was in the same boat as you. Loved my Mother beyond words but she could not cook. When I came in the Marine Corp I NEVER had a bad meal no matter where I was. All my friends would be bitching and I thought I was in PIG Heaven. Could never understand what there was to bitch about, Even the C-rats were good and that was all we had at Gio Linh
Too bad you had to take a “Claymore ” apart to get some C-4 Harry.
Harry this is Sgt Sisson just wanted to let you know the cancer in the bladder went to my right kidney, Just had it taken out now they are saying the left kidney MAY be messed up.
Damn it! Sorry to hear that Sgt Sisson. Agent orange.. the gift that keeps on giving Harry 1371
Harry that is exactly what I said. Take care. This summer if I ever get ahead of this crap we have to get together for lunch.
As a Marine cook I put my best in every meal I prepared
Semper Fi Matthew! Nick
I had a few friends that were cooks and they did the same. Will NEVER forget a cook named YOUNG from Youngstown Ohio. He was one hell of a guy. Tried to locate him but couldn’t. He was with us at 12th Marines and again Later at 11th Marines in An Hoa. He ended up getting malaria and I never saw him again.
Thank God for the 3371’s. I was one and did enjoy my time as a chief cook! In the Nam I was the burner “man”, lighting them things were an experience. I was in Dong Ha (67-68) dodging rockets and getting the chow out . Mess hall got hit and getting chow out was a “b!tch”. Semper Fi! 7th Comm Bn Comm Spt Co
I think that, during my time in the Corps, every Marine mess hall in the world served liver and onions on Wednesday night!
I guess everything is subjective. The gunney spent more time in the crotch than I, so he had a greater opportunity to experience marine corps food. My experience with their food was lacking. My mother was not a good cook either, but my father was in the army for WWII, and the occupation of Japan. He made SOS with chipped beef, in the marines they used ground meat with a layer of grease floating on top (no extra charge). I swear that their scrambled eggs were powderd, not fresh, they were bad.
In Vietnam I spent some time up by the DMZ. We had a mess sgt at C2 put out pots of warm coolaid and tuna. We asked the skipper to give us c-rats instead. I remember using C4 to heat them sometimes, ham and muthas (lima beans) were my favorite. I got to provide security for the seabees building a bridge over the CamLo river. They made some of the best food that I had in Vietnam. On one Marine Corps birthday at LZ Studd (near Khe Sahn) they flew in those green insulated containers with lobster and steak. It was cold by the time I got back to base, but I still remember it.
Wether the food was good or bad, we lived through it. Semper Fi !
I wish I had known you during my time in the Corps (‘58-‘64). I would have gladly traded you my ham and m**********rs for almost anything in your c rats. They were really nasty when you had to eat them cold.
Thank You for sharing with us Gunny. My Wife, Sisters’ and Mom were surprised by the toilet paper packs that came in the C-Rats. I took some home during my first leave in April 66. Our 4 children, to this day, still talk about the different C-Rat Meals. Again, Thank You Gunny.
J.F. Valdez
MSgt USMCRet.
An Hoa, August ’69, field mess outside unit HQ. Mortar attack walked rounds in to base. Noon dinner line held firm as rounds got closer and closer (siren blaring) until one landed behind command bunker and blew dirt and debris everywhere and then we scattered. Didn’t wanna lose our place in line. The cooks held fast till the last second and then ran with the rest of us.
I can say this, from experience being on a work party while in the Brig. Of course you have Marine Corps chow (grunts, 1371), then you have Marine Corps chow (Airwing and YES there is a difference), Air Force chow (Like a nice restaurant), then there is Navy submariner’s chow (5 Star restaurant). They fed those bubble heads good!
Stationed at Lejeune in 1965. We always had fried chicken at least once a week. I don’t eat chicken since a bad experience with a big rooster when I was 3. As a consequence I got hassled a lot by my friends. Then the word got out that the Sgt. of the Guard had caught the E5 cook in the mess hall having sex with a chicken. After that I wasn’t the only one not eating chicken.
Ed Grantham
Cpl
1964-1967
Boot Camp Parris Island, Plt 1083 (late Novermber 1967 to early February 1968?) – chow must have been good, but never enough time to enjoy it (except Christmas 1967 with a half day off and a Christmas Feast.) Then ITR at Camp Geiger. Food was so sh*tty we had to eat what’s now called junk food from the little Geedunk near the Disbursing Office. Back to PI for service school for the 0141 MOS (Personnel Administration Man or combat clerk, trained to throw my Remington Electric Typewriter at any Godless Commie mother that came thru the door.) The chow at PI if you were in “schools” or permanent party was fantastic. The first time I was asked “How many eggs and how do you want them?” completely blew me away. Then I discovered SOS and french fries. That was the start of my never missing a meal and my uniforms shrinking. God, I hated the PRT!
I was on night mess duty for about two weeks at Camp Geiger in March, 1966 while waiting for platoon assignment. We got to eat the good food, if we could find it, and fix our breakfast early when the day cooks came in. But, after training started, if it hadn’t been for peanut butter and jelly I would have starved…….Bob 1381 Vietnam 66/67.
The best field mess I ever experienced was in the Med in the fall of 1971 during a NATO exercise at Saros Bay, Turkey with the Brits, Greeks and Turks. I was with Marine Wing Comm Sqd 28. At every meal the Cook would have big biscuits, about 5″ diameter, and something different to go on top as a sauce. Or, you could just eat them separately. Best damn biscuits I ever had! I would swear that he gave the recipe to McDonald’s for the Bacon/Egg & Cheese Biscuit. Semper Fi!!
GUNNY GREAT STORY. I DO REMEMBER TWO THINGS FROM MY ADVENTURE IN VIETNAM WITH THE GREAT FOOD. NO CRATS OR MRI’S BUT PLENTY OF SOS POWERED MILK AND POWERED EGGS.
IF YOUR HUNGRY YOU CAN EAT MOST ANYTHING. BEST MEMORY.
OUR MASTER SGT GOT STEAKS ONE TIME AS A TRADE FOR PARTS.
WHAT A PARTY ALL THE GROUND SUPPORT GUYS HAD. WE WERE STATIONED AT DANANG AIRFIELD FIXING GROUNG SUPPORT EQUIP
FOR OUR FIGHTER PLANES. 3.2 BEER CAN MAKE ANYTHING TASTE GOOD. SEMPER FI. GUNNY. DON’T FORGET THE GOOD OLD DAYS IN NAM.
BRENDAN 1ST MAW DANANG VIETNAM 66 TO 68.
PRIMO a
First experience in USN messhall,Pearl,with electric chocolate milk machine-WOW !!!!
Also first experienced Hawaii beer “PRIMO “-excellent !!!!!!!!!!hence nickname/call sign in How 6’s.
C’s : favorite was boned chicken mixed with chocolate powder,crackers topped with peanut butter and jam and cots topped off with round chocolate discs….not bad.
SF
I arrived at Parris Island in June of 1960. At my 1st meal in the mess hall I was at the far end of the table when I noticed my food was rising toward me. I looked to my right and at the other end was our DI lifting the table. He then dropped it. At that point I had noticed that the recruit two people down from me had different food than I did. I softly whispered, without moving my lips as the DI departed, “What’s the guy next to you eating. The boot next to me said, “He threw up.” I quickly realized, if I didn’t already know it, this wouldn’t be a cake walk. I loved the mess hall food, but could never quite enough to eat. I was skinny with a big appetite. but thought the food was good, especially compared to my mom’s cooking. In the field I always got enough to eat because a lot of the men didn’t like the rations and I would say, “pass it this way and I can’t remember a C I didn’t like. After active duty and in the reserves, we were at 29 Palms for desert warfare training. We had set up a perimeter in the sand dunes and our colonel and XO came in by helicopter and it crashed a few sand dunes away and all we could see was black smoke. Sgt. Major Heideman said stand fast. Within about 5 minutes here came the chopper pilot leading the two officers. He had pulled them out Colonel Fitzgerald and Major Jack
Frisbie (later Major General). They were unhurt when the desert wind blew the chopper over on landing and it caught fire. The colonel sent some 3.2 beer out to us the next day and because I seldom drank, I declined it, but Sgt. Maj. Heideman said, “Drink it, Alpert”. So, I took a few swigs and when he walked away, I poured the rest into the sand and covered it up. It was 120 degrees and I was looped with just a few swigs. When the C rations came around the Marine closest to me could not eat them and he searched for the peaches in a can. We found out one of our lieutenants took almost all the peaches for himself. This buddy of mine wanted to confront the lieutenant and I had peaches and told him to take mine, but he refused and wanted to fight. It was all I could do to keep him from going after the officer. Then Sgt. Major Heideman told me I was going to be the Colonel’s jeep driver because he knew I could drive in sand. So late one day I drove the colonel to the general’s HQ in the desert and after dropping him off I got totally lost. We had half a jerry can of water the colonels radio operator and I had our canteens so I wasn’t worried, but I didn’t want the ‘aggressors’ to capture the colonel’s driver and radio operator plus the jeep. So, I started searching the desert visually for 6000 Marines. I got the jeep up on the highest sand dune and stood on the hood sheltering my eyes in that 120 degrees heat and blazing sun. My feet were burning through my boots on the hood of the jeep where I was standing. I spotted rising dust way off in the distance and headed that way. We must have driven for a half hour or better, but I found the main body of Marines and Sgt. Major Heideman. I was ready to get my butt chewed, but he said he was worried about us and figured we got lost. He just told me to pull the jeep into the column and was glad I was back. So was I. I loved the Corps and loved the food and the Marines made a man out of me and I owe the Corps an awful lot. About 30 years or so after boot camp I wrote a letter of gratitude to my one of my junior DI, Sgt. Jimmy E. McCall and sent to him through the Commandant. I wanted him to know how much I appreciated what he did for me. I never heard back but I found out he was still alive at that time so I can only hope he got it. God bless the Marine Corps and great nation all the other people who served in the various branches of the military. I feel blessed to have been born her and to have had the opportunity to serve
Cpl. Bill Reed, ’66-’69
I’m really surprised no one mentioned the mess at marine Barracks, Gitmo. Every breakfast, a line went into the kitchen-eggs anyway you wanted & cooked to order. Every Sun., outdoor grilled steaks (think & juicy-best steaks I ever had). I, too, loved the ham & M.F.s -take @ half inch off top, add cheese, close lid & heat, add hot sauce YUM. In Nam, C-Rats better than mess hall!
That hot sauce better be McIlhenny, not the cheap stuff.
In Nam it was VALUABLE!
Bill,
At our company area at Dong Ha in 1967 the mess tent had plenty of dry noodles with some sort of meat gravy poured on top and warm Cool Aid or hot coffee to drink. Every time we had “stew beef” was after a water buffalo got killed near the wire.
Bob 1381, Vietnam 66-67.
Best mess (chow) halls:
Defense Language Institute WC
Transient Facility Norton AFB (closed)
H&S batt. MCB S.D. Butler (BrigCo, MPs, CID at McT)
Marine Barracks Washington D.C.
I have a couple of favorite memories of food from my years in the Corps.
First off, I was amazed at having meat at every meal, something that never happened as a kid growing up and the Marines complaining about all the food. They must have grown up wealthy with a 5 star chef at home. I remember having corned beef often (the red death) that was tasteless and rubbery every time. Maybe because it was cooked quickly rather than the low and slow I use every St. Patty’s day.
My times in the Nam don’t hold any specific memories of the chow. In the fall of ‘71 I went ashore in western Turkey ( Operation Blue Ax?) after a couple days of C rats the mess tent opened and we were already for a prepared meal, unfortunately the line stretched for ever. Another Marine, I can’t remember his name, used his tactical stealth to relieve the supply tent of several large cans of boned chicken. We heated the opened cans over a fire and that chicken was eaten on a slice of the local hearty bread we had traded cigarettes for. That was a most memorable meal for me but I think the comradeship of eating the purloined chicken around a campfire made it so memorable.
from 1955 – 1959 we had adequate in quanity but not so much in quality. Especially in Okinawa where we had company cooks. In Japan,(middle camp Fuji) except for the recombined milk it was ok. We could always count on a really good meal 3 times a year, Marine Corps Birthday,Thanksgiving,and Christmas.
The best chow hall I ever ate in was at Treasure Island. I was stunned by the variety and amount of food. Especially all the fresh milk and eggs you wanted.