Hey Sgt Grit… I was a young man fresh out of High School when I joined the Marine Corps in May 1963. I graduated on a Thursday and left for Boot Camp on Monday morning. I joined because I loved America and loved everything that it stood for then and stands for now. But, I joined to do my duty, as my father and grandfather had done in World War II and World War I. I did it because it was the American thing to do and I was an American.
I made friends in the Corps before during and after combat in Viet Nam. I served with the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines and the 1st Battalion 1st Marines in Viet Nam. I was proud of both units, but the Walking Dead were the men I first went to combat with and I remember them because they were my first combat friends. From Boot Camp. to ITR to San Mateo and the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. I can't recall many of their names now, except for those who died in Viet Nam and who served with me in 1/9. We became brothers after the war, during reunions, during baseball games and at family outings, weddings and funerals.
I loved those men who survived the war and I love them today. I honor the memories as more and more of them join the ranks of Belleau Woods and Tarawa and Korea and Happy Valley and Marble Mountain and other places including Iraq and Afghanistan. I also saw many a brave and honorable man fall inside and surrounding the World Trade Center. Without seeming disrespectful, I fight for the American Way and The Honor and History of the Marine Corps and the United States of America. I loved the men next to me and beside me, but I never fought for them, except to the fact that they were brave men who stood next to me and were willing to die to save me and combat the common enemy. I would give my life for them if I had too, but I have done that for the American people since the war was over also.
As a young enlisted man I never met an officer that I thought I could talk to or relay my heartfelt feelings to. So how could I fight and give my life for him? However, after the war, when we were on common ground as citizens, I admired them as much as I did the men that fought next to me in the dirt and mud between Da Nang and Hue City. I loved them because they were Americans, because they were Marines and because they stood up when others didn't. That is the American way.
I hope to always fight for what is right and to fight for the American Way along side and among the finest and best men and women in the world. Without Glory there is no sacrifice, there is no Honor. There is no Marine Corps without Honor.
Sgt of Marines John E Miller 2062660
C/1/9 and A/1/1 Viet Nam 1965/ 1966