Author: bruce s bender

I was honorably discharged in August 1967- enlisted from Florida- went to New York ( and reaped larger separation pay ) – stayed in Virginia for a few weeks- and applied for a job in area- went back to New York and a life of uncertainty- torn between family and friends left behind in Virginia. Found a job in a bank back office in Manhattan- hostile work environment as they pounced on me after they found out I was a United States Marine- had arguments and one clown reported me to senior management for being disrespectful. A white haired 60 something executive in an office as big as a lobby in some buildings- started to have me sit down and was nice to me- I saw a picture of an airplane with a young guy on a wing- it seems he was a World War fighter pilot ( Navy ) and after he heard my story- he gave me a business card with his home phone written on the back and told me to call anytime – and he promised to speak to my immediate superiors at my work area. A lot of hostility towards all military on returning stateside after Vietnam era. Mostly college kids and sorry to say malcontents too! Would not trade experience of the 4 years in the Corps if I had to do it over again. I still got the sometimes attitude that gets me into arguments today- different international atmosphere- different type of enemy- different life style- but still willing to interced read more

Yesterday was 29-March the date in 1973 “That the last combat troops left Vietnam.” Our local VFW was having an event to commemorate that day. My friend and I decided to go.We are not members of that post but, all veterans and the public were invited to attend.They had refreshments and music but,not much else.It was more of a meet and greet.We were listening to a guy that was talking to a group of young people and I heard him comment that the last casualty occurred in March 73′. My friend JJ looked over at me and shook his head as to say “let it go” but I couldn’t .I waited for an opening and ask if he knew how many names are listed on the WALL after 29- 73′? I told them “at least 83 maybe more.I ask if he knew about the S.S.Mayaguez He said he did but thought it happened in Korean water.I said “No it was actually Cambodian water.” 41 Americans were killed including 18 Marines and Corpsman (3 of the Marines were executed by the Cambodians) Ask the families of those killed or wounded after the so called “End of Combat”. What they think.His response was that more would have died if we would have stayed I agreed and, we left it at that. jj and I also left! NEVER FORGET!! SEMPER FI!! Harry read more

February, 1970. We arrived at Da Nang late in the afternoon, too late to transit to our final destinations. Driven to a transit barracks, 2nd deck. I grabbed an upper rack next to a door to the outside. Not sure of what happened next, I kept my clothes on, but tied my boot laces together with my glasses inside. While all of us were trying to settle in, grab some shut-eye, we could hear sounds of artillery somewhere in the distance, coupled with occasional small arms fire. I had just begun to doze when I heard the sound of incoming 122 rockets. I hit the deck, grabbed my boots, and flew through the door, jumped to the stair landing midway down in one jump, and on the ground. While I was jumping down the stairs I saw at least three 122 rockets landed in a field directly behind the barracks. We crammed as many of us into bunkers, and waited for whatever happened. After what seemed like hours, somebody sounded “All Clear,” and we returned to where we had been when The rockets came in. I don’t think there were any casualties. Not many of us got any sleep that night, and we spent most of the rest of the night trying to figure what kind of defense we could mount if the VC came at us, as we did not have any rifles, pistols, ammo, grenades, or even knives. read more

Just my opinion: I have know idea if boot camp is harder today or fifty+ years ago. I think everything is relative to the times. I do believe that the marine’s of today are better trained than we were. The one big
difference is, we did not have to deal with the PC Police watching and listening to everything we do or say, or diversity training. What a crock. And they wonder why moral and military discipline is at an all time low. I blame the past administration. read more

Much preferred being a crew chief/door gunner on a UH-34D (“Dog”) than humping on the ground. Good thing is that the bad guys usually didn’t lead us enough while we were flying so rounds hit the tail section without causing much harm. Bad thing if they had auto weapons or we were stationary on the ground or taking off. As for tanks… we came into a hot zone for a medi-vac and a guy was sitting on top the tank taking pictures of us, guess he thought the VC didn’t have the balls to open up on him or us. read more

I joined the USMC at age 17 and it was the best thing that I could have ever done at the same time, just like you. It actucally led to me getting my GED and eventually getting a BA and MPA degree later. I don’t think I would ever have made it into college without joining the Marine Corps at age 17 and I have always been very proud of my service in the USMC. read more

South Vietnam, Republic Of; I was a radioman with the 7th Regiment, 1St Marine Division from September1967 through October-1968 at Hill 55. One day we were walking back from a daily patrol and when we reached the main highway, we hitched a ride on an Army tank that was passing through. Never got inside it, but looked down into it. A few days later I was heading out on an operation in a CH-46 helicopter and got shot down. Luckily I survived with just a couple of sprained ribs-it made me realize that tanks and helicopters had the same problem-they’re both fucking bullet magnets! To all of us and those just like us-Damn Few!! read more

The year was 1963 I was a 15 yr old junior in High School in Riverside, CA the previous year I had attended the 3-week summer Devil Pup program at Camp Pendleton which made me even stronger in wanting to be a Marine. We had just arrived at school when someone got the bright idea to ditch and go to the beach around 60 miles away. My father was a deputy sheriff on the Riverside Sheriffs Office and I was afraid this was not a good plan, but this one kid drove his mothers car so we knew we would make it down and back without car troubles and could get back in school with a tardy slip before the day was over. Upon arriving at the beach and after walking down a steep hill to the sand we realized we had no swimming trunks another kid said no problem we’ll skinny dip! Great idea until the police car arrived and took us to the Newport Beach Police Dept. Our parents were called and had to pick us up at the station( for skinny dipping and truancy) my father screamed at me the whole ride home that my car was taken away and I was on restriction until I was 18 I begged my mother to let me enlist in the Marines when I turned 17 and a day. In those four years and including Vietnam I was never unhappy that I quit school to join the finest fighting outfit in the world! read more