Sgt Grit is a place where Marines can come and meet other Marines, share tattoos and stories, keep up with Marine Corps news, or shop for USMC gear.
Robert A. “Bob” Hoover, a World War II fighter pilot who became an aviation legend for his flying skills in testing aircraft and demonstrating their capabilities in air shows, has died at age 94.
Hoover, who lived in Palos Verdes Estates, California, died early Tuesday, said Bill Fanning, a close family friend for many years and fellow pilot.
Medal of Honor recipient Master Sergeant Richard A. Pittman received a final salute before burial in California on Monday.
Family, friends and Marines gathered at Cherokee Memorial Park in Lodi, Calif., for the funeral service. Pittman passed away on Oct. 13, 2016 in Stockton.
Maj Kurt Chew-Een Lee
1st Bn,7th Marines
In late 1950, then-1stLt. Kurt Chew-Een Lee was serving as the Machine-Gun Platoon commander for Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, in action against enemy forces in the Republic of Korea. Immediately taking countermeasures when a numerically superior enemy fiercely attacked his platoon and overran its left flank, 1stLt. Lee boldly exposed himself to intense hostile automatic weapons, grenade and sniper small-arms fire to carry out reconnaissance, well in advance of his own lines, in order to re-deploy the machine-gun posts within the defensive perimeter. Momentarily forced back by extremely heavy opposition, he quickly reorganized his unit and, instructing his men to cover his approach, bravely moved up an enemy held slope in a deliberate attempt to draw fire and thereby disclose hostile troop positions. Despite serious wounds sustained as he pushed forward, 1stLt. Lee charged directly into the face of the enemy fire and, by his dauntless fighting spirit and resourcefulness, served to inspire other members of his platoon to heroic efforts in pressing a determined counterattack and driving the hostile forces from the sector. Lee is also a recipient of the Silver Star, two Purple Hearts and a Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat V. (P/C The Smithsonian & New York Times)
A trip down memory lane to honor & pay homage to two incredible, and i do mean “incredible” friends, Jimmy Crysal & Gary Wilkins, who saved the lives of those of us in 1st platoon, Hotel company. And paid the supreme sacrifice while doing so. They manned a listening post about 100 yards outside the perimeter.
I was in Boot Camp at Parris Island in 1955 we started out in the wooden barracks 1st bat. The Sr DI came in and said we were moving the 3rd Bat we moved in Quonset huts then we went to the rifle range we had the M1s while we were at the range one of our JR DIs cured me of smoking we were in Quonset huts after lights out like I said one of our JR DIs caught a guy smoking and the DI his name was Sgt Hatchel he told us to get out scrub buckets he marched us to the head and told us to light up I told him sir I don’t smoke and he told me tough sh,t one of the guys gave me a cig. And we had to put the bucket over our heads and smoke the cig. And cured me from smoking.
Educator and activist James E. Huger dies at 101
Longtime resident James E. Huger died Friday, October 14 at approximately 9:30 p.m. at Halifax Hospital, Daytona Beach, in the presence of family members. He was 101 years old.
According to his son Thomas Huger, James Huger had returned to Daytona Beach after evacuating to Atlanta as Hurricane Matthew approached the area. He was hospitalized soon after he got back, and died a few days after being admitted to Halifax.
One of North Vietnam’s most recognizable wartime voices fell silent last Friday, when former radio broadcaster Trinh Thi Ngo, dubbed “Hanoi Hannah” by American service members, died.
Her former employer, the government-run Voice of Vietnam, reported the news on its website Sunday. The radio service says Trinh was 87 when she died, though there are conflicting reports about the year of her birth.
My book shelf dedicated to the Marine Corps and the Marines I know; of which I will have to expand at some point!
Hello Cpl. Valdes,
First and foremost I want to extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation for your service. I don’t exactly know for how long, but I have been a subscriber to SgtGrit for quite some time. Though I never served, I certainly represent the latter half of the slogan, “There are two kinds of people in this world: Marines and those who wish they were.”
Left to right, PFC Phil Liguori, PFC Norm Spilleth, PFC Bill Jones, in the second deck squad bay of the VMA-212 barracks wearing our 782 gear after returning from our physical readiness test, sometime in 1963. photo from Norm Spilleth
We called it “The Rock” and counted the days when we would rotate back to the land of the big PX. Hawaii wasn’t exactly the paradise we expected. The Marine Corps Base at Kaneohe is on a peninsula that forms Kaneohe Bay, with the Pali Mountains as a backdrop. The Air Wing enlisted barracks were a group of two story flat roofed, stucco buildings with open squad bays that were connected by breezeways. The VMA-212 barracks had the MPs on one side and the helo boys from HMM161 on the other. Next to the HMM-161 barracks was the mess hall. The front of the buildings faced a grassy drill field ringed with banyan trees. On the other side was the MAG-13 headquarters and to the right was Kansas Tower on top of a hill. The barracks had an upper and lower open squad bays divided into six bunks (or racks) that formed cubicles by standard green wall lockers and a central corridor.
Just a short note as an FYI. I am with a Marine Captain and his wife in Palm Coast Florida. It is a little bit of a story, but he has a heart procedure on Monday Morning in Daytona beach, then again, they just evacuated the hospital there. I drove in from Pensacola two days ago to help them out. We had been visiting a Marine Colonel Fighter pilot and his wife in Piney Flats, Tennessee.
