I am a Vietnam veteran (1966 – 1967 Khe Sanh, 26th Marines). I was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart. My Silver Star was presented to me by the then Commandant, General Leonard Chapman in his office while I was stationed at A Co., Hqtrs. Marine Corps at the old Henderson Hall across from the Navy Annex in Arlington, Va.
Author: SgtGrit
Clutching An Ammo Can
Comment on Amphibious Landing Problems.
Ken Schweim's comments on going down the nets for an amphibious landing are pretty much the way I remember it. It looked easy in the movies, but very tricky in rough seas. I am surprised more Marines did not get hurt just getting off the ship. But those who suffered from sea sickness did not care… they just wanted to get off the ship and on dry land. I will also add that going from the landing craft to board ship was just as bad. Grab the net when the landing craft was high… then before you could get your feet in the net you were dangling in the air. Grab the net when it was low… the net is bunched at your feet. Climbing up the net with all your gear was a bit harder than going down.
11th Marines
Thought I would dazzle you with some of my Nam pics. Here is an aerial view of HQ, 11th Marine Regiment, near DaNang. The Comm Plt is the small group of about 8 hooches kinda by themselves to the left of the compound. We always felt kinda lonely down the hill by ourselves. Then again it did have some advantages, nobody bothered us. If memory serves me correctly, 11th Motors was across the road on the right. At the bottom of our compound we had an Army search light detachment, attached to 11th Marines. Apparently Marines did not have search lights so we borrowed from the Army.
Painted Stripes On Dungarees
I don't know when we started painting stripes on our Dungaree sleeves, but it was after World War II. Some were so bad and some so small that one of the guys that made stuff for the Marine Corps made Stripe markers. The original was like a box, you put that part of the sleeve where your stripe was supposed to be, then pushed the inside of the box back in, inside the sleeve, and if everything came out fine you had great looking stripes on your dungarees.
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Welcome Home for Viet Nam Vets
My local Marine Corps League detachment is involved in the local Welcome home celebrations for retuning veterans of all services. It was brought to the committe chairmans attention that many Viet Nam Veterans have missed that recognition, so he decided to do something about it… here is a letter he just sent out to those interested. Please help support this great cause…
Dri Fit
Thank You Sgt GRIT! My husband, MSgt Dave Melka (MGySgt sel) is wearing his new USMC dri-fit tank top for the 10th Annual Pat Tillman Race in Tempe, AZ. He finished the 4.2 miles in just over 30
mins.
Julie Espinoza Melka
Never Had A Swabby
Read Cpl Schweim's letter re landings: I was assigned to the 3rd Marine Division, 12th Marines, during 1961- 62, we made many amphibious landings training with the Republic of Vietnam and other Units, off-loading from the APA Pickaway in the South China Sea to Thailand we climbed the ropes to the landing craft. The South China Sea was seldom calm, so the LST would bounce up and down sometimes hitting the side of the ship. Marines in full gear would climb the ropes while Marines on the landing craft would try to hold the ropes. However we never had a swabby directing us. One incident I recall a Marine did not have his helmet chin strap buckled and it fell from the APA's deck to the landing craft fortunately missing us, we listened to orders and had our steel pots on and secured. I have attached some photos of the operation.
TBS Class 6-67 Class Reunion
Attached are several photos of the memorial I put together for the guys KIA from our class. I suspended the dog tags you folks made on a cross bar. Everyone was impressed especially the family members of the fallen. I told the families to take home their guys tag. The memorial was looked at a lot by everyone. We had over 200 class members and family at the reunion. I made sure to tell everyone who did the dog tags. Thank you so much for giving me the deal on those tags. The memorial was a labor of love.
Marine Barn Quilt
Noticed this month you featured barn quilts. The Eagle, Globe, and Anchor and the ribbons were all free hand drawn and painted by a very good friend. It's 5' x 5'.
L/Cpl Donald Meadors