It’s the summer of 1968 in Vietnam, a sergeant with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment was forced into a position he never could have imagined. He had to lead his entire company through a deadly enemy ambush after the company commander, platoon commander and senior enlisted leadership were wounded in the fight.
Author: SgtGrit
We Heard The Tupe, Tupe
Right after Dewey Canyon we received a new platoon commander, Lt. R. We were his first command and I’m sure he wanted to do everything right. I’m almost positive it was operation Apache Snow, of course the Lt. was the last one on the chopper to lead us off. This was only my second operation but after life in the Valley it seemed I had been in Vietnam forever! Our new Lt. with map and compass in hand stood by the ramp ready to lead us into combat. Thank God it was a cold LZ, we touched down and he walked off the chopper? Still looking at his map and compass, a lowly private ran past him and the others followed to set up our section of the perimeter. That lowly private just happened to be me, little did I know I was about to receive a royal a$$ chewing. After all was secure I was singled out and told in no uncertain terms never to run past my commanding officer(putting it lightly). Later on that day our new Lt. called a break, our 10 minutes was almost up when in the distance we heard the tupe, tupe of incoming mortars. Needless to say we all did the Marine Corps disappearing act. I looked up from my small depression in mother earth only to see the new Lt. still looking at his map and compass oblivious of what was about to happen. Thankfully the mortars fell short of the target and all of us were spared. I’m not sure whether he got a heads up from our NCOs or he just figured it out all by himself but later that evening I received a visitor with an apology, it was our new Lt. He turned out to be one of the best officers I ever served under. Wishing you well Lt. R and hope life has treated you well! Semper Fi
W. Whitley, Corporal of Marines!
How Many Belt Loops
Sgt. Grit,
First of all thanks for the great newsletter, and to all the past, present, and future men and women of this great family called the United States Marine Corps. I was just wondering what questions were asked of other Marines on these boards? Here are a few that I got asked:
His Eyes Lit Up
Sgt.Grit.
I came to the States from Ireland in the Jan.64 and joined the Marines in July and went to Parris Island PLT 267.I served in Nam from Dec 65 to Sept.66. After I received my second Purple Heart I spent a week in Da Nang Hosp. then 3 days in the Philippines and 3 days in Japan but ended up in Portsmouth Naval Hosp, as I had a sister in Norfolk. After awhile they assigned me to the security section to check on the officers rooms to see if they needed anything and empty their trash cans etc.I wore civilian clothes and after about 3 days an elderly gentleman in the end room asked me if I was a civilian but when I said “No sir I’m a Marine” his eyes lit up and said “I’m a Marine myself” and got real excited. He said he retired a 4 star Gen.and was asst.Comandant. His name was Gen.Christian Schilt and said he received The Medal of Honor in Nicaragua in 1928.
Some photos of the Marines celebrating their birthday!
FROM A SLOW TAKE OFF TO HIGH FLYING
When people meet Capt. Kelsey Casey, they don’t initially think the petite, young woman with an energetic personality is a pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps, but once she starts talking, her charisma becomes apparent, and it’s understandable why she’s the only female AV-8B Harrier pilot in the Marine Corps.
31ST MEU SUPPORTS CIVIL AUTHORITIES WITH JOINT-SERVICE TASK FORCE IN RESPONSE TO SUPER TYPHOON YUTU
More than 150 U.S. service members arrived on the typhoon ravaged island of Tinian Oct. 29-31 in the wake of Super Typhoon Yutu, led by the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit Commander and Combat Logistics Battalion 31.
Taking shelter at the international airport, Marines with the 31st MEU arrived to support Defense Support of Civil Authorities efforts to aid local leadership and the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. Before stepping off, the units’ leaders met with local officials and FEMA representatives to gauge storm damage and response approaches.
Believed Everything I Heard
We had landing nets at 29 Palms. That’s right, landing nets right out there in the middle of the desert. They were at the enlisted swimming pool. The enlisted pool was huge and I remember hearing it said the pool was larger than Olympic size.
At the deep end it had a diving tower (at least that’s what we used it for) with platforms at 20, 30, and 40 feet in addition to the one meter and three meter spring boards on the side. Twenty feet was fun and you could almost do a belly flop from it with no damage. Thirty feet was where you had to start watching what you were doing and from forty feet, you could do some serious damage if you were not careful.
Squidly
Aug 1970: Got to Nam, immediately assigned to 1st Recon, two weeks recon training at Monkey Mountain, then assigned to a team.
On day one I could tell the jarheads were leery of this new, untested doc in their midst and were warily checking me out. On day two I walk into our hootch and my team leader is standing there with a couple minor cuts on his abdomen and a seriously deep cut on his forearm.
Nor Will Ever Be
GySgt. J. C. Strauss wrote of his experience in what we called an APA (Amphibious Personnel, Assault) or an AP (Amphibious Personnel) in World War II. They carried more than 1200 troopers and if I remember right the Mess Halls were open all the time. One of the great meals the Navy had on Wednesdays and Sunday Breakfast was “BEANS”.