Author: SgtGrit

From a Marine LCpl who served in Iraq

Just wanted to share with you a story of the old stereotype of combatants not wanting to mess with the USMC. A fellow Marine from my unit here in Hawaii just returned this week from Army airborne jump school in Georgia. He was talking to one of the Army Captain instructors there and the Army officer told my friend that he was in Iraq guarding the border to Syria. My friend was in Iraq on the 13th MEU so they got to talking about the war. The Captain was saying how funny it was that at the beginning of the war that they never took fire. then after the war ended little by little they would take more and more fire upon their camp and soon it was to the point that it was almost routine, well after the war was over, and noted how odd it was. He continued on to say that before they left they got a small unit of Marines in there camp and the shots stopped coming in. so this army unit spray painted all there trucks with USMC and according to this army Captain, they never were fired upon again. My friend who is a cpl told the officer that it wasn’t odd that the shootings into his camp were nothing at first and heavy towards the end due to the fact that the Iraqis knew the Marines were still around during the war, and as Marines started leaving after the war the Iraqis wanted to see what they could get away with, so they fired a few times, and it continued. A quick side note here, no one from that small army camp ever investigated those shots fired. I can tell you from my unit that was in Iraq, there’s no way in h*ll I hear shots fired at me and someone’s not going to go check it out. Oh well, that’s just my 2 cents proving the old stereotype that other countries can distinguish between the USMC and the US Army and they wont mess with the Marines. Keep up the good work Marines. read more

In 2015 a private, non-profit organization known as History Flight excavated what is believed to be Cemetery 27 on the island of Betio, Tarawa, and recovered the remains of multiple individuals, one of them being Whitehurst.
“It’s a very humbling experience and an honor to bring him back home,” Ashley said. “I knew it was going to be a high-visibility event, so I wanted to make sure everything was done right for the family so they could have closure. “It needed to be picture perfect, if for nobody else but him, because that is what he deserved,” he added. “He deserved to have the perfect transportation back home to Alabama soil.”
Before his long, four-day journey began, Ashley began preparing for his task.
“I meticulously went through everything from how the remains were discovered, the fallen Marine’s history and the escort process of the remains from start to finish,” he said.
Ashley also received information that gave him more insight into Whitehurst’s Marine Corps service.
According to a pamphlet Ashley received, Whitehurst was assigned to Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, 2d Marine Division. He was part of the strategic goal of securing the Marshall Islands during World War II where the U.S. forces were ordered to secure the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Island chain in late 1943.
From Nov. 20-23, 1943, the 2d MarDiv and the U.S. Army 27th Infantry Division landed on the small Tarawa island of Betio against stiff Japanese resistance. Whitehurst was killed in action Nov. 20, 1943, the document further indicated.
“After reading it, I started to get to know who I was escorting and began to relate to him,” Ashley said.
On April 10, Ashley’s journey began as he boarded a flight at the Southwest Georgia Regional Airport in Albany, stopping at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta before arriving at his final destination at the Honolulu International Airport in Hawaii.
With great anticipation, Ashley awoke early the next morning and went to the funeral home.
“I showed up at the funeral home to inspect the remains and I made sure the uniform was perfect, to include the presentation of his ribbons,” he said. “The reality of it didn’t set in until I began reviewing the remains. It was at that moment when I realized the magnitude of my assignment.”
After signing for the remains, Ashley went back to his hotel, changed into his Dress Blue Bravo Uniform and went to the Honolulu International Airport where he participated in the first of what would be four plane-side honors ceremonies. Two more ceremonies were conducted in Atlanta and one in Tallahassee, Florida.
“Plane-side honors are a way to show gratitude to the Marine who paid the ultimate sacrifice,” he said. “This is done when the remains are transported to and from an aircraft.”
Ashley admitted his emotion and excitement grew each time for the family as he knew he was one step closer to bringing Whitehurst home.
According to the escort, he did not pay attention to individuals who gathered along the glass of the terminal or those taking photos from the airplane of the plane-side ceremony.
“As an escort, your main focus is to get the Marine home,” Ashley said. “For four straight days, this was my only concern. Nothing else mattered. “(I was) bringing back an American hero,” he continued. “(I was) bringing back (a Marine) who gave up (his life) so we can have freedom and enjoy the things we do in America.”
Ashley said the airline plane-side honor team was impressive.
“I met with the airline plane-side honor team, who were all U.S. military veterans,” he said. “Each one volunteered their own time to come in and be a part of bringing Whitehurst home.”
After arriving in Tallahassee, Ashley met Whitehurst’s family for the first time.
“I thought I was going to be perceived as just the escort,” he said. “You know, just a hand shake and thanks for bringing him home. I thought I had done my duty and that was going to be the end of it, but that is not what happened. “It was hugs and tears,” he revealed. “We had a lot of good conversations about him. It was a welcoming experience, almost like I was part of their family. “At dinner with Charles Odom, Whitehurst’s nephew, he told me I wasn’t just a Marine that escorted his uncle, that I was now kin,” Ashley said. “I was family for the rest of our lives. One of the nephews also said, ‘you’re just not family, you are like a brother to me now.’”
Ashley said he learned more about Whitehurst through the stories told by friends and family members. read more

Cpl. Nathan Bryson, a Marine veteran who most recently served as a motor transport operator for Headquarters and Support Battalion, School of Infantry East, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal at the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment headquarters in Brook Park, Ohio, April 13, 2017. read more

The first amphibious landing in Marine Corps history came on March 3, 1776, when a force under Captain Samuel Nicholas stormed the beaches of the British-held island of New Providence in the Bahamas. The 220 Marines had journeyed to the Caribbean with a Continental Navy flotilla in search of military supplies. After landing unopposed near Nassau, they captured the town and took possession of its two forts, both of which surrendered after a token resistance. New Providence’s British governor managed to ship more than 150 barrels of gunpowder out of the town before the Marines arrived, but Nicholas and his band successfully seized several brass cannons and mortars that were later put to use by George Washington’s Continental Army. read more

This took place around the summer of 1967 when VMFA-334 had just received their new F-4Js. I was a new, wet behind the ears LCpl fresh out of ‘A’ School and working on the first aircraft of my Marine Aviation career. My job was to assist a Sgt with replacing the generator on a C-117 (R4D). read more

Second lieutenant Lillian Polatchek, the first female Marine to attend the Army’s Armor Basic Officer Leaders Course at Fort Benning, Georgia, graduated at the top of her class April 12, 2017.

Polatchek, a New York native, was commissioned in November of 2015 after attending Connecticut College. After graduating The Basic School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, she reported to the Marine Corps Detachment at Fort Benning, Georgia to attend the U.S. Army’s Armor Basic Officer Leaders Course. read more