Author: SgtGrit

Camp LeJeune (2nd Mar. Div) – 1949 – cleaning my BAR – lost it on forward slope of a hill March 2, 1951 courtesy incoming mortar fire. Went over the wall at Inchon Sept. 15, 1950 … served under Lewis “Chesty” Puller at Hagaru at the reservoir. This aside: just prior to the Inchon landing my fire team leader Cpl Boyer, who had served under Puller in WW2, gathered us one evening in the cafeteria of the ship – says “Well children, it goes this way, the 7th got Litzenberg, the 5th got Murray … and we got Puller.” Noticing the puzzled looks, he tossed in ” Puller will enter with a death wish, and will take as many of us with him that he can.” At the makeshift airstrip at Hagaru the man would stand in clear view of the nearby hills and scan the area … maybe not a death wish but surely the fearless warrior he is portrayed as.
George Elsasser – 1949-52 – discharged a buck sergeant. read more

Sgt. Grunt, I sure enjoy this newsletter. I have two stories to tell. First- I joined the Corps in July 1950, when I was 18. I was in Plt. 33 MCRDSD we had about 10 di’s altogether because Korea had started. There was cpl. puckett, cpl. parrish, cpl. morgan, pfc van ert, pfc weiland and about 4 others. Our sdi was t.sgt. jc dozier and he was a good one. About our 8th week he had us drilling on the parade ground and we were sharp. The base band started playing the Marine hymn, so sgt dozier marched us close and yelled ” strut you sons of b$*&^s strut and strut we did. I’ll never forget his cadence ‘ 3 4 to your lell, 3 4 to your lell’.
Second story- I was in radio school in the fall 1950 froc 8 mcrdsd, two guys were comparing who had the toughest boot camp pi or sd. They got into a fistfight, a great fight, clean. pfc Casey was from Queens, NYC, PFC Murray was from Kansas, it went on for about 10 minutes. Murray won, but as far as the toughest boot camp, that’s determined by the drill instructor. Semper Fi to all Marines past and present, and Gods blessing on the USMC.
C.B. Feeny sgt 1126964 mos 2531 50-54 read more

I was in the Corps from 91-98, and in ’03 I joined the Army Reserve, and in ’05, I went active duty Army and got shipped off to Korea. Well, I’m out of the Army now due to a torn up knee, but I really miss the “good ol’ days.” They didn’t have digital cameras when I was in Okinawa, but I didn’t blow my chance when I got to Korea. I knew the tight relationship and history between the USMC and the ROK Marine Corps, and when our KATUSA’s (Korean Augmentation To U. S. Army) learned that I had served in the Corps, I got a lot of attention. I learned that even though the Korean people are peace-minded and tend to shy away from military actions, they have an intense pride in the ROK Marines. There’s ROKMC souvenir stores everywhere, and every one I visited had ROKMC veterans hanging around swapping stories. Sound familiar? 

Anyway, I went on a DMZ tour and toured the Korean War Museum while I was there, and I have probably over a thousnd pics on my computer from my year there.  Here’s three that I like a lot. The first one is at OP Dora, overlooking the DMZ and into North Korea. The other two are in the Korean War Museum in the ROKMC Memorial Room. read more

Thomas Moore’s story reminded me of a story about my first CO (G Co. 2/5, 1970) in VN. He was a 1st. Lt. and for the life of me I wish I could recall his name. Anyways, our company had finished our 30 days in the brush and was supposed to go back to An Hoa for a three day break. However, Intelligence told the Bn. CO that a RAV compound located next to Liberty Bridge was going to get “hit” and we were re-routed in order to reinforce this position. We couldn’t lose the bridge. We only stayed on this site for a couple of days, but due to the filth of the area around this compound, men started coming down with everything you could get in VN. We were sending guys to the USS Sanctuary a few at a time. read more

Our name dates back to the early 1900’s from a fur trapper testimonial. He wrote that while trapping, his gun jammed leaving him with only his knife to kill a wounded bear that was attacking him. He thanked us for making the quality knife that helped him to kill a bear, but all that was legible was “K a bar”. Honored by the testimonial, the company adopted the phrase KA-BAR as their trademark. read more

I was an early Vietnam Marine (’65-’65). I was a Combat Engineer and worked out of Carmon Bay. To this day I have disagreements with people about Navy Corpsman.

Here is the way I explain it and when they hear this they say no more. The only difference between a Corpsman and a Marine is they wore Navy Rank on a Marine uniform. As far as Marines went they were part of us. They deserve all the honor that goes to the Marines. They fought alongside of Marines, they died with Marines. They are, as far as I am concerned, Marines. read more

August 1969 I was preparing to start college while working in a steel mill. At 18 years old this seemed a hard way to get ahead. With out thinking too far ahead I went to the Armed forces recruiter station to join the Navy. I figured how hard can the Navy be (my apologies to all the Docs I certainly know better know how great you guys are). The Navy recruiter was out too lunch and a voice bellowed from the back of the room he will be back shortly have a seat. I am ashamed I don’t remember his name but he was the most squared away looking man I had met in my young life, A Staff Sergeant in the United States Marines. Needless to say while he ate his lunch at his desk we decided the Marines might be just the challenge I was looking for. read more

I remember it well also it was at the foot off Hill-327. I spent many sundays trucking Marines to the PX and Beer Garden there. Had more than a few there myself and even met one of my drill instructors there. The thing that I remember the most about the beer garden is that it was huge and always full of service personel from all branches and we all had to check our weapons in at the door. Also a great place to appropriate a new jeep or 5 ton from the Army to give the mechanics something to paint MC green and put new TAC marks on. read more

Every day flying the H-37 “Deuce” was not without some sort of adventure for the Flight Crew of this particular series helicopter. Some of the events that transpired were planned and some were not.

I recall one incident that happened on the way flying back from, I think it was Florida from a place then known in the Aviation Field as PAR (Periodic Aircraft Rebuild) I think that was what it stood for, except we used to call it (Paint And Return) because that’s about all they did at that time. Anyway, when we received the Aircraft at NAS Jacksonville it had all the windows and hatches installed. Just like it came out of the factory. read more

The recent medal for bravery that I received for actions in Vietnam along the banks of the Song Vu Gia River while trying to save a wounded Marine has received an invitation from Pat Boone to meet him while he is in Chattanooga this month. The connection between Mr. Pat Boone and I goes back to his wonderful song “Moody River”. This song was playing on the radio at the time I was serving in Vietnam. It was my favorite song. read more