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Captain Trautwein was the C.O. of Charlie Co., 1/1 in late 1968. I arrived in country in early October 1968 and this story takes place during my first day out in field, Dodge City south of Da Nang. As we were sweeping through knee high grass and bushy tree lines we came under fire from a tree line across a grassy field. Captain Troutwein shouted for the company to move forward to a dike in the middle of the field. That grassy field had 8 inches of water on either side of the dike and we proceeded to lay down in the water behind the dike. For several minutes 5 or 6 Viet Cong raked us with AK fire. Suddenly, Captain Trautwein stood up, calm as a cucumber. Now, you need to know about Captain Trautwein. He was an enlistedman in World War II and Korea. He has been promoted to officer ranks sometime between Korea and Vietnam. From my vantage point behind the ten inch dike laying in 8 inches of water, the Captain was silhouetted against the morning sun. He withdrew his .45 and yelled, “Sergeants, get you men on their feet and prepare to assault!” We all thought, “WHAT THE H___?” But, all the sergeants got up and started yelling and kicking Marines. “Get on you feet!” The Marines around me jumped to their feet and started hooping and hollering like crazy indians, so I followed suit. Then, just as calmly as when he stood up, Captain Trautwein bellowed, “Assault!” We lit up that treeline with everything we had, as fast as we could. When we got to the treeline we found only sandal prints and expended cartridges. Months later when recounting this story to some new arrivals, one of the Marines who was present that day explained what I had missed. As we swept we had pre-arranged artillery missions planned all around us. In particular, if we were hit, we would call in a barrage that rolled towards us upon the enemy. Captain Trautwein knew this, but more importantly so did the Viet Cong. They knew they only had 6 or 7 minutes to give us their best shot before artillery started raining down on them. So, when Captain Trautwein stood up the Viet Cong had already started running to our flanks away from the artillery. That assault was a military necessity and also a moral building stagecraft. Anyway, when we reached the treeline we were elated and high on adrenaline. Thank you, Captain Trautwein! read more

I went through boot camp back in 1984, and was assigned to 3rd Bn, Plt 3050. We had moved out to the rifle range and were staying at the barracks out there. One day while we were out there we were all standing on line in front of our racks while the Senior DI walked down the squad bay . Standing directly across from me was recruit Seals. Unknown to me at that time was that recruit Seals had a lower plate of false teeth. As the Senior DI (S/Sgt Wallace) passed by in front of me, and looking in my direction. Recruit Seals started flicking his false teeth out of his mouth. The sight of this caused me to laugh, and also caused recruits Reese and Elison to laugh as they were standing on either side of me and could see what Seals was doing in their peripheral vision. S/Sgt Wallace then stopped and asked why I was laughing and I responded, “Sir, no reason sir”. He also asked Reese and Elison and got the same reply. Needless to say we were sent to the Quarterdeck for remedial PT. The next day, same scenario, S/Sgt Wallace walking down the squad bay and recruit Seals does the same thing causing me, Reese, and Elison to start laughing again. Again asked why we are laughing and again told him “Sir, no reason sir”. Once again sent to Quarterdeck for an even longer remedial PT session. After that session we went back to recruit Seals and asked him to stop as we were tired of getting remedial PT from him making us laugh. Well the next day same scenario. S/Sgt Wallace is walking down the squad bay and we are all standing on line. Recruit Seals was not smart enough to quit while he was ahead and just as the Senior DI passed me, he spun around and caught recruit Seals with his fake teeth hanging out of his mouth. Once again I started laughing, as did Elison and Reese. At the sight of Seals standing there with his teeth hanging out, S/Sgt Wallace put his head down so the brim of his cover would conceal the fact he was laughing, he walked straight back to the DI hut. After several minutes he reemerged (I assume he needed a couple minutes to compose himself and get his military bearing back) he called recruit Seals to the Quarterdeck for some remedial PT. After that there were no more such incident from recruit Seals. read more

About a month ago, Staff Sgt. Dustin Gill’s life changed forever. His day started off as planned; him and his wife Cynthia packed their luggage and hit the road for their honeymoon cruise. It was a predictable drive on Interstate 26, until the couple hit dead stop traffic. read more

Stop me if you heard this one before, I was with Golf Co., 2Bn. 5th. Marines out of An Hoa. We were resupplied in the field with fresh water that came in BIG WHITE JUGS that would glow at night. I S—T you not! They could be seen for miles and miles at night. We had to take turns humping the things because they were so bright during night movements. Then, the C.O. (Lt.) gets his orders for flight training and leaves the bush. His replacement was Cpt. Darling and there was a lot of talk about him being a Grunt Officer. One of the changes he ordered is no more resupply of fresh water—which tasted bad anyways. He explained that we would get our water from the wells and so forth in the bush and for the most part we did. The few times during the summer that we could not find a water source; we learned something about ourselves and what we were willing to do to deal with our thirst. Yes, we drank some very disgusting water and it’s true some of us got some strange affects from the water but we never had to carry a target on our backs. Which was a fair trade as far as we were concern—Cpt. Darling never took unnecessary risk with our lives and that was “o.k. in my book” if you know what I mean…..Semper Fi Marines!! read more

On August 8, 1966 a four man recon team from the First Force Recon Battalion was inserted just below the DMZ in northern Quang Tri province. The team went by the name Groucho Marx and was led by Staff Sergeant Billy M. Donaldson. They were eventually discovered and trapped by the NVA. A reaction force from Echo Company, Second Battalion, Fourth Marines was sent to the rescue and part of that unit was also surrounded and trapped. A vicious over night fight ensued and eventually helicopters from HMM-265 and VMO-2 were involved. During the fight one Marine, Howard V. Lee, earned the Medal of Honor. Four Marines, including Donaldson, earned the Navy Cross, one the Silver Star and six the Bronze Star. Navy Corpsman Nicholas Tarzia also earned the Silver Star. Many were wounded and 5 Marines lost their lives. This story is thoroughly researched and included in my book Marines, Medals and Vietnam. read more

I joined the Marine Corps in June of 1965 and graduated from Platoon # 342, 3rd Battalion in September of that year. After Advanced Infantry Training at Camp Geiger, I was on my way home for leave, looking forward to seeing my girl and old friends. I didn’t realize that the recruiter in my hometown of Norristown Pennsylvania, had been reporting my progress to several high school classmates that had expressed interest in joining the Corps. Attending a high school dance with the girl I was dating at the time, I ran into one of them Michael Baronowski, or Mike as I had known him since the 6th grade, already knew about my prowess on the rifle range and that I had been promoted meritoriously at graduation, but he wanted to know more. We talked briefly about the Corps and I shared my experiences with him and told him what I thought. He thanked me and we shook hands and went our separate ways. Fast forward to the summer of 1966. I was walking thru Dogpatch on my way back from the Hill 327 PX outside of Danang to the Marine Base at Marble Mountain. It was a tropical hot, dusty afternoon and I was doing my best to keep out of the way of the never-ending stream of military traffic that was passing within an arm’s length as I made my way along the narrow shoulder between the gravel edge and the hooches clustered along the right of way. Suddenly, I became aware of a vehicle coming up fast behind me and sliding on the gravel as the driver braked hard, stopping a few feet from where I stood. At first, I could only make out the driver’s goggles as he sat there, the dust settling around us. Then I saw that big, wide smile and I knew it was Mike. How he ever recognized me from behind on that dusty, crowded street, thousands of miles from home, I’ll never know. But there he was. I jumped in and we pulled back into the never ending line of military traffic and headed for the gate at Marble Mountain. On the way, we talked about everything and laughed and joked. I commented on the dusty condition of his M-14 which lay bouncing between the seats. He jokingly told me he didn’t use it. Then reached under his seat and pulled out an open box of M-26 frag grenades. That was Mike, always making fun of every situation. When we arrived at the gate, I asked him to stay for chow, but he had to get back to his outfit that was out by the river south of Marble Mountain. We agreed that I would try to get out to his unit the next off duty time I had and we parted. A week later I was hitchhiking down the road past the Marble Mountain and ran into a Marine roadblock. An armor company was performing a search and destroy and I watched the tanks tearing around back and forth across the road for a half hour or so before heading back to MAG 16. The next opportunity to catch up to Mike didn’t come for a few weeks and I doubted his outfit would still be there, but I was preparing to give it a shot when I came back to my hooch and found the mail man had left several of my hometown Newspapers on my bunk. They were always out of date, but news from home was always welcome, so I began to unwrap each one. The last one had Mike’s picture on the front page. He’d been killed in action. I always wanted to go to Mike’s family and tell them about our last meeting, but I never did. I did find out that National Public Radio had done a program about Mike in their “All Things Considered” format, titled “Lost & Found Sound”. I have the disc which is titled, “National Public Radio’s Broadcast Of The Vietnam Tapes of Lance Corporal Michael A. Baronowski”.. Mike’s picture is on the cover with that same grin I saw so many years ago on a dusty road in place so far away. read more

This isn’t a story, but I wanted to share it. On 31 August 2017 I lost a friend, mentor and brother Marine. This is a tribute to him. Rest at Ease and Semper Fi Bobby Hill!

The United States Marine Corps’ last remaining Mounted Color Guard continues to celebrate their 50th year in service, attending rodeos, parades and other events across the country, but it’s the day-to-day life that keeps them grounded.

Members of the MCG proudly represent the Marine Corps and serve their community and country with honor. They travel extensively to participate in as many events as possible, and the invitations keep rolling in with event organizers requesting their presence. As the only remaining MCG, they are spread thin, their schedules packed with events from shore to shore, to include retirement ceremonies and high profile events such as the Tournament of Roses Parade. read more