Sgt Grit is a place where Marines can come and meet other Marines, share tattoos and stories, keep up with Marine Corps news, or shop for USMC gear.
Not one to romanticize war I simply write my impressions and conclusions, like this poem: A Lesson of War
No one wins in war.
Aside from the stories, legend and lore
The only gain
From war
Is an unremovable stain:
Death.
After war, some who fought
May boast that they served in battle.
I don’t think I ever will.
The lesson I learned in war is
That it is not who you fight
But who you kill.
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).
The date was Feb 67. I was on my way back after a 30 day free leave for extending 6 months. Flew in to DaNang with a E-7 sitting next to me asking a billion questions. Now at that time transit was in hardbacks near the airfield, no Hilton yet. It is night and I am BSing with a team from 26 Marines. They there for rabies shots. All the sudden we hear a “freight trains” going over our heads. Then loud explosions on other side of airfield. Well this same E-7 runs in yelling about getting into the trenches. So being good Marines we get up go out and proceed to watch the FNG’s jump into a trench 1/2 full of water and mudd. We did not say a thing, just walked back to the hootch a went to sleep. Funny, never saw that Gunny agian. Semper Fi
While in artillary stationed in ICorps I got very sick. I was med evaced to a hospital in Danang. While I was hospitalized I got a dear JOHN letter from my girl at home. There was a list at the hospital of girls who would write to service personnel in Vietnam. I began writing to Lori Ivy. When I was released from the hospital I was still weak from my illness. I was sent home. I lost Lori’s address. I never could thank her. I couldn’t tell her what her letters meant to this young Marine sick on the other side of the world. I couldn’t even tell her I was sent home. To this day I think of her and hope somehow she will know how important she was to someone she never met. Semper-Fi Lori Ivy. ??
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.
IWO TO, Japan — At the base of Mount Suribachi on Iwo To, among the most iconic places in Marine Corps history, U.S. Marine, Army and Air Force veterans, families alongside U.S. and Japanese leaders and other distinguished guests gathered to commemorate fallen service members during the 72nd Reunion of Honor ceremony, March 25, 2017.
In your newsletter one person in a a comment went to Thailand after the War- my best friend is there too- wound up in Pattaya Beach- ( hope it is spelled correct) – fed up with bullshit here in the states- and a big ex-pat community there- also- one group is in the Philipines too- sorry to say that I can feel for those who found it tough to exist here. I stayed like many others and faced and still face some assholes who still are arm chair quarterbacks as to expounding information – and naturally all wrong it seems. The world is not what it used to be- and now with ISIS and the nut job in North Korea- a President who is a new experience for us- who wants radical changes ( good and bad ) for us. I have no answers– but I would enlist again in a heartbeat if I was younger and faced with the same decision parameters as I was against in 1963- I am proud of Old Glory and the U S of A – and still get riled about the wanna-bees who abuse our Country for silly rhetoric- and thank you Sgt Grit for a place to rave and rant about a chance to voice our opinions- we do not always agree- but enjoy the present- look forward to the future- and remember the past.
While doing some research on a now deceased 6th Division Marine, I came across a fascinating memento from the Okinawa Invasion which this Marine, Robert G. Sproul, Wilmington, DE, had participated in. Among his souvenirs was a Japanese battle flag taken from a dead Japanese soldier during the battle. These battle flags, popular with many Japanes soldiers, were signed by family and friends with exhortations of good luck. The silk or cotton flags adorned with Japanese writings around the large red sun were worn around the soldier’s abdomen before going into battle. This particular flag has faded blood stains and what appear to be bullet holes. A poignant personal reminder of the Marine’s war in the Pacific during WWII.
Then Tell Me What You Have To Say
Somehow I got the feeling
That when I returned to the World
I should be ashamed.
I didn’t know why
But finally realized that I was being
blamed for the death and dying in
Viet Nam.
In war there is death.
How anyone who has not been in war
Knows what war is really doesn’t know.
If you think you know, you ought to go
And confirm that knowledge and insight.
Engage in a firefight.
Have someone shoot at you,
Be next to a man who is blown away.
Then, come back and tell me what you’ve learned.
Then tell me what you have to say.
