During West-Pac '83 we had plenty of Ops. in 1/6.One of Lt. Col. Wes Fox's many "walks in the sun",as he would say,was a Joint Air Transport/Supply kinda deal (can't recall the official acronym) where we supplied troops for the Air Force MAC Pilots.We took 141's to Rota,then 130's to Tinian as the Jets could not handle the old B-29 airfields there.
Category: 2nd Marine Division
WHERE TO START?
I just found the Sgt. Grit site, and don't hardly know where to begin. Enlisted August 1957 (#1800034), went to PI after 2 weeks of flu. 6'2", 127 lbs. The doc at the initial physical (Albany, NY, before the trip to PI) tried to send me home. I left PI in Dec at 185, after eating everything I could get my hands on (like "ice cream sandwiches; 2 slices of bread with a little ice cream smeared between them.) The food was great at PI (but then again I was always hungry). PT was no problem to a kid raised on a farm, who ran the woods hunting, fishing and trapping. Sgt. McKeon had just screwed up; the DI's were a little more careful, but nothing much changed. We had the "buckets". wash pads, little lengths of string to tie your clothes to lines, incredible heat dried your clothes by the time you had them hung. Was a 2771 (ground radio repair) and went TAD every chance I got (Camp Elmore and Little Creek, VA; USS Northampton (CLC-1), various LeJeune units) until I made corporal. Would not have missed the experience for anything. Got out and went to college (no GI Bill; it was passed after I graduated on my own dime.) After grad school had a chance to go back in at mid-officer rank, and sort of regret not doing so. It was mid-VietNam, though, and who knows how things might have gone…….
APA 38–USS Chilton
Made a Med Cruise with K-3-2-2 on the Chilton in 61-62. It was an old tub but the Captain made sure ALL Marines worked and the CPO sent me to the barber shop. Never cut hair before that day and the swabbys on that ship hated me with a passion because they all looked liked jarheads. The CPO in charge gave me two extra days of liberty for doing a "great job" L/Cpl. T.R. Pemberton
Yesterday
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."
Can Anyone Identify My Dad’s Marine Buddies
Hello, my name is Lisa. My Father was GEORGE ORLOW BALL, he is the man in the middle of this photograph. But I do not know who his friends were. Can you identify the other two men for me??? And possibly where and when this photo was taken???
George O. Ball was born August 8, 1930 in Johnson City, NY. Son of George L. Ball and Olna M. (Demming) Ball. He enlisted into the Marine Corps August 10, 1948 in Albany, NY. At the age of only 18. He served in -Hq. 2nd Shore Party Battalion, 2d Marine Division, FMF. He held the rank of Sgt. when discharged. He enlisted at DHRS, Albany, NY in Aug. of 1948. Honorably discharged Aug. of 1952 from Camp Lejeune, NC. He participated in the Korean War ("Conflict" my ass, they weren't shooting rubber bullets over there!) In fact, he was shot thru his helmet in the head. Thankfully it was one of those shots that "grazed" the side, whereas it just went thru his helmet, to the top layer of skin and ricocheted around underneath the scalp. At the time, as he put it, the doctors etc, were "Too Knife Happy" and chose to not have it removed. When I was a little girl, I'd sit on his lap, and you could see the bullet there, and there was no mistaken that it was, in fact, a bullet! I'd rub the bullet and ask him if it hurt. His reply was just laughter, and "No honey, it doesn't hurt anymore". Certainly, at that age, I had no idea of knowing what else may have hurt him even more than that during his "Korean" experience!
Midnight Radio Watch
This picture was taken in the field in Italy near Naples January 86.
Pictured left to right are Cpl Bob"Mannix" Maniscalco, Cpl Carlos "Little Juan" Torres, LCpl Steve "Shit Kicker" Tuey, and me Cpl Howard Cooper.
It was certainly cold that night. Our taxi, the Guadalcanal (LPH-7) was docked in Naples. Soon after this picture was taken we got the news the Challenger had exploded during liftoff. It's like do you remember where you were when Kennedy was shot, when Elvis died, when the Berlin Wall fell, and September 11th, 2001. If you guys see this drop me a line.
TOW Missile Training Camp Lejuene
In 1976 I was assigned to cover the firing of the TOW Missile by Marines of the 2nd Marine Division to go with a story the Joint Public Affairs Office at Camp Lejeune was going to release. At first we found it difficult to catch the missile as it came out the tube, just before its rocket moto kicked in. I asked one of the officers at the site to describe what happens and what the timing is between the missile being launched and the motor kicking it. With the knowledge that the motor kicks in 1.5 seconds after the missile is kicked out of the tube, I was able to count one-one thousand, two— and then release the shudder to catch the missile. I had taken 5 rolls on a previous day and never had a single missile in the frame. We were not using motors or autowinders which were rarities in the military for photojournalist at that time. However, with the delay time I was able catch a missile in every frame of a 36 exposure role the next day, when this picture was taken. It is from my files. I later received a letter from Hughes Aircraft saying this was the first pictures they had seen of the TOW being fired, where you could see the missile as it was launched. The reason for the problem was that there was an explosion which kicked the TOW out of the tube, then 1.5 seconds later another when the rocket motor fired. A big enlargement of this picture at one time to hung over the doorway at Hughes, Culver City production facility.
Marine Corps Hymn Power
Ron Sandburg of Bixby, OK, came by the store the other day. He has installed one of the horns on his scooter. Just after entering the doorway he plays it. You know…. the women in my office just do not appreciate the positive benefits of hearing the Marines' Hymn at high decibel levels. So I took his picture and here he is.
In support of Operation Desert Shield/Storm
This picture was taken a few days after my Units arrival in Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Shield/Storm. My Unit arrived on Xmas eve 1990 and within 3 days they made sure to stick us (the Jarheads) out in the middle of nowhere. We continuously moved every few days up until the start off the ground offensive when we were staged outside Kuwait and consequently made the breach towards Kuwait city.
2nd Reunion
This is our second reunion since I got out in 1983, and found these guys thanks to my computer. There were three that couldn't make it this year including a lt. col. that is retiring next year. We were his first unit as a second lt. We are planning on going to camp Lejune for the ceremony in June 2002. I'm still looking for a few more marines that we served with. By the way my last name is Fioretti, nobody said it right it just came out Freddy, after the first year it was shorten to Fred, that's where camp Fred is. I hope the pic comes through.