Category: 3rd Marine Division

Con Thien “Hill of the Angels”

Con Thien was a hill, 158 meters high! It was actually a cluster of three small hills. It was an ugly bare patch of mud! Local missionaries called it “The Hill of the Angels” due to the massive amount of casualties attributed to the hill. The hill was only large enough to accommodate a reinforced battalion. It was the northwest anchor of what we Marines called the “MacNamarra Line.” The “MacNamarra Line” was actually a 600-meter clearing constructed by the 11th Engineers as a buffer zone from the Laotian border to the South China Sea. The “Strip” was originally constructed for the placement of sensors to detect enemy troop movements, but the project was called off in favor of fortifying Khe Sahn.  read more

miss it all

man, I miss it all. I miss being an 18 year old buck fresh on the rock. I miss the morning 5am PT runs around Camp Schawb, I miss the force marches from Schawb to Hansen and back. The chow, I was one of those "son, you can go to jail or join the Marines" guys, I was use to bad chow in juvy so Marine Corps chow was a step up and SOS wasn't all that bad with eggs. Most of all I miss the floats to PI, man…I wore myself out on PI.Funny how much I hated it then, little did I know it was the time of my life.  H&S Co, 3/9, 3rdMarDiv 1975 – 1977 read more

Battalion Field Meet

Came upon push ball photos in an earlier Sgt Grit News Letter and would like to submit push ball, dizzy izzy, fireman carry and mile relay from battalion field meet Camp Foster. Would like to add that at the beginning of the push ball there had to be close to 100 Marines competing near the end you can see about 20 remaining.
Added two pictures of my cousin John  Fox in Alphas and holding an impressive Moray eel in Okinawa after returning from Viet Nam. Seems our family had a tie to Okinawa, both of our fathers served in the Navy off of Okinawa in WWII. Both of our fathers' had passed way when then Lt John Fox FDNY was awarded the highest medal for valor from the FDNY after the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing.  read more

Chow at Kadena AFB

Some of the stories about bad Marine chow brought  back memories. I was with 1/1 3rd Mar Div in 1983 for a 6 month tour on Okinawa. After being on "the rock" for two weeks and eating less than stellar chow at the camp Hanson chow hall, I couldn't wait to go out to Kinville and get some chicken fried rice….no onions on most evenings. Anyway I was with H&S Company Supply and had to go to Kadena AFB to pick up some equipment. I grabbed a guy from Motor T with a jeep license and off we went. I picked up the equipment and since it was almost noon the Motor T L/Cpl asks me if I'm hungry. Hell yes I said. When aren't Marines hungry? He said he had eaten at the Kadena chow hall & the food was damn good. So off we go to the chow hall. I could not believe my eyes. You had more than ONE choice of entrees. WTF? As a matter of fact there were FOUR main entree choices. The dessert choices seemed endless!!! After filling my plate, I turn around to get a seat at a table and low and behold…..There are actual TABLECLOTHS on each table with salt & pepper shakers and napkins on each table. (I think I died and went to chow hall heaven). But that's not all. I was told that you could go and get SECONDS if you were still hungry. Well, being a good Marine, I had to test that rumor and found out it was TRUE. Needless to say I tried to get to Kadena AFB as often as possible. Man those fly boys had it good. I often wondered if the Marine Corps chow was so bad to keep us Devil Dogs pissed off and ready to kick some azz. Just a theory. read more

Kuwait Oil Fires

To those who are veterans of Desert Shield/Storm, this may be a sight you may remember.  I've had it in my dreams for over 20 yrs and needed to "exercise it out of me", or at least make an attempt to paint what I remember.  I feel like I succeeded in that it has become a great focal point for me to just sit back and get lost in it.  2'x4' Acryclic on MDF. read more