Category: Art

1865 Marine Emblem Buckle

Found a company that offers a lot of Civil War era memorabilia and replicas. Bought a brass puppy paws buckle that has the 1865 Marine Corps emblem on it.  A puppy paw, the belt is attached by way of three hooks on the back. Also it wraps around your waist right to left.   Anyway, I'm making a decorative belt for it. Some minor booboos that won't show when done (my eyes). Belt has U S Marines in the Middle and Semper Fi on either side. Will stamp EGA in when it gets here.   Semper Fi Choo Choo 1968 – 1974 RVN 70 / 71 Sgt

Correction – Story originally posted with buckle dated for the year 1859. The correct year is 1865.

Mural in Amherst, OH

A while back I submitted a picture regarding a mural painted on the side of s building in my home town of Amherst, Ohio. That first picture was of the famous photo of the second flag raising on Iwo Jima. The same young artist is almost complete a second mural on the same building of a painting of the Vietnam Memorial. The young man is amazingly talented and those murals deserve to be viewed and admired by as many people as possible. read more

Got A Surprise

Got a surprise in yesterday's mail. A fellow Marine, fellow member of AAPK and a knife mechanic put this together for me. It was originally a Camillus electrician's knife. New blades were swapped around along with Culpepper's amber staged bone handles, some file work on the back springs and an inlet Marine Corps emblem makes this a real beauty. I am tickled pink with it. read more

Fighting Huks

Enjoyed the story of fighting the HUKS. I too remember the time well. Was with MAG-16 (Helicopter Support Detachment) that provided transportation support to the fighting GRUNTS. We were home based in the middle of Clark Air Base field between runways in a tent camp. I was a SSgt at the time with Logistics Support with MAG-16 Group Supply at Oppama, Japan. 1956 – 1957. read more

Operation Silver Lance

Sgt. Grit,

This is my Zippo, I bought it while aboard the USS Cabildo LSD 16 in early 1965. I was a tank driver with B Company, 1st. Tank Battalion. We were participating in Operation Silver Lance, which involved a 7-day cruise off the coast of Mexico, and a surf landing from a Mike Boat at Camp Pendleton. Hopefully you can read what is engraved on it, my name, serial #, and the places I had been when I had the engraving done in the Philippines later in 1965. read more

Kadena Airman’s Club Lighter

Sgt. Grit,

Enclosed are a couple of my lighters from the days on Okinawa. The Kadena Airmans Club lighter was given when you paid two dollar dues for a month. They would give you something. You can wind it up and it plays China Night. I have had it 54 years! The other lighter is my zippo. I had it engraved with places we had been. I also had that lighter for 54 years. The zippo lit a lot of Camels and Pall Mall. A carton of Camels costed 80 cents a carton on the rock in 1960. read more