Three photos are HMX-1 at Quantico, circa 1958. The last one was at Camp Lejeune circa 1957. I "wuz" there!
Joe Featherston
Category: MAW
VMA-311 MAW I, Vietnam 1971
I was stationed with VMA-311 in Vietnam 1971. We were part of MAW I. This is a picture of our A-4s on the flight line. We flew more combat sorties then any other squadron in Vietnam.
Marine Brothers
I am Sgt. Robert McCallum. I served during the Vietnam War from 1962 thru 1966. I really have 4 brothers of my own and my younger brother Daniel McCallum was also a Marine who served in Vietnam as a Machine Gunner, nickname (Tubby Guns) I served in Washington, D.C. in the Arlington Annex, attached to "A" Company, HQBN, Headquarters Marine Corps. I had a boring job although I did see & speak with the Commandant of the Marine 'Corps several times. My brother Dan, was shipped to Vietnam and always said it was always meant for him to go so I did not have to. I always felt bad hearing that. I felt even worse when I had a message delivered to me that he had been wounded in a skirmesh with overwhelming odds. His machine gun M-60 was shot out from under him, sharpnel went through his forearm, yet he picked up the weapon, and ran through the line of VC attacking them, killing many and leading his platoon out of harms way. Dan was awarded a SILVER STAR, and did not accept it until 24 years later. He proclaimed he was not a hero, only wanted to save he & his brothers. I wish I could have been there to back him up. You can't imagine how many times I wished that. Dan made it home alive, thank God, & his Marine brothers & his training. My blood brother had issues for years and passed away at an early age from a massive heart attack. I still think of him often, like the good times of us fishing and camping, and being in the boy scouts, becoming Eagle scouts together. He was a great man, a really great brother & Marine. He is sure missed, by his real BROTHER Bob!
Airwingers
1974 While stationed at Camp Pendleton’s Airfield Flight line as Aircrew on “E” model Hueys, I was sent to get my license to drive a jeep. After the classroom portion, we went to do the practical exam by going four wheeling up in the mountains there on base. Rough job but somebody had to do it, anyway it was getting to be about lunch time and we found ourselves up in the San Onofre area of the base.
We drove down out of the hills to the main road there and pulled into the PX parking lot. For those unfamiliar with the Marine Air Wing and Crew Chiefs in particular… we did not wear normal Marine Corps sateen green utilities. We wore green Nomex Flight suites, no starch in our Covers (flammable), brown Leather Flight Jackets, black steel toed Flight Boots, no polish (flammable) and no blouse on the pant legs, and we had quite a bit of mud on us from four wheeling. For you East coast Marines San Onofre was part of MCRD Recruit Training and was used for (ITS) Infantry Training School.
Bloused trousers
The story in the March 28 newsletter, "What Saved Us", reminded me of another "Butterbar" encounter.
I was a wingwiper with VMFAT-101,an F4 Phantom squadron, at MCAS El Toro in '69 during which time a whole lot of Marines fresh from staging at Pendleton were being flown from El Toro to 'Nam. If you were one of the many you remember standing around in formations in parking lots or grassy areas by the barracks across the street from the flight line waiting for your platoons to board the chartered airliners.
America’s Top Female Guitarist
Desiree Bassett, daughter of a Marine and a proud Sgt Grit customer, is America's Top Female Guitarist. She is currently the Lead guitarist for the Cirque De Soleil Michael Jackson, The Immortal World Tour.
When telling of how she got started playing the guitar she said, "My daddy was an E-4 in the USMC stationed at Kaneohe bay, Hawaii from '83-'88 as a 6060 (Flight Equipment Marine), and he did two WestPac tours. He actually bought a guitar in a pawn shop on Okinawa, Japan, and subscribed to guitar player magazine and taught himself how to play below deck on a Helicopter Carrier; when he got out of the Corps, he got married, they had me, and he taught me how to play on that same guitar, which we still have.
Cactus Air Force Marine
Our brothers who have gone before us beared greatly on the fabric of
the Corps we are privileged to wrap ourselves in as Marines past and
present. It saddens my heart as I read the letters in Sgt. Grit and
learn how those from the greatest generation diminish in numbers with
each passing year. I have been blessed to cross paths with a few of
these Marines and cherish those events.
The Woman Marine Pilot
The Woman Marine Pilot…
The teacher gave her fifth grade class an assignment: Get their parents to tell them a story with a moral at the end of it. The next day, the kids came back and, one by one, began to tell their stories. There were all the regular types of stuff: Spilled milk and pennies saved. But then the teacher realized, much to her dismay, that only Janie was left. "Janie, do you have a story to share?" "Yes ma'am. My daddy told me a story about my Mummy. She was a Marine pilot and her plane got hit. She had to bail out over enemy territory, and all she had was a flask of whiskey, a pistol, and a survival knife. She drank the whiskey on the way down so the bottle wouldn't break, and then her parachute landed her right in the middle of 20 Iraqi troops. She shot 15 of them with the pistol, until she ran out of bullets, killed four more with the knife, till the blade broke, and then she killed the last Iraqi with her bare hands." "Good Heavens," said the horrified teacher. What did your Daddy tell you was the moral to this horrible story?" "Don't f–k with Mummy when she's been drinking."VMFA 334
Regarding VMFA 334, MAG 13, 1st MAW information request
Name: Richard Augustine Deleidi
Branch/Rank: United States Marine Corps/O3
Unit: VFMA 334 MAG 13
Date of Birth: 30 January 1945
Home City of Record: El Cajon, CA
Date of Loss: 07 February 1969
Country of Loss: South Vietnam/Over Water
Loss Coordinates: 155450 North 1082411 East
Status (in 1973): Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered
Category: 5
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4J #155762
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident: Charles W. Maxwell, 1st.LT, RIO; rescued
Refno: 1373
Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following:
raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews and CACCF (Combined
Action Combat Casualty File). Updated 2004 with information from John
Pagel.
REMARKS: No further information available at this time.
VMFA-334
I'm an ageing F-4 enthusiast resident in the UK who is currently researching the history of VMFA-334 (F-4J Era '67/'71 at El Toro/Da Nang/Chu Lai/Iwakuni). I've attached a couple of pictures from some 1969 cruise books. They show the wreckage of F4J 155744 WU-12 which was recovered from Da Nang Bay – it crashed in 1968 but happily both crew ejected and were rescued. Why would it have been recovered? Who would have salvaged it? Does anyone have a photo of it in one piece?