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.
This was taken when I was home on leave from ITR in March of 1970.
These are the blues I bought at San Onefre. I was a PFC but they were out of stripes so I had to endure a lot of "slick sleeve" comments. My father John Grimes, in the center, was a 3rd Armored Division Combat Veteran from WWII who fought in every campaign in the European theatre. My great Uncle Chester Schank was a WWI Veteran.
The Ka-Bar (1219C2 MK-II Knife, Fighting and Utility) was designed and first issued during the early portion of WWII. The MK-II was manufactured by several cutlery companies which in addition to Ka-Bar (Union Cutlery Co.) included Camillus Cutlery, Pal Cutlery and Case to name a few. Regardless of the brand name, they became consistently referred to as the "Ka-Bar" (similar to Kleenex).
Here's a Marine standing guard, next to a brick wall that had been hit by some sort of explosion, in what appears to be a dress blue uniform. The year was 1911 in Peking, China.
LeRoy A. Townsend
RVN '66-'67
2nd Bn, 3rd Marines
I noticed on your web page was written "The Marines of WWII and Korea were not issued leggings to be worn with utilities." Not so, at least my experience.
My reserve unit was activated in August 1950 and the next month found us at Camp Pendleton, Calif, where we were issued leggings. I have attached a photo showing me and 3 buddies at Tent Camp 2 wearing leggings under our barely visible bloused utilities. From a few photos I have, I am also shown wearing them for formal events with dress greens, but also some times no leggings while in utilities, so I guess they weren't worn for all events.
In Feb 1956 the 3rd Mar Div went and played war games on Iwo Jima. I was with Hq Co Anglico Plt. We went ashore set up radio nets. I was in a radio jeep remoted to the CP. I don't remember it before we played war games, but the pics are Mt Suribachi from below, then from on top looking at the shore line. The last pic is of the monument on top. I was a Pfc. then, was honorably discharged a Cpl Sept. 1957.
Speaking of leggings. These are the leggings and dungaree cap I wore in Korea (1950-51). They're still folded down. Some of us folded them down for comfort, and when the weather permitted, unbloused our trousers. When we went into action as the 1stProvMarBrig, the North Koreans called us 'The Yellow-Legs'. Except for the 'USMC' on our pocket, from a distance they couldn't distinguish us from the Army. We had been ordered to remove our helmet camouflage covers. Surprised the heck out of them.
I was touched by Henry Hisel's story. He like I, was a reservist 1962–1968. I wonder what boot camp he was in? I was in 1st BN, Plt. 118, MCRD SD.
The thing I wanted to tell was, during a recent static display of uniforms and memorabilia from our time in duty, I set up a clothes rack with my Dress Blues blouse and EGA NCO Guard Belt along with some other items with my Marine buddy Steve Goodman (we were in boot camp together back then…) anyway we have a senior (older than us LOL) Marine who was a corporal (buck Sgt.) in the 6th Marines who was in the fight on several islands of the Pacific in WWII, and one of them was Okinawa. In his collection was a Samurai Sword he took off a Japanese Soldier who when I asked our friend about it, I was told "well, he didn't need it anymore". Jack is about 5'6" tall and weighs about that much, but he is the "real deal" and is a great friend.
Sgt Mom thanks you Sgt Grit! She absolutely loves her bumper sticker. She said, "oh, cute. That's cute!" One of the reasons mom has such a huge smile here is because she can actually see the bumper sticker and read it for herself. Her vision is poor but the bumper sticker being so vivid she can actually see it. So she got all excited.
I just wanted to send along our sincerest appreciation for all the AWESOME Sgt. Grit items you donated to our benefit auction. We were absolutely blown away by the items you sent, especially the Marine t-shirts that depicted the state of KY. All the items were a big hit. We have raised in excess of $10,000 for our Textbooks For Troops program from the auction. Every dime of that money will go to buy textbooks for our military students and their family members attending classes at WKU. Thank you for making a huge difference in the lives of our students.
This is a photo of me with my leggings in 1951. The high top boon dockers were not issued until 1953.
Rudolph Kunzelman
