Category: Other Eras

D.U.K.W.

Dear Sgt. Grit

I was a between the wars Marine and served from 10/55 to 10/58 with 5 years inactive reserve. My first and best duty station,  following P.I. (Platoon 164) and I.T.R. at Pendleton, was at  Camp McGill Japan. Camp McGill was a former Japanese naval base and my draft wound up in the 1st Amphibian Truck Co., 2nd AMTRAC Batt. 3rd Marines. The company was soon downsized to platoon strength and became the 3rd D.U.K.W. Platoon with Capt. Dave Dichter commanding. 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

Old Cold War Marine

Here I am during war games when stationed with the 4th Marine Regiment 1958 I was in Bravo Anti Tank Co and we had the first Ontos.They were mostly out of commission and not reliable at all. The small engine and transmissions did not hold up. This was post Korean War area and the corps was downsized. We seldom got new equipment but rebuilt and hand me downs from the army. We still had M1 Garands, the Army M14s. In the pic I had a 45 cal submachine gun which was very cheaply made. Civilians hated military in that era and it carried into the Vietnam War. This attitude by civilians made me forget the Corps as a lifer. I still consider myself a Marine and am proud of my service. It made me successful my career later. read more

Patrol the Persian Gulf

Dear Sgt Grit:   The "Horns of Hormuz" are in the news again. It appears that the Iranian government are once again threatening to close this critical waterway to shipping. However, also according to the latest news reports, there are two carrier strike groups currently assigned to patrol the Persian Gulf. One of their missions, and the Unites States Navy's mission, is to keep the sea lanes open in defense of freedom of the seas. Another of their tasks is to support ground operations in the southwest Asia theater of operations. That means he'll be supporting the Marines.   This will be my son's second deployment to SWA aboard ship. Some of his friends from high school and college have already served or are currently serving tours in-country; you can be sure that many of the crew also have friends and relatives on the ground in Afghanistan. They're all there to support each other. It seems to me that we have as fine a fighting force as can be assembled out there protecting the rights and freedoms of the Afghan people. It is an honor to know more than a few of them.    Sometimes news editorials make us wonder what business our sons and daughters have more than six time zones away, performing tasks that seem to have little or nothing to do with the average American's personal liberties. This may be so, but it seems to me that preventing terrorism and oppressive political ideologies from denying such things as universal suffrage and education for women and minorities is a worthwhile endeavor.    It's probably true that people in the Persian Gulf region have known little peace or freedom lately, but the Code of Hammurabi from antiquity, and the story of Esther from the Bible, illustrate that regardless of recent History, the people there have been trying to get it right for thousands of years. Just maybe, with our help, they can get it right this time. I believe our Marines have what it takes to help make it happen.   K. Brown   "Ah! The good old time–the good old time. Youth and the sea. Glamour and the sea! The good, strong sea, the salt, bitter sea, that could whisper to you and roar at you and knock your breath  out of you." –Joseph Conrad, "Youth".

Camp Hauge and other tidbits

I was stationed at Camp Hauge Okinawa in 1958-59.  We still had Cinderella Liberty then too.  However, since Disbursing for the 3rd and 12th Marines was detached from H&S Co and Battalion at Camp Courtney we had illegal liberty cards to get us on and off the base.  We were able to stay off base overnight.  You only had to worry about a typhoon which would keep all Marines on base after midnight.  I fortunately never got caught.  I hope the statue of limitations has expired! read more

Combat to combo master

So after the long grueling trip back from Kuwait, my platoon arrived back onboard KMCAS Hawaii and we were shown to our respective barracks.  It was zero dark thirty and nobody was around as we observed that our rooms had combo locks on the doors.  Every single one of us Marines had a room awaiting us with an unknown combo lock keeping us from the comfort of a bed.  Something long dreamed of.  We had just spent several months in the desert mostly sleeping in the pits of sand we dug for foxholes.  Dreaming of bowls of milk and cereal, the comfort of a bed and a cold beer among other things.  read more

1918 Statue of Liberty

THE PICTURE ON HERE IS PHENOMENAL.    Facts about the photo:   Base to  Shoulder: 150 feet Right Arm: 340  feet Widest part of arm holding torch: 12 1/2  feet Right thumb: 35 feet  Thickest  part of body: 29 feet Left hand length: 30  feet Face: 60 feet Nose: 21  feet Longest spike of head piece: 70  feet Torch and flame combined: 980  feet Number of men in flame of torch:  12,000 Number of men in torch:  2,800 Number of men in right arm:  1,200? Number of  men in body, head and balance of figure only:  2,000  total men: 18,000     THANKS FOR YOUR TIME CPL. CHARLES G. MORGAN