I met Gunny Basilone when he was on a war bond drive at the age of 12 and that very day decided to be a Marine. Enlisted on my 17th birthday, twice wounded in Korea and retired at age 32 as a result of the wounds. Have never regretted it – would do it all over again. Than you Gunnery Sergeant Basilone.
Category: Marine Corps Stories
Drill Instructor do have a heart and passion
I started boot camp MCRD SD Feb 5th 1960. My Di’s were Sgt Hardy and Sgt Harr, very tough and rough Marines. I was the youngest and the smallest in my plt. 216. Needless to say I got a lot of attention and none of it good. They used to grab me by my stacking swivel (my adams apple) and squeeze and ask me the eleven general orders and other things. Also they would stand in front of us when at attention and hit us in the stomach hard. Before we went to Camp Mathews we did a px call, we all had to buy chewing tobacco and we found out later why. They said that the smoking lamp would not be lit at Mathews, that was fine with me because I didn’t smoke anyway. So why the chewing tobacco?
General Ray Davis and the Tiger
“Corporal Reeves! Get your gear and follow me” the Gunny said as I hung sleepily onto a dream I was having of cool mountain streams, awaking to Gunny Randall’s course Drill Instructors voice out side my squad’s earth bermed hooch at Quang Tri Combat Base. Home of the Third Marine Division, Republic of Viet Nam 1968. I had injured my back falling out of a helicopter into elephant grass on a nameless hill near Khe Sanh. I was not hurting much now so the Gunny had made me the commanding officer’s driver and radioman. I went over to the motor pool with the Gunny.
Thanksgiving 1966
As I sit and reminisce of where I was on Thanksgiving Day, 1966, this is what comes to mind: Mike Co 3/5 was on 3 hills west of Chu Lai. One platoon was on each hill. I was in 81 mortar attached to one of those platoons. It was the monsoon season. The hilltop had been stripped of all vegetation. The mud was so deep that you mired up halfway to the top of your boots. I had eaten C-ration for over a month. No hot messhall food at all during this time, not even on the Marine Corps birthday because we were in the field on Operation Mustang. If I remember correctly, a chopper came in with our birthday treat, a can of nuts and a slice of cake.
Who Was John Basilone?
A bronze bust of Gunnery Sergeant Basilone sits in a plaza named after him in the Little Italy area of San Diego. A road at the north end of Camp Pendleton bears his name. A sign along Interstate-5 near the base tells drivers they are on “Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone Memorial Highway,” leading some to ask “Who was Basilone?”
Stolen Valor
Most of you have probably read or, have seen the latest story of stolen valor It is one of the most pathetic and perverted story I have seen in quite a while.If you have not I will sum it up for you. A former Marine and Iraq war vet is facing up to 21 years in prison for using the story of another vet who lost both legs in a humvee explosion and, later took his on life. In short he claimed to have a TBI and not only received va benefits but was also given a home from some charity.How does this happen ? What other perks did he receive in the past? He was outed by another Marine that did witness the incident.He has to have forged records ,not just an embellished story. This story is bothering me more,and really has me ticked because, we have been writing the past few days and trying to help a Brother that is not only fighting cancer but fighting the va to get one stupid rule changed and this no good s o b collects disability and gets health care and a new freakn’ house from fake injury!!! The system is more than just broken it is FUBAR!! It just boggles my mind and I am angry today and that is not good since I have failed all of my anger management classes !!! That’s just a joke to lighten the mood a little. I am still foxtrotn’ mad!!
Marine Missing From World War II Accounted For
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, unaccounted for since World War II, have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Marine Corps Pfc.Wilbur C. Mattern, 23, of Oelwein, Iowa, will be buried Nov. 21, in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. In November 1943, Mattern was assigned to Company M, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, which landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island. Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated. Mattern died on the second day of the battle, Nov. 21, 1943.
Camp Pendleton unveils Staff Sgt Reckless monument
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Camp Pendleton hosts a ceremony unveiling a statue dedicated to Staff Sgt. Reckless, the famous Korean War pack horse, at the Pacific Views Event Center, Oct. 26, 2016.
Brig. Gen. Kevin Killea, Commanding General, Marine Corps Installations West – Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, as well as many Marines who served in the Korean War with Reckless, attended the ceremony.
Tough Old Birds
I was in VMGR-252 in Cherry Point from ’63-’64 and the term for going north on weekend liberty was “swooping”. I heard of guys going as far as Chicago on a week-end swoop. Typically we had a car load, 3 in the front, and 3 in the rear splitting cost and driving. South Jersey boys got off at exit three on the Jersey Turnpike and picked up at the same place on Sunday. It was pedal to the metal from North Carolina all the way, except at the Virginia border where they had a speed trap. We got caught once and split the fine. Justice of the peace had court in a gas station bay out in the boonies. It was all worth it back then. “Cherryless Point” was out in the boonies and North Carolina was a “dry” state. The only bar was a 3.2 beer joint across from the main gate called the “Rendezvous” in a strip mall with a pawn shop and not much else. New Bern, the nearest town, didn’t have much more to offer, except a motel where one might find a lady of the night. With ten thousand Marines just down the road you can see how this was a cash cow for the region, but it was mostly too crowded on payday.
Great guys
I’ll never forget Major Charron, he was a great guy. I always felt like he was more sympathetic to the enlisted men then the other officers, probably because he was a mustang officer. There were a couple of our officers who were (for want of a better term) “haughty”, but the majority were good guys, even though there was a necessary split between officer and enlisted. I can only remember one time when they fraternized off the record. A bunch of us was at Andy’s Ebb Tide bar when Captain Cannon and a couple of the other pilots came in wearing their dress whites. They came over to our table and bought us a round or two, sat down and commenced telling a few sea stories. They were great guys.