Category: Marine Corps Stories

Fire On The Flight Line

JP4 jet fuel used in Naval Aviation was so volatile we used it as fuel for our Zippos. Sometime in the early "60's" the Navy switched to JP5 which was less volatile and thus much safer on carriers. After the switch to JP5 we had to go back to PX lighter fluid because the JP5 mix needed more than a spark from a flint to light the flame. The jet fuel was delivered to our flight line in 8,000 gallon tanker trucks full of JP4 on the night of the fire on the VMA 212 flight line. read more

The Emblem

Thank you for your interest in my emblem. I have always been gung ho for The Corps with clothes, covers, flags and all. I know that I am Marine all the way. My wife and I went on vacation and a friend was going to redo my sunroom floor. Well he got together with my wife about my service and decided to do this to surprise me. Wonderful surprise. It's not painted. He used colored cement and did a beautiful job. I was in Vietnam in '66/'67 and received two Purple Hearts, and on good days I get things done and on bad days I am 100% disabled. I thank God that I am in as good a shape as I am. God, Country, Corps! With PTSD I really put my wife thru h-ll but she loves me and saw me thru it for 46 years. God could not have given me a better wife. It took 40 years to get the VA to accept a claim and then they only went back to my last claim submission. Forget about the last 40 years of pain and Drs. and confusion. But as I said, God gave me my wife who has kept me up and going. Thru it all we have adapted and overcame. Semper Fi. read more

A Walk Through Memory Lane

Here's a short walk through memory lane for those of us that were at MCAF Marble Mountain on 28 October 1965… Ron Jennings and George DeChant were both wounded in the Ready Room (Operations?) Tent by a Sapper. Our Corpsman (actor Tab Hunter's brother) was blown up in the MedEvac bird and a few more squadron mates were killed or wounded. I have a sh-t pot full of colored slides with better shots of the whole scene including dead Charlies stacked in trucks with some missing their faces. They patched Jennings up in Japan (Yokuska) with humorous tale about his "adventures" in the Ville… Last photo was leftover Charlie grenades. read more

Semper Fidelis Marines

Happy Birthday to all of you Marines out there. Especially our former Corpsman, and more Marine than Most… Doc Erasmos Riojas a beloved "Doc" in Korea and now Navy SEAL ret'd, also to the Members of the 49th Marines (all those living above the 49th Parallel). This video is available for your viewing pleasure men. Enjoy and Semper Fidelis Marines… Hand Salute to ALL of our veterans and allied veterans… read more

191st Marine Corps Birthday

I came across a photo taken on the 191st Marine Corps Birthday, November 10, 1966 at the 1st Marine Regiment HQ compound about 10 miles southwest of DaNang. It has Col. Radics, front left and Lt Gen Nickerson, front right. I am on rear left and Cpl Rodriguez is in rear right. We were both assigned to S-2. I am also enclosing the menu. read more

Gun Totting In Frisco

In the early 1970 I was on Recruiting duty in the San Jose area south of San Francisco. We had several small offices there. About once or twice a week I’d make a trip to HQ 12 the Marine Corps Dist at 100 Harrison St downtown Frisco to pick up supplies and what not, deliver case files, police checks, and what nots. The Gunny who was in charge of supplies knew I was starting to collect WWl and WWll firearms. He told me about a gun store just up a few blocks from HQ where they had a Remington 03A3 for sale (cheap). So I’m thinking, I’m here so I better take a look. Now parking was a real problem in this area so I figured I’d just walk over as it was only a couple of blocks. This area that HQ was in was also noted for being home to a bunch of panhandlers, winos, and all sorts of odd balls. If you were in uniform, you could and would get a bunch of cat calls and B.S. from this bunch. Even though you wanted to drop kick a few of 'em we were instructed to ignore they’re BS. So I go to the store, looked at the firearms and figured I was here, had money in pocket. The kids would have to live on peanut butter and jam for a week but what the hell, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, right. So I paid for the piece and walked out the door. As I stood on the sidewalk, rifle in hand, I think how do I carry this thing back to HQ. Port arms, trail arms or right shoulder arms or what? So I take it by the forearm, butt stock over my shoulder and took off. I hadn’t gone 10 feet and I knew I’d made a bad decision about not driving. The first people walking on the street who saw me ducked in the nearest store or they crossed the street and the further I went more of 'em vanished. I passed a SFPD car with two cops sitting it, they looked at me nodded, I nodded and kept walking. I think I know how Moses felt at the Red sea. When I got to 100 Harrison St, no cat calls this time. Nobody said anything. As I was telling the gunny what I did, the Major came out of his office, looked the rifle over, handed it back and as he walked away I remember his words like it was yesterday ”Top, hope you were smart enough to put it in a gun case.” read more

Both Corps’

I was reading your Oct magazine today and a write up from SGT BOB HOLMES mentioning over the side in '53, well I was a Royal Marines Commando on board USS Mount McKinley the 6th Fleets Commando ship off the North Africa coast in 1962. I was in 40 Commando at the time and the USMC & Royal Marines were on a large exercise and we were climbing up and down the nets that were hanging off the ships side, then in landing craft and assault the ship using the nets, and the ship was in a 12ft swell so many Marines from both Corps were as we say "Chucking up". read more

A Marine’s Marine

While stationed with JAG at Quantico, Va. during the mid 80s, I had the pleasure of having Command Duty Officer for H&SBn. This was a 48 hour tour and to keep busy, and awake, I would conduct a routine walk through of the three buildings occupied by the battalion personnel.  While making my tours I would ensure proper security, stop and speak with some of the Marines as to any problems or questions they might have.  I actually enjoyed this part of my tour as I got to know some of the new Marines and where they worked. During one tour early in the morning I happened to see a few Marines talking in the common area but I did not want to disturb them so I acknowledged their presence and continued my tour. I did take notice of one Marine whom I did not recognize but I thought him distinguished and tall.  read more