Category: Marine Corps Stories

Marine Warriors

My dear friends, Marine Warriors, SgtMaj John Gallegos, SgtMaj. Gene Overstreet, former SgtMaj of The Marine Corps, and MGySgt Jerry Scoggins, had a great reunion today at the Veterans Memorial in Albuquerque, NM. John and Gene are a part of the "Run For The Wall" motorcycle ride from San Diego to Washington DC with a brief stopover for R&R. read more

782 Gear

I was reading my weekly newsletter and someone was talking again about the old Corps. I then remembered a picture that was on my wall in an office I was assigned to when we moved to a new area of the base one time. I liked it and never took it down. I took a photograph of it when I retired and gave up the office. Thought I would pass it along. read more

Heartbreak Ridge

Love reading the Sgt. Grit Newsletter, I have a contribution some may find interesting.

In the summer of 1986 Clint Eastwood was directing and starring in 'Heartbreak Ridge' as GySgt Thomas Highway.  It's a bit hokey with lots of inaccuracies but still contains enough to hold the attention of most Marines.  Highway's recon unit is supposedly based out of Camp Lejeune but in fact the movie was filmed at Camp Pendleton and MCAS El Toro only one month before I reported to VMGR-352 / MAG-11 / 3rd MAW (my last duty station before leaving active duty).  Clint had even signed the overhead control panel with a Sharpie on the flight deck of tail # 019, a KC-130F.  (The KC-130 is a rugged, reliable, versatile, awesome aircraft, been flying now more than 50 years) read more

Painted Stripes On Dungarees

I don't know when we started painting stripes on our Dungaree sleeves, but it was after World War II. Some were so bad and some so small that one of the guys that made stuff for the Marine Corps made Stripe markers. The original was like a box, you put that part of the sleeve where your stripe was supposed to be, then pushed the inside of the box back in, inside the sleeve, and if everything came out fine you had great looking stripes on your dungarees. read more

11th Marines

Thought I would dazzle you with some of my Nam pics. Here is an aerial view of HQ, 11th Marine Regiment, near DaNang. The Comm Plt is the small group of about 8 hooches kinda by themselves to the left of the compound. We always felt kinda lonely down the hill by ourselves. Then again it did have some advantages, nobody bothered us. If memory serves me correctly, 11th Motors was across the road on the right. At the bottom of our compound we had an Army search light detachment, attached to 11th Marines. Apparently Marines did not have search lights so we borrowed from the Army. read more

Clutching An Ammo Can

Comment on Amphibious Landing Problems.

Ken Schweim's comments on going down the nets for an amphibious landing are pretty much the way I remember it. It looked easy in the movies, but very tricky in rough seas. I am surprised more Marines did not get hurt just getting off the ship. But those who suffered from sea sickness did not care… they just wanted to get off the ship and on dry land. I will also add that going from the landing craft to board ship was just as bad. Grab the net when the landing craft was high… then before you could get your feet in the net you were dangling in the air. Grab the net when it was low… the net is bunched at your feet. Climbing up the net with all your gear was a bit harder than going down. read more

80th Year Of The Sunset Parade

I am a Vietnam veteran (1966 – 1967 Khe Sanh, 26th Marines). I was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart. My Silver Star was presented to me by the then Commandant, General Leonard Chapman in his office while I was stationed at A Co., Hqtrs. Marine Corps at the old Henderson Hall across from the Navy Annex in Arlington, Va. read more