Marine Corps Ball 1967

My first and only Marine Corps Ball was in Malta, during a 1967 Mediterranean Sea Cruise aboard the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt CVA 42. Due to the FDR being almost 1000 Ft. long we had to anchor out at every port of call. At one point we were anchored out in Malta, and a big storm came up causing the FDR to depart, stranding the lucky people on liberty. I was one of the two Marines on liberty that day, myself and Sgt. David McAnall. It was like a vacation, we stayed in a hotel for five days while the ship was gone. We were lucky to meet an American girl whose father was an oil worker in North Africa. She had two friends that were Maltese. I still have the cuff links one of them gave me, I don't remember his name. The other one was a beautiful young school teacher named Sally Moreno. She was 23, I was 20 at the time. The Maltese people are Italian by ancestry, so they speak Italian, and English. Malta was a former British Colony. read more

MCAS El Toro (kinda sorta)

It is with great sadness I send these photos. Some will recognize some things, but all of the barracks are gone. All of the housing along Tabuco/Irvine Blvd are gone. The first pic would be of the old gate #2 where the F-4 was on the pedestal. I have a story about that for another time… one pic is the old commissary gate and some from where the Main Gate used to be. I am trying to document as much as I can. read more

The Good And The Bad

About two years ago I received a phone call from Jim Kozelouzek, my bunk mate at Parris Island. We were in platoon 321, January 13, 1966. We had neither met nor spoken since graduation. I had orders for FMF WestPac, ground forces and he went to weather school in NJ. After ITR and language school I went to HQ Co, 1st Marines in August 1966. Jim arrived later and deployed from DaNang to Dong Ha. read more

No Bayonet For The Carbine

I would like to point out a flaw in our beloved Iwo Jima Monument, the Marine with the shouldered M1 Carbine clearly shows the Carbine with a bayonet attachment, The WWII issued carbine did not have a provision to attach a bayonet to the barrel; no bayonet for the carbine existed during WWII. The bayonet attachment device at the barrel was an improvement as well as an adjustable rear sight for windage and elevation, there was also a modification to the stock and a new magazine release button to hold the heavier 30 round magazine from falling out of the trigger housing and a bayonet was designed for the Carbine. read more