Category: Marine Corps Stories

66 years later

Sgt. Grit,

Just got through reading your newsletter and also had just received the attached photo from my nephew who took the picture. My kids and I participated in a USO type show to raise seed money for a new HONOR FLIGHT group out of Elmira New York. The show was spearheaded by my niece Nancy who is instumental in establishing this new HONOR FLIGHT group. Anyway the picture shows myself (still lean, not as mean but still a Marine) with my kids(?) taken 66 years (actually 67 years) after I left IWO. My front license plate reads "Iwo Jima Survivor" and I still get appreciation for having been there and for my service. read more

Battery K, 4th Battalion, 13th Marines Reunion

From May 2-6, the Battery K, 4th Battalion 13th Marines Reunion association held our third reunion at Wilmington/Camp Lejeune, NC.

On 3 May we visited Camp Lejeune and the 10th Marines where we were hosted by the Regimental Commander, Col Hall, the Regimental Sergeant Major, Sergeant Major Zhorne, the Regimental Artillery Chief, Master Gunnery Sergeant Martin, and a number of Marines from the Regiment. The 10th Marines put on a static display of current Marine Artillery at the Legacy Artillery Park, including the M777 155MM howitzer, and the 120MM Expeditionary Fire Support System. After lunch at Ball Hall, we visited the Camp Lejeune War Memorial.   On 4 May, we visited MCAS New River, where we were hosted by VMMT-204, the V-22 Osprey training squadron. We were given a through tour and briefing of the capabilities of the Osprey. In the afternoon, we visited the battleship USS North Carolina in Wilmington.   After our banquet and raffle on 5 May, we all headed home. Planning is already in the works for a reunion at Ft. Sill, OK in 2014.   Battery K, 4th Battalion 13th Marines was a 155MM Sell-propelled Howitzer Battery, and was activated in 1966 as part of the 5th Marine Division, at Camp Pendleton, CA. The battery went to Okinawa, and then into the Republic of Viet Nam and provided artillery fire support for both the 1st, and 3rd Marine Divisions from the DMZ to Southern I Corps. In addition, the battery served with 1st Field Artillery Group, where it provided fire support for units of the U. S. Army, in particular the 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division. The battery was de-activated in 1970 as part of the Viet Nam drawdown. The reunion association is made up of those Marines who served with the battery during its time in before and while in Viet Nam and their families.   Semper Fi, Tom Gafford

MSgt. Thomas A. Gafford USMC (Ret.)

Need help finding a store

I am trying to find more information on the below story.  I will give you as many details as I can in hopes that someone can clarify for me.  I have tried to find the story online and I have been unsuccessful.  Here we go.

In 2002, I was told a story from an old Marine.  I being a Marine myself, was very interested in the story and eager to hear more.  The old Marine told me that he tells his story on Parris Island to recruits of what happened to him in Vietnam.  This is what I remember. read more

Capt. Lonnie Massey, WW2 & Korea

Sgt. Grit and Staff,

Thank you for your help and assistance with my recent order for replacement ribbons and the Gunner bursting bombs device for my father, Lonnie Massey.

He is a Marine and a veteran of the campaigns in the Pacific and one of the Chosin Few.  In the Pacific he was with the 3rd Marinie Amphib Corps and handled the radio repair and communications for the divisions.  He has some intersting stories about Guacalcanal and Boughanville, etc. and the radio relay and carrier platoons.  He was even one of the instructors for the original 29 Navajo Codetalkers read more

Vietnam chow and C-rats

Sgt. Grit,

I had to send you these pictures. Others have talked about cooking in their helmet but I thought you would like to see what we made. Here is L/cpl Jim Berry fixing what we called chili in his helmet. We would ask our folks to send us chili powder and tomato sauce. Then we would empty out all the meat products from a case of C rations mix heat and serve. We were on the go a lot and made the best of any situation. My dad sent me a care package every week, these consisted of cigarettes, a local newspaper, salami, pepperoni, cookies and a small jar of manhattans, a family drink. Jim was my best friend in Vietnam we shared everything. Sadly Jim was killed in a motor cycle accident a few years after getting home. read more

LVTR-7 on a trailer

The kind of truck the expensive driver drove……this one was on the maintenance ramp at Camp Schwab over a weekend, probably in the spring of 1977……the vehicle on the trailer is a LVTR-7, the Recovery version of the P-7 family, later called AAVs……..R&E, if visible, stands for Replace and Evacuate, which is a Depot overhaul program intended to remove vehicles from the FMF while overhaul is still economically repairable….a one-for one exhcange. The truck likely belonged to Truck Company, H&S Bn, 3rd FSR…….they moved 128 tracked vehicles from Schwab to Naha Port that year….all between midnight and sunrise, which is when the Japanese permitted wide loads on their roads. read more

Rolling Thunder Independence

Sgt,

Almost finished with our trip.
As I said, Many people will never get a chance to visit Washington, D.C and see the monuments there relating to the various wars our service men and women have fought in.
And seeing the professional staged photos in Magazines and on the web, I feel don't give the real life of being there experience that the photographs you take personally does.
So in that vein, I hope these are acceptable substitutes.
Any one that wants to download save and share you're more than welcome to do so. I only ask one thing, don't claim them as your own. read more