Category: Marine Corps Stories

Cake Cutting

Howdy Sgt Grit   Been some time since I dropped you a line but I'm not much of a  writer. First off I want to thank you for the good service on  order delivery's fast and in good shape'   Next, The weekly newsletter is great, I know all the Marines out  there await it each week. I try to make mine last a week, don't  always make it.   The first two photos are of the first cake cutting ceremony at  our VFW post, only five this year, will be better next year. The  cake cutters are our corpsman and me, I'm the chubby one. The  cake was made by a friend of mine and she did a beautiful job,  it is all edible including the center emblem. Nobody wanted to  break it so the post put it on a hard surface to save it.    The next two photos are  me and my brand new Grit helmet, love  it. It attracts notice and comments. Well done guys.   The last photo is me at a much younger time in life, Thought   maybe someone might remember me.   House mice, in 1951 in Sasebo JP we lived in Quonsets and we all  had a house boy or as we called the house mouse, do not know  where the term started but guess it goes back aways…   Back in 51 we had AFR, armed forces radio and these guys were  always thinking stuff up, some of the funniest were the Salushi  samurai( the Lone Ranger) and fishnet(Dragnet) These were really  funny and I'm hoping someone has a copy I can get. Enough BS for  this time, yall have a great XMass and NY and stay safe.   Dave (mavric) Erickson  The old Gunny  Semper-Fi

Thank you for your choice in preserving our freedom

As each and everyone who served in Iraq and Afganistan, thank you… People in the States really quite don't understand why the U.S. is a free Country.  They're freedom comes from each and every member of our Armed Forces.. The last time the United States was invaded around 1916, and that was Poncho Villas men in a small New Mexico town… read more

Korea, 1951

I did not know any of the Marines of F-2-5 personally in Korea during 1951 but served with them.  As a section leader of heavy machine guns with W-2-5 from Jan. 51 through Jan. 52 my guns were assigned to Dog, Easy or Fox company during our many combat actions against communist forces.  We were all young, filled with patriotism and comradeship with a common goal. read more

on Bob Hope

Thought I'd weigh in. From posts so far looks like 1964 will be  earlier than Hope encounters mentioned so far. I've attached  coverage from the Triad USMC 3rd Mar Div paper on the show too.  And some of the photos I took.   (PS: I note with interest the paper's reference to the Marines  as "Troops". I don't think it was in your newsletters but I  think in a LinkedIn USMC group a Marine took umbrage at  referring to Marines as troops, maintaining we don't call  ourselves as "troops". Looks like we do.)   In December of 1964 I was sent from Iwakuna based 1st MAW to  Okinawa for some language training (that's the source of a  couple of other stories). The school was held in a small Army  base (the name escapes me at the moment) and we were billeted  there.    It so happens that I ran across a friend from our mutual unit,  2nd Amtracs in Lejeune and he showed me around a bit As luck  would have it on Dec 20th 1964, Bob Hope made a stop in Okinawa  and put on a show at Camp Courtney. There were a lot of Marines  on Okinawa (the Rock) back in those days, and I think about all  of them showed up. I think I was nearby as I don't recall any  great trek to get there I got there early enough to get right up  to the stage, but in the right hand corner so I didn't have a  front view, but it still was pretty good. I'm a keeper, and in  my archive I found a copy of the 3rd MarDiv's newspaper (the  Triad. .Voice of the 3rd Marine Division) which covered the  show. So rather than try and recreate the show from memory I'll  share the Triad's article and photos. Also, I've included some  photos of mine. The only thing to add is I remember Jill St John  stopping in front of me leaning over and shaking my hand and  thanking me for my service.    Photos: Hope arrival at HQ and moving on to the show Marines assembling the Audience close up  Hope of course Anita Bryant introducing Jill St John It was interesting to see that there wasn't much ad lib, and  there was an assistant timing the show, bit by bit.   Don Harkness

I volunteered

I enlisted in the Marines in 1968 out of high school on a delayed entry program…arrived in San Diego in October…went through infantry training…set foot in Nam in Arpil ’69…..assigned to Delta Co 1 / 4 3rd Marine Div in I Corp…after a few months our radio man rotated to the world…I volunteered to carry it…..I did not know the life expectancy of a radioman was about 3 seconds…I was given a codebook, map, and compass…. that was my training….having to negotiate the bush by compass and map greatly improved my hunting skills I now use in northern Wisconsin woods. read more