Category: Marine Corps Stories

Plt 328’s Reunion

Dear Sgt Grit          3 members of Plt. 328 met for the first time together in 45 years at M.C.R.D. San Diego. We were there for the graduation of A Co. which we viewed as guests of Major General R. L. Bailey Commanding Officer of M.C.R.D.  After graduation, we viewed the Command Museum, Director Barbara McCurtis supplied us a very knowledgeable Guide, the Viet Nam display was interesting, and the History of the Corps was well represented.  After Lunch we picked up our new Guide; Capt Mcanany he took us through Recruit Training Regiment, which has changed allot in 45 years!  but still there where Quonset huts in the old 3rd Bat. aria that our Plt. stayed in! This is a picture of us standing in front of one of them; Left to Right;    Cpl. Enfield (4th squad leader), Ret. Capt. Steffan (Sr. Drill Instructor), Ret. Sgt. Maj. Richards (honor man)        I wish to thank you for the "care package" and doing the T shirts for me.  And especially for posting our reunion in your News Letter.    Semper Fi Terry Enfield

Quonset Huts

MCRD San Diego. There must be at least 125 Quonset Huts.     I was asked to speak at a Mess Night a few years back at San Diego.   They were kind enough to give me a Cpl to show me around. I kept asking to see the Quonset Huts. He kept looking at me like I was crazy and did not really understand what I was asking.   He later took me to the museum where there was a large panoramic picture similar to this. I pointed to the Quonset Huts. I think his opinion of my old guy senility changed a bit.   I went back there after boot camp for radio school.  I got to see and live on the “other half” of MCRD SD. Much different experience.   Sgt Grit

One of the finest Marines I ever had the honor of serving with…

Semper Fi, Sgt. Grit…This story is about one of the finest Marines I ever had the honor of serving with….and would like to hear from anyone who might have served with him also….His name was SGT.Major Richard R."Big Red" Ebert….I arrived on Okinawa in April of 1957 and was  assigned to Hdqrs Bn under Sgt.Ebert….before being assigned to Kilo Btry. 4thBn. 12th Marines heavy artillery….Before enlisting I had seen all the Marine Corps movies with the John Wayne's, Major Huxleys and all the Hollywood Marines, but none ever came close to Sgt. Major Ebert….I had just turned 17 yrs. old  and thought this man was the epitome of what a Marine should be, and what I wanted to be….He was a big man standing around 6'3 or 6'4 and weighed around 270lbs with red hair…When he spoke he sounded like a foghorn and always had the respect of everyone….I remember every morning he would personally step out of his quarters and blow Reveille with his own bugle….He'd get us on the road for PT and start us out with 100 pushups along with everything else….Every Monday night he lead us on a 20 mile hike and I mean lead us…even though he walked with a limp……Young guys were falling out behind him but he never looked back or slowed down the pace….He had seen combat in WW11, Korea, and was tough as shoe leather…The rumor was he had seen action on Guadalcanal, but no one ever dared to ask…..One evening after our 20 mile hike he came into the shower bay I was in and when he dropped his towel I noticed the ugliest scar I had ever seen on his leg,it had turned purple from the long hike but he didn't let it slow him down… And even though I knew better than to ask I couldn't resist… I said Gunny what happened to your leg ? Without even looking up he said…"caught some shrapnel" I didn't dare push my luck by asking more questions…. He wasn't the kind of man to carry on idle conversation….All business and all Marine…    From the research I've done I found He had a small part in the movie Battle Cry….His line was " Hey fellows strike up the band, Huxleys Hookers finally got here"….I've been able to find a lot of accounts of the kind of Marine he was….He was a Legend at that time to anyone who knew him…..I am very proud to have served under him and to have known such a fine Marine….  I just found out a while back that he passed away in Feb. 2002 at the age of 84 in the Clear water Fl. Area…..He had come from the Wilkes Berre/ Scranton Pa. area and was of strong Irish heritage…If anyone out there remembers this great Marine I'd enjoy hearing the great stories you might also have to tell….I'm sure when he passed away and got to the gates of Heaven, a Marine Honor Guard was standing there waiting to escort him in.   My name is Howard W. Kennedy h.kennedy[at]comcast[dot]net

Woman Marine married in Uniform

Sgt. Grit,   You asked for a picture of a woman at her wedding in uniform in the April 14th, #250 issue.  Here are two that I have enclosed of my first husband and I married at the St. John's Lutheran Church in Kailua, Hawaii in 1967, well before your Sgt. Grit business days.  We were both stationed at MCAS Kaneohe.   God's protection over all our brave men and women in the service of our great country.   Semper Fi, Diane Mallory, 1stLt, 63-67, USMC

In Rememberance of the victims of the Oklahoma City Bombing, April 19th 1995.

Amongst those who were lost in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building Bombing on April 19th, 1995, were two Marines: Capt. Randolph A. Guzman and Sgt. Benjamin L. Davis. They both worked at the U.S. Marine Corps Recruiting office located on the 6th floor of the building.  Please take the time to remember those lost in this tragic event. read more

Back Alley Revisited

Thanks for the refresher course on Back Alley. What a great card game! It seems that Back Alley was the game of the Viet Nam Era for Marines. We played it whenever we could when I was in.(69-72). As I recall you could play with 2,3,or 4. You started off by setting up your score sheet, numbering down from 13 to 1 & 1 to 13. It was a game of luck,skill & finese. It was hard to teach to a novice so without  some players with a little knowledge of the game, it was easy to lose your edge and rememberence of the rules of the game. My Father was a Marine S.B.D. & Corsair pilot on Guadalcanal and the rest of the P.T.O. (8/42-7/45) followed by China Occupation in 46. When he was sailing across the Pacific in 42 he watched them play cribbage.(He learned nothing by watching!). On his 2nd trip over he jumped in and learned the game. Cribbage seemed to be the card game of Sailors & Marines during WW II. He taught my Mother and me how to play and growing up we would play on one of the Otterman's in the living room while watching TV. That is another great card game! It is a good way for families to bond and communicate. An art that we seem to have sadly lost. Thanks again for the refresher course. It brought back a lot of good memories with a lot of good Friends.               Semper Fi,    Gene Leslie, Sgt., U.S.M.C.(Ret.) read more

Perspectiv​e

An Army grunt stands in the rain with a 35 lb.  pack on his back
15 lb.  weapon in hand, after having marched 12 miles, and says "This is shit."
An Army Airborne Ranger stands in the rain with a 45 lb.  pack on his back, weapon in hand, after having jumped from an airplane and marched 18 miles, and says with a smile, "This is good shit!"
A Navy Seal lies in the mud, 55 lb pack on his back, weapon in hand, after swimming 10 miles to shore, crawling through a swamp and marching 25 miles at night past the enemy positions, says with a grin, "This really is great shit."
A Marine, up to his nose in the stinking, bug-infested mud of a swamp with a 65 lb pack on his back and a weapon in both hands after jumping from an aircraft at high altitude, into the ocean swimming 12 miles to the shore, killing several alligators to enter the swamp, then crawling 30 miles through the brush to assault an enemy camp, says, "I love this shit!"
An Air Force officer sits in an easy chair in his air conditioned carpeted BOQ room and says
 
"The cable's out?  What kind of shit is this?" read more

Rest in Peace

I was in boot camp in 1952, can't remember my platoon number but at San Diago.

Our Sr D. I was Sgt Little, all six foot five of him. Well Sgt Little liked his refreshment just a little too much for our Jr. DI.

Sgt Little would come in at around six AM, lay down on his bunk and inform the Jr. DI to wake him at 7 AM for muster out on the parade field. The Jr. DI,( I can't for the life of me remember his name) got fed up with this and in our last week ordered four of us to pick up Sgt. Littles bunk with him in it and carry it out onto the parade field.  We all fell in and as was custom marched out on to the parade field with all of the other Platoons. When the Col. saw the bed in front of all the other pltoons, he questioned " Who and what the f–k is that sleeping on my parade field"? read more

Hero

You're a 19 year old kid.  

You're critically wounded and dying in.

The jungle somewhere in  the Central Highlands of Viet Nam .  

It's  November 11, 1967.    
LZ (landing zone) X-ray.  

Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so   intense from 100 yards away, that  your CO (commanding officer) has ordered  the MedEvac helicopters to stop  coming  in.  
You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know  you're not getting out.  
Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and  you'll never see them again.  
As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the  day.  
Then  – over the machine gun noise – you faintly hear that sound  of a helicopter.  
You look up to see a Huey coming in. But.. It doesn't seem real  because no MedEvac markings are on it.
Captain  Ed Freeman is coming in for you.  
He's  not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call  and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire  anyway.   read more