Sgt Grit is a place where Marines can come and meet other Marines, share tattoos and stories, keep up with Marine Corps news, or shop for USMC gear.
Attached is a picture of our Unit party on Okinawa 1971. A rare occurrence for a variety of reasons. Could you print it in the Magazine.
Repro Unit, Service Co, Hq Bn, 3rd Marine Division, Camp Courtney Okinawa 1971. Some of us went down south, and some of us did not. But, we were all on the main staging base for Vietnam, in direct support of the war.
3rd. Pl. Charley Co. 3rd/ Recon Battalion. At Quang Tri June 1968 "Going to the Rockpile" from left to right: * Cpl. Chester Mollett, *Pfc. Thomas Ringler, Clp. Don Jetter, Sgt. John Sansbury, L/cpl. Mike Landry, Hm2 Ron "Doc" Cassidy
The attached three photos were taken by a Canadian citizen who came south in 1967 and joined the USMC (Uncle Sam's Misguided Children) so that he could go to Vietnam and fight. Boy! Did he get his wish. He became a machine gunner with 1 / 5 and found himself in the middle of the Tet "celebration" of 1968 smack in the middle of Hue City. By the way, it is my understanding that between 10,000 and 15,000 Canadian citizens joined the American military for service in Vietnam. That's a good neighbor for sure.
I have been receiving your newsletter for a couple of months and really enjoy it.
I wanted to share the tattoo I got on Memorial Day to honor all those that served in Viet Nam and to those that paid the ultimate price. Keep up the great work keeping us informed.
After two years in Dong Ha, I can't get the place out of my mind. Crazy or not, I would do it over again in a heart beat. Even though the place almost cost me my life. It was one hell of an adrenaline rush. I remember being recruited to do some of those truck runs. I was crazy enough to do them. I was a 3516. We must not forget the BIG bucks we made for being over there. If I remember correctly, we got an extra $65.00 a month.
Attached is a photo taken on the island of Guam in 1944 during a "lull" between our involvement in the invasions of Guam and Iwo Jima. The four of us were all artillery radio operators, both Fire Direction Center and Forward Observer positions as needed. Legend should identify us as:
Sgt Grit, Enclosed are pictures of what the 3rd Marine Regiment Camp looked like in 1965. We were at the base of Hill 327. Life there was pretty primitive, but we didn't know any better so it was fine. Note the shower facilities — one 5 gallon can of water per shower. The 55 gallon drums were at the edge of a gully the bottom of which were wooden pallets.
Hill 55 Memorial to LtC Joseph Eugene MUIR, KIA 11 Sep 1965. Cdr 3/3/3 from May '65 to Sep. photo touched up by. Location later titled/named:
Camp MUIR.
CWO E Nicholls
USMC/US Army (Ret.)
W-2-9 3rd Mar Div
Hello, my name is Lisa. My Father was GEORGE ORLOW BALL, he is the man in the middle of this photograph. But I do not know who his friends were. Can you identify the other two men for me??? And possibly where and when this photo was taken???
George O. Ball was born August 8, 1930 in Johnson City, NY. Son of George L. Ball and Olna M. (Demming) Ball. He enlisted into the Marine Corps August 10, 1948 in Albany, NY. At the age of only 18. He served in -Hq. 2nd Shore Party Battalion, 2d Marine Division, FMF. He held the rank of Sgt. when discharged. He enlisted at DHRS, Albany, NY in Aug. of 1948. Honorably discharged Aug. of 1952 from Camp Lejeune, NC. He participated in the Korean War ("Conflict" my ass, they weren't shooting rubber bullets over there!) In fact, he was shot thru his helmet in the head. Thankfully it was one of those shots that "grazed" the side, whereas it just went thru his helmet, to the top layer of skin and ricocheted around underneath the scalp. At the time, as he put it, the doctors etc, were "Too Knife Happy" and chose to not have it removed. When I was a little girl, I'd sit on his lap, and you could see the bullet there, and there was no mistaken that it was, in fact, a bullet! I'd rub the bullet and ask him if it hurt. His reply was just laughter, and "No honey, it doesn't hurt anymore". Certainly, at that age, I had no idea of knowing what else may have hurt him even more than that during his "Korean" experience!
This picture was taken in the field in Italy near Naples January 86.
Pictured left to right are Cpl Bob"Mannix" Maniscalco, Cpl Carlos "Little Juan" Torres, LCpl Steve "Shit Kicker" Tuey, and me Cpl Howard Cooper.
It was certainly cold that night. Our taxi, the Guadalcanal (LPH-7) was docked in Naples. Soon after this picture was taken we got the news the Challenger had exploded during liftoff. It's like do you remember where you were when Kennedy was shot, when Elvis died, when the Berlin Wall fell, and September 11th, 2001. If you guys see this drop me a line.
