I joined the Corps in July 1956. Spent my time at MCRD, then Camp Pendleton and on to Asia for two tours in the Phillipines. When we were out in the boondocks, we still had c-rats from a long time before that. The Lucky Strikes and Chesterfields were so old we had to hold them upright or the tabacco would fall out. A few draws and they were burned up! The c-rat fruits were good, but the stews were a gut churner! They had a greasy layer on top that would turn your stomach.
Category: Proud to be a Marine
Life Is Great
Seeing an article about a pith helmet brought back memories of my Platoon days – the loudest noise in the world was the DI hitting on your helmet with his swagger stick – Great days! I am a WWII & Korea Veteran MSGT. I now hold two records oldest living ever sky diver in Louisiana at 95 plus and oldest living sky diver in the U.S. Life is great!
Is This Familiar
Check with the newsletter readers and ask if this is familiar to any of the old timers. This is from 1948 when I was in boot camp at Parris Island. Platoon 148, 2nd Battalion.
Semper Fi!
Wallace Pfeifer
Tiger Tale Quang Tri 68
“Corporal Reeves! Get your gear and follow me” the Gunny said as I hung sleepily onto a dream I was having of cool mountain streams, awaking to Gunny Randall’s course Drill Instructor's voice out side my squad’s earth bermed hooch at Quang Tri Combat Base. Home of the Third Marine Division, Republic of Viet Nam. I had injured my back falling out of a helicopter into elephant grass on a nameless hill near Khe Sanh. I was not hurting much now so the Gunny had made me the commanding officer’s driver and radioman. I went over to the motor pool with the Gunny. Gunny Randall was a tall thin hillbilly from Tennessee who had joined the corps to escape the poverty of the hill county back in the forties, he had served in the big one WWII and Korea, now he was in “This Azshole of the world” to hear him tell it. He was always cussing, the war, officers, the politicians and scum-sucking civilians. But never his beloved Marine Corps! The Gunny was what we called “Old Corps” or “Lifer”, Gunny was one of the good ones as far as a lifer could be.
Fred Reynolds, Sgt 66-70
I read the story about the CH-53 crash landing at VCB April 1969… Taken from 4th Plt,1st Radio Bn area. First four are the crash next three were a few days later getting rid of what was left.
Clearly Wearing A Pith Helmet
Regarding Marines wearing pith helmets, I can't say for sure that I remember our PMIs or the guys that ran the range towers at Parris Island wearing them, but below is a picture of my buddy Cpl. Tim Wheeler wearing one as he was running "A" tower at the LeJeune range. This would have been around 1984. Tim was too short to go back on the second MED with us so he got assigned to the rifle range to finish out his enlistment. Not sure if he was a PMI but he did work the towers and he is clearly wearing a pith helmet in this photo. I told him I thought the pith helmets looked stupid, but he said they were required.
Tattered But Flying Strong
Thought I would share this. Was elk hunting in the Cascade Mountain range, southwest of Ellensburg, WA, when I spotted a flag atop a large rock outcropping. It was eerily representative of Iwo Jima. To my surprise when I got a closer look and it was the Marine Corps flag, tattered but flying strong. Lat/Lon N47'04.607', W120'50.844', Elevation: 3754'.
Silent Night Memories
My wife and I just returned home from seeing my 7 yr old grandaughter's Cristmas concert at her school.
It was a wonderful concert and it ended with all the children and the audience singing Silent Night. I was singing along, when I was transported back to December, 1968 in DaNang, Vietnam. Suddenly I was back on that hillside watching Bob Hope and Ann Margaret doing their USO show. There I was, this retired Marine MSGT, with my eyes full of tears, and not able to explain it, except to feel grateful for the life I've had, and sorry for all the guys that didn't make it home to have those lives!
91 And Doing Quite Well
I met a 90 year old Marine vet who landed on Tarawa on the 2nd day, and after a short time he was hit and spent 11 months in the hospital. I really hit it off with him and his wife. I have been a scale model builder all my life. I made a diorama of an LVT landing on a beach with about 12 Marines around it. I built a base, painted it and my wife poured sand in there in layers spraying glue as she went to keep it down. I have attached 4 pictures of it. Do you think the guys that read the newsletter would find it interesting? Dave, the Marine is now 91 by the way and doing quite well. The story is about him and not my crazy model that I built with the help of my drill instructor (my wife that is).
Tattooed Marines
Skin color does not determine the level of professionalism of a Marine; so why are visible tattoos judged so poorly? The answer lies within he or she who casts such judgement. It is all based on personal bias. Those who posses such negativity towards tattoos, who at some point – rise to a level of power, begin to implement policy against body art. Of course there was never anything wrong with the original tattoo policy that was in place at the time…the wheel just had to be reinvented I guess.