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.
I should have sent this long ago, but it has been quite hectic.
My father is a WWII Marine Veteran who served in four invasions on Kwajalein Atoll, Tinian, Saipan and Iwo Jima. He actually was assigned to duties stateside and stowed aboard a ship when the rest of his unit was deployed for combat. He didn’t want to be left behind.
I think this was south-west of Hue. We were with 2nd. Provisional 155 Howitzer, Tango Battery, 3/12.
Looking back, been a long time.
Who would have ever imagined John Wayne as the author of a thoughtful, even touching, poem?
Semper Fi
George Sheesley
As I was setting here reading some of the stories, and went to into my memory log about my oldest son who now is 24 yrs old. He was only 4 yrs old when he went to El toro Marine School and he was born on November 10, 1990. He is always proud to know that his birthday falls on the same day as the Marine Corps Birthday. Sometimes nowadays when we sit around the campfire and tell our stories, he would always talk about the Marines that would be there to keep an eye on them when they went to school and out of school as roadguards. Once when we got back home a few years later we were in Tulsa and school was letting out, he said 'Dad' what are those, I replied, those are crossing guards for the school children, he looked at me with a smile, and said we never had those kind, we had MARINES. Now when I see a crossing guard, I just smile think of the Marines at the El Toro Marine School when I lived on base housing at the back gate by the baseball field. Thank you Marines for watching out for our future. Semper Fi!
Now Available – IN GARRISON by J. H. Hardin – A Service Memoir
J. H. Hardin is a "service mutt". He's an Air Force brat who spent his early childhood on military bases. In high school he joined the Army JROTC unit and spent each summer and many weekends at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. In 1978 he entered the Marine Corps where he served for 6 years. During that time, he spent 7 months deployed to an Army post, and 3 years aboard a Naval Base. He hadhis fingers in all the Armed Services.
My Man Cave/Office is where I spend most of my time during the day, I have an on-line marketing business that I am working on.
All of the items that I have collected, I try to keep as original as I can. For example my Dress Blues in the glass Display case, the field phone I have on my wall is the same as the phone I used in Vietnam in a village we patrolled when we were not attached out on assignment. One day myself and another Marine were surrounded in the village at Chu-Lai, and still don't know today why they just turned around and walked away. We had the phone set up in front of their Buddhist temple and I called headquarters and they sent 3 truckloads of Marines, we searched the huts, but they were all gone. That is the story on the phone.
Found this picture of an F9F-8T Cougar from H&MS 13 that was probably the same one I flew in the back seat in '63 when I made Plane Captain of the month. Although this pic was taken at Chu Lai, it's still the same H&MS 13 that my squadron, VMA 212, was a part of at Kaneohe Bay in 1963. They only had one Cougar trainer. That year, my squadron established an award to be designated "Plane Captain of the month" and I happened to be lucky enough to be the first one. Before I could actually fly, however, I had to take pressure chamber and ejection seat training at NAS Barber's Point. After that initial training I was ready for the flight. The pilot was a Captain from H&MS-13 and the hop was about an hour long. We did all the maneuvers including a loft bombing where he put it in a power dive from around 30,000 ft. and pulled back on the stick at about 6,000 ft. climbing back to altitude and flipping over, simulating special weapons delivery. I was watching the G meter climb to about 7 G's. I could hear the wings creaking like rusty hinges as my G suit filled up with bleed air. After that maneuver he let me take the stick. "Put your left wing down", he said, and I eased the stick left. Same thing with the right wing. So now I get a little confident and asked if I could try an aileron roll. "Go ahead if you think you can" says he. Now I'm feeling very confident, even though I wasn't a pilot (did that years later as a civilian), and I just whipped that stick over in my right lap. I didn't know that you have to give it a little nose up before entering an aileron roll. Nobody mentioned that part. Anyway, we were up around thirty thousand when I started the maneuver. I was looking straight up at the ocean getting closer and the airplane was not coming out of the roll. It was falling towards the water upside down. I still had the stick all the way over in a death grip, looking up at the ocean, watching the waves turn into whitecaps. The Captain said "Let Go Of The Stick". "Are You Sure You Got It Sir", says I. "Let Go Of The Godd-mn Stick" says he with more emphasis. So I let go, and he rolled out to level flight before we got wet. He didn't say a word to me after that all the way back to Kaneohe and after landing he got away from that plane post haste and left me in the fuel pits. At any rate, there was only one PC of the month after me. They discontinued it after that guy because he puked in his Oxygen mask. Made a h-ll of a mess so I hear. They discontinued the award after that.
This was taken when I was home on leave from ITR in March of 1970.
These are the blues I bought at San Onefre. I was a PFC but they were out of stripes so I had to endure a lot of "slick sleeve" comments. My father John Grimes, in the center, was a 3rd Armored Division Combat Veteran from WWII who fought in every campaign in the European theatre. My great Uncle Chester Schank was a WWI Veteran.
In your January 30 newsletter, Mike Benfield asked if anyone knew the meaning of FMF. It is "Fleet Marine Forces", a combination of Navy and Marine Units, as I was told, "ready to deploy on a moment's notice!" When I transferred to 1st Marine Air Wing, Iwakuni we were allowed to take only what would fit into our sea bag.
I wish to honor my son and husband for their uncommon and remarkable serves to our country. My son, Joseph Charles Sharpe recently graduated from Parris Island USMC Basic Training 3rd Batt. Kilo Company and has begun his career as a fourth generation Marine. Four generations ago, Joe's Great Grandfather was at Parris Island in KIlo Comp. His grandfather Charles Sharpe served as a US Marine. Joe's Father, My husband of 24 years, John M Sharpe, served in Desert Storm with 1st Tank Batt. 1st Marine Div and has served in Maryland National Guard and is currently a Staff Sgt in the Maryland Air National Guard as well as a Homeland Security Policeman. John has been away from his family for 3 to 8 months every year since 2007, including two 8 month deployments to Afghanistan. Joe's mom and three younger brothers could not be prouder of their father and brother's contribution to our country. Family friend Staff Sgt David Cook came to the Graduation to celebrate Joseph's accomplishment. I am so proud of my husband, my son and all the members of our family and friends that continue to selflessly give their all to the military.
This is a photo of buddies from Supply Co, Third Battalion, 3rd Marines. We were on split tours at the time in Nam. We were also assigned to floats in the Southern Pacific. Part of us, me included, went for winter training on Mount Fuji.
