Category: Proud to be a Marine

Vietnamese Side of China Beach

Sgt. Grit,

Here's a couple pictures your Vietnam Vets might like. First picture is Top Barker, he was 1st Sgt. "A" company, 1st Recon. He, I and a LT. used to go to the Vietnamese side of China Beach and eat fabulous sea food cooked by the Viet mom's there (one tried to get us to take her son back to the US)… I don't remember which OP this other picture is, but someone is likely to remember. This picture of Dong Den might make someone home sick. Top Barker returned to the states after a long time away, died shortly after returning and was buried with Honors. read more

Plt 239

I was in Plt. 239, June of 1963. I was a member of the "Boston" Platoon. I have lost my Plt. book. If anyone has one, I would be grateful to pay for a copy of it. Apparently they are long out of print and unavailable from the publisher. Semper Fi to all of my brothers and sisters. I am proud to say that two of my sons served in the Marine Corps as well (1986-1990, 2005-2011)  read more

Still Wounded

My brother Ernie and I served in Vietnam as Grunts in 1966-67.  Ernie served in the Dong Ha area while I was in the Cam Lo area when we were able to get together.  Both of us were wounded several times but survived.  We also had another brother Bill that served in 1968-69 as a "Man in the Door" out of Marble Mountain. read more

Short Graduation Party

In April of 1971 I finished Ground Radio Repair School at 29 Palms. I believe my class was the first to graduate after the school moved to the Palms. There were 9 of us. LCPL Britt received a meritorious promotion to Corporal and remained at the school as an instructor. The graduates got to pick their next duty station in order of class standing. There was not much choice. There were 3 sets of orders for Camp Lejeune and the rest were for, you guessed it 29 Palms. read more

Distributed To Veterans and Needy Families

On December 21st, 2013, Central Wisconsin Detachment 350 met at Trigs Grocery in Stevens Point, WI to load and distribute Food Baskets For Needy Veterans and Families. More than 40 food baskets were purchased to carry out our mission. Needed items were distributed to Veterans, Operation Boot Strap and needy families in Central Wisconsin. Marines assisting with food baskets for the Needy Mission included L-R front: Dan Johnson, Bob Wnuk, Rollie Johnson, Hank Hughlett, Julian /Sonnentag,Back: Ron Borski, Stan Potocki, Stan Olejniczak, Jim Olejniczak, Tom Lepkowski, Bob Pallen, and Store Director Randy Roosa Semper Fi, Det. Adjutant Rollie Johnson read more

Christmas N. of Quang Tri City

N. of Quang Tri City, 12/67 w/ 1st Eng. attached to 1/1 running the waterpoint/shower unit, watching the Christmas celebratory fireworks from all the OPs along the Z. Didn't realize how close to the Z –  I was until then.

New Years '68: same light show except I "found" a case of pop flares for us engineers to set off at midnight. I had to instruct the new guys how to operate/fire them but, true to form, some guy missed the sandbag, firing the flare in the horiz. pos rather than the vert. So we watched it shoot straight down the company street. We ran back in the tent, and sat around like nothin'. Soon some yelling was heard and an SNCO ran in asking about this flare. He said no one was hurt, but the flare shot between the 1st Sgt and someone else (C.O.?) while they were talking on the street. We just looked at each other and said we didn't know nothin'. read more