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.
Sgt Grit,
I want to show you what a guy in Southern Missouri did for me. I sent a
plain Jane Kershaw Leek to him and this is what I got back. The handles
are Culpepper dyed bone and I'm sorry, I don't know how he applied them
to the knife other than the obvious screws. The Viet Nam Service Ribbon
design for the custom handles was inspired by some SFO (Special Factory
Order) Case knives Shepherd Hills Cutlery was selling.
I was wondering why I can not find any information related to the USMC scuba divers that were in C- company 3rd or 1st MP Battalion Viet Nam 1967 to 1970. We helped in guarding the bridges from China Beach to Da Nang. Attached are a few pictures of me and some of the other divers. Would love to hear from anyone who was part of the team. Thanks!
In 1969 I was with the 2bn 12th Marines in Vietnam our unit supported the 9th Marines with direct artillery support along with other support activities. I remember one time being out on post at the rock pile. We had a dirt hole with a dig out on the side of the hole that two men could lay inside and sleep while a third man stood watch (4hrs) with an M60 machine gun and a detonator attached to Claymore mines. Here is a picture of the group that I was with in hooch 11 in Dong-Ha.
I'm an ageing F-4 enthusiast resident in the UK who is currently researching the history of VMFA-334 (F-4J Era '67/'71 at El Toro/Da Nang/Chu Lai/Iwakuni). I've attached a couple of pictures from some 1969 cruise books. They show the wreckage of F4J 155744 WU-12 which was recovered from Da Nang Bay – it crashed in 1968 but happily both crew ejected and were rescued. Why would it have been recovered? Who would have salvaged it? Does anyone have a photo of it in one piece?
Remembering Christmas 1966 on Operation Chinook north of Hue, Vietnam.
This is General James 'Mad Dog' Mattis and I at an event in LA this summer. I was given best regards from Tony Zinni, former Marine 4-star general, whom I reported to as top sniper in Nam together… and Mattis reported to as well.
Semper Fi
My Nam tour was from July '69 – June '70. I spent many daysb at An Hoa, first as a member of H&S Co, 1st Tanks. Myself and 2 Flame tanks spent 5 weeks spraying Agent Orange from Liberty Bridge (Phu loc 6) to Charlie Ridge to An Hoa. Christmas Eve '69 while following the minesweep out going back to Tank Hill (Da Nang) the lead Flame was blown off the road by a command detonated device… Blew the tank completely off the road. Later I was TDY to An Hoa while with a tank platoon from Bravo, 1st Tanks… I'll always remember the mud during the monsoon. After 1st Tanks pulled out in Feb '70, I was re-assigned to Alpha Co, 5th Motor T Bn. We ran convoys twice week to An Hoa which was always kinda crazy. Didn't get to see the EM club though. A prolific memory I have is being asked to take letters /mail from the 5th Marine grunts all along Liberty Road as we drove back to our motor pool in Da Nang. I could relate as I spent 3 months as a 0311 on 1st Tanks "OP Manta" before they got overrun in Oct '69. War is HELL!!!
"Babe" was given to me when I checked in to Dong Ha at the end of 1966. I was told to feed and take care of her, because she was special. She was in during April 1967 that was when all hell started. We were getting rocketed and mortared on a regular basis. I was in the crash crew adjacent to the runway, so apparently, we finally found out they could see us from a church in town [Dong Ha], as I was told. To make a story short, "Babe" knew when incoming was really coming in and we kept an eye on her all the time. When we saw her, all of a sudden, dash out the door she could open. We knew that we had a few seconds to hit the ground or any place we could grab. That was our "Special Babe." Eventually, she left us due to continuous incoming and ended up in a USMC helicopter outfit in Quang Tri ten miles from where we were. She was a good one. I found out they took good care of her when I saw her in an online web site; (2010). Naturally, I contacted them and that was another story.
