Vietnam 1968 Thanksgiving Menu

Thought you might like a copy of this since everyone talks about chow.  I agree Hill 55 had the best mess hall.

Commanding General’s Thanksgiving Day Message (inside of menu)

Thanksgiving is an American holiday in every sense of the word. It is a traditional family affair and each of us will be missed this year as our loved ones gather for the occassion. read more

Vietnam Chow and C-Rats: Chili In His Helmet

Sgt. Grit,

I had to send you these pictures. Others have talked about cooking in their helmet but I thought you would like to see what we made. Here is L/cpl Jim Berry fixing what we called chili in his helmet. We would ask our folks to send us chili powder and tomato sauce. Then we would empty out all the meat products from a case of C rations mix heat and serve. We were on the go a lot and made the best of any situation. My dad sent me a care package every week, these consisted of cigarettes, a local newspaper, salami, pepperoni, cookies and a small jar of manhattans, a family drink. Jim was my best friend in Vietnam we shared everything. Sadly Jim was killed in a motor cycle accident a few years after getting home. read more

C Company 3rd Tank Bn, Chu Lai, Early 1965

Dear Sgt Grit,

I thought someone might be interested in these pictures.
My three platoons were attached to Battalions and my Headquarters was located inside the Regimental Headquarters perimeter less then a mile from the beach.

The one of the Company CP was taken after we had been there a week or so and only shortly before some VC's slipped in between two outpost and shot up our water point with French 22cal submachine guns and threw han gernades at our cooks' tents. One of my two cooks, a Corporal, was wounded by a gernade fagment in his elbow. He was the only Marine to return fire at the VCs. My other cook was very lucky. He had a dud gernade land under the head of his cot. He never woke up during the excitement. The next morning, there was the gernade next to his duffle bag with his name clearly stenciled on the bag. That was quite a picture. The only other casualities from this was the total unnecessary loss of two helicopters and crews that collided on take off from the carrier before dawn. They were FRAG to pickup my Corporal whose wound was not serious and could have waited. read more

The General and the Corporal

I served with The III MAF Drum and Bugle Corps from 12/66-6/68. We worked with the passification program, built bunkers, stood guard and did occasional sweeps around Danang.

One day, shortly after General (later Commandant) Robert E. Cushman had taken command of I Corps from Lew Walt, I had the distinction of having my ass chewed out personally by The General. By this time, I'd been in- country a while, been through a lot and thought I'd seen it all. read more

AGENT ORANGE

THIER IS A PRIVATE RESEACH GOING ON ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF AGENT ORANGE ON YOUR CHILDREN& GRANDCHILDREN THEY HAVE FOUND THAT THE HERBICDE IS PASSED ON.I KNOW IT HASAFFECTED MY KIDS AND GRANKIDS IALREADT GET 40% FROM THE V'A' FOR IT.THE WEBSITE IS www.birthdefects.org/ I AM ALSO LOOKING FOR MARINES WHO WANT TO BE INACLASS ACTION SUIT AGAINST THE MAKERS OF THIS HERBICIDE,I HAVE A LAW GROUP INTRESTED IF WE CAN GET ENOUGH VETS. read more