In remembrance of our fellow Marines who have proceeded us by higher orders, the Marines of Echo Company, Second Battalion, Ninth Marines, and Alpha Company, First Battalion, Fifth Marines calibrated our 50th anniversary of our landing at Da Nang, Vietnam, on 7 July 1965.
Category: Vietnam
Hard Lessons From My Old Man
After I graduated high school I spent the summer in unrepentant sloth. Graduation parties, bonfires on the beach, and the consumption of alcohol led to many late nights and even later mornings. I hadn't gotten a job nor had I registered for college. Why would any 18 year old when he was having so much fun, right?
Love Them Blues
Reading all the stories of our dress blues I've got one that I would like to share. After I returned from VN, at the end of 1966, I was stationed in Norfolk and was on light duty, after having knee surgery at Portsmouth Naval Hospital, when our Top asked me if I had a set of blues. Having been in the "Corps" long enough to know better than answer right of way. I asked "why"?
Windward Marine 4 Oct 1963
A little history from the "Windward Marine" the base newspaper for Kaneohe MCAS. I was stationed there in VMA 212 from 1961 to 1963.
Norm Spilleth
1960 – 1964
Sad Performance
I was in Platoon 124 when JFK came to MCRD San Diego in 1963. We were at the Pugil Stick Pits where he came to observe. I drew the largest recruit in our platoon to fight. Pvt. Garner knocked me around the pit just a few feet from JFK. It was a sad performance on my part. That is me in 1968 in Leatherneck Square.
The Most Boot PFC
From the "wayback" files 1969. 2nd Anglico, Courthouse Bay. The memory is fading… I think that is Lt Col. Schuler (sp) presenting me with The Navy Achievment Medal with Combat V. After the photographer left and the door was closed the Lt. Col. advised me that on my way to the barber shop, I might want to stop and see the Corpsman about getting some regulation eyewear.
Windward Marine 26 July 1963
A little history from the "Windward Marine" the base newspaper for Kaneohe MCAS. I was stationed there in VMA 212 from 1961 to 1963.
Norm Spilleth
1960 – 1964
This Helmet And A Picture
Today, the wife and I went for our weekly local road trip in beautiful sunny (that sounds better than ungodly hot) Arizona. We went to the Commemorative Air Force Museum. We looked at an F-4 Phantom and other planes of past conflicts. Over in a corner was a little LOCH on display. It did look like the one our AO's flew. On the floor on the right side was this helmet and a picture.
Platoon 1066, 1969
The Marines of Platoon 1066 MCRD San Diego 1969 met in Branson, MO once again for our seventh annual reunion on 4-7 June 2015. We were again joined by our two surviving Drill Instructors, SGT Eddie E. Alley and GYSGT Anthony Gatling. Our Platoon Commander (Senior DI to you Parris Island Marines out there), SSGT Guadalupe Gonzalez, was KIA in Vietnam after returning for a second tour there after he finished with us at MCRD. He stepped on a mine while on patrol. He has a place of honor at each of our reunions.
Windward Marine 29 June 1962
A little history from the "Windward Marine" the base newspaper for Kaneohe MCAS. I was stationed there in VMA 212 from 1961 to 1963.
Norm Spilleth
1960 – 1964