Sgt Grit….
Enjoy the newsletter every week, great stories and memories.
For those that endured Okinawa some time during their enlistment here’s a Marines first tour!
1950-1955 our family was based on The ROCK. Dad, Major Douglas J Ash, Sr. was an operator with THE COMPANY. Before joining that outfit he severed in the Corps during WWII as 105 Howitzer training officer at Camp Pendleton, then landed on Saipan, Tinian and Okinawa as a 105/155 Battery CO, served as the Provost Marshall of Nagasaki and then brought home the 1st Japanese Army from Manchuria.
Officially I started my Marine Corps career in 1966 as a member of 4th ANGLICO and severed till 1974…but that’s another story for another time!
I have attached a few photos of THE ROCK during my early tour.
1. My mother (Katherine) and myself on our way to Sunday dinner at RYCOM Officers Club.
2. Playing on our COMPANY car.
3. Searching the many caves.
4. Mom and I visiting the Nagasawa Castle.
5. Christmas 1952
6. Dan and I exploring a well at the Nagasawa Castle
7. Mom and Dad in front of our house (we lived in a compound, guarded by armed soldiers 24/7 surrounded by double 6ft fences with barbed wire and guard dogs. I used to sneak out in the evening when mom and dad where at the O Club for dinner and walk the perimeter with the guards!)
Many fond memories….Coral snakes including the feared Habu, clusters of munitions everywhere, Mike & Peter Boats on the beaches and C-49s scattered throughout the rice paddies. A young boys dream…..
I got to play soldier with REAL soldiers, tanks, 6x’s too! And each Christmas my mom and dad would invite soldiers that supported his outfit over for dinner and ended up on the floor with me playing with my toys! Heck…they where kids themselves!
I have also attached a photo of my dad’s dog tags with his Marine Corps St Christopher's medal and my own tag.
Semper Fi (OOOHRAH was what the Recon guys yelled when we played with them during my days with ANGLICO….running up and down the beaches at Camp Lejeune)
Doug Ash
Sgt of Marines
0849 / 1966-1974