Dirty Dick

This is a picture of Sgt “Dirty Dick” Leyden (yes he got the name for the reason you’re thinking) and me eating a very good spicy noodle dish at a road side stand not far from the gate of 11th Marines.

Dick got to know some of the villagers near 11th Marines and would take me with him to socialize and eat. The first time he invited me to go he told me to NOT ask what was in the meal. Especially if there was protein/meat in it. He said these people might get protein a couple a times a week in a meal. If they put it in a meal for us, it is a sign of respect. We will not disrespect them by asking what it is. read more

IOD Units

This is a picture I took in Vietnam and the following is a dicussion with a Marine I crossed paths with.

Sgt. Grit:   If you recognize this photo I would love to hear from you.   As we used to say, "Tis a thing or raw and savage beauty".  At our peak (mid-1970) we had five operational and deployed IOD units.  I remember LZ Ross, LZ Baldy, Hill 65 and Recon Outpost Hill 250 (my location).  For the life of me I can't remember the 5th placement.  From January through October 1970 my team was credited with 108 confirmed (Recon patrols w/pictures and recovered documents) KIAs.  Nothing moved in the Arizona between Hill 65 and Hill 250 that we couldn't observe and hit.   Interestingly, I've never heard any chatter from the 25 or 30 of us who were fortunate enough to be a part of the first ever, ground combat deployment of laser technology.  To say it was a "game changer" is a gross understatement.   Former Sgt. L. M. Hinton S-2, IOD Hq. Btry., 11th Marines, RVN NCOIC, IOD Team, Hill 250, RVN

LST 1157

Sgt. Grit,

In the last newsletter on a post by D.Dick he mentioned the LST Terrell County 1157…I'm sending some pictures taken in 1961 of 1157 and 1167 which I was aboard during SEATO Joint exercise in and around the Taiwan Straits called Operation Blue Star. I was serving with the 12th marines (M-4-12). The flat bottom tubs where not fun to be on in rough water.
The Navy always got a kick when the ramp was dropped coming into the beach it scoured out a hole, it seems the ship always backed off a bit and the vehicles dropped in the hole…so you better have fording gear in place, because you were going to get wet..fond memories. read more

Push Ball

In the Sgt Grit Newsletter – 26 JUL 2012 there was an article about "Push Ball" fun and games. While at K-Bay in the early 60's the sport was played in the large field behind 3/4. As I remember it was about platoon size teams that played, but that is a little fuzzy after 50 years. I do have a picture of the event though it's hard to really get a good feel for the size of the ball. I seem to remember that it was about 7 to 8 feet tall, something like a huge soccer ball. As the article indicated, there were few rules short of murder and 1st aid was generally really close by. read more

Patches

Dear Sgt Grit,

I just wanted to share a gift from my father Jim Daneker for my retirement from the Marines last summer. He purchased all the patches he could find from Sgt Grit and had the plaque made in our hometown. It displays patches representing my 30-year career and a wonderful display it is! I have it proudly displayed in the “patriotic room” in our home here in Swansboro, North Carolina just up the road from Camp Lejeune. read more