EGA ON THE FLAG
Never Seen
My son in law has never seen his daughter. He is stationed in
Okinawa at Futema Air Station. I do know he reads your weekly
post because we talk about the stories sometimes and he sees the
stuff I order. If you want to put the picture in the post then
by all means you may but I just thought you would get a kick out
of it.
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.
Why we love our military.
At the Golden Triangle Veterans Memorial park on Hwy 87 in Port Arthur , Texas on Monday May 28th (Memorial Day) 2012. My wife and I arrived at 2pm as the band began to play and the service started at 2:30pm. When we got there the pavilion was full but we were able to squeeze into the back left hand corner under the roof in the shade. While the program was going on I was listening to a friend of mine, retired Colonel Chris Lamson, with 25 years active duty in the Marines and I looked over my right shoulder and noticed the old veteran setting on the wall. His wife had been holding the umbrella over his head and laid it down to stand up where she could see the speaker and hear what was being said. When I turned to look the second time I noticed the Marine had stepped forward, picked up the umbrella and was holding it over the older gentleman. You can tell by the shadow that only the left shoulder and arm of the Marine was in the shade. Notice his right hand behind his back standing at parade rest in full dress blues. Not once did he flinch. The temperature forecast that day was predicted to be 90 degrees or more in the shade. In Southeast Texas the humidity can also match the temperature. If you have ever worn a set of dress blues you would understand how hot they are. He stood there until the service was over. When it was over I walked up to him and said " Thank you for such a kind act for the old veteran" He just looked at me and nodded as if to say, "it was my duty". As I walked away with a tear in my eye and my heart swelling it made me proud to know that the old traditions are still carried on. It was 57 years ago this summer that I joined the Marines.
Cpl. Bill Feidler
Port Arthur, TX
First ever tattoo at age 73
It took 48 years after discharge to have it done, but I’m glad I did!
Semper Fi
Semper Fi in Stencil design lettering
Old School Twisted
27 yrs later, how you like me now!
Semper Fidelis
Starting Off On The Wrong Foot
My CO and I did not get off to a good start. He was a dual cool Force Recon Sergeant Rock in charge of the FUBB platoon. I was a smart mouthed 27 year old sniper shooter recruited from the Army by the USMC to be their hot-shot tourney winner and put the USMC on the snake-eater’s map. But, why me? Why here? Of all the mudrucker places on earth, why here?!
