MOS

Just read some stories about MOS's.   I got my draft notice in ’67 and didn’t want to be running through rice paddies with a rifle, so I went down to the recruiting office, at that time all the services had one office. Sorry to admit it but the first recruiter I spoke to was the Air Force. He told me I would have to wait about two months before I could get in but my draft notice was for about one month. I walked over to the Navy Recruiter and he told me about six weeks. I spun my chair around and there was the Marine recruiter, smiling and saying, “I can have you in, in two weeks”. I asked him about schools and was told if I enlist for four years I’ll be guaranteed a school. I asked him if there was anything with photography and was told about aerial photography school, but no guarantee!  I went to school in Memphis for electronics, and then to Pensacola for photo school. I served in aerial photographic reconnaissance squadrons VMCJ’s  1, 2, and 3 with an MOS of 6271. I’ve been working in photo and electronics for all of my civilian life. God bless the USMC. read more

cpl Chuck E.

Semper Fi MARINES….with so much to reflect on, how can you say it in so few words? H&S co. 2/6….I sat in the barraks the whole tour manning an intel radio (S-2). Now and again I'd walk a patrol thru "hooterville" with an unloaded weapon thinking to myself….there's something basically WRONG with this!! Anyway, when the "speaker of the house" came thru with his platoon of staff officers he decided we needed to take down all the tar barrels and tangle foot we had in place. Thank the Lord for our CG, he told him to sh#t in his hat. 1/8 took over and the rest is history. When the barraks went up we were on fly out alert, so 24hrs. later we were standing back in that sh#t hole. I'll never  get the site of that building out of my mind……all the friends that went down with it……………….sorry, started feflecting again. Semper Fi my brothers and sisters for we will NEVER forget! read more

Traffic stop

The other day while driving to work near the Detroit airport in Romulus Mi. I pulled up to a red light. I came to a stop and at the same time a Police officer pulled up to me on my left side in the turn lane.As I proceeded through the green light the cop suddenly pulled up behind me with his lights flashing. I pulled over and he pulled up beside me and rolled down his window. I did the same. He yelled out to me hey marine, where did you get your marine wheel cover. I yelled back, www.sgtgrit. He thanked me, yelled out semper fi and took off. What a relief. read more

In Memory

Blue Angle Crash in 2007

Does anyone remember hearing about the Blue Angle Crash in 2007 of April I do. I just turned 21 the month before nothing could keep me down. I was apart of the greatest force in the world and just had my 21st birthday. Anyways back to the story, a month later on April 23 the last day of a two day air show in Beaufort SC on the Air Station the a Blue Angle Pilot fainted. On his final turn before landing the fist 4 planes turned and while the 5 was turning he started falling on a slant to the left and then he was out of sight. Two days later we were called in to find the remains of the plane. As a heavy equipment operator this was one of the first times I actually got to do my job on something bigger than off loading a truck. I pulled one of the engines and a few other parts that were'nt in a thousand peices. On the way out of the woods. I saw a man pick up on of the soul's to his boots. We were their for days stacking boxes of thousands of peices of the plane and the big parts of the plane. Its sad that it took this man dying for me to do my job but thats how life is. for a couple of weeks the new's and CNN kept saying that a bird got cought in the engine, but anyone who knows of have been around Aviation that this was not true. Weeks later they blamed it on the fact he drank the night before. They didnt take into fact that he hadnt drank in over 12 hours when the standard rule is that you cant drink less than 8 hours before your duty. This Pilot had trained for hundreds of hours before that day. It was his 1st air show and his family and wife were their. does anyone think that the reason the plane went down was because they dont wear g suits. Or that the plane went down because their planes are to old. If anyone has seen these men fly you will know that he had no time even if he had awakened to bail out because of how low they fly to the ground. These men are about 14 feet above the tree line. I watched CNN and looked in the Marine Corps Times for months to hear the report when they peiced the plane back together but never heard nothing. I think of this alot and how it would hurt my family to watch me die. I am not afraid of dying but my worst fear is that i will die in front of my loved one.  Since I watched this happen I have always had nightmares that a senario similar to this would happen to my loved ones. Does anyone have any Ideas. read more

Another Vehicle

Sgt. Grit,

In keeping with the vehicle stories in your recent newsletters, attached find a photo of the PC we used at 9th Engineer Battalion to haul our survey gear during the work week and our bodies to the beach in Chu Lai on Sundays. S-3 Section building is behind the PC (passenger carrier).   I drove and serviced this vehicle many times during 1967.   Jim Harris, former Lance Corporal, always a Marine Semper Fidelis to God, Family, Country and Corps

Four WWII Marines

This is a picture of Four World War II Marines, it is obvious they just got out of Boot Camp and they could be anywhere because Quonset huts were everywhere at that time. I say it is obvious they are boots because they have no ribbons, They have the leather belts and two have the Sharpshooters medal and two have the Marksman medal. Sharpshooters got $3.00 a month BUT Experts got $5.00 a month. Don't sound like much today but when you were getting $50.00 a month and they took out $5.35 National Service Life Insurance, it added to the Beer fund. In San Francisco on 3rd Street was a Bar where you got a glass of beer for a dime at that time. If you were broke you could go to the Pepsi Cola Center on Market Street and get a free glass of Pepsi, a free Record of your voice to send home and you could even take a shower and press your clothes free. Around the corner and up the road a piece was the Stage Door Canteen a USO set up that Movie Stars and others came there, I saw the Three Stooges there (When I would have rather seen Alice Faye or Linda Darnell) But that was then and this is now.  read more