5th Annual 1st. Lt. Jared M. Landaker Memorial Run for Freedom

On Feb. 7, 2007, a Casevac CH-46, Morphine 1-2,  was shot down on their last flight in Iraq, killing all seven on board. The Seven Stars Foundation, Inc. was established that day to carry on the mission of these crew members. We have a 5,10,15k, Run/Walk/Stroll at Snow Summit in Big Bear Lake, CA the last Sat. of Sept. We are holding our 5th Annual on Sept. 24 this year. The proceeds go to the Camp Hero-46, a camp for children of the fallen military at Camp Whittle in Fawnskin, Ca. With the anniversary of 911 approaching, this is a great opportunity to support our military and their families and those who gave so much for our country. Log onto our website:www.sevenstarsfoundation.com for more information on our event and how to register. read more

National Park Service to Marines: Don’t Shine That Brass

The National Park Service has renewed its war against active duty troops who have the brass to polish the brass plate at the base of the flagpole at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
I first reported on the anti-brass shining stance of the National Park Service after Memorial Day 2009. read more

236th Marine Corps Birthday Ball

November 10th, 2011

Branson Convention Center – 5pm to Midnight
Open to Marines, Veterans & the General Public

Keynote Speaker: Capt. Dale Dye

After joining the Marine Corps at 18, Dale Dye served in Vietnam in 1965 and 1967 through 1970 surviving 31 major combat operations. He emerged from Southeast Asia highly decorated including three Purple Hearts for wounds suffered in combat. He spent 13 years as an enlisted Marine, rising to the rank of Master Sergeant before he was chosen to attend Officer Candidate School. Appointed a Warrant Officer in 1976, he later converted his commission and was a Captain when he was sent to Beirut with the Multinational Peacekeeping Force in 1982-83. He served in a variety of assignments around the world and along the way managed to graduate with a B.A. in English from the University of Maryland. read more

Sgt Grit Newsletter August 31, 2011

Many Nurses Passed

Sgt. Grit,

Sgt. Jack Pfaller, whose article “It Is The Same” that was published last Thursday didn't live to read it. Sgt. Pfaller, a proud Marine, stood his last watch on 16AUG1011. He was 65.

Sgt. Pfaller's article related how well he was treated when the hospital staff, in which he was being treated, saw his Marine tattoo. He wrote “but the Respect I received from the nurses and techs proves the saying that once a Marine always a Marine. read more

Bataan-Corregidor

Dear Friends,
 
Amazing news about my father, Casey Bazewick, Sr.!
 
Today I learned that the Bataan-Corregidor Memorial Foundation of New Mexico has found, in an archive, a film of the liberation of his prisoner-of-war camp in Mukden, Manchuria, taken shortly after Japan's surrender in August 1945. OSS paratroopers had just liberated the camp.
 
I had no idea this film existed.
 
"Hoten POW Camp Liberated" is now on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytYOOjwzoAw
 
At 0:35 in the film, you can see Hoten POW camp where he had been a POW since November 1942. POWs were enslaved, starved, beaten, tortured, shot, and subjected to medical experimentation. He endured three Manchurian winters, with temperatures plunging to forty below zero and colder. From the fall of Corregidor, May 6, 1942, he was a prisoner of the Japanese for over 39 months.
 
At liberation he was almost 27. It so happens that today is his 93rd birthday. My wife Kristi and I showed him the film at his nursing home. He watched it intently twice. For me, it was most moving to see his reaction. What a gift for all of us!
 
He doesn't seem to be in the film, nor is there anyone he recognizes, but clearly he remembers the time and place.
 
In the attached still photos, taken at the same time as the film, he smiles at us across the years, standing shoulder to shoulder with the 4th Marines of the camp. In wonder, we smile back at him, 66 years later. read more

Wolfpack Reunion

On 30 July 2011, some of the Marines of 3rd Light Armored Infantry Battalion got together for the 20th anniversary reunion from Operation Desert Storm.  With the help of Facebook (as well as one Marine knowing where another was living) we got about 100 from the Wolfpack back together for an amazing weekend.  We also streamed a live feed and had another 100 watching from around the world.  Our unit is credited with firing the first shot in Operation Desert Storm as well as receiving many individual and unit honors as well.  We even had parents, spouses and children of our fallen brothers present which was a great healing moment not just for them, but for us as well  (14 total lost in ODS). read more