This is me on guard duty while I was at Iwakuni, Japan. (78-79) My MOS was 1371 Combat Engineer.You can see the Quonset hut in the background that we lived in back then. I was told that both MAG 15 and MWSG 17 have since been retired. That is sad but the memories that I have of my fellow Marines that served with me are always with me. Semper Fi, L/CPL Kenneth McCauley
My Friend and a Marine Corps Hero
My very best friend and Marine Corps Hero passed on March 27, 2015. He was my friend before the Corps, he then joined the Corps in October 1966, after boot camp and ITR he became a Force Reconnaissance Marine. He served in Vietnam while I was serving there in an aviation unit in Danang South Vietnam. He arrived there just before Tet 1968 and the battle for Hue. He visited several times and when leaving he always borrowed my Navy issue military (known then as birth control) sunglasses which he seem to lose almost as soon as he went back into the field! I will always remember and miss him until I rejoin him when I pass.
M1 Thumb
It was Mid October 1961. I was a member of Recruit Platoon 341 at Parris Island. On this day we where in formation for our Final Field inspection. The next day we would graduate as Marines. My SDI was Staff Sgt E6 Sal Vigliotti.( about 1967 or 68 there was an article in Leather Neck Magazine that he had become the Senior Chief Drill Instructor of P.I.). I added this to show the type of Marine that I was honored to have served with. My 2 JDI’s where Staff Sgt J.E Schroeder and Sgt. W.M Hemlepp. (some years later Hemlepp would be my Plt. leader as a Ist Grade Warrant Officer). Here was another cool head. Anyway, in the formation, I was about center in the first squad. The first Officer to inspect was a 1st Lt. who was our Series Commander. As he stepped to my front I raised my M1 rifle to inspection arms while jacking open the rifles bolt to lock open position. The Lt. smartly lifted the rifle from my hands, did the usual show of flipping the rifle around looking at the butt and down the barrel then pressed down on the follower. As the back of his hand slipped off the operating rod handle the bolt flew forward and chambered his thumb with a muffled thump. His face turned an ash grey color as the pain reached his brain. I winched as he began to remove his mangled thumb from the rifles chamber and face of the bolts extractor. I believed that I must have had an amused look on my face as he said, “Do you think there is something funny about this?’ I answered NO SIR!! but I did feel his pain, after all no Marine ever escaped (at least once), the rath of the M1 thumb. The poor dude was both embarrass and pissed. He then quickly removed the trigger housing group and the stock from the barrel group and dropped it near my feet then verbally excusing himself saying he was off for medical attention at sick bay. As he walked off there was a dead silence. Before me lay my issue, U.S. Cal. 30 M1, Winchester ser.#1631101 in pieces. The silence was then broken by a very calm voice of Uncle Sal Vigliotte. “well Roessler, do you realize the magnitude of what has just happened here?” I answered “YES SIR, What ever it is, is not going to be good”.” Oh you think so? Well do you realize that you just bagged an officer. You are my hero of the day, well done. Beside that, I was never to fond of that cocky little Son of a so an so anyway”. The next day we became Marines. I would never see Staff Sgt S. Vigliotte again. Hardly a day passes where I don’t think about the Staff Sgt. who must have trained a few thousand Marines in his day. All 3 of those D.I,s became a part of me for the rest of my life. And So it was. Over a half of a Century ago.
Requesting Permission At P.I.
Parris Island, Platoon 374, the private needs to make a head call, but first he has to request permission to speak to the Drill Instructor for the privilege.
SIR, THE PRIVATE REQUESTS PERMISSION TO SPEAK TO THE DRILL INSTRUCTOR SIR!
“I can’t hear you boy!”
Firewatch At NATTC Memphis
The Marine barracks at NATTC Memphis were two story wooden buildings from the WWII era when I went to aviation mechanics school there in 1960. This made it necessary to have a firewatch on duty after lights out for obvious reasons. This duty always fell to the new Privates right out of boot camp, like me. The staff NCO barracks was directly across the street from the MAD headquarters back then. Not only were the barracks dated from the war, but so were the staff NCOs who lived there. These were all old Corps, battle hardened vets who pretty much lived by their own rules. I was unlucky enough to pull the firewatch duty one night for these men. I had learned in Boot camp to keep a low profile in these situations (E-1 vs all ranks above) so my first pass through the barracks before lights out went pretty quiet. When I got to the first deck entryway the Officer of the Day, a young Second Lieutenant, was waiting for me.
FIRST WOMEN IN THE MILITARY SHOW CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER
In recognition of March as Women’s History Month, meet the trailblazing
ladies who made history by becoming the first to serve in what had been a male-dominated profession, the United States military.
U.S. Marine Corps: Opha May Johnson
Opha May Johnson The first woman to join the Marine Corps was the 39-year-old wife of a District of Columbia orchestra conductor.
19-Mar-69 : Phu-Loc (6)
Most,if not all of you,have dates that you remember while in” The Corps”.I have a few. 10-Oct-67.first day at P.I. 9-Aug-70,the day I left “The Corps”,4-Apr-68,the day I arrived in Vietnam.22-Apr-69,the day I left Vietnam. 1-June-68, the day I was WIA while helping to repair a bridge near Hill-10. 22-Sept-68,the day I lost my best friend in a vehicle accident on the way to Hoi-An to fix another blown bridge.Then there is this one.The anniversary is soon approaching.19-Mar-69 During most of my tour I was assigned to help operate and maintain the ferry at the Liberty Bridge crossing the Song-tu-Bon.When I first arrived at “The Bridge” we slept in tent covered bridge trailers under the bridge like trolls.Later we make a hooch on top of the “Old Bridge” We made it out of the boxes that the arty or mortor rounds came. Our next move was to the compound a couple hundred yards back towards Dai-loc.Just after midnight on the 19th we got hit with rocket,mortor and some small arm fire We were to stay on alert all night Around 0200 the c0mpound on the other side of the river at Phu-Loc(6) was attacked by VC and NVA zappers that used the attack on our base as a diversion so they could position themselves for the attack on the arty battery,that is the theory anyway.The attack lasted about 3 or 4 hours and though we were only less than a clik away there was no way to cross the river without becoming open targets. The grunts at our compound wanted to go really bad but,we were all ordered to stand down and stay in position 11 Marines and 1 Corpsman were KIA (Navy Corpsman David Ray received a postumous Medal Of Honor for actions during the fight.) Nearly 30 other Marines were wounded.There were 70 some confirmed enemy dead,probably more.One of the dead vc was a kid from Dai-Loc that picked up our laundry and had it cleaned at his village.We were told that he had diagrams on him of our compound and that of Phu-Loc (6) We had no clue, he had everyone fooled.He had all the proper papers! go figure! We ferried him across the river many times.I lost a buddy that night Gunny “Smiley” Keefe.the mess sgt at Liberty Bridge and Phu-Loc (6) Before he set up the mess at Phu-Loc(6) he would make at least 2 trips across the river everyday with his “Mule” and take hot chow to the Marines on the hill.The last I saw or spoke to him was a day or two before the attack.He said he was having a problem with one of the new stoves and ask to borrow some tools.It is said that he died defending his men and the mess tent ( He received a postumous Silver Star) I will never forget that smiling face.If anyone else knew the Gunny please post a comment. Harry
#MARINE OF THE WEEK // “We got shot at every 500 meters after that. We pushed through”
#MARINE OF THE WEEK // “We got shot at every 500 meters after that. We pushed through”
Sgt. Robert Lopez
Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment
Aug 22-23, 2010
Sangin Province, Afghanistan
Award: Bronze Star W/ combat “V”
DOCS OF WAR: 2ND MED BN TRAINS FOR DEPLOYMENT
U.S. Navy doctors and hospital corpsmen with 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, participated in a certification exercise in preparation for their upcoming deployment with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force – Crisis Response – Africa at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Feb. 26 – March 2, 2018.
FIRST FEMALE MARINE STUDENTS ARRIVED AT SOI-WEST
The first female Marine students arrived at School of Infantry-West (SOI-W) to begin the first phase of Marine Combat Training (MCT) on Camp Pendleton, Calif., March 6, 2018.
This marks the first male-female integrated Marine Combat Training Company on the West Coast.