Sgt. Grit,
As most of your readers will know, the United States Marine Corps
provided fighting men aboard Naval vessels since the beginning of the
Corps, but some may not know that in 1988, then president Bill
Clinton, removed the last of the seagoing Marines from ship's
detachments.
Between 01Feb1963 thru 01Feb1965 I was one of those seagoing Marines.
It was an honor to be chosen to serve as a seagoing Marine, but
having been twenty-five years since the last Marine detachment, we
are becoming a dying breed. I see little in the newsletter in regard
to our missions afloat for 223 years and would like to remind our
fellow Marine Corps brothers of our history at sea. We experienced
some pleasant and unpleasant days of service at sea, but our memories
are mostly of the pleasant ones.
I would like to post this photograph of my sea school class of 1963.
The photo was taken at Marine Barracks, Portsmouth, Virginia on 21
Dec 1962. If any readers are included in this photo or can help
identify and/or locate any of the Marines, please contact me. Some
of the names, I can recall, but many fail my memory after fifty
years. I would love to hear from anyone on this subject. If I am
permitted to post my e-mail address here, I can be contacted at
R.Dotson[at]charter.net. If not, I hope Sgt. Grit will forward any
comments to me.
Semper Fi,
Richard Dotson