36 yrs in law practice, 4 yrs prosecutor (best civilian job I ever had except cowboying -I was raised on a cattle ranch in West Texas), Board certified in Civil Trial Law since 1985. At this advanced age, I still enjoy the verbal & mental combat of the courtroom. ( Still crazy afer all these years!)
Below is a poem that I wrote one rainy night at home after my OCS/ TBS classmates reunited on the web. I recited it a it a memorial service at the Wall at our 40 year reunion in D.C. and Quantico in 2007 and again at Mess Nignt for our reunion in San Diego last year. It was published in Leatherneck in Nov. 2007.
THE BOYS OF QUANTICO � 2007
From all across the country
They came to join the Corps.
They walked away from everything
Knowing not what was in store.
They pledged their lives & loyalty
For reasons only they would know.
God bless the men who joined back then,
The Boys of Quantico.
In '66 they came 500 strong
To find and follow their dreams.
Could they prove they had the stuff
To become an Officer of Marines?
Now some were born to money
While most were regular Joes.
They all faced the test of OCS,
The Boys of Quantico.
They came to test their mettle,
To march & fight & drill.
To push beyond their pain & fear
One clear goal, theirs to fulfill.
Thru sweat & blood they earned their Bar
And the greatest title one can bestow.
Known as "Marines" 'til Heaven's scenes,
The Boys of Quantico.
At TBS, in classrooms & in the field
For days & nights they trained, you see.
For their mission was to learn to lead
A platoon of Marine Corps infantry.
Their work was hard but each man knew
In the end, to war they would go.
They did their best at TBS,
The Boys of Quantico.
Soon orders came for all of them
To serve their tour in Vietnam.
They'd lead their troops to the fight
In Hue City, An Hoa & Khe Sahn.
They led & loved those in their charge
And bled & died fighting the foe.
One and all, they each stood tall,
The Boys of Quantico.
Most came home, though some did not.
All served with honor to behold.
Some were wounded in the flesh,
But all were touched in the soul.
At home they worked to make a life,
To never forget times long ago.
They faced their fear & shed a tear,
The Boys of Quantico.
With years & years of living,
They come to meet again.
They'll laugh & cry with drinks held high
And they'll remember when
They served with pride and honor
For those who died so long ago.
God bless the men who served back then,
The Boys of Quantico.
-John Augustine-
Other Comments:
After many years of just not thinking about it, I have found myself remembering more and more about the wonderful/ horrible times in our beloved Corps. Every thing has been gravy since 1969, found a good woman (also beautiful) who has stuck by me for 44 yrs. Three children who are good, productive people that I love dearly, three grandsons and a beautiful granddaughter who, in a totally unbiased observation, are far above their peers in intellegence, looks and character. I made it home and I have been blessed. _
Description This campaign was from 30 January to 1 April 1968. On 29 January 1968 the Allies began the Tet-lunar new year expecting the usual 36-hour peaceful holiday truce. Because of the threat of a large-scale attack and communist buildup around Khe Sanh, the cease fire order was issued in all areas over which the Allies were responsible with the exception of the I CTZ, south of the Demilitarized Zone.
Determined enemy assaults began in the northern and Central provinces before daylight on 30 January and in Saigon and the Mekong Delta regions that night. Some 84,000 VC and North Vietnamese attacked or fired upon 36 of 44 provincial capitals, 5 of 6 autonomous cities, 64 of 242 district capitals and 50 hamlets. In addition, the enemy raided a number of military installations including almost every airfield. The actual fighting lasted three days; however Saigon and Hue were under more intense and sustained attack.
The attack in Saigon began with a sapper assault against the U.S. Embassy. Other assaults were directed against the Presidential Palace, the compound of the Vietnamese Joint General Staff, and nearby Ton San Nhut air base.
At Hue, eight enemy battalions infiltrated the city and fought the three U.S. Marine Corps, three U.S. Army and eleven South Vietnamese battalions defending it. The fight to expel the enemy lasted a month. American and South Vietnamese units lost over 500 killed, while VC and North Vietnamese battle deaths may have been somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000.
Heavy fighting also occurred in two remote regions: around the Special Forces camp at Dak To in the central highlands and around the U.S. Marines Corps base at Khe Sanh. In both areas, the allies defeated attempts to dislodge them. Finally, with the arrival of more U.S. Army troops under the new XXIV Corps headquarters to reinforce the marines in the northern province, Khe Sanh was abandoned.
Tet proved a major military defeat for the communists. It had failed to spawn either an uprising or appreciable support among the South Vietnamese. On the other hand, the U.S. public became discouraged and support for the war was seriously eroded. U.S. strength in South Vietnam totaled more than 500,000 by early 1968. In addition, there were 61,000 other allied troops and 600,000 South Vietnamese.
The Tet Offensive also dealt a visibly severe setback to the pacification program, as a result of the intense fighting needed to root out VC elements that clung to fortified positions inside the towns. For example, in the densely populated delta there had been approximately 14,000 refugees in January; after Tet some 170,000 were homeless. The requirement to assist these persons seriously inhibited national recovery efforts.
