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HERE
Volunteer with the National Park Service at the Marine Corps War Memorial for the past 13 years and also volunteer at Henderson Hall, HQMC as the Retired Affairs Officer for the past 9 years. Proud to be a MUSTANG of Marines and a Life member of TWS An Irish Blessing; May you be in Heaven a half hour before the devil knows you're dead!!! The recruits listed below are Fallen Marines that I put through PI when I was an SDI and they were the 20 Marines that were KIA in Vietnam that I know personally. God Bless them all and their families. Also listed there are other recruits that I had the pleasure of knowing when I was a SDI while at PI that were not KIA in Vietnam. Marines one and all. When I was commissioned a 2ndLt at the 1st Engineer Bn in Nov 68 I assummed a title that was unknown to me at that time and it stayed with me as long as I was a butter bar. I became the SSJO or SMALL SHITTY JOBS OFFICER which included doing every thing that no other officer wanted to do in the Bn or Battery I was assigned to. They were indeed the worst you could imagine and the most time consuming things I ever dealt with.
Other Comments:
My wife, Anne and my sister-in-law Susan each had a brick installed for me at the DI Memorial in Parris Island. My children Cheryl, Kevin and Tim laid a brick for me at the USMC Museum as a Christmas present in 2007. Two of my former recruits, Sgt Ray Edwards and MGySgt Simon from Plt 3086 and I had bricks laid at the DI Memorial for SSgt Driver one of our JDI's from the Platoon and nine of the recruits from Platoon 3086 that were KIA in Vietnam. We want to thank the DI Association for the exception to the rule in allowing us to lay the bricks in their honor at the Memorial. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BROWN NOSE AND A SHITHEAD IS DEPTH PERCEPTION. TACT: THE ABILITY TO TELL A PERSON TO GO TO HELL AND MAKE THEM FEEL HAPPY TO BE ON THEIR WAY. Other MOS's held: 0311/0331/8511/5711/3001/3002
Best Friends Steve Hill, Roger Hansen and Doug Simpson and all the enlisted Marines that made the Battery work like clockwork and really busted their asses to hang tight. Especially the day patrols that worked like precision all the time. Couldn't have asked for a better bunch of Marines to work with. There were 9 Marines that gave me a Zippo lighter which I still have and will keep as the best thing I ever got. I never met or heard from any of them but wish I could.
Best Moment The Skipper said I was a natural scrounge which was a compliment to me. But then he used to send me up North to see what they needed from the Btry and sometimes I was gone for 2 to 3 weeks at a time. I sometimes, Note sometimes, I enjoyed it (not really). Got caught on Dewey Canyon 1 and that was when I met Capt Barnum.
Worst Moment Trying to get Supplies for the guns as the Army was sending the gear they had home including the tubes but we made out somehow and got all the tubes the Army was sending home. Hard to hide a 38 foot tube but we found them and got them set up and ready to go. We traded a case of jungle utilities for 20 tubes and the 11th Marines couldn't believe we actually had all guns up and running in two days. So much for Command knowing what was going on at the lower levels yuk yuk!!!!! The tubes cost $20,000 bucks a piece but it wasn't coming out of my pay so who cares.
Chain of Command Major Douglas was the best CO we had in the Battery. He knew how to get the best out of everyone in the battery. He was the opposite of the previous CO who I will not mention by name because he was a real butthead. Capt Johnson was the XO of the Btry and really knew his business and was a WW2 and Korean vet besides being a Nam vet. We had a new Marine try to kill himself a few days after he got there and that was an eye opener for me. Capt Johnson knew what he was doing when he handled that one for sure.
Other Memories I actually didn't want to leave the Battery. We had 2 guns on Hill 55 and 2 guns at An Hoa and 4 guns at Hill 34. The damn rockets used to go right over us heading for the DaNang air base. The Ammo dump (ASP-1) was about a half mile from us when it blew up on 27 Apr 69 and we had crap all over the place when the 2000 pounders blew up and actually snapped the 2x4's on the strong backs we were living in. The concussion was unreal and you could see the shock wave coming at us from the ammo dump when they blew. We used to sight the starlight scopes in on the range just a bit away from the Btry. We also found some 50 .cal Machine guns under the supply hooch that the army left there. Great find. I was on Hill 34 when we got the 175's from the Army and stayed there until I rotated. Sgt Goodman who was with me on Hill 34 was the armorer and I still e-mail him every now and then through TWS. Sgt Goodman has a flick of him and I sighting in the starlight scopes on M-14's and M-16.