Brown, David Anson., LCpl

PLEASE DESCRIBE WHO OR WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO JOIN THE MARINE CORPS.
In 1981 on Memorial Weekend I was graduating High School in a few weeks. I had been visiting the local Marine Recruitment Office with a few guys from school.

The Marine Recruiter was a 2/9 Marine who had fought in Operation Dewey Canyon and gone into Cambodia. His 9th Marines Regiment

1/9 Marines Camp Hansen 1984 - Brown on right

Commanding Officer in Vietnam was now General Robert H. Barrow the 27th Commandant of the Marine Corps.

I went into the recruiting office by myself to start my paperwork and the recruiter said that the group of guys I had visited with had no intention in joining the Marines they were just hanging out watching films. He said if I was serious about joining the Marines the recruiters and a group of local Police Officers were having a Memorial Weekend get together at a local park in Bismarck, ND and to attend.

I went to the park the Recruiters, Police and Veterans were in a big casual group setting up for a BBQ.

Everyone was in casual clothing and having a really good time being amongst friends. Several of the group talked to me about the commitment required to join the Marine Corps.

The next week I was in the office doing my paperwork and they didn't realize I was still 17 so we agreed that I would return in the fall. They left a folder with a good 3 year contract in it for me.

I had always been really interested in Memorial Weekend reading Vetetans stories in the paper, watching TV and having gone to some Memorial services with my Dad. I also consider Memorial Weekend to be the official start of my military service.

The next year on May 21, 1982 my group from Radio School at 29 Palms, CA arrived in Okinawa, Japan and Memorial Weekend quickly became even more significant walking on the very land and looking at the scenery were such a high price was paid by so many Marines.

WHETHER YOU WERE IN THE SERVICE FOR SEVERAL YEARS OR AS A CAREER, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECTION OR PATH YOU TOOK. WHERE DID YOU GO TO BOOT CAMP AND WHAT UNITS, BASES, SHIPS OR SQUADRONS WERE YOU ASSIGNED TO? WHAT WAS YOUR REASON FOR LEAVING?
1st Battalion, 9th Marines, 1st Marine Division, Communications (Tactical Air Control Party - TACP), Camp Horno, Camp Pendleton, CA (June 13, 1983 - December 8, 1984) End of Active Service (EAS) December 8, 1984 (MBK1 RE-1A)

1/9 WestPac 83-84 Deployment:

Anchorage, Alaska Sept. 1, 1983 shared the terminal with KAL 007 -

1/9 Korea Bear Hunt '83 LCpl David Anson Brown

we remained at the airport for an extended period - Congressman Larry McDonald�(April 1, 1935 - September 1, 1983) I talked to Larry he had asked who had served overseas my platoon pointed me out he came over and we talked about Somalia (McDonald told me that my Somalia deployment Operation Jade Tiger a 'lend lease operation with England' was never given Congressional approval and was considered an illegal Operation) he then called home and boarded the flight. Flight 007�was a scheduled�Korean Air Lines�flight from�New York City�to�Seoul�via�Anchorage, Alaska. On September 1, 1983, the flight was shot down by a Soviet�Sukhoi Su-15�interceptor�aircraft.

Okinawa - placed on standby for Beirut

Philippines - practice landing for Beirut

Korea DMZ (Bear Hunt '83) - The�Rangoon bombing�of October 9, 1983 we arrived in Korea at Osan Air base the next day and were sent to the DMZ at Cheorwon Valley - standby for Beirut canceled within days of the Beirut Barracks bombing October 23, 1983 - Departed Korea returning to Okinawa shortly after President Reagan's visit to Korea

TACP School Okinawa, Japan

1/9 Camp Pendleton, CA

Fort Sherman JOTC, Panama Canal: JEST School (June 1984) - during the aftermath riots (burning of Colon) and curfew of the Noriega stolen Election

TACP/FAC Training

Bridgeport, CA Mountain Warfare Training Center�(MWTC)

CAX '84 Twentynine Palms, CA (MCAGCC)

HQ 31st MAU duty station in Subic Bay, Philippines Oct. 4, 1982 - April 1983

HQ 31st MAU Communications (SOC)
WestPac 82-83 USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3)

Departed Subic Bay, Philippines in October 1982 for Perth, Australia, HQ Command 31s MAU Group Photo on the deck of LHA-3, Shellback crossing ceremony also on route to Australia. Exercise Valiant Usher, 10 days liberty, Marine Corps Birthday Ball on the 2nd floor in the Port Reception building at Fremantle, Australia about November 2, 1982 - I served in the ceremony as the PFC representative.

Arrived in Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean on November 9, 1982 for supplies for Somalia deployment the next day conducted a practice landing for Berbera, Somalia I was in 1st wave 3rd LC-M. (death of Soviet Union leader Leonid Brezhnev), HQ 31st MAU returned to LHA-3 while the ship was beginning swimming activities off the stern of the ship, BLT 2/3 remained ashore training, the ship served MCB dinner that night Nov. 10 to the Marines, the next day BLT 2/3 returned to the ship and a 2nd MCB dinner was served for the Marines from supplies from Diego Garcia, about two days later resupply was comple and the ship departed.

Berbera, Somalia Nov. 1982 Operation Jade Tiger

Wahabi Sands, Oman - Coast of Iran Surveillance (Iran and Iraq War) - Strait of Hormuz (Oil Tanker War) - Exercise Golden Lion aka Exercise Jade Tiger 83 - Dec. 1982

HQ 31st MAU - WestPac 82-83- cross-deck from USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) to WestPac '83 USS New Orleans (LPH-11) while off the coast of Hawaii in February 1983, returned to the Philippines, Okinawa, Pohang, South Korea for Exercise Team Spirit '83, Hong Kong, Philippines - departed April, 1983 returned to 7th Comm Bn in Camp Hansen, Okinawa

7th Comm Bn 3rd Marine Division Camp Hansen, Okinawa Japan May 21, 1982 - May 10, 1983 TAD 6 weeks 3rd Marine Division Officers Club mess duty Camp Courtney, Okinawa June - July 1982, TAD 6 months HQ 31st MAU Subic Bay, Philippines Oct. 4, 1982 - April 1983, Communications Exercise aboard the USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) three days April 1983

MCCES School 29 Palms Field Radio Operator Course MOS 2531

MCRD San Diego M Co. Platoon 3101 Nov. 10, 1981 - Jan. 29, 1982

IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN ANY MILITARY OPERATIONS, INCLUDING COMBAT, HUMANITARIAN AND PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS, PLEASE DESCRIBE THOSE WHICH MADE A LASTING IMPACT ON YOU AND, IF LIFE-CHANGING, IN WHAT WAY?

WestPac 82-83 31st MAU Berbera, Somalia PFC Brown

1st Battalion 9th Marines Communications (TACP)

WestPac 83-84 Okinawa, Philippines. Korea DMZ (Bear Hunt '83) - Panama Canal 1984

HQ 31st MAU Communications (SOC)
WestPac 82-83 USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3)

Berbera, Somalia Nov. 1982 Operation Jade Tiger

Wahabi Sands, Oman - Coast of Iran Surveillance (Iran and Iraq War) - Strait of Hormuz (Oil Tanker War) - Exercise Golden Lion aka Exercise Jade Tiger 83 - Dec. 1982

CAN YOU RECOUNT A PARTICULAR INCIDENT FROM YOUR SERVICE, WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN FUNNY AT THE TIME, BUT STILL MAKES YOU LAUGH?
USMC Memory: I flew out of the Cubi Point, Philippines airport in April 1983 on a C-140 or C-147 cargo aircraft (sitting on netting facing cargo) or something similar when my time (6 months) in HQ 31st MAU ended and I returned to Okinawa.

We departed from Cubi Point on bus

HQ 31st MAU Subic Bay, Philippines October 4, 1982

the night before (reporting and waiting at about 10:00 pm) departing about 02:30 AM for Clark Air Base the normal report time was about 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM. All the busses (2 or 3) used blackout lights. We were given ammo from B Co. for the journey. There had been a least two ambushes one deadly on the route to Clark. We arrived at Clark about sunrise there had been one disturbance on the way a group of combatants tried to roll a car axle from the ditch onto the road to block our way.

At Clark some personal had rightly refused to take the bus from Cubi Point to Clark so our flight a small group going to Okinawa was brought back to Cubi Point to pick them up. Most of the personal on the busses from Subic Bay (Cubi Point) the night before were returning to the USA and stayed at Clark Air Base. Our flight might have flown back to Clark Air Base if we did we didn't get off the plane. I remember landing in Okinawa.

With high combatant warfare in the Cubi Point area our plain could not approach the terminal, we had to leave the aircraft at the end of the runway and carry our seabags to the terminal. When everyone arrived and our aircraft arrived we carried our seabags back to the end of the runway and departed for Okinawa.

When we arrived late in the day in Okinawa (I think it was after lights out - after 10:00 pm - the chow hall was closed) at Kadina Air Base we spent the night at Kadina and left the next morning for Camp Hansen arriving two days later than originally scheduled.

by David Anson Brown