Memorial Day...a Marine 56 years later.
Memorial Day is tomorrow.
A day when we honor those who gave their lives while serving in the military.
I joined the Marines right after graduating from Bishop England high school in 1957.
Had no interest in any "more school" and joined the USMC to be one-up on my older brother who was wearing USAF blue.
Back then you could sign up for six months of active duty and then remain in the Reserves for 7.5 years, subject to call up.
Boot Camp at Parris Island (in July and August!) was sweaty but went ok.
Then advanced infantry training up at Camp Lejeune, NC felt comfortable.
All Marines are basically infantry.
I was lucky enough to be designated as a
Combat Photographer (MOS 4641).
This just happened to be during a very peaceful time.
It was so good to be attached to the Base Photo Lab, Support Company B, Headquarters Battalion, that I re-enlisted for three years.
This also eliminated the many years of the Reserve requirement.
But, instead of combat, I was basically doing PR.
Snapping photos of Command Changes and medals being pinned on Marines.
Sometimes a funny thing would happen and I was there with my USMC-issued Speed Graphic.
Life was comfortable but I was getting antsy to do something more than covering parades and "grip & grins."
I wanted to be out in the field for more than a few hours with eager Reservists who came to LeJeune for two weeks of annual active duty training.
I was not involved in the
1958 invasion of Lebanon and heard the stories that the amphibious landing was greeted by bikini-clad bathers and soda pop vendors. Actually, though, some Marines were killed.
I finally got my chance to get away from the parade field and starched khakis late in 1959.
I volunteered to be assigned to a Tank Battalion as its photographer for several months.
I cruised for 7-days with them down to Vieques, a Navy-owned "training" island off the coast of Puerto Rico.
We did a pre-dawn landing, climbing down cargo nets into small landing crafts that zig-zagged toward the beach.
We set up tents as our sleeping quarters and I finally was in the field, training with an armoured aggressor force.
Dust, dirt and booming tank cannons were the everyday norm.
This was far from the spick and span Base Photo Lab.
There we sometimes spent hours, experimenting with posing and lighting formal portraits.
This was eating rations in the field and taking photos as dedicated tankers performed a variety of tests and maneuvers.
Instead of a prim uniform hat or cap, I now was getting used to wearing a steel pot, a camouflaged helmet.
And, smoking a lot of cigarettes, which were very inexpensive in Vieques.
Also, being pleased to see beer was ten cents a can and five rum & Cokes were made with just one 8-oz classic Coca-Cola.
Work hard and play even harder.
I learned from my fellow tankers that when someone didn't make the grade, training in endless-track machines, they were reassigned to become Tank Killers.
Proving the Marine Corps had a sense of humor, both groups frequented the same bar on base.
Yes, the MPs had to break up many discussions on the merits and safety of tanks.
Looking back a half century, I realize that if I had stayed with the 7.5 years in the Reserves, I might have been called up to active duty in the Vietnam war.
(Click on the photos and links for details.)
My time in the Corps convinced me that college was a good idea.
Labels: 1958 invasion of Lebanon, Base Photo Lab, grip & grin photo session, Marine Corps combat photographer, Memorial Day, USMC, Vieques Island off Puerto Rico
Happy Veterans Day
Yes I'm a veteran.
In honor of the day (and the fact that yesterday was the 234th birthday of the US Marine Corps), I proudly put on a favorite t-shirt.
While visiting my Mom at a nursing home, I was stopped by a lady who asked
"Oh, do you work for the Medical University of South Carolina?"I hope she was merely dyslectic.
My answer was very polite and truthful.
Semper Fi, vets.
Labels: dyslectic, MUSC, Semper Fi, USMC
Happy Birthday Marine....
Today is the 233rd birthday of the
United States Marine Corps.
I slipped on one of my many USMC t-shirts and headed out to shake the hand of a Marine.
I wanted to wish him - or her - a
Happy Birthday and say thanks..
Hunkered down in the middle of the Aviation Avenue/Remount Road interchange construction, there is a small facility with the familiar scarlet and gold signage:
Marine Corps Reserve.
I shook a young man's hand and asked about the Birthday Ball this evening.
"Sir," he replied, "we had the ball last Friday." I looked quizzical and he continued
"we had to, sir, it was a reserve training weekend."
The tradition at the Ball is to serve the first slice of cake to the oldest Marine present. I asked who ate cake first..when did he join up?
"Sir, the oldest Marine there joined in 1967."I have a good chance for first slice next year, at the 234th celebration.
I joined the Marines on June 17, 1957.
(The picture above shows me on field maneuvers in Vieques, off Puerto Rico, in 1959)
Labels: 233rd Birthday Ball, Aviation Avenue, highway interchange construction, Marine Corps, oldest Marine, Remount Road, USMC, Vieques
The "lie" actually was a prediction...
Telling the Marine Corps I was a published photog was a gamble. I was only an 18-year old, skinny PFC but I knew I would NOT survive as an MP. I didn't think they would stop the whole process to check out my story and, of course, they didn't. This was the late 50s and nobody was shooting at anybody. The Corps was doing more PR than fighting so a photographer was always a good occupation slot to fill. The CWO who headed the Base Photo Lab got a good laugh when I told him how I was selected to join his crew and he assigned a Sgt to teach me the photography details I would need to know to be an asset to the Corps.
About 7 years later, in 1964,
I WAS published in LIFE magazine. As a staff photographer for the San Diego Union-Tribune, I took an aerial shot that I sent off to LIFE magazine and it ran full page on the Miscellany page. The funny part is, the paper had turned it down.
LIFE called to say they liked the shot but needed details for a caption. I had snapped it from a helicopter coming back from an aerial assignment on surfers and knew generally where the word was carved in the field but after driving around, knocking on many doors, nobody knew what I was talking about.
Well, duh. You couldn't see if from the ground! So I hired a fixed wing plane for about $90 an hour and we circled around the north county until I spotted it again. I jotted down landmarks, landed and drove up to the man's house and he explained why he had plowed the word "QUIET" in his back yard.
A few years later, a publication in the Netherlands sent me a check when they ran the picture in an article on noise pollution and several other magazines were taken by the message in the shot...here is an angry person who
"has had enough and won't take it anymore."Labels: Base Photo Lab, Chief Warrant Officer, LIFE magazine, MP school, USMC
Back then you could sign up for six months of active duty and then remain in the Reserves for 7.5 years, subject to call up.
Work hard and play even harder.
