Our Marine Reunion went well in Washington DC. Picture here has our platoon posing in front of the high water mark of the Marine Corps, the statues that were created from the most reproduced picture of World War Two. The flag being raised above Mt Sarabachi on Iwo Jima. It happened early in the 35 day non stop battle and some say maybe caused the 20,000 japs on the island to fight to the death, which most of them did. The Marines lost dearly in this battle also with 7,000 Marines also killed in action here. It was sometimes called a battle of human flesh against reinforced concrete...the marines were the flesh the japs were behind the concrete in bunkers...actually the Marines had more casualties than the Japs did totaling 21,000...that would be 7,000 dead and 14000 wounded...The japs 20,000 were all dead. I think less than 200 surrendered.
Sorry about that, supposed to be talking about our reunion here, but the price paid by those Marines on Iwo Jima was such that it is hard to not get engrossed in what happened there on that island...if you click on the title here it will take you to a site showing the Marines who were awarded the medal of Honor during that battle...it was enormous....
Ok the war was over long ago, we were never in a war, except for maybe boot camp, where it was us against the Marine Corps and guess what?, they won, but we still feel a connection to these battles as we were trained during our time to be ready for the same. Lucky for us the call never came during our time in at least for most of us...We did have a couple who stayed in and were part of the Viet Nam war but for the most part we were serving between two wars, Korea and Nam our training was good but not needed...
Our Senior drill instructor had served in World War two our junior drill instructor had served in Korea, and both of these men stayed in to serve in Nam and both died prematurely of agent orange related deaths...I wish they had not it would have been so good to talk to both of them again...The Pentagon helped me find them but it was too late, but I did talk to both families.
Back to the reunion...Memories are made sometimes when you least expect. For instance we stayed on base last week at Quantico and decided the first night to waltz across the parking lot to the "officers club" for dinner...none of us had ever had that opportunity to eat with officers...Well guess what, the service was horrible our food after an hour and half came cold and dried out...some help had not showed up, it was a disaster but one that memories are made of and they apologized and gave us 50% off our meals...That was how our reunion started, with a memory to remember..But when we returned to the hotel, my sweet pea had let the cat out of the bag that it was my birthday and a cake had been purchased and they sang to me, it was a total surprise and very nice.
Then Thursday we loaded onto a Marine Bus with a Marine Gunny to guide us and had some fun. We visited the helicopter squadron that supports the President and his staff...we got to walk onto one of the copters all painted up with Marine Green..It is the same units Marines use in combat operations to ferry Marines from place to place...Got my butt chewed on a tad bit when I photographed a combat unit chopper...always good to find out where the boundries are when opportunity is knocking...Sure our enemies have seen these choppers many times just before our marines landed and gave them a butt kicking...and I will keep that picture to my self as requested....
From there we were taken to an area where they train K-9 dogs for combat duty..it was interesting about how they are trained...after that we visited the Marine Archives building which was a little boring for most of us...they did ask us to donate things about the Marines when we are done with them...Maybe I will give them my tray from the 8th and I mess hall someday, that I did not steal but was given to me...maybe not, sure my kids will fight hard for that...ha We also visited the Museum of the Marine Corps near the Quantico base...it lies along I-95 and is a eye grabber as you drive by with its huge beam rising into the sky ahead as you approach from the south...Most never see it but it is a worthwhile stop for all...it is free to the public and truly shows the history of the Marines from 1775 to present days...
It is built and still being built by money from Marines like me, no government money went into this building...Proud to say I helped, was not called upon to give life or limb so I figured the least I could do was to help support this history and appreciation shown to the many who have served all these years and still do...
Friday we got on the Marine bus again and went to Arlington Cemetery, touring the Kennedy graves, the changing of the guard at he tomb of the unknown's and then something I had not seen the mansion overlooking Arlington that was the home of Robert E Lee the confederate commander during the civil war...His plantation was across the river from DC and the union took it away from him during the war...burying their dead in his front yard so to speak..after the war his family won a settlement from the government for the value of the plantation and it remains our national cemetery...We saw a funeral in progress as they said they are doing about 35 a week now...Then we went to the Memorials like Lincoln, Nam, Korea and the new World War two memorial...After that we attended the Evening Parade at the Marine Corps base in DC called "8th and I"...the oldest base in the Corps being formed in 1801...it was as it always is a great parade of troops and the two elite Marine bands that are there, The Presidents band and the Commandants Band...
We had a banquet Saturday evening at the Globe and Laurel restaurant near Quantico..A time honored tradition was upheld when Wayne Hart again led us in singing "Courtin in the Rain".....Gunny and I received 4 tumblers with Marine Emblems on them in appreciation for our work on this reunion...and guess what? The majority of them want to continue this drill again in two more years...Plans are to change the format from visiting Marine installations and just have fun and get together every couple years...Next stop is Branson Mo....should be fun, our member Jon Dermott who lives near there and a veteran of all three reunions, stepped up to the plate to organize this one...I look forward to it, maybe couple it with some trout fishing nearby...I think it could spark more interest from our platoon members as it will be a nice drive from the midwest and who does not like Branson.....
Note..you can click on the pictures to the rights side and enlarge them...
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