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Mongoose
08-30-18, 05:34 AM
Looking at old pictures last night.....I found one that reminded me of how extremely loyal and proud the Corps is. I remember back in 1968, our Battalion was deep in the Jungle of the Arizona Territory in Nam. I remember on November 9th, our C.O. Captain Fox informed all the Plt. Sgts. that a special supply truck was at Bn. headquarters and was handing temporary handing out Dress Blues. We were ordered to wear them to Honor the Marine Corps Birthday. We didn't have any way to clean up, so we just wore them as is. Made no difference if we were going on a search and destroy mission, night ambush, or was assigned a listing post....we wore those Dress Blues. Here's a picture taken of me by a Marine Brother.
I was just wondering how many of you remember having to wear Dress Blues, no matter the circumstances, on the Corps Birthday?32859

advanced
08-30-18, 09:12 AM
I sure remember it. It was a great motivator to us and it was something watching the gooks run for their lives before us as we got on line and moved forward against them.

And the steak dinner that evening brought in by chopper was another part of that day that I for one will never forget. Filet, baked potatoes, even fresh salad (something we hadn't had in months). The only thing I didn't like was they rationed the cold draft beer, something about us still being in the shivt.

The Marine Corps Birthday, that day made all the hardships worthwhile and made me proud to be a Marine.

USMC 2571
08-30-18, 10:51 AM
I recall that on Nov 10th the uniform of the day was dress blues. I have a photo of some folks in my unit in Puerto Rico wearing them that day, complete with flag ceremony and everything else. They knew how to do things up right in those days. I'll see if I can dig out that photo.

USMC 2571
08-30-18, 10:55 AM
32860Nov 10, 1968--Puerto Rico

Mongoose
08-30-18, 04:29 PM
I'm surprised no other Marines remember that, back in the day.....what say you oldtop....

chulaivet1966
08-31-18, 12:07 PM
[QUOTE=Mongoose;1038610] a special supply truck was at Bn. headquarters and was handing temporary handing out Dress Blues. We were ordered to wear them to Honor the Marine Corps Birthday. We didn't have any way to clean up, so we just wore them as is. Made no difference if we were going on a search and destroy mission, night ambush, or was assigned a listing post....we wore those Dress Blues. Here's a picture taken of me by a Marine Brother. QUOTE]

Chuckle....cool pic.
Me....I've never worn DBlues.
My last Marine Corps birthday was in 1968 when I was at NAS Marine Barracks Moffett Field and we wore dress Greens. (always loved that uniform design and green is my favorite color)

Mmmm....wearing those on LP....new kinda of camouflage?
My last LP turned out to be a quite exciting friendly fire incident. (that's for another thread :))
Those were that days.

Carry on weed hoppers....

USMC 2571
08-31-18, 12:57 PM
Are you sure you don't remember dress blues being the required uniform of the day, Corps-wide, per order of the Commandant? There was some disagreement about whether it should apply to combat troops, but the Commandant asked, are they in the CORPS??? If so, just on the MC Birthday, get em in the uniform of the day per the order I issued. It's just for one day, to show respect.

chulaivet1966
08-31-18, 01:03 PM
Are you sure you don't remember dress blues being the required uniform of the day, Corps-wide, per order of the Commandant?

Nope....I've never worn DB's or having them be UOTD during my time.
My boot camp photo is as close as I got to the actual uniform.

Carry on....

USMC 2571
08-31-18, 01:06 PM
I never had them either, except for that one day. They could have made a lot of dough renting them out for that one Nov 10th.....but the next year, I think it was 1969, not sure, they did not renew that one time order. Too much logistical trouble.

USMC 2571
08-31-18, 01:07 PM
I looked it up just now, no reference that is reliable as to what year it was precisely---but---Some of the things the Corps thinks up......

FistFu68
08-31-18, 04:25 PM
I was humping the bush as usual OD UTEs ,kinda Wild thinking about it though;Dress Blues in the Bush :marine:

USMC 2571
09-03-18, 12:30 PM
Billy, looks like only three of us, or so, remember that order being put into effect.

Marine1955
09-03-18, 12:32 PM
The only draw back to wearing the Blues in combat would be the camouflage you might have stood out in the Dress Blues...

Mongoose
09-03-18, 04:37 PM
Russ would have stood out, even if he had been invisible.....#1

Melvin Jeffries
09-03-18, 07:16 PM
went late 61 got out early 66 and never head of it, we always wore the good ole dress greens.

advanced
09-03-18, 07:23 PM
Being on line wearing our dress blues actually made the gooks even more afraid of us. It was something I'll never forget, at least for that one day we felt we were invincible.

Melvin Jeffries
09-03-18, 07:37 PM
It would have been interesting to know what they thought they were seeing during that time.

radio relay
09-03-18, 09:13 PM
Don't ever remember seeing dress uniforms of any kind being worn by anyone in Vietnam. However, I didn't arrive until October of '69. MC Birthday for me that year wasn't much, because it was just a few of us up in Phubai with a bunch of ARVNs. We were TAD from 7th Comm (in Okinawa, by then) trying to transition a TRC-97 site over to them, but they were nothing but a bunch of screw-ups ... I never had a set of Blues, because I would have had to buy them, and they were just too expensive.

Mongoose
09-04-18, 05:23 AM
I think it was a Public Relation effort to show the citizens of America and Viet Nam, that Marines are unique. Marines are the only Military branch that dresses up for Combat. It was a way to show the World that we were so willing to die for our Country, that we went into Harms Way already dressed for our Funeral. As Russ said it made the VC shake in their Sandals.

radio relay
09-04-18, 11:11 PM
I'll bet you all looked stunning :marine:

Mongoose
09-05-18, 05:23 AM
I still look stunning, Richard.....even more so today, than then.....

radio relay
09-07-18, 12:26 PM
ha ha ... of course ... :thumbup:

m14ed
09-08-18, 03:22 AM
https://s17-us2.startpage.com/cgi-bin/serveimage?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.creativecostumes. com.au%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F07%2FRWP_268_web.jpg&sp=67e14b193d36aefca4f8c7b35e4a5769

I heard USArmySpecialForces
didn't look so spiffy

maybe they lacked co-ordination.

but they did have rythym