View Full Version : Reflections of an old man
MillRatUSMC
03-13-04, 09:22 AM
This morning while lying in bed half-awake, half-dreaming, reflecting back to men that I have known as Marines. <br />
I tend to mix everything up. <br />
I remember a small man, known only to me as Tony at the...
MillRatUSMC
03-13-04, 09:25 AM
I forgot to mention Dancing Hamster Sgt. Murphy USMC, my granson loves squeezing his foot so it dances to the Marine Corps Hymn.
We are silly aren't we?
Semper Fidelis
Ricardo
MillRatUSMC
03-13-04, 09:28 AM
http://www.emarinepx.com/images/si756.jpg
A pix of Dancing Hamster Sgt. Murphy USMC
Not the one in my office/den...
Semper Fidelis
Ricardo
namgrunt
03-13-04, 12:00 PM
MillRat:
Silly?? Never!
We are Marines. I like to think of "it" as Exhuberant, not silly.
It would take a long research to count and tally all the men and women who have served the Corps since its inception. The list stretches back to Tun Tavern. We all know the quick version of our history. It would stagger us to look at the long roster of all who have gone before us.
Even if we don't remember their names very accurately, Each of us has images of faces in our minds, friends and foes alike, with whom we've served. In the "Pinch", there are no foes, only Marines.
I almost came to thowing fists in Vietnam with a SSgt named Harrison (best memory on name). We faced off when he jumped one of my men for a bogus reason. We were hollering at each other when the Plt. Cmdr arrived and broke it up. I was only a LCpl, but I told the Lieutenant to keep the SSgt away from me, or the two of us would do a knuckle dance. There were bad feelings all around.
The next morning, in the midst of heavy contact with enemy forces, I was passing the same SSgt my extra 40mm M79 frag grenade rounds because he had run out. He came and asked, and I gave him all I could spare (18). At that moment, there was no good or bad guy, we were Marines in Combat. I needed him alive and fighting to watch my back, as he needed me for the same reason.
The parade of Ghosts who've held the line stretches back through our Corps' history. As long as one of us lives, we will honor their memory and uphold the honor of the Marine Corps. We added Drifter to that Ghost roster list recently. Some day, it will be our turn to join the long Skirmish line, and sweep into memory. There's nothing silly about that at all.
Semper Fi!
It seems that I only remember a very few of the men and women I was stationed with.
I know more Vietnam Era vets than Persian Gulf. Probably because of the web and my job. I wouldn't trade my life today for anything.
I only served a very short time. But I have the pride of being a Marine and when I do remember a name, I do a search and have yet to locate any of them.
I Love (DH) Sgt Murphy...He is on my shelf as well.
So we may not be silly, just young at heart!