thedrifter
11-11-06, 09:07 AM
Marines mark the Corps' birthday
GENEVIEVE REILLY greilly@ctpost.com
Connecticut Post Online
Article Launched:11/11/2006 06:37:20 AM EST
TRUMBULL — For Pat Fortuna, it was a chance to remember how, as a 14-year-old living in Bridgeport, he saw a Corsair plane manufactured in Stratford explode in the air and crash to the ground.
For Anthony Oligino, it meant recalling the horror of a mortar shell on Okinawa killing the man next to him in the trench, and being shot in the hips and leg.
But no matter what their stories, the 30 or so men gathered Friday at Town Hall were all there for the same reason — to celebrate the 231st birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps.
"All of us are here because the Marine Corps represents a defining time in our lives," said First Selectman Raymond G. Baldwin Jr., smartly outfitted in his dress blues for the occasion.
Before the birthday cake was cut — by the oldest and youngest Marines in the room, as is tradition — the veterans were asked to share stories about their service.
Fortuna said that day in 1944, when he saw the plane crash and ran to help the pilot, inspired him to join the Marine Corps.
"I was looking through the dump for 2-cent bottles," he said, when the plane crashed. "I got to the plane, and the pilot, he was just barely alive."
Fortuna asked if he could help, but instead, the pilot told him to get away before the plane blew up.
"I remember seeing two Marine Corps emblems on his collar," he said. "When I turned 16, I tried to join the Marines, but my father found out and put a stop to it."
After graduating from high school, though, Fortuna was able to fulfill his dream.
"I still am a Marine," he said.
Oligino's story was one he didn't tell for more than 35 years after coming home from combat in World War II, not even to his wife.
"I was the youngest of the four of us" in the trench on Sugar Loaf Hill, he said. The mortar hit one of his comrades, just as the man was climbing out of the trench, trying to get to safety.
When he got hit, Oligino said he thought of Trumbull. "I said, 'Please God, if I get out of here, I'll never want, I'll never envy."
He said he saw a light coming down toward him "like the speed of a jet. I had such a serenity & all fear left me, all pain left my body. I said, 'God, wherever you are taking me, take me.' "
Then, Oligino, said, he heard a voice say, "You didn't think I'd leave you, did you buddy?"
His squad leader had come back to get him, but Oligino said to this day, "It is my belief it was God's words."
Baldwin said he was impressed by the Marines' remembrances, and the turnout for the celebration.
"The stories definitely touch you," he said.
Baldwin said he hopes to hold the celebration again next year, and perhaps before that, take a trip to the National Museum of the Marine Corps, which opened Friday in Triangle, Va.
"I think we could put a contingent together and take a field trip there," he said.
Genevieve Reilly, who covers Trumbull, can be reached at 330-6256.
Ellie
GENEVIEVE REILLY greilly@ctpost.com
Connecticut Post Online
Article Launched:11/11/2006 06:37:20 AM EST
TRUMBULL — For Pat Fortuna, it was a chance to remember how, as a 14-year-old living in Bridgeport, he saw a Corsair plane manufactured in Stratford explode in the air and crash to the ground.
For Anthony Oligino, it meant recalling the horror of a mortar shell on Okinawa killing the man next to him in the trench, and being shot in the hips and leg.
But no matter what their stories, the 30 or so men gathered Friday at Town Hall were all there for the same reason — to celebrate the 231st birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps.
"All of us are here because the Marine Corps represents a defining time in our lives," said First Selectman Raymond G. Baldwin Jr., smartly outfitted in his dress blues for the occasion.
Before the birthday cake was cut — by the oldest and youngest Marines in the room, as is tradition — the veterans were asked to share stories about their service.
Fortuna said that day in 1944, when he saw the plane crash and ran to help the pilot, inspired him to join the Marine Corps.
"I was looking through the dump for 2-cent bottles," he said, when the plane crashed. "I got to the plane, and the pilot, he was just barely alive."
Fortuna asked if he could help, but instead, the pilot told him to get away before the plane blew up.
"I remember seeing two Marine Corps emblems on his collar," he said. "When I turned 16, I tried to join the Marines, but my father found out and put a stop to it."
After graduating from high school, though, Fortuna was able to fulfill his dream.
"I still am a Marine," he said.
Oligino's story was one he didn't tell for more than 35 years after coming home from combat in World War II, not even to his wife.
"I was the youngest of the four of us" in the trench on Sugar Loaf Hill, he said. The mortar hit one of his comrades, just as the man was climbing out of the trench, trying to get to safety.
When he got hit, Oligino said he thought of Trumbull. "I said, 'Please God, if I get out of here, I'll never want, I'll never envy."
He said he saw a light coming down toward him "like the speed of a jet. I had such a serenity & all fear left me, all pain left my body. I said, 'God, wherever you are taking me, take me.' "
Then, Oligino, said, he heard a voice say, "You didn't think I'd leave you, did you buddy?"
His squad leader had come back to get him, but Oligino said to this day, "It is my belief it was God's words."
Baldwin said he was impressed by the Marines' remembrances, and the turnout for the celebration.
"The stories definitely touch you," he said.
Baldwin said he hopes to hold the celebration again next year, and perhaps before that, take a trip to the National Museum of the Marine Corps, which opened Friday in Triangle, Va.
"I think we could put a contingent together and take a field trip there," he said.
Genevieve Reilly, who covers Trumbull, can be reached at 330-6256.
Ellie