thedrifter
09-17-07, 08:56 AM
Marine vets gather for music, lunch, to swamp 'sea stories'
By JACK HEEGER, Register Staff Writer
Monday, September 17, 2007
http://images.townnews.com/napavalleyregister.com/content/articles/2007/09/17/news/local/iq_4123764_thumb.jpg
“Pepper” Matthews salutes the flag and sings the national anthem during opening ceremonies at the Marine Corps League 870’s annual barbecue at the Veterans Home of California at Yountville. Matthews served in the Marines from 1943 to 1945 and taught celestial navigation for use with the Norden bombsight — a piece of equipment advanced for its time, used on World War II bomber airplanes. Jorgen Gulliksen/Register
Once a Marine, always a Marine. That's a motto ingrained in the mind of every man and woman who ever served in the U. S. Marine Corps. It was never more true than Sunday, when the Veterans Home in Yountville hosted to a picnic for everyone in Napa County who ever wore a Marine uniform.
More than 200 Marines and their families gathered under the auspices of Marine Corps League Detachment 870 to enjoy a day of camaraderie, music and lunch -- and an opportunity to swap "sea stories."
Veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan all attended. Most had seen combat and most fought in battles that were the subject of worldwide headlines at the time.
The Marine Corps League has been sponsoring the event since 1994; this was the ninth year it was hosted at the Veterans Home.
"This is a labor of love," said Dave Krueger, of Napa, chairman of the committee that arranged the picnic. As he looked around the crowd, he commented, "This is the tip of the iceberg. I'll bet we could get 600 here if we pushed. But we don't publicize it -- it's just word of mouth."
"It's a reason to bring everyone together," said Vince Rigoni, of Napa, the detachment's adjutant paymaster, who was on active duty for four years and served in Korea, and who was one of several who worked on arrangements.
When most guests had gathered, a color guard from the Golden Gate Young Marines marched in, and the entire group stood and saluted. The years may have taken their toll on many, but at that moment they stood as straight and tall as the days when they were on active duty, and many sang along to a recording of all three verses of The Marine Hymn.
Caesar Balalao, a retired Marine with 21 years duty under his belt, is the leader of the Young Marines detachment, a youth education and service program for boys and girls ages 8 through high school. The four-year-old group has 35 members.
"We stress leadership, moral values and core ethics," Balalao said, and then introduced two members of the Color Guard -- Gunnery Sergeant Samantha Lostia, of Concord, and Staff Sergeant Stephanie Martinez. They oozed enthusiasm about their involvement, adding, "We get leadership, discipline, commitment and dedication."
Asked if they enjoy being Young Marines, both answered simultaneously with an enthusiastic, "Yes, sir."
Groups were scattered throughout the Veterans Home picnic grounds, and everywhere Marines enjoyed sharing their memories with each other -- and with a reporter who also happens to be a Marine.
Most of the vets were involved in just one war, but some, like Dave Kendrick, of Napa, who served 28 years, saw action in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He was wounded in Korea and won two bronze stars in that conflict. He retired as a sergeant major, the highest rank an enlisted Marine can hold, then remained connected to the military as a security officer at the Veterans Home for 17 years.
Rosemary Micheli, of Calistoga, was in the first group of women to enlist in the Marine Corps, and "served three years and 20 days. I was a mess sergeant, and when I first joined we had to eat in the men's mess (hall) and they always had beans on Saturday," she recalled. "When we got our own mess (hall) I made sure we cut out the beans."
She enlisted in 1943 and said, "I wouldn't give up those years for anything in the world. They were the best years of my life."
Teckla Bott, also of Calistoga, followed Micheli into the Corps as a member of the third group of women to enlist. She went to radio school in Cherry Point, N.C., then went to first sergeant school and spent three years as acting first sergeant at El Toro Marine Air Base in Orange County. "I enjoyed it -- for me it was very educational," she said.
Several Marines live at the Veterans Home, including Pat Patterson, who spent four years in service during World War II and was in the invasion of Guadalcanal and fought on through the end of the campaign.
Jack Menn spent five and a half years in the Corps, including 18 months in Vietnam. Another Home member, Leo Lopez, was in for four action-packed years. He took part in the invasion of the Marshall Islands to secure a landing strip for B-29s, then went on to the invasions of Saipan and Tinian, and if that weren't enough, he was on the beaches in the first wave to hit Iwo Jima.
"We had a tough general," he said. "He made us keep working on our bayonets and said we'd need them for hand-to-hand (combat)," he said. "We had to clear the airport (on Iwo Jima) and we did hand-to-hand. It took the whole day, but we cleared it for the B-29s." He said the Marines were happy to see the planes and "they (the crews) were happy to see us. They jumped out of the planes and hugged us."
Glen Nock was on active duty for six years and was asleep in his bunk when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on Dec. 7, 1941. He went ashore on Guadalcanal, fought there, but contracted malaria and was later sent home where he became a newsreel cameraman in Denver. He lives at the Veterans Home and still is involved in photography, shooting photos for the Yountville Sun.
Dan Richard, of Napa, recalls digging a foxhole with his fingernails and his bayonet during the Inchon landing in the Korean war because he had no entrenching tool. "Marines don't steal, they just borrow, and someone borrowed my entrenching tool," he said. "When I lived through that day, I got another one the next day," he said, but didn't say from whom he "borrowed" it.
"We went for weeks without decent chow," he recalled. He was riding on a truck to a new location when they passed an Army base. The truck stopped, Richard jumped off, ran into the Army's mess hall. "I ate like a king, and when I came out, the truck had moved on, so I just hitchhiked a ride and caught up with them."
The Marine Corps League is involved in numerous activities on behalf of Marine veterans, but perhaps the most noteworthy project is the group's involvement in the annual Toys for Tots campaign.
Bob Stevenson, of Napa, joins with Rigoni in administering Toys for Tots. They have enlisted the help of 15 fire stations in the county to serve as toy drop-off stations.
"Between mid-November and Dec, 22, we ask for donations of new unwrapped toys," he said. "Last year we had 43,000 toys -- that was four each to 11,000 kids in Napa Valley."
The toys are distributed by the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities.
Krueger said some of the food for the picnic was donated by Uva Trattoria in Napa, but most of the expense is borne by the Marine Corps League, which raffled off some prizes to help defray costs.
One of the prizes -- a stay at the Marine Memorial in San Francisco. Others included a gift certificate to Uva, and numerous bottles of wine.
As he looked at the gathered Marine vets examining their raffle tickets, Krueger said, "We're all in the greatest fraternity in the world."
Indeed, once a Marine, always a Marine. Semper Fidelis.
Ellie
By JACK HEEGER, Register Staff Writer
Monday, September 17, 2007
http://images.townnews.com/napavalleyregister.com/content/articles/2007/09/17/news/local/iq_4123764_thumb.jpg
“Pepper” Matthews salutes the flag and sings the national anthem during opening ceremonies at the Marine Corps League 870’s annual barbecue at the Veterans Home of California at Yountville. Matthews served in the Marines from 1943 to 1945 and taught celestial navigation for use with the Norden bombsight — a piece of equipment advanced for its time, used on World War II bomber airplanes. Jorgen Gulliksen/Register
Once a Marine, always a Marine. That's a motto ingrained in the mind of every man and woman who ever served in the U. S. Marine Corps. It was never more true than Sunday, when the Veterans Home in Yountville hosted to a picnic for everyone in Napa County who ever wore a Marine uniform.
More than 200 Marines and their families gathered under the auspices of Marine Corps League Detachment 870 to enjoy a day of camaraderie, music and lunch -- and an opportunity to swap "sea stories."
Veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan all attended. Most had seen combat and most fought in battles that were the subject of worldwide headlines at the time.
The Marine Corps League has been sponsoring the event since 1994; this was the ninth year it was hosted at the Veterans Home.
"This is a labor of love," said Dave Krueger, of Napa, chairman of the committee that arranged the picnic. As he looked around the crowd, he commented, "This is the tip of the iceberg. I'll bet we could get 600 here if we pushed. But we don't publicize it -- it's just word of mouth."
"It's a reason to bring everyone together," said Vince Rigoni, of Napa, the detachment's adjutant paymaster, who was on active duty for four years and served in Korea, and who was one of several who worked on arrangements.
When most guests had gathered, a color guard from the Golden Gate Young Marines marched in, and the entire group stood and saluted. The years may have taken their toll on many, but at that moment they stood as straight and tall as the days when they were on active duty, and many sang along to a recording of all three verses of The Marine Hymn.
Caesar Balalao, a retired Marine with 21 years duty under his belt, is the leader of the Young Marines detachment, a youth education and service program for boys and girls ages 8 through high school. The four-year-old group has 35 members.
"We stress leadership, moral values and core ethics," Balalao said, and then introduced two members of the Color Guard -- Gunnery Sergeant Samantha Lostia, of Concord, and Staff Sergeant Stephanie Martinez. They oozed enthusiasm about their involvement, adding, "We get leadership, discipline, commitment and dedication."
Asked if they enjoy being Young Marines, both answered simultaneously with an enthusiastic, "Yes, sir."
Groups were scattered throughout the Veterans Home picnic grounds, and everywhere Marines enjoyed sharing their memories with each other -- and with a reporter who also happens to be a Marine.
Most of the vets were involved in just one war, but some, like Dave Kendrick, of Napa, who served 28 years, saw action in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He was wounded in Korea and won two bronze stars in that conflict. He retired as a sergeant major, the highest rank an enlisted Marine can hold, then remained connected to the military as a security officer at the Veterans Home for 17 years.
Rosemary Micheli, of Calistoga, was in the first group of women to enlist in the Marine Corps, and "served three years and 20 days. I was a mess sergeant, and when I first joined we had to eat in the men's mess (hall) and they always had beans on Saturday," she recalled. "When we got our own mess (hall) I made sure we cut out the beans."
She enlisted in 1943 and said, "I wouldn't give up those years for anything in the world. They were the best years of my life."
Teckla Bott, also of Calistoga, followed Micheli into the Corps as a member of the third group of women to enlist. She went to radio school in Cherry Point, N.C., then went to first sergeant school and spent three years as acting first sergeant at El Toro Marine Air Base in Orange County. "I enjoyed it -- for me it was very educational," she said.
Several Marines live at the Veterans Home, including Pat Patterson, who spent four years in service during World War II and was in the invasion of Guadalcanal and fought on through the end of the campaign.
Jack Menn spent five and a half years in the Corps, including 18 months in Vietnam. Another Home member, Leo Lopez, was in for four action-packed years. He took part in the invasion of the Marshall Islands to secure a landing strip for B-29s, then went on to the invasions of Saipan and Tinian, and if that weren't enough, he was on the beaches in the first wave to hit Iwo Jima.
"We had a tough general," he said. "He made us keep working on our bayonets and said we'd need them for hand-to-hand (combat)," he said. "We had to clear the airport (on Iwo Jima) and we did hand-to-hand. It took the whole day, but we cleared it for the B-29s." He said the Marines were happy to see the planes and "they (the crews) were happy to see us. They jumped out of the planes and hugged us."
Glen Nock was on active duty for six years and was asleep in his bunk when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on Dec. 7, 1941. He went ashore on Guadalcanal, fought there, but contracted malaria and was later sent home where he became a newsreel cameraman in Denver. He lives at the Veterans Home and still is involved in photography, shooting photos for the Yountville Sun.
Dan Richard, of Napa, recalls digging a foxhole with his fingernails and his bayonet during the Inchon landing in the Korean war because he had no entrenching tool. "Marines don't steal, they just borrow, and someone borrowed my entrenching tool," he said. "When I lived through that day, I got another one the next day," he said, but didn't say from whom he "borrowed" it.
"We went for weeks without decent chow," he recalled. He was riding on a truck to a new location when they passed an Army base. The truck stopped, Richard jumped off, ran into the Army's mess hall. "I ate like a king, and when I came out, the truck had moved on, so I just hitchhiked a ride and caught up with them."
The Marine Corps League is involved in numerous activities on behalf of Marine veterans, but perhaps the most noteworthy project is the group's involvement in the annual Toys for Tots campaign.
Bob Stevenson, of Napa, joins with Rigoni in administering Toys for Tots. They have enlisted the help of 15 fire stations in the county to serve as toy drop-off stations.
"Between mid-November and Dec, 22, we ask for donations of new unwrapped toys," he said. "Last year we had 43,000 toys -- that was four each to 11,000 kids in Napa Valley."
The toys are distributed by the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities.
Krueger said some of the food for the picnic was donated by Uva Trattoria in Napa, but most of the expense is borne by the Marine Corps League, which raffled off some prizes to help defray costs.
One of the prizes -- a stay at the Marine Memorial in San Francisco. Others included a gift certificate to Uva, and numerous bottles of wine.
As he looked at the gathered Marine vets examining their raffle tickets, Krueger said, "We're all in the greatest fraternity in the world."
Indeed, once a Marine, always a Marine. Semper Fidelis.
Ellie