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thedrifter
05-04-09, 07:00 AM
3 decades later, Marines regroup
Saturday, May 02, 2009
By Jessica Driscoll
jdriscoll@sjnewsco.com

DEPTFORD TWP. More than 30 years ago, four young Marines Ð "Lumpy" Spencer, Carl Gee, Charles McCrimmon and Mark Hamblett Ð met on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt and soon became inseparable.

When their active duty was finished, they got an apartment together for a year in Jacksonville, Fla., and then they went about their lives. Through the years, three of them reunited for weddings, anniversaries, births and graduations Ð but what happened to the friend they called "the missing link"?

"The three of us stayed together, but the last time I talked to Mark was in the early '80s," said McCrimmon, one of the four men gathered in Spencer's kitchen, poring over old photographs and laughing at familiar jokes. "Lumpy, Carl and I stayed in touch over the years, but we hadn't heard from Mark, so I kept trying to find him. Eventually, a friend told me about *************. I was able to find where he lived, call information for his number and be talking to him in 10 minutes."

Hamblett said when he first saw the out-of-state call on his caller ID, he assumed it was a salesperson. But then he got the big surprise.

"He asked if I was Mark Hamblett and if I'd ever been in the Marines and if I'd served on the Roosevelt. I didn't know what to think," said Hamblett. "Then he said, ÔThis is a name from the past.' "

Reconnected, the men agreed to meet at Spencer's house in Deptford for a reunion dinner. Currently, Gee works as a farmer in Tioga, Pa. McCrimmon lives in Timberlake, N.C., works for a trucking company, and is a member of the Tuskegee Airmen Motorcycle Club of North Carolina. Hamblett works with computers and lives just outside Atlanta. Spencer recently retired from the Gloucester County Department of Corrections and belongs to the Deptford Marine Corps League.

"We're looking forward to spending some quality time together talking, eating and trading stories Ð of course, they'll all be different versions," said McCrimmon. "And we'll spend plenty of time making Mark feel bad because he deserves it. But, really, we always had good times together. We were better than brothers."

Spencer said that when he heard McCrimmon had found the missing link, he knew they had to reunite.

"The three of us who have stayed in touch have been such good friends that all our kids know us as Uncle Mac, Uncle Gee and Uncle Lumpy," said Spencer. "It's a unique relationship you don't find every day. And today it's just like old times. Except of course that we all look a little different."

And now that they'd found their fourth, McCrimmon said that it was up to Hamblett to stay in touch. Hamblett promised another visit when he travels to New York in the coming months.

"I've always been happy to see the ones that came together all these years, but I'm very excited to see them all back together," said Shirley Spencer who knew all the guys way back when because she started dating Spencer at age 16. "It's a new dimension of friendship now, because we're all older and have had different experiences. But it's wonderful to share all of those things."

"We just couldn't wait for this weekend," said Spencer. "It's very meaningful to us that we still have a bond after all these years."

The group said they were still looking for other Marines who served aboard the Roosevelt CVA 42.

Ellie