PDA

View Full Version : Fifty years after enlisting, four Marines reunite in Venice



thedrifter
06-20-09, 07:24 AM
Published on: Saturday, June 20, 2009
Fifty years after enlisting, four Marines reunite in Venice

Semper fidelis (Always faithful) is the motto and life of every U.S. Marine. The bond Marines share lasts a lifetime. Just ask Richard Stilphen of Venice.

He was joined here this week by three fellow Marines he hadn't seen in 48 years. They first met in 1959 at the El Toro Marine Base in Santa Anna, Calif. They served together in the Radar Squadron, 3rd Marine Air Wing, until October 1961, when their orders took them to different parts of the world, and didn't see one another again until now.

The original group of Marine buddies consisted of eight; five of them have reconnected. One, Bart Immings of Atlanta, Ga., was unable to attend the reunion because of a family illness. But that didn't stop Robert Alonzo, Charlie Franco and Ric Ford from showing up at Stilphen's home for the get-together.

"We really miss Bart and wish he could be here," Ford said.

When the search began two years ago, they had no idea if any of the old gang was still alive. But the search produced amazing results. Ford found Stilphen and a year later through a Web site, *********************, they found Franco, who then found Alonzo. On March 9, they found Immings.


Brothers

Lounging around Stilphen's Florida room table, the four guys said it was as if they had never been apart.

"Instead of friends, we're all brothers," Stilphen said.

Ford, whose nickname is Deacon -- because he didn't (and still doesn't) drink, smoke or cuss -- kept a journal of their time together in the service. He brought only the fun excerpts to share with his brothers.

Things like attending a Robert Schuller drive-in church service on May 1, 1960.

"We drank Cokes and ate baked beans, hamburgers and potato chips through church," Deacon said.

He still has the church bulletin to prove they were there. That was well before Schuller's Crystal Cathedral days.

The guys joked about who was in the brig when and who got cooking "privileges" for some mischief he'd committed. And, of course, the Marine motto -- Semper fi -- was liberally sprinkled throughout their conversations.


'Comrade'

They described their time in the Marines as a little weird, a little fantastic and a little unusual. They also served with the notorious Lee Harvey Oswald.

"He was in radar operations," Franco said.

"We didn't associate with him," Alonzo said. "He was a little odd."

"He called everyone 'comrade,' " Stilphen said.

Franco is the only career military man in the group. He spent 30 years in the Marines before retiring to North Carolina.

Stilphen became the owner of five restaurants -- the most famous being Isaac's on the Waterfront in Massachusetts -- before retiring to Venice. Rick Ford owned auto parts stores in Missouri following his stint in the Marines.

The Marine brothers were spending a week together before heading back to their own homes, but they have vowed to get together more frequently now that they've found one another again.


bbrown@venicegondolier.com


By Brooky Brown

Projects Editor

Ellie