Whenever I think of a Marine that is memorable, the first person that comes into mind is Gunnery Sergeant James E. McCain. Gny/Sgt McCain came to our unit (F-2-7) Los Pulgas, Camp Pendleton, California, after our then Gunny was chosen to be a MCRD Drill Instructor, which he didn’t want. He went and there isn’t any doubt that he was an excellent choice. Unfortunately, I can’t recall his name, but, he was a well respected, black, Korean War Hero. He got hit by napalm during the war and almost didn’t survive. From that time on he there wasn’t a hair that could be seen, eyebrow, eyelash, nor hair on his head. He looked impressive and he was.
But, back to Gny/Sgt McCain. Gunnery Sergeant McCain came to our outfit to replace the gunny who left for other duty. McCain came from Recon, we heard rumors that he was to hard on his men there so Headquarters transferred him out. We also heard that he wasn’t liked by other Platoon Sergeants, he was just too Gung Ho for them as well as the men under him. McCain would always wear his cartridge belt with suspenders attached. He was a gaunt man, rather thin, very serious in his military attitude. To see him or hear him you know right away what the word Gung Ho means.
We found out soon what McCain’s attitude was for double-time, exercises, inspections, and just general training. He would run us, to what I felt to death. He got called on the carpet for training us to hard. Headquarters told him that we are a line infantry company, you’re not dealing with Recon any more. I imagine he backed off a little.
When we went to Okinawa on our tour over there, McCain was still our platoon leader. True from what we heard about him, he did come from Recon and that most NCO’s (Non Commissioned Officers) did not like him. I heard a few snickers even from Officers when they saw him or heard his name. He couldn’t care less, it didn’t bother him a bit. He was doing the right thing and he knew it. He was one of those that fought in the Korean War, he was very knowledgeable about the tactics of fighting and was constantly doing things that would show us what and what not to do. This one occasion we were all surprised when on maneuvers, going down this road, he pulled out an anti-tank mine, dug a hole, placed it in it and covered it up so it couldn’t be seen. It had an explosive charge like an M80 (powerful fire-cracker type thing). I mentioned about other Marines making fun of him, well our platoon was included in that, as well as myself. Another member of our platoon jumped on it and it exploded. It didn’t do any damage, but, it hurt a lot more then what the guy who jumped on it intended. I can’t recall McCain saying anything, but, he gave him a look that I would soon get, also. He picked up his mine and placed it back in his pack and we moved on.
One time when we were in our barracks, on our own time, I thought it would be funny to imitate his actions. I stood up, pretended like I had suspenders, started rocking forward and backward on my toes and said “ I’m Gunnery Sergeant James E McCain and I’m from Amarillo, Texas” in a loud and precise voice. The guys were laughing, but, all of a sudden stopped. I turned and saw Sgt McCain giving me that look that I’ve seen before. It was a very embarrassing moment for me. I’m not sure if I apologized, I can’t now imagine that I wouldn’t have, but, the young and foolish you never know.
When we were in Okinawa, we were stationed in a nice barracks, at least to what we were used to. It had it’s own mess hall and had good food, another unusual thing. The barracks was part of the Army 503rd Airborne Division. There were always men walking around with bandages, black eyes, casts, you name it, from fights between the Airborne and the Marines. Me?? I couldn’t see being involved with such foolishness, fighting other American servicemen. Defense is one thing, but, getting into a brawl because you had to much to drink or think you’re better, is another.
One day we heard that the 503rd was having a jumping contest. A bunch of us Marines went to watch this face-off. Near where we were standing was an area marked off, about 4X4 I would say, with a large X in it. We could hear a voice over an intercom saying a guys name, rank, and unit. Then we would watch this parachutist jump, his parachute opened and he glided down to earth, maneuvering for position and lining up to hit his target. Some missed by several feet, some was on target, but, missed at the last second, even touching the target. Others hit the target, very nicely.
We were waiting for the next jumper, all of a sudden the intercom came on and the voice said “Our next jumper is Gunnery Sergeant James E. McCain of the United States Marine Corps”. I think all of our mouths dropped open in disbelief. We were all ready to be embarrassed half to death. We watched him come out of the plane, he fell for awhile, the chute opened, and he started maneuvering for position. I don’t know why, but, his maneuvering looked very impressive. He got lower and lower and made a circle coming from the right of us. He got closer and closer, you could see him pulling on certain ropes to do certain things, it was doing exactly what I thought was perfect. He made his landing by pulling on the lines just right, making a perfect landing. You couldn’t believe the cheers, it was wonderful. Well, it was almost perfect. He landed dead on, it was impossible to do better. The next thing we heard was that he was disqualified. We couldn’t believe our ears, what the heck was going on, are they jealous that they got beat out by a Marine or what. We were really getting upset with that decision and letting it be known. Meanwhile Gunnery Sergeant McCain was gathering his chute and getting ready to leave the field.
What was the outcome? You ask? McCain was disqualified because when you land you are supposed to “Tuck and Roll”, he landed flat footed with his knees a little bent. It looked beautiful, but, he didn’t finish correctly. I am confident when I say “he didn’t care about winning, he wanted to do it better”, which I think he did, on purpose. He got tremendous respect from us Marines that day. We never made fun of him from that day on.
Sometime after this showing we were called on the three month floating battalion. Ready to go anywhere and ready to go into combat if trouble broke out. It so happens, that the Laos and Vietnam war was starting to heat up. Our battalion ended up floating around in the South China Sea for 54 days straight, breaking the Marine Corps record for time at sea. Our time at sea turned from three months to near five months. We had our heli-teams (helicopter teams) set up with full Packs, ammunition, and sea bags packed to be brought in. The plan was to land in the Plain of Jarres in Laos and be taken to Vietnam by train or trucks. Things quieted down and we never had to make a landing. By the time we got back to Okinawa our time was up, Marines were waiting to take over the barracks. We had to rush like crazy to finish getting out of the building and handing it over to them. We quickly boarded the APA to bring us back to the states.
I often thought about Gunnery Sergeant James E. McCain. He pushed us so hard we thought, should I say, do him harm. It wasn’t until you were out on maneuvers doing your regular routines and able to compare yourself with other units, that you realized that how much more prepared we were. We could outrun, outmaneuver, and just generally do a better job. It was all due to a Gung Ho Gunnery Sergeant named James E. McCain from Amarillo, Texas. There isn’t any doubt that if I had to go into combat it would be under his wisdom and supervision.