1/9 to stand up at Lejeune next week

[thedrifter]

1/9 to stand up at Lejeune next week
By Trista Talton - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Apr 12, 2007 16:18:23 EDT

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/xml/front/070412_1st_bat_9th_mar.JPG

Raising the dead
Legendary Vietnam battalion walks again.

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — The Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, will officially stand up next Wednesday.

The battalion, the legendary “Walking Dead” of Vietnam fame, was originally supposed to be activated Oct. 26, 2005. But the date was delayed while Marine Corps headquarters dealt with manpower and equipment issues, said Lt. Col. Brad Vickers, the battalion’s commanding officer.

That hasn’t kept the grunts with 1/9 twiddling their thumbs. The battalion deployed a reinforced rifle company to Iraq for a security mission and was the lead unit in Marine Corps System Command’s testing of the Modular Tactical Vest.

He said the battalion has received the majority of its assigned personnel, though some critical officer, staff noncommissioned officer and NCO billets remain open.

Wednesday’s ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. at the 10th Marines Landing Zone on Julian C. Smith Road. All former 1/9 Marines and corpsmen are welcome to attend.

Ellie

[bobdon]

Been looking for the Co. Gunny, Delta 1/9, at the Rock Quarry out side of Khe Sanh...Boot Camp Brothers......Semper Fi

[thedrifter]

April 20, 2007 - 12:00AM
'Walking Dead' come back to life

The legendary and highly-decorated battalion, officially known as 1/9 (1st Battalion, 9th Marines), was reactivated in a recent ceremony at Camp Lejeune.The unit became known as "The Walking Dead" from bitter, bloody and sustained actions it encountered during the Vietnam War. In that war, the battalion had a reputation of exceptional fierceness in battle while also suffering terrible losses against incredible and overwhelming odds.

The reactivated the unit will soon take its place in the rotation for deployment, thus easing some of the burden of continual deployments for units currently in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Deactivated in September 1994, the unit was honored on the banks of the New River under the watchful eye of its commanding officer, Lt. Col. Bradley Vickers. Although the unit was not officially reactivated until Wednesday's ceremony, the Corps has been building it since 2005 and, Marines say, more than 130 members of the battalion's Alpha Company have already conducted successful operations in Iraq, returning in October 2006.

With the unit well on its way to full strength of around 1,000 Marines and sailors, Vickers was quoted as saying, "It's time to officially allow the Walking Dead to walk again."

Vietnam veterans who served with the battalion agreed.

A recounting of the unit's history offers some insight into how it earned its nickname. One Vietnam veteran present at the ceremony, Rodger Jacobs, was quoted as saying that, "In one four-day battle, only two guys in our platoon came out unwounded. There were 637 men killed in action, 45 Navy corpsmen."

In Vietnam, the battalion was engaged in 47 months and seven days of combat, the longest sustained combat in Marine Corps history. That service lead to the highest casualty rate in the Corps.

With its colors again unfurled, 1/9 is opening a new chapter in its history - one that promises to continue the warrior tradition for which the battalion has become known. The battalion anticipates being deployable in early 2008.

In these unsettled times, with missions waiting around the globe, the unit will be a welcome addition to the fight for freedom and human dignity.

There was a recruiting slogan in the 1970s that seems appropriate for the reactivation of 1st Battalion, 9th Marines: "Nobody likes to fight but somebody has to know how." Of all the legendary units in the Marine Corps, it is The Walking Dead that knows how.

Now it's up to the Marines and sailors of this generation to advance the traditions and spirit of this storied organization and we have little doubt that they are up to the job.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Day of ‘The Walking Dead’
Leathernecks gather to honor reactivated 1/9
By Trista Talton - ttalton@militarytimes.com
Posted : April 30, 2007

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Nothing was going to stop Woody Postle from getting to eastern North Carolina to watch his old battalion reactivate.

Not the more than 380-mile drive from his Dover, Del., home to Camp Lejeune.

Not even the $140 speeding ticket he got popped with on his way south.

“This is beyond belief for me,” he said. “I’d pay 10 $140 tickets.”

Postle, pronounced “postal,” was among about 100 veterans, many who had served in Vietnam, who came from all corners of the country to witness 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, “The Walking Dead” of Vietnam fame, reactivate April 18.

“It’s time to officially allow The Walking Dead to walk again,” said Lt. Col. Bradley Vickers, 1/9’s commander.

With that, his audience, sitting under red-and-white-striped canopies, cheered, applauded and some belted “ooh-rah.”

The battalion, now with 935 grunts and sailors in its ranks, waited more than a year to officially reactivate. Personnel and equipment shortfalls prompted the Corps to push back the battalion’s original activation scheduled for October 2005, 11 years after the battalion was deactivated in September 1994.

But the delay didn’t keep 1/9 Marines from staying busy. As it was growing, the battalion sent Marines to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa. It was the lead unit in testing the new Modular Tactical Vest and nuclear, biological and chemical defense boots and gloves.

Vickers said the battalion is still missing some critical officer, staff noncommissioned officer and NCO billets.

“The equipment is starting to catch up,” he said.

He thanked 8th Marines, under which the battalion falls, for its role in getting the battalion the equipment it needs.

The Corps announced late last year that 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, will stand up this year and that 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines, will follow in fiscal 2008. An announcement has not been made as to whether a regimental headquarters for 9th Marines will be formed. The addition of these battalions comes at a time when the Corps plans to expand from 180,000 to 202,000 Marines by 2011.

“This battalion and 2/9 and 3/9 are going to give the Marine Corps more of what it needs,” Vickers said. “There’s a need to expand the Marine Corps, and this is part of that process.”

“We are so very well aware of the legacy you provided us,” Vickers said to the former 1/9 Marines. The battalion’s history goes back to 1942, when it activated in San Diego.

But it wasn’t until American troops were sent into Vietnam that the unit got its nickname from former North Vietnam leader Ho Chi Minh. During a 1966 speech, Minh referred to the battalion as The Walking Dead — dead, but not yet buried.

The battalion made Marine Corps history when it engaged in combat for 47 months and seven days, the longest sustained combat of any battalion in the Corps. The unit also had the highest casualty rate in Marine Corps history.

“It was a living hell,” said William Manning, a 59-year-old retired staff sergeant who was drafted into the Army, but chose to join the Marine Corps.

He was in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968.

“I know what they’re going to have to go through because we went through it,” he said of the young Marines around him. “In Vietnam, we were shot at every day. You sit there and wonder if you’re next. I would go to Iraq right now if they would let me go.”

His advice to today’s 1/9 Marines: “Be prepared because we all know it’s not a picnic.”

Postle doesn’t bother talking about his experiences to people who didn’t serve in Vietnam.

“If you weren’t there, we can’t explain it to you,” he said. “For years and years and years, we block this out.”

He said he commends the leathernecks in uniform today.

“They’re doing the same thing we did,” he said. “They’ve got the same problems — you don’t know who your friend is and who your enemy is. They’re fighting the same war, but a different war.”

If anyone in the battalion today should know about its history, it’s Lance Cpl. Michael Zeller. He grew up listening to his father’s stories of life as a young corporal with 1/9 in Vietnam in the late 1960s.

“I’ve always known the history of 1/9,” the younger Zeller said. “I never dreamt in a million years I’d be in 1/9. It’s just awesome for me.”

He’s made his father, who’s quick to point out he didn’t push his son into joining the Corps, proud.

David Zeller, who traveled from Baltimore for the ceremony, had another reason to be proud. “All of us guys from the original Walking Dead have been waiting for this for a long time,” he said.

Ellie

[custer]

Alpha Co.1st Bat.9th Marines 3rd Marine division
I am a proud member of this outfit from Feb. of 1966-Mar.of 1967 I just come across this post today May 21,2008.I think I am one of the 2 that you are speaking about.I have been searching for others for years and information about this Bat.and this is the first time I have come across this post. If any member of this outfit are able to reply back to me from this years which I have wrote too get ahold of me asap!
emai:hdtenney@yahoo.com
or write me at my address below.
Harry D. Reed(Tenney)
2649 E. 3950 so.
Vernal,Utah 84078
Phone: 801 358 4029
I hope too hear back from someone from my outfit..
Proud Marine Semper-Fi always...

[artymarine]

Glad to Have them back...Lost my cousing at 881, B 1/9.

Always Faithful
L 3/1

[Coachgun]

Im not of the old 1/9 but I did serve in 1/9 in 90 to 92 Im glad to see it is back.

[8th&I Marine]

I had the chance to meet some of these old breed Marines back in 1991. I was a Cpl then at 8th & I doing one of there reunions. Lets just say there were 4 boot Marine drunker than hell when it was over with. I still have the patches and the shirt from that night. Semper Fi Marines.

Cantrell:flag:

[dockirsch]

My name is jack kirschenbaum I was a corpsmen in 1/9 from march of 1965 to april 1966

[CBS]

Gentlemen:
It's great to have our battalion back in service. I was unable to attend
the ceremony but my squad buddy in South Carolina did attend. We both served with "C" 1/9..........he had more time with them than I did. Fred served from March
of 1967 to April of 1968 as grunt...he lived it all !! I was booted out for raising 'cane'
about friendly fire so I served from March through November 1967. So many stories,
so many, many good people.......some gone then, some gone now !! We will all meet
again 'on duty' at gates !!

SEMPER FI......>Chuck

[JohnEaceHunt]

That is just outstanding. I remember them well. We extracted them out of the Field in June of '69 to the U.S.S. Iwo Jima,LPH-2, and did operations all up and down the I Corp of S. Vietnam, until I was Med-Evac-ed in August'69. HMM-265 left Country close to the end of Sept.'69. I had many inserts,extractions, re-supplys,and med-evacs while they were with us. I was CrewChief of EP-14,(had 4 #14's) while with 265. I am elated they are BACK.

[Vitsing]

My cousin PFC Richard W. Middleton died as a result of friendly air support on 10/13/1967 when a misdirected TPQ-10 strike resulted in KIA/WIAs within the 1/9 perimeter.

Does anyone have more info on Wayne's 1/9 service or the air strike?

Thanks,

Ken
USA (Retired) Vietnam 70-71

[Riven37]

After my tour ended with 3/1 & 1/1 I was placed with 1/9 on the Rock.

[big red]

1/9/c con tien 67 may till wounded july 7 incoming rocket anyone out there remember. went to cam ron bay hosp then to camp carroll to quang tri left june 68 anyone with me, also anyone from plt 1109 boot camp pendelton aug 66

[glock9mm]

Big Red,

I had just returned to the world in '67 when my best friend Jerry Hanrahan from 1/9/C was killed by a random shot from a fifty spotting rifle. They say he stayed alive long enough to receive last rites.

To all the turfers from St. Gert's Chicago who served, may you find peace on Memorial Day and Sempers.

[Lynn2]

Life is really about the decisions we make.

In July 1965 I arrived in VN and was assigned to 1/9. I was there about a week before I got my orders to recon. Just before I left a senior Marine NCO tried to talk me out of the transfer.

"That is suicide, Doc" he said.

1/9 was just sitting around guarding the airfield doing not much of anything. In a day or so I was off to Camp Reasoner and 3Recon. And shortly after 1/9 went out beyond the wire and started to earn their nickname.

Life could have turned out a lot different if I had stayed. Our KIA/WIA rate was 1/2 of 1/9's.




"During the Vietnam Conflict, the unit earned the name of The Walking Dead for its high casualty rate.<sup id="cite_ref-0" class="reference">[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Battalion_9th_Marines#cite_note-0)</sup> The battalion endured the longest sustained combat and suffered the highest killed in action (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killed_in_action) (KIA)" rate in Marine Corps history, especially during the Battle of July Two (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_July_Two). The battalion was engaged in combat for 47 months and 7 days, from 15 June 1965 to 19 October 1966 and 11 December 1966 to 14 July 1969. Based on a typical battalion strength of 800 Marines and Navy hospital corpsmen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpsman), 93.63% (747) were Killed In Action (KIA) and 0.25% (2) were Missing In Action (MIA).