thedrifter
07-08-07, 08:49 AM
Eagle, globe & anchor: 'Good-luck' pin passed down
by: MICHAEL OVERALL World Staff Writer
7/8/2007
One night in the summer of 1944, a Marine jumped into a foxhole on the Pacific island of Guam and cut his leg on something.
Reaching down in the darkness to see what it was, John Persons found a Marine emblem -- the famous "eagle, globe and anchor" insignia -- that Marines have pinned to their uniforms for generations.
Apparently taken as a battle prize, it was attached to the shoulder strap of a dead Japanese soldier's rifle.
Persons took it back.
"He kept it with him for the rest of the war," said Bob Coonfield, a family friend who now lives in Tulsa. "And he thought it brought him good luck."
Twenty-three years later, as Coonfield entered the Navy and prepared to ship out for Vietnam in 1967, Persons gave the emblem to him. And Coonfield carried it with him through two tours of duty aboard the U.S.S. Ranger aircraft carrier.
Now, with a family friend of his own getting ready to join the military, Coonfield is passing the emblem on to the next generation.
"It wasn't doing me any good sitting in a box on a shelf," he said. "I came back without any scratches on me, and now somebody else needs that kind of luck."
Chance Brown joined the Boy Scouts three years ago, at the age of 15, just when a lot of boys lose interest in Scouting.
With so little time left before his 18th birthday, it didn't seem likely that he could finish the lengthy requirements for becoming an Eagle Scout.
"But I did it," Brown said, noting that as an Eagle Scout he will enter the Marine Corps this week as a private first class rather than just a buck private like most recruits.
"My dad is a Marine, and I've been around Marines my whole life. I just always wanted to be a Marine."
Coonfield, a leader for Troop 222 for the past 19 years, awarded Brown his Eagle Scout badge last week -- and gave him something extra with it.
"I'm going to take very good care of it," Brown promised, holding in his hand the small emblem that once cut a Marine's leg on Guam. "Maybe someday I can pass it on to a son, or to a family friend."
Brown will report for duty Monday at Camp Pendleton, a Marine boot camp near San Diego. And after several months of training, he's scheduled to become a Marine honor guard at the White House.
After that, Brown can't rule out the possibility of deploying to Iraq. But wherever he goes, the old emblem will go with him.
"I hope it brings him as much luck as it brought me," Coonfield said. "And I hope someday there'll be another generation that will be proud to have it."
Michael Overall 581-8383
michael.overall@tulsaworld.com
Ellie
by: MICHAEL OVERALL World Staff Writer
7/8/2007
One night in the summer of 1944, a Marine jumped into a foxhole on the Pacific island of Guam and cut his leg on something.
Reaching down in the darkness to see what it was, John Persons found a Marine emblem -- the famous "eagle, globe and anchor" insignia -- that Marines have pinned to their uniforms for generations.
Apparently taken as a battle prize, it was attached to the shoulder strap of a dead Japanese soldier's rifle.
Persons took it back.
"He kept it with him for the rest of the war," said Bob Coonfield, a family friend who now lives in Tulsa. "And he thought it brought him good luck."
Twenty-three years later, as Coonfield entered the Navy and prepared to ship out for Vietnam in 1967, Persons gave the emblem to him. And Coonfield carried it with him through two tours of duty aboard the U.S.S. Ranger aircraft carrier.
Now, with a family friend of his own getting ready to join the military, Coonfield is passing the emblem on to the next generation.
"It wasn't doing me any good sitting in a box on a shelf," he said. "I came back without any scratches on me, and now somebody else needs that kind of luck."
Chance Brown joined the Boy Scouts three years ago, at the age of 15, just when a lot of boys lose interest in Scouting.
With so little time left before his 18th birthday, it didn't seem likely that he could finish the lengthy requirements for becoming an Eagle Scout.
"But I did it," Brown said, noting that as an Eagle Scout he will enter the Marine Corps this week as a private first class rather than just a buck private like most recruits.
"My dad is a Marine, and I've been around Marines my whole life. I just always wanted to be a Marine."
Coonfield, a leader for Troop 222 for the past 19 years, awarded Brown his Eagle Scout badge last week -- and gave him something extra with it.
"I'm going to take very good care of it," Brown promised, holding in his hand the small emblem that once cut a Marine's leg on Guam. "Maybe someday I can pass it on to a son, or to a family friend."
Brown will report for duty Monday at Camp Pendleton, a Marine boot camp near San Diego. And after several months of training, he's scheduled to become a Marine honor guard at the White House.
After that, Brown can't rule out the possibility of deploying to Iraq. But wherever he goes, the old emblem will go with him.
"I hope it brings him as much luck as it brought me," Coonfield said. "And I hope someday there'll be another generation that will be proud to have it."
Michael Overall 581-8383
michael.overall@tulsaworld.com
Ellie