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View Full Version : Paris Island in the World War



thedrifter
04-23-03, 02:47 PM
("Parris" was officially spelled
with only one "r" during WWI)


ARRIVAL



THE ISLAND

A tract of land, five and a half miles long, comprising some 6,000 acres, half of it marshland. Bounded on the north by Archer's Creek, on the east by the Beaufort River, on the south and west by Port Royal Sound and Broad River. Its highest point less than twenty feet above high tide. Home to sand fleas, mosquitos, coral snakes, rattlesnakes, water moccasins, cotton-mouths & alligators, its surrounding waters home to sharks and the odd barracuda. Cold, wet fogs in winter, broken by long days of desultory rain & even sleet in winter; constant high humidity in summer, with temperatures in excess of 100 degrees not uncommon. Susceptible to hurricanes.



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WHAT THE RECRUITING SERGEANT PROMISED

"Beautiful beaches, swaying palms, and movies every night" crooned the sergeant at the recruiting office in Richmond, Virginia and Ben Finney, all of seventeen years old, believed him. A few days later, crossing the bay from Port Royal, South Carolina, in a motor launch, he had his first glimpse of that reputed paradise, Paris Island, a corner of God's earth he would not soon forget.

Reference: Ben Finney, Once a Marine, Always a Marine


http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/select2.html


Sempers,

Roger


http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/rollopt.jpg