Conversation Between pi 53 and seagoingbellhop

Hi Rod My plt. was 235 2nd Bn.. We were mainside in the older wooden barracks. I guess I am saltier than you by weeks. I graduated boot camp on
Sept. 29th 1953. It's funny because we all think our senior DI was the worst,
toughest and meanest. Ha Ha In the era of 1953 all Parris Island boot camps were equel and comparable. The Hollywood Marines didn't have the
isolation and sand fleas of Parris Island so they don't equate. S/F RUDY

Hey Rudy
What platoon were you in- I was in 6th Bn Plt 244- I bet we marched through your platoon a couple times. Remember that-give em the elbows and steal their skivvies???

Hi Rod I enlisted with a high school buddy Bill Turek after graduation 1953. We went to boot camp together and that was the last tour we did together.
I went to Camp Pendleton for infantry training and overseas to Japan and
Korea and got discharged in 1956 He went to Leguine stayed in for 22years
ending up in Vietnam. I guess the motto is if you stay in the Corp long enough you will see combat. The T/O weapon for radio operators was a 45
pistol which was a ***** doing a "walking guard post" in freezing Korea. I got
frostbite on my fingers because I took pistol out of holster, removed mitton and held it in my winter parka pocket in order to defend my post.

Yeah-we were in very close platoons. Of course, my DI's were worse than yours. (ha!) you say you were a wireman, so was I (in the 10th)-got really sick of repairing wire when tanks would chew it up in the boonies. I was a reserve artillaryman when I went in (for a 2 year hitch) I had just finished summer camp at Lejeune with 2d 155 Guns, Force Troops and got my orders for active duty when I got home. Went to PI in July. Was a PFC and had old WWII utilities from the reserves. Caught hell from DI's-"you think you're salty, t____?"- that kind of stuff. a week before outpost I was called up to speak to the 1st sgt. He said-"T___, you don't want to be a f_______ reserve,, do you boy?" NO SIR. "You want to be a regular"-Yes SIR!-so he made me a deal-I got to choose 3 schools if I would ship over to the regulars for 3 years -he didn't tell me I would lose my boot camp time. I shipped-chose all airdale schools- got my orders a week later-0300 Camp Lejeune. Sorreee! Back then we couldn't sue the Corps so I sucked in my gut and said AYE AYE Sir! Ended up in the 10th Marines as I had 0811 in the reserves. They needed wiremen. I wanted to be a radio operator-Tough! When I was dumped by my gunny to ITR as staff, I served there in Geiger for awhile and finally extended my enlistment AGAIN to get Sea School-It was just like boot camp and I was a Sgt while going through it. I enjoyed sea duty but wanted to go to Far East noit Europe-Overall OK though- stayed in reserves for 12 more years and got out in 66 after sweating potential callup for Nam. Still in artillary

Semper Fi Rod We were really close times at PI. I heard about seagoing Marines but never knew one. Did you choose that on your own? The only thing I ever got to choose was between a wireman or radio operator in the artillery, I chose radio operator. Semper Fi Rudy

Hey-Ol timer- looks like you and I was in the same year-Them days are gone forever but wasn't it something to remember.I got orders for Gifu but ticked off my Gunny and ended up at Camp Geiger-and so it goes