Battle in Phillipines? (1980's?)
Hi everyone! My dad is a Marine retired 21 years '77-'98. Now, to be in for 21 years it's hard to imagine he was never in combat. He didn't fight in the Gulf War because he went to I&I duty (or however it's written). He was also supposed to go to Grenada in '83 but someone screwed up and other people went. He said they were all ready to go and everything. Fog of war I suppose.
I've asked him numerous times if he's been in combat or anything of the sort and only once, which was just a few months ago, he said he was. He said he called in artillery and other gunfire in the Phillipines in the 80's I believe.
Now there are 4 things to this story:
1. I'm pretty sure he said the 80's.
2. I may have misunderstood and it might've been training which I highly doubt. (I'll explain my reasons later).
3. He told me the name of the island but it sounded alien to me so I forgot. It started with the letter "M".
4. I looked everywhere on the internet for it but can't find it anywhere, perhaps it was top secret, or the public didn't care. Who knows.
Here's my thoughts. I'm pretty sure this stuff actually happened considering he just mentioned it recently and never spoke of it again, it was only a one time/day thing. He's always speaking of his training and more so of his buddies though.
Some more info: He was in ANGLICO at the time I believe and he also did some work with recon. And he did comms for 21 years.
If there are any Marines that can bring truth to this I would be more than delighted. Also, please give me some info on what happened there, website links, pictures, articles, personal accounts (including you), articles, etc., anything would be fantastic.
And if you want to know, no I can't ask him again. I have and he just ignores me. It took me years just to find out that he was actually in combat.
-Thank You:)
I'm also looking for information on USMC involvement in the Phillipines
Hey ya'll. I just read all of your posts. This is an interesting discussion. I did some basic google research on this topic and I did not find anything specific about United States military operations in the philipines during the 1980s. However, I did find a lot of general information stating that the US was involved helping the philipine government deal with various militia type uprising during the 1980s.
I am currently doing research on this topic and I've hit a brick wall in terms of finding any resources on this topic. Do any of you know of any books, articles, or anything (movies, documentaries) on specific military operations conducted in the philipines in the 1980s....obviously, there was something going on...its just not documented well.
Thanks in advance.
Marine action in 1970's Phillipines
In the mid 1970's,the USMC participated in a yearly exercise
with the Phillipine Marines that was called Operation Fortress
Lightening. In 1977, the year I was involved, there was
something close to 30 deaths due to accidents during the
planned 2 week exercise. This large-scale "dog and pony
show" was aborted about the 13th day due to the high
accidental casualty rate.
The most infamous was a chopper full of marines that was
yanked back into the side of a mountain by the water trailer which was slung underneath it as it swung back toward the LZ after takeoff. There were no survivors.
I received this information from a Navy Corpsman who was standing, freshly shaved, pale skinned and in a starched uniform in a clearing which I had wandered into
in order to escape the constant attacks from insects in the
jungle. His appearance gave away that he hadn't been in
a triple canopy jungle for two weeks and may know who
had won the last 2 football games back stateside. That was
how you found out in the age before personal electronics.
He briefed me on the latest scores, gave me a quick
account of some of the other deaths and then told me of
how they were going to cut short this very infamous
Marine Corps exercise.
If your Dad was in this or some of the other like-named
exercises, he may have known some of the dead as friends. Operation Fortress Lightening did not last more than 4 or 5 yearly exercises before it was canceled. In
addition to the hazards of any large scale operation in
very difficult terrain, there was always the danger of
making contact with the rebels. Any of these conditions
could make it difficult to speak about.