Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:47 pm Post subject: Interview Request: USMC only
I am beginning to assemble interviews for a new book primarily about USMC Drill Instructors. If any of you are or have been Marines and wish to provide me an interview for this future publication I will greatly appreciate you contacting me. Further, your father, uncle, brother or grandfather may wish to speak, and I will welcome their participation, as well.
I will be happy, and honored to record your interview, as long as you are or have been a Marine. Any time period will be of interest. I am looking real hard for WWII Marines as they are getting scarce.......time passes and so do old men.
I had a drill instructor that used to spray his saliva on the recruits whenever he started in yelling in our faces. He had very large lips, and when he did this, the saliva would work vertically between his lips so fast it made a solid white line between his lips which never actually closed. Sgt Wright was his name. MCRD san Diego, July 1982. Platoon 2062.
I did my time in the Army, but my father was a Marine. He was in China before we got into WWII and told some stories. Unfortunately he is no longer with us, but I might still have some old photos. Let me know if you would like me to look.
Cannon NEVER said he was a Marine. He never even said he was prior military. But he is trying to write an article, and he's asking for help to do it right! He also didn't ask for replies here!
I said no matter how long ago it was, you never forget the names of your drill instructors! That's how big an impression they make on a young recruit! That was 27 years ago...
I can't even tell you my high school teachers names and I had them for a heck of a lot longer than 11 weeks.
The rest he'll have to get from a drill instructor... I never had that MOS so I can't give him much more info.
The first night I was there, the Corpsmen took blood from me for some medical purpose or other.
There was some problem with it, but I didn't know exactly what.
Staff Sergeant Wallace came and got me out of medical and personally escorted me back to the squad bay.
Funny thing was, the whole time, he talked conversationally to me, like we were coworkers or something. He was checking me out to make sure I was OK (I was)...I didn't realize at the time what he was doing, and I was very surprised that he was treating me like a human being.
That all ended as soon as we got back to the squad bay. And how.
They care. They actually do. But they're tough.
Not WWII, though. It was the night of June 2-3, 1986.
My team was also all sergeants. SDI-Sgt. Swift. Heavy- Sgt. Bowman
Junior DI was Sgt. Hernandez until Sgt. Lindsay joined the team halfway through. Sgt. Swift had an uncanny resemblance to a recruiting poster Marine. Hmmm...
Have you contacted the National World War II museum? If you're any where near NOLA, you owe it to yourself to check it out. And of course, they can help you find World War II Marine vets.
Parris Island
Summer 1961
Platoon 338
Senior Drill Instructor: SSgT Harvey Love
Junior Drill Instructor: Sgt Harry Shane
Junior Drill Instructor: CPL Karl Junger
I didn't have to look them up either. I will never forget any of them. I can see their faces in front of my eyes now. They made it possible for me to become something more than just another human.
They made me a Marine.
I am a Marine and I will die a Marine, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Feel free to email me at wjh2657@nctc.com with any queries, I would be happy to provide info for your book.
Platoon 2049 P.I. summer '81- SSgt Pointfield, Sgt Eischeid & Sgt Nelson. I can remember during night combat training & infiltration course, Sgt Nelson would take off all insignia and mingle with us boots. He would grab, trip, push to provoke a response. I had thought he was one of the privets and grabbed him by the camo shirt to get in his face, then realizing he was my DI. Payed for that one for the duration! Cling-On.
San Diego
October-December 1998
Killer Kilo Plt 3030
SDI SSGT Brown (353X)
DI SSGT Guitteriz (AVN )
There was a freak winter storm that hit, damaged $8 mil in citrus crops. Being that miserable has allowed me to endure the hardships of Iraq. I hate cold weather, if we go to war anywhere that is cold, I will need to go to Recruiting School! While I was in Boot Camp, Saddam Hussein kicked the UN weapons inspectors out. The DI told us to get ready, the Grunts were hurried through and went onto SOI. We support troops got extended leave, home town recruiting, and then ship out to MCT. I remember it like yesterday, when I started boot camp it was hot, when I finished it was cold. I hate cold weather
I went to P I in 71, Plt 1012, then Geiger Papa Kilo, Millington, Cherry Point, VMFA 451 (Beaufort), 75 to Miramar, El Toro VMFA 531, MCRD San Diego in 77, pushed a couple of heards in H Co then to Receiving Barracks, I knew a Gunny D W Cargil in 76 with the Gray Ghost, he was a Marine's Marine, great man, a true giant. I think Eastwood followed him around before making that movie. Semper Fi
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