The 2/9 Network is forever dedicated to the memory of its founder and inspiration - Red Hill. Semper Fidelis Red!
Hell in a Helmet
Welcome to the 2nd Battalion-9th Marine Network. A Network dedicated to helping you find the "Brothers" that you served with and help the "Brothers" you served with find you.
Here is just a short history of the 2/9 Network. It all started back in 1984 when I made my first trip to "The Wall." I was so moved by that experience, as I am sure all of us have been and for you making your first trip will be, that I have returned every year since.
And a major reason I came was not only to Honor my fallen Brothers, but to try and find some of the men that I shared the same mud with in Vietnam and to find my Platoon Commander.
I had a banner made of the "Hell in a Helmet" logo and stood flying it proudly, and like zombies, out of the crowd came the Brothers of 2/9. I started taking down names and addresses. These men were searching too.
I did find the men I was searching for and my Platoon Commander, Lt. Bob Hanover but he has unfortunately like so many of our brothers passed on.
Each year beginning with that trip in 1984 after a trip to "The Wall" and gathering more names I would mail a copy of "The Network Roster" to everyone. Maybe they would recognize a name. I started to include a cover letter about a possible reunion. By 1992, I had collected 84 names. Procrastination is an attribute amongst us. I needed a kick in the butt, and finally, Don Truesdale telephoned and said, "Red, just do it, Brother." If there are 3 of us or 30, shoot, we'll at least be in the same hotel. I mailed a reunion notice to 84 people in March of that year, and by November, the Network had grown to 250. Seventy people signed in the logbook for the first reunion. By the second reunion, there were 450 in the Network. The third reunion, 630 in the Network. And now, after 10 reunions we stand at over 1500. I never envisioned this. It can be laborious, but it's a labor of love.
I do want to point out that even though this site is comprised mostly of "Vietnam Era" 2/9ers that ALL former and current Marines that serve, or served, with 2/9 are invited to join. Your name and address etc; will be added to the "Network Roster" and "Mailing List" respectively for the time periods of "Pre-Vietnam Era", "Vietnam Era" and "Iraq/Afghanistan Era". Your name will automatically be added to the web site no matter what era you served.
Semper Fi
Richard "Red" Hill
UPDATE 11/18/2022
Our 30th Reunion has come and gone. It was another major success with 95 people attending our Birthday Dinner on 10 November. The jam session led by the Gallatin Canyon Band the afternoon of 9 November was another major success. We honored our lost brothers, particulary Dan Hernandez (the father of band leader Ben Hernandez and a 2/9 Golf Company XO and Platoon Commander in Vietnam), and Wayne Lanning, a Vietnam vet and reunion mainstay who's loss will reverberate as long as we have reunions. His was a remarkable personality and will always be missed. See the Reunion page for more information on next year's 31st reunion. That page will be updated as information is obtained during the coming months. Stand by as I wait for the photos on their way to me from the reunion. They will be posted ASAP after I receive them. One other note. The website, for some unknown reason, dropped 176 men from the "Our Men on the Wall" page. I have notified our ISP about this and told them that needs to be fixed. No word back yet.
Semper Fi,
Danny
Contact me at twoninencoic@aol.com