Reunion
2002
Just
to start off I am truly amazed at how the Reunions seem to expand
each year. With the banquet being on the 9th of November this year
I was sure that the banquet turnout would be smaller. This was not
the case. The number of persons attending actually increased. I
thank each and every one who attended and hope that you had a good
time. This year as usual we had a number of new faces.
Birthday Dinner
We had 186 guests
this year at the banquet. And everything went smoothly although
one of the busses got lost finding the facility. And this year we
had a number of speakers. And they were Colonel Bob Modjeski, who
brought 2/9 out of Vietnam to Camp Schwab, Okinawa in August of
1969. Kathy Upchurch the wife of Lieutenant Jim Upchurch, Echo Company
68-69, Mike Worden, 2/12, 67-68, Ed Gorman, Echo Company 66-67,
Jack Hartzell, Echo Company 67-68, Captain Bob Driver, CO Echo Company
65-66, Garrette Peck, Hotel Company 66-68, , Dave Gardner, FO Echo
Company 65-66, James Joyce, Golf Company 65-67 and Alex Mills a
Canada Marine who served with me in Echo Company in 1968.
Special Thanks
I really want
to thank Steve Clemons again for the help and work that he provides
for the reunion. Steve provided the shuttle buses which carried
the dinner guests to and from the banquet hall. And once again Steve
provided the cakes for the birthday.
Ken Elliott.......what
can I say about brother Ken. Again he provided a beautiful wreath
which he designed that was placed at "The Wall" to remember
are fallen brothers. Thanks Ken. You can view the wreath at the
web site in the "Picture Gallery."
A "Thank
You" to my wife Darnell for the help and support she has provided.
She watches me sit at the computer night after night adding "New
Member Additions" from the web site. She watches me putting
the reunion packets together and answers the phone and says "It's
a 'Red' call." And for her help keeping things straight at
the reunion. I am going in twenty different directions and she points
me in the right one. And Darnell runs the table with the t-shirts,
hats, pins and the raffle tickets. And Thank You to Judy Joyce and
Pat Jackson for their help during the reunion. And Thanks to Garrette
Peck for providing the Reunion Placards.
I also wish
to thank Kathy Upchurch for presenting myself and my wife Darnell
with the gifts..the crystal vase and also the 'Gold Star" paperweight
on behalf of the Gold Star Families.
And Ed Gorman for the 2/9 Logo glass etching.
Jack Hartzell for the hand carved walking stick with the 2/9 and
USMC logos.
Dave Gardner for the plaque.
James Joyce for the USMC "throws" or blankets he presented
to Darnell, myself and daughter Rickie. Each which were embroidered
with our names.
Colonel Len Etcho and Gunny Ed Harker for the IWO JIMA flag raising
statuette.
Doc Jim Maddox for the painting and to all of you who signed the
"Thank You" card and presented us with a monetary award
for service to the 2/9 Network.
The Network
would like to extend a "Special" thanks to the families
and friends of PFC ALAN THOMAS READ and HM3 PHILLIP MASON HINES
both of whom were KIA in May of 1967 for attending this years reunion
on the invitation of the members of Hotel Company, Jim Hahn, Garrette
Peck, Pete Rivera, Bob Stocker, Andy Puttagio, John O'Brien, Terry
Wellborn and Jerry Kilpatrick.
Tim "Deadman" Dewolf
HQ Company 67-68
Santa's Hola'
lifts Latino tots' spirits; the toys help, too
12/16/02
Mark Naymik
Plain Dealer Reporter
Painesville-
For the hundreds of Latino children who were treated to a giant
mound of Christmas gifts at St. Mary Catholic Church yesterday,
Santa Claus was not the man to thank.
The inspiration
behind the soccer balls, dolls and miniature race-car sets was a
Mexican-American the children never met - Robert Abina, a U.S. soldier
who died in 1967 in a bloody battle in Vietnam.
Before being
shot and killed, Abina climbed out of a bomb crater and, amid the
whizzing bullets and exploding grenades, grabbed the backpack of
fellow Marine Tim DeWolf and yanked him into the hole, saving his
life.
Abina returned
several times to the top of the crater to call for U.S. soldiers
and guide them to the hole. He was eventually shot and died in DeWolf's
arms.
To honor Abina's
memory, DeWolf helped organize yesterday's Toys for Tots event at
St. Mary's with "Hola," an organization that helps Mexican
and other Latino immigrants.
"It's not
atonement, but a way to pay back Bobby," DeWolf said.
More than 650
children - mostly Mexicans who speak little English and whose parents
cannot afford gifts - received presents. Many were purchased by
DeWolf, who heads the Marines' Toys for Tots program in Lake County.
Painesville
is at the center of a growing Mexican population in Lake County,
where migrants work in area nurseries. But many of them can't find
work in the winter months, said Veronica Dahlberg, who co-chairs
"Hola."
Dahlberg said
the need for toys has mushroomed in the last four years because
of the growing migrant population and the low number of off-season
jobs.
"Kids are
kids, and someone should give them a toy," she said.
Norma Abila
of Painesville was grateful for the gifts her children received
because of the efforts of DeWolf and "Hola."
"Anything
is good," she said. "They want Nintendo, but I can't afford
that."
Volunteers from
"Hola" and Spanish-speaking students from Chagrin Falls
High School distributed the toys, played games and made crafts with
the children.
DeWolf, dressed
in his Marine uniform, mingled with the children, letting them try
on his hat and slapping high-fives. He called yesterday the "second
greatest day in my life," topped only by his wedding day, and
a fitting tribute to Abina.
"He was
Mexican by birth, a Marine by choice," DeWolf said, "and
brave by nature."
Marine Corps Recruiters Association
H. Mike Martinez
Hotel Company 66-67
Attention on
deck!
A group of about
20 retired Marines from across the country has undertaken a mission
to form/create a national Marine Corps Recruiters' Association.
We are seeking Marines....regular, retired, reserve...who have completed
at least one successful recruiting tour, and who may be interested
in becoming members of such Association.
I am seeking
your help in passing the word. Interested Marines can contact me
at (480) 632-7487, or by email at: TopUSMC65@aol.com
Semper Fi,
H. Mike Martinez
The Top
Esprit De Corps
By Daniel E. Sims
GySgt, USMC (Ret.)
Ask a Marine
what's so special about the Marines and the answer would be "esprit
de corps", an unhelpful French phrase that means exactly what
it looks like - the spirit of the Corps. But what is that spirit,
and where does it come from?
The Marine Corps
is the only branch of the U.S. armed forces that recruits people
specifically to fight. The Army emphasizes personal development
(an army of one), the Navy promises fun (let the journey begin),
and the Air
Force offers security (it's a great way of life). Missing from all
of these advertisements is the hard fact that it is a soldier's
lot to suffer and perhaps to die for his people, and to take lives
at the risk of his own. Even the thematic music of the services
reflects this evasion. The Army's Caisson Song describes a pleasant
country outing over hill and dale, lacking
only a picnic basket. Anchors Aweigh, the Navy's celebration of
the joys of sailing, could have been penned by Jimmy Buffet. The
Air Force song is a lyric poem of blue skies and engine thrust.
All is joyful and invigorating, and safe. There are no landmines
in the dales nor snipers behind the hills, no submarines or cruise
missiles threaten the ocean jaunt, no bandits are lurking in the
wild blue yonder.
The Marines'
Hymn, by contrast, is all combat. We fight our country's battles,
first to fight for right and freedom, we have fought in every clime
and place where we could take a gun, in many a strife we've fought
for life.
The choice is
made clear. You may join the Army to go to adventure training, or
join the Navy to go to Bangkok, or join the Air Force to go to computer
school. You join the Marines to go to war.
But the mere
act of signing the enlistment contract confers no status in the
Corps. The Army recruit is told from his first minute in uniform
that "you're in the Army now, soldier". Navy and Air Force
enlistees are sailors or airmen as soon as they get off the bus
at the training center. The new arrival at Marine Corps boot camp
is called recruit, or private, or worse
(much worse), but not Marine. Not yet; maybe not ever. He or she
must earn the right to claim the title, and failure returns you
to civilian life without hesitation or ceremony.
My recruit platoon,
Platoon 2210 at San Diego, California, trained from October through
December of 1968. In Vietnam the Marines were taking two hundred
casualties a week, and the major rainy season operation, Meade River,
had not even begun. Yet our drill instructors had no qualms about
winnowing out almost a quarter of their 112 recruits, graduating
eighty-one. Note that this was post- enlistment attrition; every
one of those who were dropped had been passed by the recruiters
as fit for service. But they failed the test of boot camp, not necessarily
for physical reasons (at least two were outstanding high-school
athletes for whom the calisthenics and running were child's play).
The cause of their failure was neither in the biceps nor the legs,
but in the spirit. They had lacked the will to endure the mental
and emotional strain, so they would not be Marines. Heavy commitments
and high casualties notwithstanding, the Corps reserves the right
to pick and choose.
But the war
had touched boot camp in one way. The normal twelve-week course
of training was shortened to eight weeks. Deprived of a third of
their training time, our drill instructors hurried over, or dropped
completely, those classes without direct relevance to Vietnam. Chemical
warfare training was abandoned. Swimming classes shrank to a single
familiarization session. Even hand-to-hand combat was skimped. Three
things only remained inviolate: close order drill, the ultimate
discipline builder; marksmanship training, the heart of combat effectiveness;
and classes on the history, customs and
Traditions of the Corps.
History classes
in boot camp? Stop a soldier on the street and ask him to name a
battle of World War One. Pick a sailor at random to describe the
epic fight of the Bon Homme Richard. Everyone has heard of McGuire
Air Force Base, so ask any airman who Major Thomas B. McGuire was,
and why he is so commemorated. I am not carping, and there is no
sneer in this criticism. All of the services have glorious traditions,
but no one teaches the young soldier, sailor or airman what his
uniform means and why he should be proud to wear it.
But ask a Marine
about World War One, and you will hear of the wheatfield at Belleau
Wood and the courage of the Fourth Marine Brigade. Faced with an
enemy of superior numbers entrenched in tangled forest undergrowth,
the Marines received an order to attack that even the charitable
cannot call ill advised. It was insane. Artillery support was absent
and air support hadn't been invented yet, so the Brigade charged
German machine guns with only bayonets, grenades and indomitable
fighting spirit. A bandy-legged little barrel of a gunnery sergeant,
Daniel J. Daly, rallied his company with a shout. "Come on,
you sons a bitches! Do you want to live forever?" He took out
three of those machine guns himself, and they would have given him
the Medal of Honor except for a technicality. He already had two
of them. French liaison officers, hardened though they were by four
years of trench bound slaughter, were shocked as the Marines charged
across the open Wheatfield under a blazing sun and directly into
enemy fire. Their action was so anachronistic on a twentieth-century
battlefield that they might as well have been swinging cutlasses.
But the enemy was only human; they
Couldn't stand up to this. So the Marines took Belleau Wood.
Every Marine
knows this story, and dozens more. We are taught them in boot camp
as a regular part of the curriculum. Every Marine will always be
taught them. You can learn to don a gas mask anytime, even on the
plane en route to the war zone, but before you can wear the emblem
and claim the title you must know of the Marines who made that emblem
and title meaningful. So long as you can march and shoot and revere
the legacy of the Corps, you can take your place in the line.
And that line
is unified in spirit as in purpose. A soldier wears branch of service
insignia on his collar, and metal shoulder pins and cloth sleeve
patches to identify his unit. Sailors wear a rating badge that identifies
what they do for the Navy. Marines wear only the eagle, globe and
anchor, together with personal ribbons and their cherished marksmanship
badges.
There is nothing on a Marine's uniform to indicate what he or she
does, nor (except for the 5th and 6th Regiments who wear a French
fourragere for Belleau Wood) what unit the Marine belongs to. You
cannot tell by looking at a Marine whether you are seeing a truck
driver, a computer programmer, or a machine gunner. The Corps explains
this as a security measure to conceal the identity and location
of units, but the Marines penchant for publicity makes that the
least likely of explanations. No, the Marine is amorphous, even
anonymous (we finally agreed to wear nametags only in 1992), by
conscious design. Every Marine is a rifleman first and foremost,
a Marine first, last and always. You may serve a four-year enlistment
or even a twenty-year career without seeing action, but if the word
is given you'll charge across that Wheatfield. Whether a Marine
has been schooled in automated supply, or automotive mechanics,
or aviation electronics, is immaterial. Those things are secondary
- the Corps does them because it must. The modern battle requires
the technical appliances, and since the enemy has them, so do we.
But no Marine boasts mastery of them. Our pride is in our marksmanship,
our discipline, and our membership in a fraternity of courage and
sacrifice.
"For the
honor of the fallen, for the glory of the dead", Edgar Guest
wrote of Belleau Wood, "the living line of courage kept the
faith and moved ahead." They are all gone now, those Marines
who made a French farmer's little Wheatfield into one of the most
enduring of Marine Corps legends. Many of them did not survive the
day, and eight long decades have claimed the rest. But their action
has made them immortal. The Corps remembers them and honors what
they did, and so they live forever. Dan Daly's shouted challenge
takes on its true meaning - if you hide in the trenches you may
survive for now, but someday you will die and no one will care.
If you charge the guns you may die in the next two minutes, but
you will be one of the immortals. All Marines die, in the red flash
of battle or the white cold of the nursing home. In the vigor of
youth or the infirmity of age all will eventually die, but the Marine
Corps lives on. Every Marine who ever lived is living still, in
the Marines who claim the title today. It is that sense of belonging
to something that will outlive your own mortality that gives people
a light to live by and a flame to mark their passing.
Marines call
it esprit de corps!
"From
The Halls of Montezuma…."
History of the
Marines' Hymn
Following the
war with the Barbary Pirates in 1805, when Lieutenant P.N. O'Bannon
and his small force of Marines participated in the capture of Derne
and hoisted the American flag for the first time over a fortress
of the Old World, the Colors of the Corps was inscribed with the
words: "To the Shores of Tripoli." After the Marines had
participated in the capture and occupation of Mexico City and the
Castle of Chapultepec, otherwise known as the "Halls of Montezuma,"
the words on the Colors were changed to read: "From the Shores
of Tripoli to the Halls of Montezuma."
Following the
close of the Mexican War came the first verse of the Marines' Hymn,
written, according to tradition, by a Marine on duty in Mexico.
For the sake of euphony, the unknown author transposed the phrases
in the motto on the Colors so that the first two lines of the Hymn
would read: "From the Halls of Montezuma, To the Shores of
Tripoli."
A serious attempt
to trace the tune of the Marines' Hymn to its source is revealed
in correspondence between Colonel A.S. McLemore, USMC, and Walter
F. Smith, second leader of the Marine Band. Colonel McLemore wrote:
"Major Richard Wallach, USMC, says that in 1878, when he was
in Paris, France, the aria to which the Marines' Hymn is now sung
was a very popular one." The name of the opera and a part of
the chorus was secured from Major Wallach and forwarded to Mr. Smith,
who replied: "Major Wallach is to be congratulated upon a wonderfully
accurate musical memory, for the aria of the Marine Hymn is certainly
to be found in the opera, 'Genevieve de Brabant'...The melody is
not in the exact form of the Marine Hymn, but is undoubtedly the
aria from which it was taken. I am informed, however, by one of
the members of the band, who has a Spanish wife, that the aria was
one familiar to her childhood and it may, therefore, be a Spanish
folk song."
In a letter
to Major Harold F. Wingman, USMC, dated 18 July [1919], John Philip
Sousa wrote: "The melody of the 'Halls of Montezuma' is taken
from Offenbach's comic opera, 'Genevieve de Brabant' and is sung
by two gendarmes." Most people believe that the aria of the
Marines' Hymn was, in fact, taken from "Genevieve de Brabant,"
an opera-bouffe (a farcical form of opera, generally termed musical
comedy) composed by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), and presented
at the Theatre de Bouffes Parisiens, Paris, on November 19, 1859.
Offenbach was
born in Cologne, Germany, June 20, 1819 and died October 5, 1880.
He studied music from an early age and in 1838 entered the Paris
Conservatoire as a student. In 1834 he was admitted as a violoncellist
to the Opera Comique and soon attained much popularity with Parisien
audiences. He became conductor of the Theatre Francais in 1847 and
subsequently leased the Theatre Comte, which he reopened as the
Bouffes-Parisiens. Most of his operas are classed as comic (light
and fanciful) and include numerous popular productions, many of
which still hold a high place in European and American countries.
Genevieve de
Brabant was the wife of Count Siegfried of Brabant. Brabant, a district
in the central lowlands of Holland and Belgium, formerly constituted
an independent duchy. The southern portions were inhabited by Walloons,
a class of people now occupying the southeastern part of Belgium,
especially the provinces of Liege, Arlon and Namur.
Every campaign
the Marines have taken part in gives birth to an unofficial verse.
For example, the following from Iceland:
"Again
in nineteen forty-one
We sailed a north'ard course
And found beneath the midnight sun,
The Viking and the Norse.
The Iceland girls were slim and fair,
And fair the Iceland scenes,
And the Army found in landing there,
The United States Marines."
Copyright ownership
of the Marines' Hymn was vested in the United States Marine Corps
per certificate of registration dated August 19, 1991 but is now
in the public domain. In 1929, the Commandant of the Marine Corps
authorized the following verses of the Marines' Hymn as the official
version:
"From
the Halls of Montezuma
To the Shores of Tripoli;
We fight our country's battles
On the land as on the sea;
First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title
of United States Marine.
"Our
flag's unfurled to every breeze
From dawn to setting sun;
We have fought in ev'ry clime and place
Where we could take a gun;
In the snow of far-off Northern lands
And in sunny tropic scenes;
You will find us always on the job--
The United States Marines.
"Here's
health to you and to our Corps
Which we are proud to serve
In many a strife we've fought for life
And never lost our nerve;
If
the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven's scenes;
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines."
On November
21, 1942, the Commandant of the Marine Corps approved a change in
the words of the fourth line, first verse, to read, "In air,
on land, and sea."
Former-Gunnery
Sergeant H.L. Tallman, veteran observer in Marine Corps Aviation
who participated in many combat missions with Marine Corps Aviation
over the Western Front in World War I, first proposed the change
at a meeting of the First Marine Aviation Force Veterans Association
in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Many interesting
stories have been associated with the Marines' Hymn. One of the
best was published in the Stars and Stripes, the official newspaper
of the AEF, under date of August 16, 1918.
"A wounded
officer from among the gallant French lancers had just been carried
into a Yankee field hospital to have his dressing changed. He was
full of compliments and curiosity about the dashing contingent that
fought at his regiment's left.
"'A lot
of them are mounted troops by this time,' he explained, 'for when
our men would be shot from their horses, these youngsters would
give one running jump and gallop ahead as cavalry. I believe they
are soldiers from Montezuma. At least, when they advanced this morning,
they were all singing "From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores
of Tripoli".'"
The Marines'
Hymn has been sung and played in all of the four corners of the
earth and today is recognized as one of the foremost service songs.
Reunion 2003
As usual the
dates of the reunion will be the same and will be at the same establishment,
the Quality Inn Iwo Jima in Arlington, VA. They will be on November
9,10 and 11. That will be on a Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. If you
wish to get an early start the telephone number is 1-800-424-1501.
Mention the 2/9 reunion and Group Number 2261. Singles, Doubles,
Triples, Quads are all $75.00. And be sure to get a confirmation
number! And be sure to get a confirmation number! And be sure to
get a confirmation number! I repeat myself but it is necessary that
you get a confirmation number and periodically check with the hotel.
I have blocked 65 rooms. At this past reunion the hotel was completely
booked by August.
This is most
likely going to be the last reunion that I organize. I had plans
on stopping after this past reunion but thought I would give it
one more go. We had one snafu this year and that was being locked
out of our conference room by the restaurant manager while we were
at our banquet. His reasoning was that he did not want a bunch of
"drunk" Marines in the parking lot. His plan worked for
that night (except we were now relegated to the parking lot) but
backfired when we boycotted his restaurant. He also closed the bar
down at 8 pm on Friday night and 9 pm on Saturday evening.
Right now there
is no set plan for a banquet. The banquet facilities we have used
the past two years does not normally hold banquets on either a Sunday
or Monday. They will hold a banquet but for a "set" amount
or guaranteed amount of dollars which we as a group do not meet.
And also the gratuity increases from 20% to 30%. So as it stands
at this point in time I have just procured the 65 rooms at the hotel.
However that does not mean there will not be a banquet. We are in
the process of getting things worked out. We have two Marines in
the vicinity doing a "recon" of the area establishments.
2/9 Website!
The site has
been a tremendous success. We have been seen virtually from all
corners of the globe.
If you haven't been there here is the address: www.2ndbattalion9thmarines.org
(all one word).
If you would
like your e-mail address posted on the site please e-mail me at
Graymarine@aol.com and let
me know. I will edit you name on the web site. If you do a new "Member
Addition" I will have to go and edit out one of your names.
When a New Member Addition is done it now automatically goes to
the site. And even if you do not have a computer your name is listed
on the web site under the company that you served with. Your address
and phone number is not listed on the web. Just the town and state.
I notify "New" members that if they see a name they recognize
to let me know and then I provide the address and phone number to
them. So if you get a computer you do not need to fill out a "BECOME
A MEMBER OF 2/9."
If you have
any suggestions about the site please let me know.
There is a "Picture
Gallery." If you have a photo you would like placed there send
it to me at Graymarine@aol.com
in a JPEG format. If you scan a photo you can "save as"
and it gives you options. Please use JPEG format. If you don't have
a scanner just mail me the photo and I will scan it and mail it
back to you. And please don't bombard me with photos for there are
space constraints on the web site. I will only do 2 photos per member.
Do not send photos of dead or mutilated bodies.
Replacing lost Medals
You can replace
lost service medals by filling out a standard Form 180 (request
Pertaining to Military Records). You can request via a copy of the
form by visiting their web site at www.nara.gov/regional/mpr.html.
If you are using the mail send to: Navy Liaison Office, National
Personnel Records Center, Room 3475/ N-314, 9700 Page Blvd., St.
Louis, MO 63132-5100. Whether using the internet or by mail you
need to send proof that you received these medals. Providing a copy
of your DD 214 will satisfy that requirement. Also include your
full name, DOB, Service Number, Social Security Number, approximate
dates of service and your return address.
Personnel Rosters
If you are looking
for the names of the men that you served with you can request that
info' by writing the DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY, Headquarters USMC,
Personnel Management Support Branch, 2008 Elliot Rd., Quantico,
VA 22134-5030. Just write that you are looking for men that you
served with and give them the time frame and unit you served with.
You might also be able to request copies of the Unit Diaries at
this place.
Circumstances of Death
If you are looking
for information on how a "Brother" or loved one died you
can request the circumstances of the death from: NATIONAL PERSONNEL
RECORDS CENTER, MILITARY PERSONNEL RECORDS, 9700 PAGE AVENUE, ST.
LOUIS, MO 63132-5100. Include service number if you know it or at
the least all of the info' surrounding this event.
Paralyzed Veterans
Any vets having
any paralysis from any cause, whether it be service connected or
not, please contact your nearest VA hospital or Paralyzed Veterans
of America.
Paralyzed
Veterans of America
801 Eighteenth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006-3517
Telephone
Numbers
PVA
National Headquarters
800-424-8200
PVA Health Care Hotline
800-232-1782
Sports n' Spokes Magazine
888-888-2201
PVA Donor Service Line
800-555-9140
PN/Paraplegia News Magazine
888-888-2201
PVA Publications Distribution Center
888-860-7244
Their
Internet address is www.pva.org.
Network Contributors
Well at this
point in the Battalion Runner I thank all of you have contributed
in the past year. And I again wish to thank all of you. The big
problem I have is that I somehow deleted the file with your names
listed. I deeply apologize for this. However all of you know that
I appreciate your support over the past year. I had been going through
some trying times. I will keep the 2/9 Network going. I have devoted
much time and effort to let it go and "new" members arrive
almost daily.
And as I usually
do at this time, if you can contribute anything it would be greatly
appreciated. We have added 150+ brothers since April. Please make
checks payable to Richard "Red" Hill. Unfortunately the
bank will no longer take checks payable to the 2/9 Network. If you
are uncomfortable with this I fully understand. I will always try
to run this on donations. I have seen other organizations go to
a dues membership and now I can't find some of them on the web any
more. You "brothers" and family have always been here
to keep the Network going. I know that I can depend on you. Thank
you for your help.
Also if I have
left out anything I sincerely apologize.
Also if you
move please send a change of address card to me. After the last
mail-out there were over 130 returns.
Semper Fi
"Red"
