He was born and raised along the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. The Corps’s reputation for making men out of boys was something he desperately needed when he left high school — before the report cards came out –in March 1958 and enlisted in the Marines. The following nine years saw him in a variety of assignments: a brig sentry at Marine Barracks, Yokosuka, Japan, a radio chief in Delta Battery, 2nd Battalion, 10th Marines, 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, a drill instructor at Parris Island, South Carolina, and a sergeant instructor at Officers’ Candidate School at Quantico, Virginia.
On a tragic day two months into his thirteen month tour in Vietnam as an 0311 infantry sergeant squad leader, he found himself as the platoon commander (a lieutenant’s billet). He remained in that billet throughout the rest of his tour and was awarded a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat “V,” a Purple Heart, and upon returning to CONUS was presented with a combat commission to second lieutenant — and his life changed forever.
During the next twenty-six years he served in a variety of staff assignments and more than his share of command billets, including the commanding officer of the Marine recruiting station in Chicago, which was where he met his bride of thirty-five years, Nancy, from Ottawa, Illinois.
After five years of night school, the Corps sent him to Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BA in Economics. He later received an MA in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.
Ending nearly thirty-six years as a Marine serving God, Country, and Corps, he retired as the commanding officer of the School of Infantry, Camp Geiger, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in 1993.
He and Nancy currently reside in Florida. They have five children, nine grandchildren, and one great grandchild..
Disclaimer from the author: This is my personal blog. The opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone, except for subscribers who have submitted comments that I may post to develop discussion. Readers are warned that I am not a politically correct person, nor do I believe in diversity in all areas of life. I am simply a combat wounded Marine who spent many years of his life in defense of this once great nation only to be mortified by what is happening to it.
