Marine Corps Stories - Chaplain's Corner
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- Father (Fox Hole) Kelly
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Father Francis W. Kelly, Chaplain, U.S.N.served with the Marines at Talagi, then at Guadalcanal. After Guadalcanal he went with the 2nd Marine Regiment to Wellington where he officiated at Masses, Confessions, and problems common with MIlitary men at Wellington, New Zealand. His duties included going on Practice Combat Landings with the Marines as they prepared for the next Island Battle. Finally the Marines of the 2nd Regiment boarded ship with Combat gear to make a landing at Tarawa. Father Kelly had been Affectionately called “Foxhole’ Kelly because he had …
Read More - A Little Biblical Help
- My brother graduated from West Point back in 1971. He never made it to Vietnam. My son is a 10 year Marine veteran with a tour in Iraq for Uncle Sam and 1 tour in Iraq for Honeywell. My brothers graduating class at West Point were given shirt pocket sized bibles to take with them to wherever they were to be assigned. The nice thing about those bibles were that they had a steel front cover. So by putting that bible in your fatigue shirt breast pocket you were reinforcing …
Read More - Once a Marine, Always a Marine. A Marine Comes Home.
- Few earn the title United States Marine. Once earned, the rest of their life they are a marine. A marine on Active Duty, A marine reserve, A retired marine, or as is most common a marine who served his country and returned to civilian life as a marine on-demand, whose skills if needed are always ready. A marine on demand enjoys all the pleasures of the freedom earned through service and blood of all his fellow marines who have served. They have earned this, they live life free and proud …
Read More - Reunion at MCRD after 40 years
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Hello, Sgt. Grit, On 27 October 2009 (coming up on a year now), two of my Marine Corps brothers and I had a great reunion at MCRD. Inseparable during boot camp and ITR, we’d lost touch over the years, and “found” each other through the internet. We promptly decided a reunion was in order, and that the only place to have it was at MCRD where we met, and the only time to have it was from 26-28 October, since 27 October was to be the 40th anniversary of our …
Read More - Chief of Staff
- Chief of Staff We are always on the Anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things. Henry Ward Beecher I still chuckle about my chance encounter with Colonel Amor LeRoy Sims, USMC, almost 60 years ago on Goodenough Island. I don't think as a Private I had ever seen a full Marine Colonel, let alone been "addressed" by one. I had been in the Corps less than one year. In my 19-year-old mind, a Marine Colonel was sort of like the Vice President of the US. Colonel Sims …
Read More - Raise the Banner
- Raise the Banner Victory Over the Enemy Formosa (now called Taiwan) was the original mission objective, but at Admiral Mitiz's recommendation, the invasion was changed to Okinawa to allow more rapid movement for the Allies toward the Japanese mainland. We who made the landing on April 1, 1945 expected the same kind of deadly Japanese reception as at Peleliu-an intensive, life-and-death struggle on the beaches. Instead it was a relatively peaceful landing. On L (Love) Day, the only dead man I saw on the beach was a Navy frogman. My …
Read More - The Gyrostabilizer
- The Gyrostabilizer The men who followed Him were unique in their generation. They turned the world upside down because their hearts had been turned right side up. The world has never been the same. Billy Graham After an accelerated wartime seven week Marine Boot Camp in early 1943, hundreds of us in our new green uniforms and our equipment packed in khaki-colored sea-bags were sent by ten-wheel trucks to Camp Elliott on the outskirts of San Diego for infantry training. Camp Pendleton had not opened yet. In other chapters I've …
Read More - The Surgeon Who Did Not Want The Medal of Honor
- The Surgeon Who Did Not Want the Medal of Honor Courage is fear holding on a minute longer. General George S. Patton, Jr. David Taft was a young boy at the movies in Ames, Iowa with his father and brother John watching "Sergeant York" when the bombing of Pearl Harbor took place on 7 December 1941. He vividly remembers the distress and anger that emanated from his father's reaction to the unprovoked attack. A few months later he received a beautiful shoulder patch from a neighbor whose son was a …
Read More - What Will This Day Bring Forth?
- What Will This Day Bring Forth? "And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus." -Luke 23:26 We never know what will happen in any given day. That is never more true than in warfare. But the soldier or Marine has geared his mind for a vast array of unexpected experiences and casualties. Seldom do we think we will be WIA or KIA. We don't say we won't be …
Read More - Our Mortality
- Our Mortality O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 1 Corinthians 15 A hearty Semper Fi greeting to each of you in the beginning of the year 2006! May it be a year full of spiritual blessings and may you grow in grace and in the knowledge of the amazing ways of our sovereign Lord. Looking back on the year 2005, I have several deep impressions. One of the most vivid is the number of comrades and good friends who have passed into eternity. In …
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