Vanity - My Father's K-Bar from Guadalcanal 1944

[ChildOfThe60s]

My daughter is heading to OCS (Quantico,VA) for the USMC in October. Her grandfather (my dad) served in the USMC in the Pacific (WW2), Korea and Vietnam. He passed away 2 years ago. He was still a Marine on the day he died.

When she completes OCS I am giving her the K-bar he had on Guadalcanal.

My thoughts and admiration go out to all of our people serving in Iraq, but in my family we have a special place in our hearts for Leathernecks.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Semper Fi

[gogogodzilla]

I wonder if the K-rats are still good to eat. They last forever.

:-)

[ChildOfThe60s]

Be interesting to know.

I sure ate plenty of that stuff as a kid. We took it camping all the time. We thought it was too cool.

[Tax-chick]

BTTT and congratulations on raising your daughter the Right way! Brings tears to my eyes ... a grandfather's weapon is a sacred relic.

[SamKeck]

Great. I have one of those old, wooden-handled, early-40s K-Bars also. Mine was passed on to me from an older Marine friend who was there at "the Canal" too, from one Marine to another. From your photo, mine looks to be in just a bit better shape than yours, and I'd bet that if you looked under that blade side of the tang between the blade and the handle, it would say "Camillus, NY" and "USMC."

On a side note, my friend also scratched his service number and his home state on the leather scabbard and they're still visible. Might have been a common thing to do at the time.
Semper Fi to your daughter.

[MudPuppy]

Hey, congrats to your family for continuing the Marine Tradition.

I work on Quantico mainside - have your daughter drop me a line if she needs a break.

Feel free to contact me if I can be of any assistance.

Semper Fi!

[ChildOfThe60s]

Thanks! I've bookmarked your home page.

I'm looking forward to coming to Quantico in December for her graduation. My younger brother was born there. We lived on base in Quarters F at the time. I haven't seen it probably 40 years.

My brothers and I donated and had an engraved brick [in my dad's name] laid at a memorial on P.I. I forget what it is called at the moment, but it's in front of the parade grounds. He was still alive when we did it, it really made him happy.

[MudPuppy]

If you need anything or want a tour of the base give me a holler!

They're re-doing much of the base housing with the new public-private venture deal. Knocked down much of old WWII housing and are putting up nice homes / townhomes that have all the current ammenities. Unfortunately, as far as numbers go - there's less new houses replacing the old ones.

Semper Fi!