Posted on 05/11/2012 5:01:45 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack
I met COL North this past summer on one of his trips to Kabul...
Tell W. to have a wonderful Mother's Day.
TS
Thank you. W. did have a wonderful Mother’s Day.
Never heard anything about that.
I let Ollie take care of Ollie. Me, I just tried to keep me warm!
I had a neat trick during night patrols. I’m about 5’8”, so I’d get behind the tallest guy in the platoon I could find. Let him break trail. All the tree limbs he’d push aside and let fly would go right over my head - no slaps in the face for me!
Not exactly tactical, but Hey!
Hey I posted that thread! I was still on AD in Atsugi then.
Ha! Atsugi you say!
That is where I landed as a kid. I still remember after we landed there, taxiing past rows upon rows of the Phantoms in that dark green and black camouflage. It was the first time I had seen those in the real world, and it made a mark on me. (I was an inveterate model builder and drawer as a kid, and that particular plane was one of my favorites...:)
Funny how that thread popped up, eh?
I drove around with this sticker on my car up here in Massachusetts for about a year or so...
I got to spend some time with some of those Swift Boat Vets counterprotesting against Code Pink the night before the Gathering of Eagles in Washington DC.
What a bunch of Real Patriots. Man, I salute them in my head every time I think of them. They could have sat at home on their asses during that election in which we needed all the help we could get, but I guess that isn't their style...:)
That is an awesome story!
It reminded me of that movie “October Sky” where the kids steal a rail from an inactive railroad bed. While doing it, they hear a train coming and think it isn’t inactive at all, and all nearly have heart attacks trying to put the rail back in place, only to find out the train was on some adjoining tracks...
That must have been hilarious when the det cord went off! I’ll bet they all jumped, I know I would have!
Figured I’d post this to you seeing as you mentioned “height”.
My mom (still alive and traveling!) went to High School school with with James Arness (Gunsmoke). Here’s something from Wiki:
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According to “James Arness – An Autobiography”, he landed on Anzio Beachhead on January 22, 1944 as a rifleman with 2nd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division. Because of his height, he was the first ordered off his landing craft to determine the depth of the water; it came up to his waist.
His opinion of him was that he was very bright but also a.. er.. lets just say the rest rhymed with "Smack Bass"
He (WKC) left a major mess for the next commander to clean up as was his custom.
As an aside Clark is the only soldier I have ever heard him criticize and in twenty years you meet some real interesting guys.
While stationed near Camp Zama, Japan, in the mid/late 60s, we lived in Minami-Rinkan village. It was about three miles from the main gate at Atsugi. We spent a lot of time there at the big PX, theater and club. Our house was on the flight path to NAS Atsugi and when the carriers were making for Yokosuka, those Phantoms and Crusaders would rattle our fillings, and keep the babies awake. Bob Hope put on a show at Camp Zama but only wounded personnel in GI robes and pajamas were allowed in.
You sent me some photos of Minami Rinkan a few years ago from when you lived there. We lived there when we first got to Atsugi while waiting for base housing. It was still under the flight path.
I’d kind of like to see what it looks like today. But it’d have to be in pictures, as I have no desire ever to go back there.
I was Marine General Jack Sheehan’s driver when he was our regimental commander at 8th Marines.
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