|
Posted on 07/30/2012 5:59:29 PM PDT by Kathy in Alaska
|
He got out after the war, did college on the GI bill and then was offered a commission and went back in.
I’ll tell you this about my old man. He was a captain at Quantico when my younger brother was born, we kids played with the kids of a black NCO, this was in the late 50’s. In those days, I don’t think that was common. That’s the kind of man my father was.
Of course he drove me *nuts* in HS after he retired. My bedroom had to pass inspection before I was allowed to take the car out. He may have retired an officer, but there was still a DI buried in there. We clashed a lot in those days, as one might expect. /grin
We thank him for his service to our country.
That “counseling” stuff is intense!
For the last hour, it has sounded like the angels above had challenged the heroes to a 10 Pin contest (Bowling).
I’m jealous.....I love listening to thunder. It is very rare here.
Lightning, too?
I was there back in the mid 70's
Had a terrible time,
got yelled at,
half beaten,
starved.....
forced to do things that genteel folks should not do...
unmentionable things
Looked at sternly by scary, mean men.
I still have recollections that are disturbing.
Semper Fi!
We thank you for your service to our country.
G’Day, Janey, to you and your friends. ((HUGS))
Great pictures...thanks.
I did make it through, 36 years ago, nothing but memories now. All good, just having a bit of fun at my expense...
Yes, once and always a Marine...
Semper Fi!
Thanks for your service as well.
Are you reporting from Afghanistan? I know they have the odd 1/2 hour in their time zone.
2305 in Alaska...ADST
Some things you never forget!
They gave us a tough time at Yemassee and we thought it was hell.
But it turns out that was just getting things started.
Happy Tuesday morn, Luv...((HUGS))...have a nice day.
That was the year of the Ribbon Creek incident.
During the court martial Gen. "Chesty" Puller testified for the defense.
"On April 8, 1956, at 8 p.m., Staff Sergeant Matthew McKeon, a combat veteran of World War II and the Korean War, led Platoon 71, his assigned platoon of 74 recruits, on an extra exercise to Ribbon Creek as a disciplinary measure. McKeon led the platoon toward a swampy tidal creek on Parris Island, near the Marine Corps recruit depot.
Upon arriving 45 minutes later, McKeon jumped into the creek and ordered the platoon to follow. From that point forward, the platoon marched along the creek bed and into deep water. Some of the men could not swim, however, and six drowned during the incident.
Staff Sergeant McKeon was brought to court martial amidst a howl of public condemnation about the "brutality" of Marine Corps training. Many Marines came to McKeon's defense pointing out such training was necessary for survival in combat. McKeon's supervisor, Staff Sergeant E. H. Huff, testified in his defense. He called McKeon an outstanding drill instructor and said that night marches were very common on Parris Island. He said the discipline in the platoon was so poor that he would have taken the recruits on the march himself if he had the time.
McKeon was defended by colorful civilian attorney Emile Zola Berman, who would later go on to defend Sirhan Sirhan. Berman put on a vigorous defense that swayed both the court and public opinion. Marine Corps Commandant General Randolph Pate testified. One reporter pointed out this was like "calling J. Edgar Hoover to testify about a problem within the FBI".
The trial's most dramatic moment, however, was the arrival of General Lewis "Chesty" Puller, the most decorated Marine in the history of the Corps.
Berman called Puller to testify about training methods. Although having some very harsh private words for McKeon, Puller called the incident in Ribbon Creek "a deplorable accident", but one that did not warrant court martial. He said that discipline was the most important factor in military training. He quoted Napoleon in saying that an army becomes a "mob" without it. He mentioned his experiences in the Korean War and one of the reasons troops failed was because of lack of night training.
General Puller felt that the press had blown this incident out of proportion because of prejudice they had against the Marine Corps. He mentioned a similar accident at an Army post where ten soldiers drowned and pointed out that none of their superiors had been charged and that it had never made headlines the way Ribbon Creek did.
In the end, McKeon was acquitted of manslaughter and oppression of troops. He was found guilty of negligent homicide and drinking on duty. The sentence was a $270 fine, nine months of confinement at hard labor, rank reduced to private and a bad conduct discharge.
The Secretary of the Navy later reduced the sentence to three months in the brig, reduction to private with no discharge and no fine. McKeon went back on active duty. He was never able to regain his former rank and was medically retired from the Marine Corps in 1959 by claiming a back injury. He worked as an inspector of standards for his home state of Massachusetts. In a 1970 Newsweek interview, he talked of his lifelong burden of guilt and how he prayed to God every day to keep the boys in his safekeeping and for forgiveness. Matthew McKeon died on November 11, 2003, at the age of 79.
John C. Stevens wrote a book about the Ribbon Creek incident called Court Martial At Parris Island. He tracked down and interviewed many of McKeon's recruits. Stevens pointed out that, with one exception, all of them spoke in favorable terms about their former drill instructor. They claimed he was not the sadist portrayed by the prosecution.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon_Creek_incident
And we thank you for your service to our country.
Great story! Most Marine officers are mustangers like your dad. I found them to be the best officers at the company/battalion level. Had an Anapolis graduate for a Company XO t one point. Although he was a recruiting poster looking Marine he was so lacking in common sense that the Company Commander, a mustang major, would lose his cool and chew him out like a recruit in front of the men. Warrant officers were (are) the best of the best! I’d follow any one of several I knew into the jaws of hell.
There is a story that the first black graduate of West Point, while riding a train to his western duty station, was refused mess with/by his fellow Army officers. Some Marine Officers, also traveling on the train, learning of this, invited the rejected officer to their mess, and installed him as it’s president. To Marines the attitude then, as it is now, “....we’re all green!”
Growing up with a retired Marine for a dad, on the surface, sounds like a raw deal fpr a kid, but I’ll bet in retrospec you have to admit you learned a lot about life from him, with a leg up on your peers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
