My family members had the foresight in 2002 to conduct a formal interview with my father regarding his service in the United States Marines. If I remember correctly, my sister got the "script" of questions, etc. from the Veteran's History Project. I think all of us wish we had done this 10 years or even 5 years prior to this as by January 25, 2002, the date of the interview, my father had either become very camera shy or was in the beginning phases of Parkinson's disease. He had quite a few "stories" he would tell over the years about his service, and some didn't surface during the interview. However, there were still great moments and he gave very detailed and interesting answers to the questions.
My sister has graciously given her blessing for me to post bits of this interview as part of this blog. It is part of not only our family's history, but World War II, Marine Corps and American history, and I felt like I should share it here.
This first clip is a short answer as to why he became a United States Marine. Leading up to this point in his timeline in 1943, he was determined to be a P-38 pilot in the Airs Corps, but received a denial letter from them (as listed on the previous post in this blog.) I believe he took the next 5 or 6 weeks and tried to eat as much as possible, drink milkshakes and eat bananas to reach the minimum required weight. The letter lists him as 12 pounds underweight, but he remembered it as 6 pounds, so I think he went back and tried again after receiving the letter in July.
Back to the Marines...he had stated to his family that if the Air Corps didn't accept him, he would go to the next recruiting office he saw. And, as fate would have it, that was the Marines.
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Transcript:
Q: Mr. Weathersby, what wars did you serve in, and what branch of service were you in?
A: World War II and the Korean War, and I was in the Marines both times...two separate times.
Q: ...and what was your rank?
A: Sergeant.
Q: Were you drafted or did you enlist?
A: Enlisted.
Q: Where were you living at the time?
A: 944 Morningside Drive, in Jackson.
Q: Why did you join?
A: Because the Air Force wouldn't have me.
Q: Why wouldn't the Air Force take you?
A: Because I was six pounds under their requirements.
Q: So you picked the branch of service that you joined...the Marines were your second choice?
A: Well, they were next door. So, I got tired of fooling with the Air Force and just joined the Marine Corps!
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