In His Own Words : A Lesson On Stills From The USMC

What do Marines do when they are bored?  Anything they can think of.

In His Own Words - March 1944 : Guadalcanal and Malaria

Upon arriving in the Pacific Theater, Daddy was greeted with Malaria.  This was very common for troops on this side of the war, and he makes it sound like it was just part of life in the Pacific.

In His Own Words - January 23, 1944 to February 12, 1944 arriving at New Caledonia

Port at New Caledonia

In His Own Words - September 13, 1943 : USMC Boot Camp

RDMCB San Diego Circa 1940's

The days of "living it up" had come to an end.  September 13, 1943 brought the arrival of Daddy and the other future Marines to San Diego, where they were transferred to buses and brought to R.D.M.C.B (Recruit Depot Marine Corps Base) in San Diego.

September 10, 1943 - In His Own Words : Active Duty and Train to San Diego

Not sure that Daddy and his fellow Marines-to-be were in troop sleepers, as they were not in full use until late 1943, but he does mention being in a nice Pullman coach.  Daddy always liked to talk about his trip from Jackson to New Orleans to San Diego via the train.  It was a calm before the storm; he was very impressed with the food (always a high priority to him!)  I think he considered it a grand conspiracy to treat them like kings before they got off the train and stepped onto the yellow footprints at boot camp.

In His Own Words - Why Daddy chose the Marine Corps

The reason?  It isn't nearly as inspirational or patriotic as you may think!

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.