Although my Grandfather knew me, I really didn't get a chance to know him. He passed away from heart desease in 1966. I was 3 years old. I had seen some of the items from his service when I was young like his map and some pictures. It wasn't until I was older, much older, that I really got to know who my Grandfather really was.

He was a Marine.

Before I go on with this I should say that without my dads help this website wouldn't exist. My dad wanted his family to know what their father went through. He took his diary and transposed it to a larger format. Made it readable and added things like general information, technical data, hand drawn patches, pictures, and other items. I liked what he did and have read it more times than I can remember. I have used it as a teaching tool as has my wife. From this I can understand a little about who he was and how his life changed thereafter.

I wanted to be a Marine. But during high school one of my friends had joined the Army and told me it was better because I could be a Ranger, or a Green Beret, or even Delta Force. I joined the Army. Though I did a lot and enjoyed what I did, being a Marine was still at the back of my mind. One of my Drill Instructors was a Marine in Vietnam. One Sunday during down time he approached me and asked why I didn't go to church and I told him I wasn't really religious. We had a long talk and I told him I was going back to an Army Reserve Center to be a Drill SGT. I noticed his Marine ring and I asked him about it. He told me he was a Marine in Vietnam. I then told him about my Grandfather. I never got yelled at after that by any of the Drill Sgts.