bunkerhillburning Posted June 4, 2018 Share #1 Posted June 4, 2018 Was organizing a large number of military photos I planned on selling on eBay when I found this in a group of C. 1947 USMC photos. Mostly these depict the USMC in Puerto Rico in 1947 and a few other places in 1951. I have no idea what is going on in this photo other than it depicts a deceased Marine as best I can determine. There is a small rock pile that has been made next to his body. The reverse at one time had a lengthy caption but the original owner went to great length to cover up what was written. Only the caption ' Sept 1951 Sardina ' remains. Would appreciate opinions as this one is baffling to me. Sardina in 1951 is not registering with me at all. Possibly referring to Sardinia, Nicaragua? I don't know if we still had troops in that country at that point. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunkerhillburning Posted June 4, 2018 Author Share #2 Posted June 4, 2018 reverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagmanL6 Posted June 5, 2018 Share #3 Posted June 5, 2018 Good evening. Possibly Sardinia, Italy. Perhaps a training accident during a Mediterranean deployment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgtdorango Posted June 5, 2018 Share #4 Posted June 5, 2018 Maybe it is Korea and the marines last name is Sardinia?...mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marchville1918 Posted June 5, 2018 Share #5 Posted June 5, 2018 I did a little googling and discovered that the Marines had a training exercise on Sardinia in 1951. This was in a history of the 8th Marines. It was only training (no combat) so maybe this is just some guy playing dead or perhaps an accidental death. I doubt they would take a picture of a man just playing dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpast32 Posted June 5, 2018 Share #6 Posted June 5, 2018 Sardinia, big Italian island, just below the French island of Corsica. IIRC, NATO held big multi national amphibious operations during the early 1950's there. Possibly a drowing victim ? I'd just with the USMC Hist. Center. Best, dpast32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 5, 2018 Share #7 Posted June 5, 2018 I don't see any injuries...not saying it's impossible, of course...but I'd be more apt to think the guy was sleeping. I could very easily see this sort of description: "Joe was so tired during the exercise, he laid down on a pile of rocks and fell asleep!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 5, 2018 Share #8 Posted June 5, 2018 Also, there's a DoD peacetime deceased personnel spreadsheet. It used to be searchable on mooseroots.com, but that website has gone down (last time I checked). The spreadsheet is like 54MB and possible to download elsewhere though. You could go through the 1951 deaths and see if anything lines up. I still think he's sleeping though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunkerhillburning Posted June 5, 2018 Author Share #9 Posted June 5, 2018 I did not find the Sardinia 1951 reference on Goggle at all. But what you found Marchville, seems to seal the location. In my humble opinion the guy looks deceased, Dave. But without that caption who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12thengr Posted June 5, 2018 Share #10 Posted June 5, 2018 My guess would be playing dead for the photographer. Not a comfortable position for napping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRIS FORD Posted June 5, 2018 Share #11 Posted June 5, 2018 Leaning towards morbid humor myself..looks too posed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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