Surveyed--old Marine Corps junk

[Rustykamel]

Rooting around in my attic, I came across an old seabag with a wadded up sweetheart pillow at the bottom. Even though it has several holes, it cleaned up nicely for such an old-timer. There isn’t anything remarkable about this pillowcase, but because my father gave it to either my mother or his mother during the 1930‘s or possibly 1945, I’m going to frame and display it as a memento that I can remember from my youth. The liner (raincoat?) with a patch cut out of it also belongs to my youth and also has a story to go with it. Corporal Decal Trimble, USMC, managed to get himself busted sometime in the late 1950’s. Dee was the older brother of a good friend. After his discharge, and for the next two years, every time I went to visit, Dee was asleep on his parent’s sofa. Once, and probably while asleep, he had his really nice looking ‘51 Ford hardtop repossessed--I remember thinking now that’s a tragedy. He finally got his act together and became a reserve police officer and then worked as a cowboy on a remote mountain ranch. Dee also gave me his dress blues. I don’t know what his MOS was, but the blues look like they were issued to him. Since he wasn’t six feet tall, he probably wasn’t assigned to sea duty, but it is easy to imagine him as a DI who went a tad too far after a certain Parris Island incident we are all familiar with. Hope that you enjoy my junk. Jim

 

[Brig]

that 'Parris Island Incident' I tell my recruits every week, because it allegedly happened right behind my range. Gives them something to contemplate in the pits....I tell them the ghost stories too

[Rustykamel]

Hi Brig, A poor judgment call can really haunt, but a lot can be learned too. I don’t know what Dee did to get himself busted, but it took him a long time to put it behind him. So, you are a teacher---what a wonderful thing that is. What your students learn from you, a savvy and experienced NCO, will surely go a long way in keeping them alive.

 

Semper Fidelis, Jim