Archive for the 4thplatoon Category

My Marine Corps career started when, on my 17th birthday, I walked into the USMCR recruiting office at NAS Alameda. I was interested in the MarCad Program – High School to Flight School.

UPDATED POSTING 3/30/2024

My dad’s mother moved to Los Angeles in the early 1900’s with her parents and two young sons.  My dad used to ride his bicycle over rolling meadows where I would later attend UCLA in the 60’s.  

Pearl Creek, NY, a small, farming community of less than 25 homes near Buffalo is where I was raised. Most neighbors were relatives and nearly every male was a WWII veteran.

I arrived at the University of Missouri in September of 1962 fully intending to be a career Navy officer.  I had enlisted in the Naval Reserve as soon as I turned seventeen and promptly was investigated by the NIS because I had somehow gotten a perfect score on the GCT,