Former Marine CC Amy Forsythe is now a U.S. Navy Reserve Public Affairs Officer and is currently mobilized to active duty serving her third tour in Afghanistan. Forsythe, a lifetime USMCCCA member, never goes anywhere without a camera. Here she is crossing the famous “Friendship Bridge” at the Afghanistan-Uzbekistan border Read more…
GySgt. Stony Merriman, left, GySgt. Ed Evans just out of Charlie Med with a boot full of blood and GySgt. John Wold. No better friends.
Bernard “Mick” E. Trainor
By Ed Evans
If you haven’t heard, it is with a heavy heart I share the news that LtGen. [Bernard] “Mick” Trainor passed away June 2, 2018. Mick was a legendary Marine who served as a Platoon Commander in Korea and a Recon Battalion Commander in Vietnam. He was one of the best military minds in the Marine Corps. A friend and mentor to many.
Quick story. LtGen. Trainer was CO of Recon in 1970 when Leatherneck Magazine sent me to Vietnam for coverage. I was with Trainor’s Marines when after being on a several day patrol we heard movement around us while moving to the extract point. Safeties were off. It was thru tall, wet elephant grass and the radioman slipped, fell, and his rifle went off striking me in the left leg at boot top level, and the patrol leader in the right leg just below the knee.
Later at Charlie Med I told then-Col. Trainor it was a heckuva souvenir for going out with Recon. He grinned and said yeah, well, he caught hell for shooting the Leatherneck photographer, too.
The current Deputy CG of 1stMarDiv stopped by to tell me the Navy docs recommended I be boarded out since the foot healed in a “down” position since the bullet took a chunk of meat out of the back of my leg. With only 10 years in, I didn’t want that. Two friends got my gear and cameras from recon, and since no one there had my SRB or health record, I slipped out, stuffing that angry foot into a bloody boot. The two Marines and I then got ourselves on a helo headed for Khe Sanh (then in Army hands) in a bird labeled “The Wild Bunch”.
But that isn’t the best part of the story.
By Don Knight My platoon-sized, MAG 32 ground defense and guard unit stationed at MAS El Taro got the word: get our tails down to Pendleton for five weeks of combat training. Bring our rifles, helmets and extra clothing. To begin: long hikes at night, including a seven mile climb Read more…
The first winner of the newly launched 2nd Marine Division CommStrat Photo of the Month competition depicts a drummer in the 2nd MarDiv Band, playing “Colors” during the post and relief ceremony for the 2nd MarDiv Sergeant Major, SgtMaj Michael P. Woods. This image was made by LCpl Elijah J. Read more…
Tom Graves writes: The Joe Rosenthal Chapter has an opportunity to man a USS Joe Rosenthal (www.USSJoe.org) table at the California DAV State Convention next week (June 7-8) in Orange County (near Anaheim), Calif. Unfortunately, the dates directly conflict with the California VFW Convention where we will be hosting a Read more…
When nominations for the 2018-19 USMCCCA national slate closed at midnight May 15, a trio of fresh faces emerged unopposed for vacant board positions. “Jason Huffine, Melanie Snarr and Paul Mancuso stepped up,” said nominating chair Mike Frank, “This gives the Association a good mix and some fresh blood during Read more…
Melanie Cunningham is producing a biographical documentary about the American economist Thomas Sowell, to be broadcast on public television. Dr. Sowell was drafted into the US Marine Corps during the Korean War. He was stationed at Camp Lejeune (’52-’53), where he was part of the Combat Camera unit. Corporal Sowell Read more…
Jessica Rambo, a Combat Camera veteran tells us she is associated with Semper K9, an organization which rescues dogs from shelters and trains them to be service dogs at no cost for disabled service members. Semper K9 is proud to announce the acceptance of service dog in training Perkins into Read more…
The Joe Rosenthal Chapter has lost its former longtime Secretary. GySgt Norbert Malecki passed away May 5, 2018, at his home in Benicia, Calif., just weeks after his 90th birthday.
Then Major Kevin Shea was killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004.
Dear Readers,
PFC Thomas J. Bayes, 19, of Whitestone, N.Y., was killed in action in Vietnam, April 7, 1968. A few days after his June 1967 graduation from high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Following boot camp, he deployed to Okinawa and from there went to Vietnam.
For the last several years, Paul G. Bayes has sent the obituary of his younger brother, Thomas, into the Leatherneck office, hoping we will publish it in the magazine. Private First Class Thomas J. Bayes was killed in Vietnam while serving with 2nd Battalion, 26th Marines 50 years ago. And his brother, himself a Navy veteran, remembers.
Several of the thousands of awards the Marine Corps Association & Foundation presents each year are namesake awards, presented in honor of outstanding Marines who made a significant impact on the Corps.
One such award is the LtCol Kevin Shea Memorial Unit of the Year Award given in honor of then-Major Shea who was killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004.
His wife, Ami, and their children, daughter, Second Lieutenant Brenna Shea, and son, Michael, often attend the award presentation to the deserving unit in honor of their husband and father. They remember.