Jason Fudge

October 9, 2017, is Joe’s 106th birthday and the D-Day, or “Delivery Day,” of our request and petition to the US Secretary of the Navy.

In fact, our letter and petition reached the Pentagon Thursday morning, but clearing security takes a few days. By tomorrow, the package should be on the Secretary’s desk.

We delivered 2,054 signatures with our letter, and over 800 more from the online petition will be delivered electronically tomorrow. I’m hoping by the time the online signatures are delivered, our total will be 3,000 names or more. That should get the Secretary’s attention!

This is the first salvo. Our efforts do not end tomorrow, but simply enter Phase 2. Almost 50 paper signatures have come in since we sent in our request, and they will continue to come in. The online petition will continue to bring in signatures from around the country. Our outreach efforts also continue: contacting veterans groups, making public presentations at libraries and in classrooms, and last week, participating in the 6th Annual Veterans Job Fair at the Marines Memorial Club in San Francisco, thanks to the support of MGen. Mike Myatt.

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Holy South Pacific, Batman!  Yup, as of 1 October 2017 our warrior-storytellers are now known as “Combat Mass Communicators.”  Those currently on active duty are respectfully referred to as “legacy” combat camera or  public affairs Marines – but from here on out, they will learn, teach, lead and fight as Read more…

Lt. Col. Michael Armistead has been appointed to the post of USMCCCA Expeditionary Liaison by national president Keith Oliver. Armistead is stationed at Camp Lejeune as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Communication Strategy and Operations.
The mustanger’s USMCCCA assignment was designed specifically to “help us lean forward in including deployed Marine storytellers in annual awards submissions and correspondence,” Oliver said.

Keith said “his Association duties mean keeping the CC membership apprised of colleagues’ unclassified overseas adventures.”

“Too often, it’s been ‘out of sight – out of mind’ once our warriors leave our shores,” said Oliver. “Now we have an active duty Association member who is making it his business to keep them in the loop regarding our various program deadlines – especially where the awards are concerned.”

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Retired mustang Maj. Nat Fahy has been appointed chair of the 2018 USMCCCA Training Symposium, National President Keith Oliver announced today. Set for Aug. 20-23 at the New Bern, North Carolina DoubleTree Hotel, the CCs’ annual gathering will feature “robust professional development value for our active duty Marines,” said Oliver, Read more…

What began as a pipe dream for a handful of veterans has become the goal of 1,000s of people nationwide: Name a US Navy warship for the late Joe Rosenthal (1911-2006), the San Francisco photographer who took the iconic Iwo Jima flag raising photo.

The photo is believed to be the most recognized and reproduced in history, and has become a symbol of the United States Marine Corps. Six Marines raised the flag on February 23, 1945, in the midst of the bloody battle on Iwo Jima, a small volcanic island in the Pacific, the first land battle of WWII on Japanese soil. It raised the spirits of the American public, and raised $26.3 billion for the war effort as the symbol of the Seventh War Loan Drive.

Marine Corps veteran Dale Cook, president of the Joe Rosenthal Chapter of the USMC Combat Correspondents Association, a group of retired and active duty Marine journalists, knew Rosenthal well. “He was a member of our chapter and president of the Press Club. We renamed our chapter after him. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his Iwo photo, but the thing he was most proud of was the certificate that said he was an Honorary Marine,” said Cook who was an 18-year-old Marine in the battle, and became one of the more than 25,000 American casualties.

On October 9, 2017, (Rosenthal’s birthday), Cook’s group will deliver their petition with over 2,000 signatures and a letter requesting a future USS Joe Rosenthal to Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer, who is responsible for naming ships.

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Our updated USMCCCA history is nearly ready for shipment. We have put the book’s index on our website. There are over 500 names listed alphabetically of those who have helped us tell our story. Are you included?

Certainly, if your name is in the index below, you will want a copy of the book that commemorates the role you played in our history, right? The original history “Last to Know, First to Go” covered our history from slightly before WWII to about 1987. We have included excerpts from the original and brought it forward from that date – thanks to those who answered our requests – to about 2012.

The book’s cost is $33 to members; $40 to non-members. If you use a credit card, add a dollar. There is a button on our website www.usmccca.org that permits this. If you wish to use a check, make it payable to USMCCCA, 110 Fox Ct., Wildwood, FL 3478. The book will be shipped from St. Johann Press directly to you with free postage.

Book Prices

Members (Cash, Check, Paypal) $33.00 USDNon-Members (Cash, Check, Paypal) $40.00 USD

Index of names included in the book
Abel, Jon, 116
Abizaid, John, 231
Abrams, Mike, 109
Acosta, Frank, 6
Adams, Arthur H., 61
Adreon, Franklin “Pete,” 255
Agostino, Luis, 215, 226
Aideed, Mouhamad Farrah,
185, 190
Aiken, LaDonna, 262–270

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Executive Director Note: The Stars and Stripes writer of the article, “War-movie adviser looks to troops, vets to fund his directorial debut”  should not have been surprised at anything during this interview. I’ve known Dale Dye since he was a young lance corporal and nothing surprises me these days about Read more…