News|Old Corps

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.

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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…

Four of the last surviving active duty Marines who served on Leatherneck Magazine in uniform, gathered at the Globe & Laurel Restaurant outside Quantico on October 24, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the magazine. (L-R) All retirees: CWO4 Bill Parker, Assistant Editor-Publisher; and combat correspondents Capt Bob Bowen, MGySgt Read more…

There I was with Colonel Jack Lewis, former Hollywood stunt man, Marine Corps veteran of WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He was friends with John Wayne, Robert Stack (The Untouchables) and Ed McMahon (Johnny’s sidekick), founder of Gun World, Horse & Horseman and Bow & Arrow magazines. He was a large Read more…

Life member and Lucas Chapter Treasurer Jim Kyser, SuperTop as he is known in email parlance, underwent a triple by-pass operation several weeks ago. Following the operation he emailed CCHQ that it had taken place and that he was slowly picking up strength.  This past week he began suffering setbacks Read more…

Joe Rosenthal, who made the Pulitzer Prize winning, iconic Iwo Jima flag raising photograph, will be honored at The National Museum Of The Marine Corps, October 9, 2013.

A bronze plaque honoring Joe Rosenthal, photographer of “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima,” will be dedicated at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, 18900 Jefferson Davis Highway, Triangle, Virginia, on October 9, 2013, the 102nd anniversary of his birth. The ceremony will begin at 10:00 a.m.

The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (also called the Joe Rosenthal Chapter) of the USMC Combat Correspondents Association is donating the plaque to the Museum’s Semper Fidelis Memorial Park. Rosenthal was a member of the chapter until his death in 2006.

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http://www.facebook.com/TyronePowerStamp2014

Tyrone Power was not only a mega movie star and stage actor, he was also a WWII Marine Corps Pilot, 1st Lieutenant who flew wounded soldiers out of Okinawa, Hiroshima, and Iwo Jima. He was awarded the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two bronze stars, and the World War II Victory Medal. He remained in the Marine Corps Reserves the remainder of his life, ultimately being promoted the rank of Major. He passed away at 44 on the set of his last movie, Solomon and Sheba, in 1958. He is really someone who gave their all.  

To help make this leatherneck a stamp in 2014 see below:

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On the 62 anniversary of my graduation from recruit training at Parris Island,  I returned as a guest of Brig. Gen. Lori Reynolds for the graduation ceremonies of Company L, 3d Recruit Training Battalion on Friday, February 10.  While I had no graduating recruit in the ceremony you could say Read more…