Old Corps

Oldest Marine Corps CC to celebrate 102nd birthday, May 24th

John L. Hampton

John L. Hampton

By GySgt Norbert J. Malecki, USMC (ret)

John L. Hampton, the oldest member of the Joe Rosenthal (San Francisco Bay Area) Chapter of the USMCCCA will celebrate his 102nd birthday on May 24th, 2009. He is still going strong, though a bit slower than the pace he set while on active duty as a Marine public affairs officer during and after World War II.

Hampton is a founder of the USMC Toys for Tots program. In 1947 as a public affairs officer in Los Angeles, a fellow Marine officer, Maj. Bill Hendricks, offered and idea to set up barrels at movie theaters in Los Angeles to collect toys for needy children. The barrels were marked “Toys for Tots.”The next year, the program went nationwide and became an “immediate success,” Hampton recalls. Marines and everyone who became involved were “fascinated with the concept.” The whole Marine Corps helped out and it “snowballed over the years” into the program it is today because “Marines have a soft spot for children in need.” Hampton smiled.

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By Jason Fudge, ago

Fourth time at Iwo Jima since 1945, 90-year-old can still hit the beach

Cyril O’Brien at 90.

Cyril "Obie" O’Brien at 90.

By Don Knight

He’s 90 years old now and remains the feisty, congenial one-time Marine combat correspondent who everyone calls “Obie.”
Cyril  O’Brien hangs his hat in Leisure World, a sprawling retirement community in Montgomery County , Md.   But it’s just a place to recuperate between his frequent trips abroad, mostly to World War II Pacific battlegrounds.
Obie has  just returned from his fourth visit to Iwo Jima . He first went ashore there in  1945 as a combat correspondent with the 3rd Marine Division. The Japanese occupants of the island were not pleased with his presence then, but what a difference 64 years can make.
This time he was escorted, along with some 140 others, including war veterans from the U.S. and Japan , in vans driven by friendly Japanese guides. They stood on Hill 362, one of the landmarks of this historic battleground, then assembled atop Mt. Suribachi , accessed now by a winding road, stood on the site of the famous flag-raising, walked the invasion  beaches and gathered samples of coral sand. Off limits for tourists is the maze of underground tunnels and bunkers used by the Japanese in their 36-day defense of the island. They are considered too dangerous for exploration.
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By Jason Fudge, ago