Thanks for that Don.
This event occurred when I was nearly 3 yrs old, as my dad was being sent home on a hospital ship from the Italian theatre. My other recolection was the movie “Sands of Iwo Jima”, starring I think, John Wayne, which I saw in around 1965 ??
Sandy & I had the unique privilege of being invited to the anniversary celebrations of the US Marine Corps in Wellington NZ in 1971. A very good freind of my wife and I whom we were staying with while I was completing a contract there, had developed a strong freindship with several of the young marines stationed at the US Embassy. It was a very memorable evening, including the post formality beer and Canadian Club whisky, in vogue at the time.

I have a good friend who was in the NZ SAS back in the early 60′s, and after his service which included counter insurgency action in Indonesia during the Indonesian confrontation with Malaysia in the early 60′s, resigned the SAS and went to Vietnam and worked for the Americans there, initially flying choppers and C40 transports, then when the “gooks” got too accurate with thei weaponry, returned to a ground job working for an American transport company. Some of the stories he still tells of those days are pretty hairy.
But one thing Des was and still is very strong on, is that you never messed with the “leathernecks”. He came from a fighting unit that has an awesome reputation, but he still maintains, ” You don’t mess with a Marine.”

To know this man, this friend of mine, you would understand, that this is high praise indeed.

God Bless and keep the Marines.

The Japanese said the same thing about Marines in World War II Tito. The Germans in World War I called them Devil Dogs.

I never knew that John Wayne’s birthday was May 26th. – that happens to be my birthday also. But not 1907, mine was 1942.

Catchy little poem