The Original NY Racing Community
SARATOGA - Racing Since 1863
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 6:17 pm

All times are UTC - 4 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 3 posts ] 
Links: Handicapping | General Racing Discussion | Off Topic | Photo Forum
Author Message
 Post subject: My Link To Pearl Harbor
PostPosted: Wed Dec 07, 2016 10:12 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Tue May 19, 2009 1:21 pm
Posts: 71536
I was born six years and three months after the attack but as an 18-year-old Marine in 1966 I was jerked out of 6th Marines at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina to go be an armed Marine at the Marine Corps Reserve Data Services Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The command had the top secret orders for the mobilization of the of the Marine Corps Reserve (4th Marine Division & 4th Marine Air Wing) for the Vietnam war locked in a safe and my job, along with other regular Marines was to defend that safe to the death despite nobody on the planet wanting anything to do with that safe. Our duty station was in the Government Services Administration Building at 1500 E. Bannister Rd., Kansas City, Missouri.

The bosses were legends and good guys. Colonel Edwin Cook was a kid 2nd lieutenant with 5th Marines on Guadalcanal in '42 as a pre-war officer. He was a fine officer. He understood that he was off the map to catch a star and brigadier in Kansas City when Vietnam was heating up in 1966 but he had a warm place in his heart for the enlisted ranks, especially teens.

And then there was Sergeant Major George W. Dinning who was the senior enlisted man. Almost 30 years in, huge bastard in great shape, two Purple Hearts during WWII in the Pacific and two more in Korea - nothing but Marine infantry service until he was sent to Kansas City to pad the pension. Taskmaster and a prick but when you screwed up he sometimes saw himself as a teen Marine and let you slide. He was a pup Marine aboard U.S.S. Tennessee on the morning of December 7th, 1941 and is mentioned in this diary out of 1944:

https://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/pearl-harbor

_________________
Image The race doesn't always go to the swift and the strong but that's the way to bet.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: My Link To Pearl Harbor
PostPosted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 12:31 am 
Offline

Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:03 am
Posts: 5703
My Dad drove down from Saratoga for Tuffy Lemans day at the Polo Grounds. Football Giants vs. the Brooklyn Dodgers. All the Generals and Admirals were being paged to call their headquarters, but no mention of war except on radio. Rumors were that NYC or the West Coast were next to be attacked. We were afraid we'd never see him again.

Route #9 trip was 5 hours before he walked in the door. Still memories 75 years later.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: My Link To Pearl Harbor
PostPosted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 1:53 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Tue May 19, 2009 1:21 pm
Posts: 71536
Mom and Pop got married in June of '41 and the old man was already a "peace time" vet.

On December 7th, 1941 Pop told me that he was relaxing and reading and listening to the Brooklyn Dodger football game from up in the Polo Grounds on WOR 710 when a FLASH bulletin took out the game and a man announced that Washington has reported that Japanese forces had attacked Pearl Harbor.

The world changed that day for certain.

_________________
Image The race doesn't always go to the swift and the strong but that's the way to bet.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 3 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 4 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB © 2010 phpBB Group