24th Special Basic Class
U. S. Marine Corps Basic School
Quantico, Virginia
Anticipating the big money of a second lieutenant (just under $300 per month), I traded the '41 Plymouth on a '49 Ford. I headed north and checked in at Quantico, VA on August 7, 1953. We had snow early that winter and here is the proof sitting on my 2 door Ford coach.
Training included everything from military history and tradition to rifle and pistol qualifications. Physical training was emphasized and began each morning before breakfast. There were field exercises and one in particular comes to mind because of the snow and freezing rain that made it impossible to sleep. Inclement weather was ordered for our indoctrination to amphibious vehicles and the subsequent climb up the side of a ship using a rope ladder. The weight of a back pack, freezing rain and a rocking ship only made it the more interesting.
Here I am on the right kneeling with some of my buddies in our quonset hut at one of the outlying camps from Quantico. We had just come in from a field exercise.
We had many inspections to keep us on our toes
and looking like Marines should.
Basic School training exposed us to just about all the weapons that the Marine Corps had including this tank. I was impressed. That's me on the ground looking at the person taking the picture.
We lived for liberty and had lots of good times. Trips included going to Charlottesville to watch Carolina whip the University of Virginia -- or was it the other way around? Wilson Jarman, one of my KA brothers from USC got really bad drunk and fell through a basement window of one of the fraternity houses. We recovered him only to have him fall from the second floor of a house we were partying in weeks later at the University of Maryland. He never hurt himself. Wilson, another buddy and I launched to New York on New Year's Eve of 1953. None of us had ever seen such tall buildings and everyone who saw us would have known as we were constantly looking upward. It was another memorable liberty. I'm on the right with Wilson (Wee Jay) in the middle.
Near the end of our training I applied for and was accepted for flight training. However, there were so many that qualified in our class that some of us were assigned to duty in the Fleet Marine Forces until there was room. My orders read that I was detached from the Basic School on January 16, 1954. From Quantico I had a nice leave at home in Columbia then left alone in my trusty Ford and headed for California. This was truly an adventure just traveling across the country by myself. I had never been west of Georgia before. Driving was lonely back then, especially at night when I did lots of it. I recall going around the south side of Dallas on some sort of bypass in the middle of the night and seeing nothing but tumble weed; no cars!
Duty at the Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro,
California was my next stop.
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