You are not forgotten:
220 Marines
18 Sailors
3 Soldiers
My dad had passed away by then, but given we still had family and friends in Jacksonville and at Lejeune, we went down several times a year. My mom and I went down a few days after, maybe a week, the entire town and base were just so sad and somber.
Lejeune Blvd/Hwy 24 was just littered with flowers and signs and stuff, pretty much from TT1 all the way to Swansboro. The remnants of some of those tributes lasted for years before time took them. It was just so profoundly sad.
Turns out a couple of the Marines who died had been junior Marines under may dad in the early 70s.
God bless their souls & yours for remembering.
Ive told this, but I was on P.I. when it happened. Want to know what 100% pure rage, hatred & bloodlust looks like? My D.I.'s that morning.
What a crying shame. If you occupy a fort in “Indian Country” you had better secure the fort from any possible attack.
We dropped the ball on that one.
Same here, I was a Sr in H.S. I remember Dad was pissed and wanted to re-up, but those days had long past. The USS New Jersey did some pounding over that one.
I was 18yo and at Ft. Benning for Infantry OSUT when it happened. Two days later Grenada. Wondered “WTF did I get myself into?”
Turns out 3 guys were from my “relatively” local area: Sliwinski (a year older than me at one high school I went to), Johnston (a number of years older than my wife but went to her high school), and McDonough from just across the border in PA.
We didn’t get much for news in SE Alaska back then, I don’t remember what I heard of it, or when.
I was a Sr. in HS, that was two months before I flew to Anchorage during Christmas break to join the Navy.