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Who were you with? by Dr William R Miller

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accs1
(@accs1)
Posts: 550
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I received an email from another Popasmoke member and I had to make sure before posting it, because it really got to me. So I did a search and found it.
Found in the Marine Corps Gazette (can be found here)

Who Were You With?

by William R. Miller

A few years ago I was strolling with my wife through a fall festival in a small Kansas town. I was wearing a red ball cap with an eagle, globe, and anchor logo on the front. I noticed another man with a similar hat as he passed us in the crowd. He stopped, turned to me, and said, “Who were you with?”

“1st Marine Aircraft Wing, MASS Duce [Marine Air Support Squadron 2], Dong Ha on the DMZ [demilitarized zone], ‘68–‘69. You?” I answered without thinking.

“2/5 [2d Battalion, 5th Marines], Hue City, Tet ‘68, Semper fi,” he said and walked on.
“Who was that?” my wife asked.

“Just another Marine,” I said. Just another Marine, what an understatement I thought.

At other times that day, I saw a cruise jacket, a sweatshirt, and two more ball caps all representing the Marine Corps. I saw the emblems of no other Service. Since then I have become more aware, and I have noted that I see Marine Corps bumper stickers and rear window decals, not Army. I see Marine Corps flags outside homes, not Air Force. And I see Marine caps and jackets, seldom Navy.

I started counting, and I actually see about 20 Marine symbols to each display of the other Armed Forces. Yet, the Marine Corps is still the smallest of the Services. Could it be that “once a Marine, always a Marine” is true? Could it be that there is a greater pride in having been one of the few?

For the last 5 years I, too, have asked the question, “Who were you with?” I have always gotten an answer; no one has ever asked, “What do you mean?” Marines understand the question. A few times the ball cap has represented a son or daughter. But even their parents know the units with whom their children are serving. The pride of their being with the Marines is also in the parents.

This year, at the same festival, I met four Marines. One young man said he spent the Marine Corps birthday, 10 November 2004, in Fallujah with 1/3; the second had helped the 2d Marine Division take Kuwait City in 1991; and the third served with me in Vietnam, only farther south at Chu Lai in 1970. But the one that I remember the most was the man in a worn, faded cruise jacket, walking slowly with a cane, and being passed by the crowd.

I walked to his side, slowed to his pace, and asked, “Who were you with?” He stopped, turned, stood up straight, and looked me in the eye. “5th Marine Division, Iwo Jima, 1945,” he said. A chill went through me and I knew I was in the presence of a history maker. “Thank you,” I said. He smiled and said, “You?” As we talked I told him that I had been an air control officer in Vietnam and that my son had just completed three tours in Iraq with Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 2. Then before I knew it, he was thanking me. He continued to tell me how much harder it is today to tell who the enemy is and how much he admires our young Marines.

Today I teach biology at Baker University in Kansas, and I often tell my students that they have not yet had history happen to them. They do not remember Pearl Harbor or know what happened at the Chosin Reservoir or even where to find Con Thien on a map. At times I get to tell them about Marines whom I have met and the history they helped make. But still it is hard for them to understand what an injured Army captain I met on China Beach meant when he told me, “The most beautiful sight in the world is a Marine F–4 rolling in hot with snake and nape.”

These events are not just part of history; they are history. Had their results been different, the world would be different. “Who were you with?” says more than “Where were you when . . . ?” or “What were you doing when . . . ?” It says participant not spectator. It says Marine.

So the next time you see an eagle, globe, and anchor on a hat or shirt pocket ask the simple question, “Who were you with?” Listen to the answer of a unit, a place, and a time and think about that moment in history. But more than that, listen to the pride saying, “I am a Marine.”

>Dr. Miller served with the 1st MAW, Marine Air Control Group 18, MASS–2 in Vietnam from 1968–69. He is currently working in the Department of Biology, Baker University, Baldwin City, KS.

 
Posted : 2008-11-19 13:42
Allyn Hinton
(@allyn-hinton)
Posts: 196
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Small world; my dad attended Baker University for 2 and a half years on a football scholarship until Pearl Habor changed his life. He dropped out of college and joined the Coast Guard before they could draft him into the Army. Capt. Rex Craig 5th Marines was the only classmate from Shawnee-Mission North Class of 1960 to be killed in action in Vietnam April 1967. Rex was a graduate of Baker U.

 
Posted : 2008-11-19 17:55
jdullighan
(@jdullighan)
Posts: 128
Estimable Member
 

Who were you with

Several years ago now, I was covering a parade supporting our troops in Iraq . I am a photojournalist for a local Daily newspaper. The parade turned out to be quite a lot bigger than the authorities were expecting and the police were keeping a very tight hold on the crowd, not allowing the crowd nor the journalists and the photographers to move freely about, The police were keeping the mass of photographers well back and it was dufficult to get the sort of pictures my editor likes, up close. But luckly I was wearing a red Marine Corps hat. One of the cops yelled at me. "You, what the hell do you think you're doing, Come here and he pointed to the ground in front of him out in the street, As I reached it , I could see I had just the angle I needed to get the parade, the flags and the crowd, "Who were you with" he asked quietly. "HMM-165, Marble Moountain !969". "Semper Fi", he said quietly. Then he asked "How is this spot for you", "Great." I said. Then he yelled at me "You stay right there buddy". "Yes Sir". I said, taking my pictures. "Got them". I said to him, "OK bud", he said. On your way and be thankful I'm busy or I'd run you in".

"How did you get these shots", my editor asked me, "Well" I replied, "Sometimes we Brits have the right connections".

John

 
Posted : 2008-11-26 20:13
Allan Holmes
(@allan-holmes)
Posts: 29
Eminent Member
 

jdullighan;22530 wrote: Several years ago now, I was covering a parade supporting our troops in Iraq . I am a photojournalist for a local Daily newspaper. The parade turned out to be quite a lot bigger than the authorities were expecting and the police were keeping a very tight hold on the crowd, not allowing the crowd nor the journalists and the photographers to move freely about, The police were keeping the mass of photographers well back and it was dufficult to get the sort of pictures my editor likes, up close. But luckly I was wearing a red Marine Corps hat. One of the cops yelled at me. "You, what the hell do you think you're doing, Come here and he pointed to the ground in front of him out in the street, As I reached it , I could see I had just the angle I needed to get the parade, the flags and the crowd, "Who were you with" he asked quietly. "HMM-165, Marble Moountain !969". "Semper Fi", he said quietly. Then he asked "How is this spot for you", "Great." I said. Then he yelled at me "You stay right there buddy". "Yes Sir". I said, taking my pictures. "Got them". I said to him, "OK bud", he said. On your way and be thankful I'm busy or I'd run you in".

"How did you get these shots", my editor asked me, "Well" I replied, "Sometimes we Brits have the right connections".

Semper Fi, John. Maybe we'll see each other again in Reno in 2009.

 
Posted : 2008-11-29 10:47
Anonymous
 Anonymous
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
New Member
 

Interesting Question.

Dont see many Marines here on the big Island. If I do & they ask, I will reply which war??? SF PM;)

 
Posted : 2008-11-29 16:28
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