U S Marines – Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful)
Introducing…..Marine Message Board Welcome to Parris island ![]() I’m in the process of copying the pages from the book above and will take a little time. Be patient, we’re getting there. If you were in boor camp during 1961, before or after, you be in this book. The US Marines were not spenders like the Navy and used their resources wisely. This book was a combination of several boot campo classes and you just might be in here. The pictures will be added over the next few weeks. This is the one book that I actually have a picture of me and it got in. ![]() This the picture in the book above but doesn’t represent my receiving into Yemassee. We arrived by plane to somewhere in South Carolina and took a bus ride to the base at Parris Island. Every thing was quasi quiet with people quietly talking on the bus until we came to a stop at the main gate and then all the shit broke loose. It was late in the evening. It was one of those old Trailways buses with the dim lights that don’t really light up the bus. You heard the sound of the air escaping as the driver opened the door to the bus. All I remember was the hissing noise of the air and the door opening up. The next thing I saw was a white helmet with what looked like a brass colored globe and anchor emblem on the helmet with a horizontal red stripe. A hush came over the bus as the guard from the front gate at Parris Island boarded the bus to greet all the new recruits to his island. Some were all excited and showed their enthusiasm. That was cut short abruptly with a hail of profanity from the gurad at the main gate. I did a little cursing here and there but never heard the stream of curse words and threats that coming out of this guy’s mouth. He went no stop for about ten minutes. He didn’t hit anyone but did cause quite a few anxiety attacks. I remember saying what the f*** did I do. Do you remember asking yourself, “What am I doing here?” Knowing full well that life as you knew it was over. More to come ![]()
Like I said, if we arrived in the day time, it might not have been as intimidating as arriving in the evening. The picture above is a building I never saw, it’s brick. We lived in one builing with four sections, with 60 recruits to a section. We were told that we couldn’t smoke in there because a wooden barracks could ignite and burn to the ground in fourteen minutes.
![]() This looks like the receiving barracks that we stayed in for the first night. Got a funny story to add for this pictures. I was going out with this girl called Marie who gave me a picture of her and her dog. The Drill Instructor told us to empty all of our personal belongings on the bed and they would be inspected as to what we could keep. By the time the Drill Instructor got to me, I was prepared for anything. The only thing that the Drill Instructor did was pick up the picture. He looked at the picture and said to me, “Are you screwing her”? I answered “No! Sir”. Then he quickly added, “What about the dog?” That’s all for now with my book from Parris Island. Sharing some memories in pictures, Marty Dougherty #greendougherty
|