For the Marines here... Parris Island, Once Upon a Time

Thanks for sharing, Stik!  A friend went to "summer camp" @ Parris Island between our junior/senior year in high school.

Great pictures. I assume that in the sitting position photo they are not firing...

03 Springfields! I spent a summer in boot camp married to one of those.

G, the sitting position IS one of the firing positions, and was still taught in the Matty Mattel days of the 1970's

Stik, thanks for the pics,,,,,I was a Hollywood Marine,,,,,,as my Uncles (both Paris Islanders) used to tease me,,,,,,, "Rex went to the boot camp that was so easy that Gomer Pyle could do it", haha

Rex

Yep, sitting.  Saw pictures of it in an old "Bluejackets' Manual."

Should have asked them was the original Gomer Pyle better or worse than "Full Metal Jacket' Gomer?  Technically, he made it through too, and at least the real Gomer didn't kill his D.I.  

Now how many folks here have seen the Jack Webb movie, "The D.I."? That one was set in MCRD San Diego I think...

And actually that sitting shooting position is quite stable once you master it.

Saw it.  It was supposed to be Parris Island but at least parts of it were shot at Camp Pendleton.

By the way, "Halls of Montezuma" was just on TV.  Jack Webb is in that one too along with Martin Milner of "Adam 12" fame, which was curiously created by Jack Webb.  Must have been buddies.

Somewhat along the same lines, I found this site of actors who were in WWII  http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/military/actors_in_wwii.html  Some interesting names in there.  Don Adams.  Who knew?

TarnShip

G, the sitting position IS one of the firing positions, and was still taught in the Matty Mattel days of the 1970's

Stik, thanks for the pics,,,,,I was a Hollywood Marine,,,,,,as my Uncles (both Paris Islanders) used to tease me,,,,,,, "Rex went to the boot camp that was so easy that Gomer Pyle could do it", haha

Rex

I also had a love affair with the .03. Although not in the service. My late uncle *** gave me his and it was a range w h ore. Any time I unloaded my replica M14, my FAL rifle and old Edith, everyone wanted to fire the bolt action piece.

Those pictures BTW I think were colorized, or at least re-released as the original LIFE were mostly black and white.

Stik, your thoughts?

G, I am sorry about that,,,,,,,I must have been stuck in Literal Mode (that is my fault, not the joke's)

I do see it now that you repeat,,,,,,one line is being taught to shoot,,,,,the other line is being taught how to take fire from an unexpected direction

as far as movies, there was another called "Marines, let's go",,,,,,,,Rex Allen senior sang the theme for it,,,,,,,and being Rex Alan and somewhat able to sing, I knew the words to the Mercury Records release by about age 7 or 8,,,,,,,I still sing it to Anne, in an absolutely terrible Irish accent, lol

GMorrison

Those pictures BTW I think were colorized, or at least re-released as the original LIFE were mostly black and white.

Stik, your thoughts?

My thoughts-staying out of the Marine aspects of this, as I am Ft Benning alumni- Those are original 1930s/40s era Kodacolor film photos. The colors are far too vivid to be colorized B&W, that is one of the giveaways of colorized B&W photos. Also, while the majority of the work in Life was B&W, at that time there were the occasional color photos as well. I think it was more of a printing cost issue, more than anything else. I seriously doubt that Life would colorize their original photos and then post them on from their archives onto the web. After all Life Magazine did at one time carry a certain prestige to it. No need to alter their stuff to sell it to the younger generation. I have been searching thru there on a semi weekly basis to see what gems I can find. Their B&W stuff is excellent as well, with lots of famous and obscure stuff in there. 

Stikko I'm surprised you haven't been called out on the spelling of the island's name...

LOL! Like I said, Ft Benning alumni... and I have hit my head on exit or landing a few too many times...

bitbite

Somewhat along the same lines, I found this site of actors who were in WWII  http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/military/actors_in_wwii.html  Some interesting names in there.  Don Adams.  Who knew?

Excellent find!  I knew about a bunch of those listed (Jimmy Stewart is one often mentioned in the books I read on the 8th AF), but some just had me going "no way!"  Jack Palance had facial reconstruction after his B-17 crashed in England?  And Steve McQueen was a Marine!?  I like Steve McQueen as an actor, but I never knew he was a Marine.  Whoda thunkit?

Some great pics there Stik. Excuse my ignorance, but would I be right in thinking that Parris Island was/is the main training depot for the Marines.

That sitting position is still taught in the British Army, and it is rather stable.

NH, I knew about Jimmy Stewert, I have the markings for one of his aircraft, but I never realised McQueen was in the marines either.

"That sitting position is still taught in the British Army, and it is rather stable."

According to the old manual its supposed to be the second most stable after prone.

I like Steve McQueen so I looked at Wikipedia to get more info and according to his biography there, he didn't enlist until 1947.  The site's supposed to be about WWII actors that served, so maybe it's not such a great find.  Who should we believe?  Still cool though.

Another aside on Jack Webb:  He did such a good job in his role in, "The D.I.," a rumor started that he had been a D.I. (my dad was one who believed it).  But he was not.  According to Wiki, "During World War II, Webb enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces, but he washed out of flight training. After that happened, he applied for and received a hardship discharge, being the primary financial support for his mother and grandmother."

Bish

Some great pics there Stik. Excuse my ignorance, but would I be right in thinking that Parris Island was/is the main training depot for the Marines.

Yes, the Marine Corps has two boot camps- Parris Island, and San Diego.

Great pics, l love that "colour".  My Marine experience:

As a Coastie, I wound up on an "200 mile limit" patrol R&R at Adak Island, AK.  I was out on a rainy night with pals enjoying the wild life, and had a few too many.  I decided to walk myself back to the WHEC cutter moored in the harbor which I could plainly see, maybe a mile or so as the crow flies.  Going as the crow flies, I wound up in a big pond about ankle deep and decided to stick to the roads.  On the road now, a van pulled along side, the window rolled down, I guy said, "are you in the Navy?", I answered I was a Coastie.  With a different tone of voice, the guy says, "a Coastie?... hey man, do want a ride somewhere?..."  They were a van load of Marines it turns out, and gave me a ride back to the ship commiserating as we went!  You know, I really don't think things would have turned out as well for me had been in the Navy!

there have actually been three "large" basic training boot camps for the USMC,,,,,in addition to the one that I dropped an R on in my post, and ***,,,,,,,,there was a segregated base in the South

as I tell my uncles,,,,,,,they are right "the toughest Marines come out of Parris Island",,,,,but, then I tell them that the "smartest Marine in our family came out of ***", lol,,,,then the arm punching and grunting kicks in, even my Aunt the Corporal joins in, lol (she was in when they were called WAMs and BAMs,,an impolite nickname for the Women Marines "back in the day")

Rex

wow,,,,,didn't know I couldn't call my old stomping grounds D A G O,,,,,that was and is the nickname for MCRTB San Diego since before I was born

What was the third MCRD Tarn?

I went to Navy boot camp in San Diego, right across the fence from the Marine depot. The rear of our barracks, where we would go outside to polish our boots, faced where the Marines would do their running. They would be out there, running in formation, with the ambulances following them picking up the poor suckers who fell out. Sometimes they would be calling cadence, something like:

Over there! Over there! What's that? What's that?

Swabbies! Swabbies! No good! No Good!

We just laughed at them, flipped them off, poured our cokes on the ground so they could see and threw our ice cream bars at the fence.

hmm, I am glad I googled it first,,,,,,,I was going to say it was in northern Georgia or in South Carolina,,,,,,,,it was near Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

www.montfordpointmarines.com/History.html

it wasn't needed as a boot camp anymore, after the segregation was done away with

Rex

Thanks for the informative link Tarn.

Did I mention that my son is a Drill Instructor with 1st BN. Delta Co. at Parris Island, SC as we speak?

Near Camp Lejeune (Jacksonville, NC) is where I will hopefully be moving to in a little over a year.

Nice to see that you're still with us here Mike.... so many of the old crew is gone now... I am sure that your son is doing well there... very challenging work.

Spent a winter of 80 in San Diego, yellow foot prints ,the grinder !   Yup know it well still have unpleasant dreams ... What gets me is the mix of pith helmets and campaign covers on what appears to be recruits ?

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