US Marine Corps Base - Yearbook (Quantico, VA)

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man. Had iT noT been Tor John PeTosis, iT mighT have called Tor Two assisTanT B.A.R. men. We requesTed The ineviTable quesTion-asker OT SaTur- day aTTernoon To seek his answer in The book over The week-end, as The Trip in was double The square OT The one OuT. AT leasT iT seemed ThaT way. Amid The husTle and busTle OT The Ten weeks, however, There were impressive momenTs. Who can TorgeT The sunseT parades, especially ThaT aTTernoon when we marched in welcome To The new Commanding General OT The PosT. We were proud Marines ThaT day. On November IO, we celebraTed The l67Th birThday OT The Corps. lT was noT a day OT celebraTiOn or rejoicing, buT iT was none The less Tilled wiTh an aura OT greaTness. The sTory OT The esTablishmenT OT The UniTed STaTes Marines was well known To all OT us, yeT we lisTened quieTly and wiTh sTrong hearTs as ThaT sTory was read To us again. To us iT was noT merely a TesTimony To The pasT buT a vision OT Things To come. We were proud To claim The TiTle OT UniTed STaTes Marines. Like everyThing else, Taps was soon To end The days OT The l2Th Reserve OTTicers Class Torever. As The weeks shorTened inTo days, Tield exercises, nighT raids, dawn aTTacks and landing parTies broughT home To us The desperaTe mission Tor which we were being prepared. The meaning OT The word oTTicer began To Take shape. WhaT did iT mean To us in early December, l942, lT meanT sTrengTh when oThers were weak, TaiTh when oThers were TaiThless, deTerminaTion when all around us had given up hope. This was The inTerpreTaTion we carried wiTh us To puT To The TuTure TesT OT baTTle againsT The back-drop OT Wake, BaTaan, Midway and The Solomons. The command is, Forward, you Marines! AV-S-THE FOURTH CLASS When we arrived here we were as green as a Marine aviaTion uniTorm. NOT Too many OT us knew ThaT AV-S sTood Tor AviaTion Volun+eer SpecialisT, ThaT we were only The TourTh AV-S class, ThaT we Tormed a small parT OT The larger l2Th Reserve OTTicers Class and would sTudy and graduaTe wiTh iTs groups OT newly-Tledged Second LieuTenanTs, ThaT our prime purpose was To do The ground work which would allow acTual and prospecTive Marine U41 aviaTors To concenTraTe on Their iobs in The air, and ThaT our evenTual assignmenTs mighT include any oTTicer's posT in Marine AviaTion-excepT Tlying. Our uniT was assembling, like a movie OT an explosion run Through The machine backwards, Trom all parTs OT The counTry and Trom all walks oT liTe. There were plenTy OT accenTs Trom The FighTing SouTh, and Texas and Cali- Tornia were much in evidence. We had come Trom engineering and archiTecTure and law oTTices, Trom pro- Tessional TooTball and invesTmenT banking, Trom coTTee imporTing and WalT Disney's sTudios. Some OT us had been digniTied and imporTanT: some OT us had been liTTle Tellows. IT looked as if iT would be hopeless To make us inTo one inTegraTed ouTTiT. AT Brown Field The work OT shaking down began. We learned how To sTand in line Tor equipmenT, how To sign our names correcTly, how To buy acres OT duTTle unTil our TooTlockers were cracking, how To sTain leaTher darker and darker unTil iT looked plenTy Marine, how To sleep Through The claTTer and whisTle OT The Trains ThaT seemed To run righT Through our barracks all nighT long. One OT us used To wake up TrighTened, noT because The roar OT The Trains had begun again, buT because iT had Tem- porarily sTopped our disTinguished baTTery OT snorers. Some OT us goT a TasTe OT The air aT Turner Field, wenT up wiTh The piloTs on Their regular TlighTs, or looked down on The searchlighTs OT QuanTico Trom up Top under a lonesome moon. LieuTenanT WisharT acTed as our guard- ian angel in Those TirsT bewildering days, as The money poured ouT OT our pockeTs and The shoTs poured inTo our arms. Then we were up aT Barracks C, second and Third decks, and The real course was beginning. We lisTened To Colonel Ames and Colonel Wensinger and were im- pressed. LieuTenanT DeTchon TaughT us again how To saluTe, and repeaTed and repeaTed close order drill and The manual oT arms wiTh sublime paTience. We were clumsy, awkward, skiTTish, dumb. Each OT us advanced by his own parTicular series OT Talse sTeps. We sTill looked hopeless. lT we were bad aT obeying simple com- mands, we were worse aT giving Them. We did noT like To bark aT our squadroom maTes, and The only maneuver we could be sure OT execuTing was The one ThaT would

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exTol The hisToric and currenT TeaTs OT The Marine C.orps, lisTened To Their sound advice. ConTidenTly he ascended The plaTTorm as PFC Doughe and proudly he leTT iT, com- mission in hand, as Second l.ieuTenanT John Doughe, USMCR. And ThaT is The sTory oT 385 John Doughes, who were The body and soul oT The NinTh OTTicers CandidaTes Class, July To SepTember, I942. AND THE IZTH R. O. C. IOOO, 26 SepTember I942-The command was, Can- didaTes rise and Take The oaTh, and some 400 oTTicer candidaTes arose and religiously pledged To serve Their corps and Their counTry. This solemnly impressive cere- mony, climaxing IO weeks OT work, hope and dreams, remains unTorgeTable in our memories. ThaT week-end we displayed our new uniTorms To parenTs and Triends, Thinking ThaT The khaki, The bars and The belT made The oTTicer. BuT This impression was soon To be shaTTered, as we learned in our TirsT week, Tor an oTTicer never sTops learning. We discovered ThaT a diploma was noT The goal, buT merely The birTh-record oT an oTTicer, and ThaT his responsibiliTy was conTinuous educaTion in his liTe as a Marine. The TirsT week in R. O. C., as well as Those ThaT Tol- lowed, changed everyThing, including The word. Among The many Things ThaT impressed us in ThaT week was our new TiTle genTlemen g reTurning our TirsT saluTe: our TirsT Trip To The oTTicer's club: nighT waTch: and smoking in The mess hall To menTion buT a Tew. We sTudied in Those TirsT weeks naval law, camouTlage, TacTics, map reading, adminisTraTion and communicaTions. AviaTion, inTanTry weapons, combaT principles oT The plaToon and company Tilled up The remaining hours. We made ouT payrolls ThaT made The Marine The highesT paid TighTing man in all hisTory. We sTared crosseyed Through sTereoscopes aT aerial phoTographs and laid beTs on The number oT Tank cars on a railroad siding, only To Tind ouT ThaT They were noT Tank cars: so all beTs were cancelled. For hour aTTer hour as LieuTenanT FirsT PlaToon we ToughT courageously wiTh The l:irsT BaTTalion, FiTTh Ma- rines, parT oT an inTerior uniT, advancing To The norTh asTride Chopowarnsic Creek. We didn'T puT much cre- dence in The TacTics employed, unTil in our Terrain exer- T531 cises, we discovered whaT was meanT by The school soluTion. We had our doubTs as To iTs TacTical sound- ness, especially on ThaT aTTernoon, when we Tound The Tollowing epiTaph aTTached To an imiTaTive grave aT Minnieville: T-lere lie The bones oT LieuTenanT Jones, A graduaTe oT The insTiTuTion. ln The midsT oT The din, he died wiTh a grin: l-le had used The school soluTion. Harking back To our days as CandidaTes we Took a Terp in The rain and as a resulT Tound ThaT brownies were someThing oTher Than cookies Trom home. BUT soon The R. P. barrage was liTTed Temporarily and The smoke- laden classrooms revealed conscienTious sTudenTs passing on The inTricacies oT TacTics To moThers and sweeThearTs, aT The same Time making sure noT To include any inTorma- Tion oT value To The enemy. Our demonsTraTions were noT limiTed To The field. There was The lecTure on iungle warfare when Maior RoThwell picked oTT a Jap sniper on The blackboard wiTh his TrusTy cap pisTol and modesTly pinned The Chopo- wamsic Campaign Medal To his chesT. Then There was The axiom, iT is Torgiveable To be deTeaTed buT never To be surprised. YeT Major VandergriTT dropped six drowsing boys Trom Their seaTs wiTh a booming Ten- shunl in The middle OT his lecTure one warm aTTernoon. LieuTenanTs Mazzarella and McCall approved oT The The- orem oT seizing The high ground and holding iT and single-handed enveloped The enemy's leTT lwesTl Tlank. Some insTrucTions even came Trom our classmaTes. MiliTary Morgan demonsTraTed command presence, while ThaT HD. l Trom Diego, CheT Rinka held classes in how To inspecT an O3. Shamus PawTuckeTT O'Don- nell demonsTraTed The posiTion oT a soldier aT aTTenTion unTil everyone including himself was blue in The Tace. There was much scuTTlebuT abouT duTies aTTer R. O. C. lT was Derryberry To Londonberry, LippincoTT To London, and Rogers To Navy Pier, Chicago. The obsTacle course again separaTed The men Trom The boys as well as The oTTicers Trorn Their weapons and equipment Glub-glub Perry, The ATlanTic CiTy liTe- guard, prompTed a change in The TablesioT organizaTion. IT was now To read: Two reserve B.A.R.s and one B.A.R.

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end up The plafoons in The deepesT puddles on BarneTT Avenue field. BUT we were Trying our damndesf. The firsf before-breakfasf run-iT was really a gallop flaf ouT-nearly laid us low. We had no wind and no legs, wiTh a few sTellar excepTions, parTicularly in The Second Plafoon. The young LieuTenanTs in Companies E and F, fresh from Their I0 weeks of Toughening up, Took To calling us The Coughing Colonels, The Blind Tigers, and The Cenfury Club. Well, our course was iusf begin- ning: maybe we'd show Them. We goT used To The AV-S being The Tail end of every formaTion, and To moving double Time whenever we came To a hill or a swamp. Even The convoys wenT aT The double, so ThaT no one was surprised-or hurT-when 20 of us Tipped over in our Truck aT a righT-angle Turn down grade. Nor when Two Trucks managed, in some miraculous fashion, To escape from The convoy and end up losT aT lndependenT Hill, alfhough everyone in The parTy had wiTh him a deTailed map of The counfry. On all field Trips we expecTed iT To rain lwhich is probably why They call Them Terrain exer- cisesl, and iT never disappoinfed us. Mud To our knees became our naTural habiTaT. BuT we kepT on Trying. Classroom work wasn'T much beTTer. New and sfrange courses came whizzing aT us from all sides: we couldn'T Tell a magnefic azimufh from an 8I-mm. morTar hole in The ground: we didn'T know The score: Maior Fisher in Naval Law was our consolafion-unperfurbed, enTerTain- ing, leisurely. Pressure all The Time. And Then before we knew iT we were geTTing final examinafions, and could only Take refuge in The Thoughf ThaT The firsf hundred RPs are The hardesf. As The weeks clicked by, The pieces began To fiT To- gefher. Mose of us realized The care and skill and efficiency wiTh which The complicafed ROC courses were organized. The insTrucTors were giving all They had To Their jobs. Underneafh, we were deadly serious and were noT making excuses. The Marine Schools and The Marine Corps were deadly serious and were noT wasTing Time. They were running a magnificenf machine. ThaT helped our morale. Even ROC can'T be sixfeen hours a day of grim work. We found a few minuTes here and There and goT To know each oTher beTTer. We were proud of The' number of beribboned ex-Marines from The lasT war-BlounT, ISSII Chapman, Dickey, Lefebvre, MacFarlane, SmiTh, Tilley- ThaT were wiTh us, and of men like McLean, MounT, and Schaefer who had been in oTher branches of The service before and had now finished up in The righT place. We knew who would be lasT To formafions, and made beTs on iT. We knew ThaT no one could ask more guesfions Than Blackford, Murphy, and Tilley, and ThaT noThing could inferfere wiTh The nighfly bowling bouTs of Dickey and Gabler. We wenT To The Officers Club, discovered BOO, Took week-ends in Washingfon ThaT were even more sfrenuous Than life in Company H. Our favoriTe Topics of Talk were The wild life and The frigidify of The food in Officers Mess, The various impossibilifies of leave, and The amazing spirif of The Corps. Gradually The AV-S end of The ROC came To The fronT and we lisTened and Talked To Majors Clark and KureTich and Ranch. We had our inTerviews aT The end of The fourTh week and found Them pleasanf. We knew we were noT only in a good service buf in a good branch of ThaT service. When our C.apTain Murphy broke all pre- cedenfs and was elecfed Presidenf of The enTire l2Th ROC, we felT ThaT maybe The Aviafion SecTion was gef- fing beffer. We shall noT forgef The fracfured ribs ThaT Murphy dedicafed To The cause of Touch fooTball. Nor Capfain Shuler'5 baby ThaT goT Tangled up wiTh our RP in Aerial Phofography. Nor Maior Fisher's anecdoTes. Nor Lieu- Tenanf Finch's TranslaTions of Semper Fidelis. Nor our collecfions of Brownies. Nor The way we seemed To Thrive on lack of sleep. Nor The sour noTes of The Tem- peramenfal bugler across BarneTT Avenue aT 0530. Nor The firsT Time we goT behind a machine gun and laid iT on The Targef. Five weeks were up, The back of The course was broken. The days ahead looked brighf and sTrenuous-firing various pieces on The range, focussing more and more aTTenTion on aviafion subiecfs, and finally shoving off on The already legendary landing-parfies and graduafion. We hoped ThaT all of us would sTill be aboard, and Then Mac could pull up his ladder. When we came To Ouan- Tico we were ready To go. AT The end of our Time here, Thanks To The excellenf Training of The ROC and The AV-S, we believe ThaT we are on our way, and we are sTill Trying. uni