STORY BEHIND THE PLAQUE
Service Reflections of LtCol James J. Davies, U.S. Marine Corps (1966-2003)

I was raised to love my country. My military roots go back to the American Revolution on my maternal side. I have always loved history and embraced a love of Country when I was young. Both my father and his father (who immigrated from Wales, UK) were fiercely loyal to the US. I was born toward the end of World War II, so patriotism was high, and this carried through in my education.

In college, I was preparing for a career in the Foreign Service and possibly starting as a Naval Officer. However, several things came to a confluence for me in 1966. First, I had started Grad School, but the draft loomed. As this became more of a certainty, I started the process to join the US Navy and did well on all of the tests except my eyesight. I was DQ’d from being a candidate for the Navy and the Marine Corps because of my eyes, but I was OK with the regular Army. Now that just pissed me off, so I looked at my alternatives. I should say that at the Age of 10, my Dad took me to the USS Constitution in Boston, and that is where I learned about the role of Marines. It had always fascinated me.

So, I explored my enlisted options and decided that a two-year Reserve stint in the Marine Corps would be the best. I never considered a four-year enlistment as I had plans for grad school. I understood that it was very likely I would go to Vietnam, so I signed the papers. I arrived at Parris Island on 3 October 1966. I went to Quebec Company, Platoon 300, 3rd Battalion, and so it began!!!

I served in Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. I had committed myself to doing the best possible job that I could, and I returned as an E-5 after one year of service. I had spent several months in the infantry, had heat exhaustion, and was reassigned to S-3, where I thrived.

After coming home, I was assigned to 2/8 at Camp LeJeune, where I served in S-1 as the Battalion’s Joint NCO and the Battalion’s Legal Clerk. I was released into the Reserve in the fall with no further obligation to attend drills. At that time, I joined IBM in its financial operations as a pre-professional accountant. I intended to join the Central Intelligence Agency, but the vetting process took way too long, and the IBM opportunity arose. The offer was attractive, so I accepted. Ironically, a few weeks after I had joined IBM, the CIA offered me a career opportunity, but it would have returned me to Vietnam, so I passed.

In 1971, I received voluntary orders to attend Enlisted Operations Assistant School at LFTC, Coronado. I accepted the orders and loved the school, so I re-upped into the Reserve and was promoted to E-6. Over the next four years, I was accepted into several high-level schools at LFTC and mostly placed at or near the top of the class.

Finally, a Colonel took an interest in me, and as a result, I was directly commissioned into the Reserve as a Finance Officer in 1978, based on my education and career at IBM. I remained in the Class II or Class III Reserves. I was CO or OIC of several small, specialized (mostly logistics or intelligence) units for the balance of my career. I retired as Lt. Col.

I participated in several small- and large-scale combat operations in Vietnam as a rifleman with K 3/1. During that time, the necessity for strict obedience to orders, the meaning of TEAM, Courage, and discipline were all embedded into my psyche in a positive way. When I left the Infantry, I was assigned to S-3, where a mistake on a chart could cost lives. Having served in a line company, I knew to triple-check our work and look at the plans with the eye of someone who has “been there.” I learned the meaning of completed staff work in an environment where it truly mattered…in ground combat operations.

Those lessons and discipline carried through to my IBM career, where I became a Manager and later an Executive sent to clean up undisciplined organizations. I changed them all into high-performing groups on time, under budget, and under headcount. I attribute most of my success to the lessons learned in the Marine Corps. Not only that, but I received several awards for outstanding people management because I taught them how to be a team whose objectives needed focus and not to rest on their laurels for too long. My work progressed from fixing small accounting organizations to developing process discipline across the IBM globe in organizations such as Global Procurement and Global Business Partners.

Yes, a few times. In each, you focused on your mission as best you could. You needed to display to your squad that you can handle it. Stay resolute and maintain fire discipline. In every case, relief was palpable. Turning yourself to God was helpful so you could focus on what needed to be done.

When I was OIC of an MTU in Connecticut, I had an exceptional group of Officers. We had an opportunity to revise what was then known as FMFM-8 Counterinsurgency Operations. We submitted an excellent piece of work to the Warfighting Center, which was ultimately approved for publication.

In Vietnam, I was assigned to S-3 as a Corporal. We had the responsibility of manually drafting the Patrol Plan of the day based on the submissions of the Company Commanders. Our job was to plot the routes of the patrols, ensuring that they didn’t come near one another and were accurate based on last-minute information from S-2. After final approval, we then transferred the daily patrol plan to a large acetate covering a map in the COC. We then took shifts, plotting the status of all patrols, ambush sites, etc. We knew that a mistake could cost lives, so we were exacting. What was ironic was that most of the grunts had no idea that they were being monitored so closely. I would describe this process years later at Battalion and Company reunions, and almost no one knew it.

My least favorite moment occurred shortly after arriving at Parris Island. The DI said, “Give me all my college graduates one step forward.”…I stepped forward and suddenly realized that I was it..the lone ranger..so my nickname became Private Einstein..Believe me, I was strong guy when I graduated. LOL

It is hard to forget my Vietnam service. I reflect on some aspects of that time every day. In many ways, those experiences forged my work ethos and contributed to my successful careers in the USMCR and at IBM.

After my severe heat exhaustion (medevaced/hospital), I was reassigned to S-3 Operations. In those days, we prepared the daily patrol overlays, identified/resolved problems like two patrols coming too close to each other, etc, and then tracked the progress of the patrols to make sure everyone was on the plan. We did this with acetate on a map, grease pencils, and continuous radio checks.

Interestingly, most of the Grunts in the line Companies had no idea that a team of experienced “former grunts” was watching over them. The fact that we did this work for more than five months without losing anyone to error was a miracle considering the primitive tools that we had compared to today. When I was assigned to S-3, I was a Lance Corporal, and the Section Head, a Major, stood me up and said, “If you screw up here, people could die.” We took it to heart.

They are all meaningful. I am particularly proud of my Legion of Honor Humanitarian Award from the Chapel of Four Chaplains. Believe it or not, I am proud of my rifle qualification badge from PISC boot camp. My vision wasn’t the best, but I qualified one point shy of sharpshooter on Qual Day, which made my Drill Instructors happy! We were an honor platoon, and I didn’t screw it up. LOL

There is no question that the Drill Instructors at Parris Island were instrumental, as the lessons learned there and in Vietnam enhanced my leadership and organizational skills.

When I was the Battalion Legal Clerk for 3/1, a Private was Court-Martialed for being UA and sentenced to time in the Brig at DaNang. I took him up there and told him that he was stupid for going UA because it extended his time in the Corps, which he detested. He just hung his head and said that he knew.

Fast forward several months, and I am now the Legal/Joins NCO for E 2/8 at Camp LeJeune. So, who comes through the door but our Problem Private. He said hello, Sgt Davies! Then I told him he was going to be sent to Gitmo to serve as a guard for the next several months of his enlistment. I then made a mistake. He asked me if he could go to the Head. He then vanished and, as of my release from active duty a few months later, was still in the wind. Years later, at a Battalion reunion, I was at the bar and mentioned this story. An officer said with some incredulity “Are you talking about (problem Private)”..I said Yes, and he finished the tale. Our guy had been caught several months after he “escaped,” spent time in another Brig, and was dishonorably discharged. He was a UA legend in the Marine Corps during those years.

At IBM, my career evolved quickly to being a Manager and then an Executive who could turn troubled internal organizations into high-performing teams delivering outstanding results. As I have explained previously, my experiences while serving on active duty and in the Reserve complemented my college education and experience. Of everything, the ability to mold a group of misfits into a TEAM and then train them to accomplish what needed to be done came from Parris Island and did nothing but improve over time. My experience started with a troubled accounting organization in one of our manufacturing plants. It evolved into my ability to mold Country Offices worldwide into one consistent, highly disciplined process.

I have been retired since 2005, but I remain active in the Marine Corps League and other non-profit organizations.

Marine Corps League, Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, Marine Corps Association and Foundation, Marine Corps Mustang Association, Vietnam Veterans of America, and the American Legion.

The sections above explain in detail the impact of my military service. I miss the camaraderie most of all.

Embrace the discipline and process.

This is a valuable website. I was a member of the Team formed to find pictures of everyone whose name is on the Vietnam War Wall in Washington. TWS was a valuable tool in that research.