My father, Rene A. LaMarche, Sr., and his brother, Raymond LaMarche, were probably the most influential in my decision to join the Navy. My Dad served on board the USS HEALY from the time it was commissioned in 1943 until it was decommissioned in 1946. He was a second-class carpenter’s mate and ship’s diver. He and my uncle Raymond would tell hours of stories about what they did in the Navy. In later years, I would learn that my Dad blocked out some of the terrible ordeals he went through on the Island of Saipan during that action. My Uncle Raymond was a YN1 assigned to the European Central Command as a fingerprint expert. He worked to help identify the war criminals that were later charged at Nuremberg.
The stories from those early years led me toward joining the Navy as I approached high school graduation. However – I blew it in a way. I was 17 years old and had a Forest Service 4-year Scholarship in my Senior Year when I got in trouble. I got involved with a gang shooting and was placed in Juvenile Confinement. A Superior Court Judge gave me a choice of joining the Armed Forces or spending some time in the pokey (until I was 21). I had previously investigated the Navy and had taken the basic battery tests. GMCA Tom Eagling, Navy Recruiting Office, Seattle, WA, spoke up for me, and the next day, I was on my way to San Diego, CA, on what was called a Kiddy Cruise enlistment. I would serve until I was 21 years old – a period of 3-years and two months; but got credit for 4 years for retirement, A thing called constructive time.
The Christy Collection
Military Stories and Articles
Condemned Property by “Dusty” Trimmer
"Dusty" Trimmer served one year of combat infantry duty with the 25th Infantry Division. In this, his first book, he presents a staggering description that cut to the heart of the combat experience: the fear and belligerence, the quiet insights and raging madness, the lasting friendships and sudden deaths. Yet it is much, much more. It is an account of veterans long after leaving the battlefield as they struggle with physical and emotional damage in a world that seems indifferent to their...
Service Reflections of LCpl Ramon D Arredondo, U.S. Marine Corps (1968-1972)
I grew up listening to my dad’s war stories of WW II, fighting in the Pacific against the Japanese. My Dad was, and is my HERO. I wanted to be just like him. Wanting to do my part in the service of this great country. I grew up playing war games with my brothers and cousins in our back yard. Being a military man and of course the dress blues of the USMC that I saw one day in High School. DUTY, HONOR AND GOD, I belonged to JROTC unit in high school. We thought that it was our duty to stop the spread of communism in the world. The dress blues and the challenge of being the best fighting unit in the armed services. I trained as a Marine Sniper. Although when I got in-country, grunts were in need and not snipers. I participated in operation Utah Mesa; lower A Shau Valley search and destroy missions. I ran into an NVA patrol. This was my first firefight. There were 2 NVA KIA’s and 1 wounded. We suffered 1 wounded Marine. This was just one of many patrols that I went on. The Operation continued into Laos. We cut off supplies of the Ho Chi Minh trail. Georgia Tar, Hekiemer Mountain operations.
I would go on patrols and pull convoy duty watching over the SeaBee repairing HWY 1, receiving small arms fire during this encounter! I was sitting atop a hill in the lower Khe Sahn area and looking up at the night sky. The stars made me feel lonely and scared. We had incoming daily from the DMZ rockets, motors, and artillery shelling. It was constant harassment from the NVA. Although not considered to be a major operation, the loss of life tells another story. Operation Utah Mesa came at cost of 145 Marines killed and some 300 wounded. Victory doesn’t come easy, when you are the one looking for the enemy. During the Fall Counter-Offensive we were Heloed into Thua Thein Province near the Loation border for search and destroy. The operation took about 3 weeks in December of 1969. Here we encountered light enemy fire, but we captured rice, a small arms stash and disrupted the enemies supply line. Semper Fi’ MY EXPERT BADGE and SNIPER Qualification AND MY Combat Action Ribbon for the fire fights I participated in, were a true test of your metal and the Viet Nam Cross of Gallantry Medal.
Then there was the death of LCpl Seiler, June 27,1969 and the death of two other Marines PFC Huriank and CPL Mc Masters. He, Seiler, was a short timer killed 2 week before rotating back to the states. We had been talking just moments before his death. How precious life really was to us. I spent another two and half years more in the Corps and I got out.
I went back to being a meat ciutter in the private sector and after 16 years, I went to work at DeCA. I became a meat cutter and then into Management for the Defense Commissary Agency at Lackland Air Force Base, and a tour in Holland at an Army Base. It provided me with the drive to succeed. I supervised 20 employees and ran a department that did $4 million in sales a year. Stay the course, be committed, use team work, be dedicated and go for gold!
Service Reflections of Sgt James Holzier, U.S. Marine Corps (1965-1969)
I was influenced by the girl that I was dating, her father was a full-bird Colonel in the Army by the name of Col. Austin Yerks. He felt that with Vietnam, it was a patriotic thing for me to do. I was planning to go into the Air Force with a buddy of mine, but at the truly last minute, I got off the bus and went to a Marine Corps recruiter. Joined on my birthday, August 18th, and never missed not joining the Air Force except for the extra pay that they received for uncomfortable living conditions in Vietnam and their unlimited supply of food.
SP4 Robert Kickenweitz, U.S. Army (1966-1968)
List the names of old friends you served with, at which locations, and recount what you remember most about them?:
Darkest Day for Blackhorse, SUOI CAT, By Robert Bob Kickenweitz. The 21st of May 1967 was a beautiful sunny Sunday morning, the day you were happy to be alive. I got up, put on a clean set of fatigues, and went to breakfast at the mess hall. Leaving the m ss hall, I noticed steam coming up from our tent as the dew from the night before was evaporating from the heat of the sun into little clouds. Yes, that’s just what we needed in South Vietnam: a little more humidity! After breakfast, I walked up to our chapel about one block from my tent for Sunday mass. Our chapel was located on the southwest corner of an intersection, with the 7th Surgical Hospital on the northwest corner, and across the street diagonally from the chapel on the northeast corner was the 37th Medical Group, and on the southeast corner was Regimental Headquarters.
Service Reflections of SSgt Jimmy Carlisle, U.S. Marine Corps (1965-1978)
To leave home when I turned 18 to get away from a noncaring father and an abusive stepmother. I was one of six children that were not allowed to go past the 8th grade in school and were put to work year-round to earn money for parents. Four of my brothers and sisters left home the day they turned 18, and I was gone two weeks later as soon as I could join the Corps.
Service Reflections of Cpl Barry McDown, U.S. Marine Corps (1969-1971)
Within 90 days after Richard Nixon was inaugurated, he sent me an excellent thank you note for being 19 and indicating that he would be pleased if I would show up for work. He very much insisted I report for the draft.
Sgt Dakota Meyer, U.S. Marine Corps (2006-2009)
Sergeant Dakota L. Meyer is a United States Marine Corps veteran, the recipient of the Medal of Honor and the New York Times best-selling co-author of 'Into the Fire: A Firsthand Account of the Most Extraordinary Battle in the Afghan War.' He is also an entrepreneur, having founded a successful construction company in Kentucky. Dakota Meyer earned his Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Ganjgal in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. He is the...
Vietnam and Beyond: Veteran Reflections by Jenny La Sala And Jim Markson
Those who have fought on a battlefield often describe it as a combination of extreme excitement and gut-wrenching terror. It's also a huge assault to the emotions that can leave permanent mental health damage. Today, that condition is called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the past, it has been known as battle fatigue (WWI) and shell shock (WWII). This well-styled, organized, and powerfully written book is a compilation of first-hand accounts by warriors who suffer some aspects of...
Sgt Thomas William Selleck (Tom Selleck), U.S. Army, (1967-1973)
Known for his leading role in ‘Magnum, P.I.’ and as Monica’s love interest in ‘Friends’, Tom Selleck is a household name whose career has spanned over four decades. He’s had numerous on-screen careers, but you know that Tom Selleck is a Vietnam War era veteran? Tom Selleck’s Early Life Thomas William Selleck was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1945, but his family moved to Sherman Oaks, California, in 1948. Raised by hardworking parents, Tom Selleck learned the values of the U.S. military from an...
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
On June 23, 1943, three American soldiers had been drifting in the Pacific Ocean for twenty-seven days. The rafts were deteriorating, their bodies were covered in salt sores, and they didn't know it at the time, but there would be another twenty days of drifting ahead for them. Only two of the three would survive. One of them was former Olympic runner Louis Zamperini whose life would never be the same. Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken is an amazing study in resilience, defiance, and strength that...
BG James “Jimmy” Stewart, U.S. Army Air Forces (1942-1968)
One of the film's most beloved actors, Jimmy Stewart, made more than 80 films in his lifetime. He was known for his everyman quality, which made him both appealing and accessible to audiences. Stewart got his first taste of performing as a young man. At Princeton University, he was a member of the Triangle Club and acted in shows they produced. Stewart earned a degree in architecture in 1932, but he never practiced the trade. Instead, he joined the University Players in Falmouth,...