Nov 10

Happy Birthday Marines!

Tag: military, my family — Donna B. @ 10:37 am

The Few, The Proud are celebrating their 233rd birthday.

This is one of the days I honor my Uncle Willie. He joined the Marines before Pearl Harbor and was either in or sent to Manila immediately after the raid and ended up on Corregidor.

After the fall of Corregidor, he spent the next several years in the Japanese prison camp at Puerto Princessa on Palawan and was one of eleven to escape the massacre there on December 14, 1944. You can read the story of the prison camp and the escape in Last Man Out by Glenn McDole.

My grandmother’s three sons all served during WWII. Here they are, Uncle Willie in the middle:

.brothers.jpg

UPDATE: GoDaddy sends a birthday card to the Marines. Also on an old blog of mine, my 2005 Marine Corps birthday post.

4 Responses to “Happy Birthday Marines!”

  1. Talina says:
    November 10th, 2008 at 5:56 pm

    Wow, so much family history with you. I love those old photos and it is cool that you are honoring your Uncle Willie.

  2. Donna B. says:
    November 10th, 2008 at 8:26 pm

    I love my family, even though some of them have the audacity to disagree with me on occasion :-)

    It was about 20 years ago that I discovered sitting with “old ladies” at a family reunion was the most interesting place to be. The tales they told!

    I’m feeling a little pressure now because on my Mom’s side, I’m one of the “old folks” now. One my Dad’s side, we’re down to 7 of my father’s generation and one of my grandmother’s.

  3. Bud Wilson says:
    November 11th, 2008 at 10:29 am

    Donna, what a thoughtful act you have choosen to pursue,in order, to preserve your uncle’s plight and memory. Even though I retired from the U.S. Army, my heart and soul will always be with the 4 years 4 months I spent as a U.S. Marine. (ONCE A MARINE ALWAYS A MARINE) It is a special feeling to have been one of the “Few and Proud”. November 10th, 1775, has and will always be a date that has a very special meaning to me. Thanks for creating this blog, and preserving your uncle’s heroism, his service, devotion to duty and country, and keeping alive one simple man’s treck through the hells of war, his will to survive, and placing a name, and face to what being a Marine is all about. Thank you!!!! BUD (Crazy Red to Larry) SEMPER-FI (Always faithful) Tell Larry that he can have all the cake, I’ll take the Beer…..

  4. Donna B. says:
    November 11th, 2008 at 10:42 am

    Thanks Bud. And why am I not surprised that you’d go for the beer?

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