Page 136 - Anthology

I was born in November 1924, in Bernice, Pennsylvania. During my early teen tears I cut railroad ties and
other wood cutting jobs. I was what we called pick and shovel, general type work in the fields and mines
of Pennsylvania. That was one reason I joined the Marine Corps. My dad was a coal miner and a
construction worker. He died when I was only four years old. He was working on a bridge in Ohio and
was killed on the job. My mother was a house wife.

I joined the Marines on November 7, 1941 but did not enter active duty until January 6, 1942. My mother
had to sign an authorization for me to join the Marines because I was not yet eighteen. I was sworn in at
the WWI Old Soldiers Veterans Home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My idea of a Marine was that they
would hit and go; no mercy action. They had the attitude of get it done; do it!

st
I served with the 1 Marine Division during the landing on Guadalcanal. The 1st Marine Division’s first
ground offensive of World War II was the Battle of Guadalcanal - codenamed Operation Watchtower by
Allied forces. I want you to know that. Prior to WWII, the Marines only had Regiments and Battalions.
st
That’s how it became the 1 Marine Division.

USS Hunter Liggett (APA-14) c. 1943-44