My leatherneck dad

Charge 7

Master Gunner
I've mentioned him frequently enough that I thought some of you might like to see some pics of the WWII Marine who was my father.


Here's dad as he looked just before shipping out for Guadalcanal. These kind of pictures were called "the final photograph" in those days in the belief that it was likely to be the last image of the individual the family would have.



And here he is having a rare good time with some buddies and some New Zealand wildlife ;) Dad's on the left.

 
Huh, Zucchini? I believe you're thinking the expression means something else. "Shank" means your legs so I would gather that expression refers to the corpsmen treating those with legs for transport rather than wheels. "Shank" is an old expression and you may be confusing it with a newer word. In these parts old expressions die hard. Here, traveling by "shank's mare" still means you walked some place.
 
ah US marines and Kiwi girls, i bet if anyof the kiwi troops in North africa & italy had seen those, they'd be on a boat back home....even if they had to row it themselves! :D
 
Those WWII Marines, it always seemed to me had a helluva a lot more panache then any others. Nice Pic's Charge 7.
 
Dad was 18 in 1942 when the dress blues picture was taken. He's about 19 or 20 in the picture taken in New Zealand. Lot of growing up in a hurry.

Dad was such a good looking guy and so open and friendly that in his younger days girls would swarm around him like he was some kind of celebrity. Drove my mother nuts. :lol:

He was so terribly wounded in the war that he spent a year and a half in a body cast. Nearly every bone in his body had been broken after the Japanese had blown him out of his fighting position. If he hadn't been a basketball star in high school and a Marine as well he wouldn't have had the physical stamina to survive. He was 6' 0" and 192 llbs when he went into the body cast - he was 5' 10" and 130 llbs when he came out of it. Doctors told him he'd never walk again - he did and within months. Doctors told him he'd never have children - he had five. And Doctors told him he wouldn't live to see 50 - he died at 71 though he was in and out of hospitals for decades. My grandfather lived to be 98 and passed away within years of his son. To me and my family my dad was among the last casualties of WWII. If not for that, he'd be here still.
 
He was 6' 0" and 192 llbs when he went into the body cast - he was 5' 10" and 130 llbs when he came out of it. Doctors told him he'd never walk again - he did and within months. Doctors told him he'd never have children - he had five. And Doctors told him he wouldn't live to see 50 - he died at 71 though he was in and out of hospitals for decades. My grandfather lived to be 98 and passed away within years of his son. To me and my family my dad was among the last casualties of WWII. If not for that, he'd be here still.

It shows never let anyone tell you what you can't do.
 
AussieNick said:
He was 6' 0" and 192 llbs when he went into the body cast - he was 5' 10" and 130 llbs when he came out of it. Doctors told him he'd never walk again - he did and within months. Doctors told him he'd never have children - he had five. And Doctors told him he wouldn't live to see 50 - he died at 71 though he was in and out of hospitals for decades. My grandfather lived to be 98 and passed away within years of his son. To me and my family my dad was among the last casualties of WWII. If not for that, he'd be here still.

It shows never let anyone tell you what you can't do.

Agreed. I can't imagine what it must have been like to suffer like that. Your dad is a credit to you and the legacy of the US Marines in general. :)
 
I thank you all for your kind thoughts. Dad certainly deserved them. He left me a tremendous legacy both in actions and in words. Each time in life I have hit a hurdle and been tested if I had the mettle to strive further I thought of my old man and what he went through and that he overcame it. But as dearly valuable as that lesson was I treasure his words of wisdom most. There were many, but these were the best of all:

"You come into this life with nothing and you leave with nothing. The only thing that matters whether you were here at all is the impact you have on the lives of other people."

"There are only two things in life that you can absolutely depend on 100% of the time. What you can do with your hands and what you can do with your head."
 
I wish I had known your father, Charge. But when he was like in his 50's, or he'd have stolen me all the girls.
:salute:
 
Sound like your dad is a true marine. If he still alive, I would salute him when I'm wearing my JROTC uniform.
 
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