Marine

My Dad’s tour of duty, in pictures

Induction, 1942

Quantico, VA, 1942

Camp Lejeune, New River, NC, 1942-43

Camp Pendleton, CA, 1943

The only electric Christmas wreath in camp, powered by radio batteries.

Kwajalein, Jan. 1944

Maui, R & R

Skinny dipping

This is where I got my sense of humor.

Saipan, June 1944

Dad and other radio operators during a break in the action.

Tinian, July 1944

Credit: National Geographic

Iwo Jima, Feb. 1945

Maui, Oct. 1945

White Plains, NY

With sister Elvira

Remains

As kids, we still found dried grass in the pockets of his jacket.

Eighty years later: a wool blanket used at Camp Pendleton. Dad said the nights there were freezing.

“The Fourth Marine Division in World War II” commemorative books. He ordered them for his kids.

As an adult, I asked Dad for an inscription, and this is what he wrote. “May you never know the obscenity of war with all its pain & sorrow and destructiveness.”

© David Potorti 2022