hlg6016 Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Happy Birthday to all you Marines lurking out there and thank you to Casey for the picture of the week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KC130FE Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Happy birthday to you too. Semper Fi Tony V Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fräulein Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 I am a little late. i would like to share a story of a Marine who I got to know, while working at a hotel as a clerk. When I worked at the hotel, I had the oppurtunity to meet a few famous people. But none was more famous to me than William P. Toth. He was a crabby decript old man. Or at least that what other people thought. They never bothered to get to know him. He had no family left. How he ended up in Albuquereque, I do not know. But he would always stop by the hotel on thursday afternoons, after he had been to his doctors appointments at the VA. He was originally born in New York. He would tell me tales of his mother taking them to church at St. Patricks. He eventually told me stories of WW2, the Korean war and of Vietnam. When \"Saving Private Ryan\" came out - he had a chance to see it. He told me he didn\'t sit past 30 minutes into the movie, because he didn\'t want to see a movie about something he had lived. Instead, he would just sit in the gift shop and tell me about the horrific sights and smells of war. How the first scene on the beach in the movie was just almost as real as it could be. He explained in graphic detail about \"meat steaks\" falling from the sky. And how greasy blood is. One afternoon, someone who had come in, was getting impatient with him. I was utterly disgusted when the individual told the \"old man to shut up\". Bill was always one to keep his composure - until that fateful day of being told to shut up. The marine in him emerged. Once again to do battle with a dimwit. He gave the guy such a verbal beat down, there should have been a flag waving behind Bill and people should have been signing the national anthem. Bill made everyone realize what they take for granted that day. I wish every anti-war person could meet a \"Bill\" and then they might understand a little about their country and the people who made it so great. I miss the talks I had with Bill. He now resides in the Santa Fe National Cemetary section 18 site 852 . Wiliam Paul Toth 05/25/1916 01/10/2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airnav Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 What a tremendous story! I\'ve printed out a copy of your writing, and will place it in my favorite article binder within our family book shelf. I sincerely thank you! I am a proud, old navigator, and remember a talk I had with a WWII B17 Nav. He simply, but effectively, told me how he walked out of the 1990 version of The Memphis Belle. His name was Sam Reed, and he told me that he just couldn\'t \"re-live\" those memories of passing over Great Yarmouth on his way to an aerial \"blood bath\" of which he had been on before. Sam completed his 25 missions and returned to be an instructor Nav, and then be re-called for the Korean Conflict as a B26 Nav. He later served as a long time insurance agent within our grand community......alway\'s a BUDDY .....and never to be forgotten! Sam Reed passed away on 08 October 2000 @ 13:21Z. He had out lived his wife and two children. I was by his bed side, and will alway\'s be honored to have held his hand! What does this have to do with the USMC Birthday? Sam was the first \"re-tread\" I ever met. He was/is a Marine from 1936 to 1940! God Bless You All and The United States of America, Kurt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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