U.S. Marines assist with security at an Evacuation Control Checkpoint during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 20.
U.S. service members are assisting the Department of State with a non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO) in Afghanistan.
U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command
U.S. Naval Forces Central Command / U.S. 5th Fleet
#Marines #afghanistan #USMC #HKIA
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by U.S. Central Command Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla)
21-year-old Corporal Edward Burckhardt of Yonkers, New York, claimed that this kitten “captured him” on the battlefield at Iwo Jima in March 1945. Both survived the battle and the war! (United States Marine Corps)
Remember those that are not able to be with their families today in order to provide us the umbrella of protection so we can celebrate this holiday in freedom
Once when his heart stops; his spirit moves on to its next adventure. The second, and arguably more tragic, is when his story is told for the last time. His memory lost to the pages and his song no longer sung.
Tell the stories of our brothers and sisters. Raise mighty toasts in their honor so that the echoes mighty reach them in their well earned rest.
Pass on their legacy to the next generations so that it may never perish. So that our children may learn of them and from them.
Remembrance is not enough. Live out loud for them, speak up for them…be legends as they were.
A member of the Blackfoot tribe, Spotted Wolf spent her childhood working on her father’s ranch in Heart Butte, Montana, where she cut fence posts, drove trucks and broke horses. She first expressed an interest in joining the army when she was aged 18, shortly after the US entered into World War 2 at the end of 1941. However she was initially discouraged by a recruitment officer who told her that the war was ‘not for women’.
Spotted Wolf was eventually accepted into the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve in July 1943, making her the first Native American female Marine. She almost did not accept the post as her father was dying from a horse riding accident, however her mother and sister strongly encouraged her to pursue her ambitions. She underwent rigorous boot camp training at Camp Lejeune, during which she gained 15 pounds of weight from the diet and rigorous exercise. She later described the training as “hard, but not too hard” given her background on the ranch.
On completion of her training Spotted Wolf went on to serve 4 years in the Marines in California and Hawaii. She drove trucks loaded with heavy equipment, a job normally reserved for men, and also sometimes worked as a jeep driver for visiting generals. Spotted Wolf’s career quickly gathered media attention and she was featured in numerous news stories, and even her own comic book, to promote the war effort.
Following her discharge in 1947, Spotted Wolf returned to Montana where she married a farmer named Robert England with whom she had four children. She attended college to qualify as a teacher and spent the next 29 years teaching in reservation schools. She died in 1988 aged 65 and was buried in her military uniform.
A US Marine recruit is yelled at by his drill sergeant. The recruits have to endure extreme physical stress during the training that lasts from early morning till late in the evening. They have to respond to their superiors’ orders immediately or face severe reprimands.
Artillerymen of the 3rd Marine Division, USMC, at the firing position of a 75mm Pack Howitzer M1 on Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea, 1943. In the center of the frame hangs a captured Japanese flag. [x]
“Relaxing aboard a U.S. Coast Guard-manned transport headed for Pacific invasion areas, three Negro Marines catch a smoke. Tomorrow, it will be the smoke of battle.” [x]
U.S. Marines about 1890 with pickelhaube helmet. Pickelhaube helmets are copied from the German Army; they became fashionable after the Franco-Prussian war. The U.S. Army, the Chilean Army, Swedish Army and the British Army, among others, used pickelhaube helmets.
