Commandant Ed Mason

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Newsletter Editor - Johnny Baker

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September 2011

ATTENTION ON DECK

ATTENTION ON DECK Next Meeting: Saturday, 17 September 2011 at 10:00 hours, Williams Park, Rainbow City

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McLaughlin Detachment Officers’

Detachment Commandant Ed Mason

Senior Vice-Commandant Ricky Everett

Junior Vice-Commandant Jeff Greene

Judge Advocate Willard Hart

Past Junior Commandant George Stoddard

Pay Master Mitchell Chastain

Adjutant Johnny Baker

Chaplain John Roberson

Sergeant at Arms Ted Bridgeland

Public Affairs Officer Lynn McCary

Webmaster Johnny Baker

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The Commandant Sez

COMMANDANT SEZ

Marines, as I write this our annual picnic is this Saturday and I am hoping that it will be one of our very best ones yet. I hope to see all of you there. We have invited the members of the Chaffin Detachment to join us for this event.

We are entering into a very busy time of the year for all of us and we have lots to do and plans to make. We are actually behind in our planning for the Toys for Tots program. I urge all of you to step forward and volunteer to be part of this effort. Ricky Everett will be spearheading this effort. We haven’t selected a location for our end of the month dinner meeting yet but should have one by the picnic. Lynn McCary has arranged for our fall roadblock to be on the 22nd of October at Reece City. We need everyone to participate in this. Then there will be the First Friday in November. We had a good one in July and it should be good in November as well. Following right behind that is our Marine Corps Birthday Ball on the 11th at Seton Hall in St. James Catholic Church. The arrangements for that have been done. We need to plan a menu, decorations and a program.

Our officers will be talking about all this at our monthly meeting at my home. We will them bring our ideas to you at the picnic meeting.

Jeff Green is going to get me a list of potential new members and I plan on contacting all of them soon about becoming members. We will be selling raffle tickets on the Weedeater/Brushcutter that Don Beabout donated to us and a Pistol that George Stoddard donated. These tickets will be available for you to get at the picnic. We will have 400 tickets each and should be able to make about $300 from each one provided we sell all the tickets.

Semper Fi

Ed Mason, Commandant

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United States Marine Corps – This Month in History – August From United States Marine Corps History Division Selected September Dates of Marine Corps Historical Significance

2 September 1945: The Japanese officially surrendered to the Allies on board the battleship MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay. With General Holland Smith transferred home in July 1945, the senior Marine Corps representative at the historic ceremony was LtGen Roy S. Geiger, who had succeeded Smith as Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific.

5 September 1956: Eleven Marines from the 9th Marines, 3d Marine Division, stationed near Naha, Okinawa, drowned while swimming, from an undercurrent caused by Typhoon Emma. The violent storm, with 140 mph winds, struck the Philippine Islands, Okinawa, Korea, and Japan, causing some 55 deaths and millions of dollars in property damage.

6 September 1983: Two Marines were killed and two were wounded when rockets hit their compound in Beirut, Lebanon. Heavy fighting continued for the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit peacekeeping force in the area near their positions around the Beirut International Airport.

8 September 1942: On Guadalcanal, the 1st Raider Battalion and the 1st Parachute Battalion, supported by planes of MAG-23 and two destroyer transports, landed east of Tasimboko, advanced west into the rear of Japanese positions, and carried out a successful raid on a Japanese supply base.

11 September 1992: Hurricane Iniki devastated the island of Kauai in Hawaii in one of the worst storms the islands had seen in over a century. Marines of the 1st Marine Brigade based at Kaneohe Bay, spearheaded Operation Garden Sweep, the massive cleanup effort.

15 September 1950: The 3d Battalion, 5th Marines landed on Wolmi-do Island in Inchon Harbor and secured it prior to the main landing. The 1st Marine Division under the command of Major General Oliver P. Smith landed at Inchon and began the Inchon-Seoul campaign.

16 September 1814: A detachment of Marines under Major Daniel Carmick from the Naval Station at New Orleans, together with an Army detachment, destroyed a pirate stronghold at Barataria, on the Island of Grande Terre, near New Orleans.

18 September 1990: A new 40-acre training facility for Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) was dedicated at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, by General Alfred M. Gray, Commandant of the Marine Corps.

20 September 1950: Marines of the 1st Marine Division crossed the Han River along a six-mile beachhead, eight miles northwest of Seoul, Korea. Five days later, the 1st and 5th Marines would attack Seoul and the city would be captured by 27 September.

24 September 1873: One hundred and ninety Marines and seamen from the USS PENSACOLA and BENICIA landed at the Bay of Panama, Columbia, to protect the railroad and American lives and property during the revolution.

27 September 1944: The American flag was raised over Peleliu, Palau Islands, at the 1st Marine Division Command Post. Although the flag raising symbolized that the island was secured, pockets of determined Japanese defenders continued to fight on. As late as 21 April 1947, 27 Japanese holdouts finally surrendered to the American naval commander on the scene.

30 September 1945: Marines of III Amphibious Corps, commanded by Major General Keller E. Rockey, began landing in North China to assist the Chinese Nationalist government in accepting the surrender of Japanese forces and repatriating Japanese soldiers and civilians.

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Up Coming Events

17 September 2011 – McLaughlin Detachment Annual Picnic at 10:00 hours, at the Rainbow City Park at the end of Williams Avenue.

15 October 2011 – McLaughlin Detachment MCL Meeting at 10:00 hours, Mort Glosser Amphitheatre.

11 November 2011 – McLaughlin Detachment Marine Corps League Birthday Celebration.

19 November 2011 – McLaughlin Detachment MCL Meeting at 10:00 hours, Mort Glosser Amphitheatre.

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Hot! Hot! Hot!

The next Marine Corps Birthday Ball will be in Gadsden this year. It will be at the Catholic Church on Walnut. Commandant Mason will head up the team. We will need Marines to step forward and assist. The date will be Friday, 11 November 2011. Look in next month’s newsletter for complete details.

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MCLAUGHLIN DETACHMENT MEMBERS

JOHN ANDERSON JOHNNY BAKER DON BEABOUT

LESLEY L. BEASLEY RONALD BRAZIER TED BRIDGELAND

ROBERT E. BRIGHT KENNETH E. CHANEY MITCHELL CHASTAIN

ORRIE CURRY ELBERT CORNUTT JACKIE CUSHING

ROBERT DOBBS BILLY DUCKETT RICKY EVERETT

DAVID GARTMAN DONALD GOLDEN JEFF GREENE

WILLIAM (BILL) GREENE CHAD HALLMAN WILLIARD D. HART

PAUL D. HYCHE JUNITA ISBEL (A) WINDELL JOLLEY(A)

JAMES MARRS EDWARD L. MASON GARY McBRIDE

LYNN McCARY J. G. MORGAN JACK PAGE

ALLAN RAGAN ALLEN RAGAN J. L. RAGAN

BOBBY RAINS JOHN S. ROBERSON MARGARET SHREVE

DONALD B. SKINNER ROBERT L. SMITH GEORGE STODDARDJR

C. D. (DOUG) WALDEN CHARLES H. WALKER JACKIE M. WALKER

STEVE WHITESIDE JOSEPH W. WHORTON JAMES ROY WOODARD

Note – If your name is missing, contact Johnny Baker.

NEWSLETTER PATRONS

The “Newsletter Patrons” are those individuals that have donated at least $5.00 per calendar year to the McLaughlin Detachment in helping to produce and mail our monthly newsletters to those individuals without the use of a computer. If you wish to donate, please contact Mitch Chastain at the next meeting to make your annual “donation” of $5.00 or mail your check to him at 2300 Sansom Ave., Gadsden, 35904. The following Marines have made that $5 donation for 2011:

Robert “Bob” Dobbs, Orrie Curry, Bobby Rains, Charles Walker, Willard Hart, Don Beabout, JC Morgan, Ricky Everett, Ed Mason, George Stoddard, Ted Bridgeland, Larry Smith, Elbert Cornutt, Lynn McCary, and Johnny Baker. (Note – to keep your name on this list; please make at least a $5 donation after 1 January every year. If you have paid and your name is not on the list, contact Mitch Chastain.)

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MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!

NEXT DETACHMENT MEETING!

Saturday, 17 September 2011 at 10:00 hours at Williams Recreation Park, Rainbow City, Al.

APPOINTED PLACE OF DUTY!

ADDITIONAL NOTES FROM THE EDITOR

Any and all humor, stories, information, corrections, or suggestions, etc., for the newsletter are always welcome! If you have an e-mail address but are receiving this newsletter by snail mail, please send an e-mail to the editor’s e-mail address below. It will help the detachment save paper, envelopes, labels and stamp money! Also, if you receive this newsletter by snail mail, you might consider donating $5.00 to the Newsletter Patrons’ Fund. Thanks.

Editor – Johnny Baker

E-mail at - bakerusmc@yahoo.com

Office – 256-439-6819 Home – 256-526-6934

BE A VOLUNTEER – IT SHOWS YOU CARE

Life Membership Information

The McLaughlin Detachment has been very blessed in the amount of members that have become “Life Members.” After a Detachment member pays their Life Membership, they no longer have to pay annual dues (currently 26.00). In addition, Life Members receive a Gold Membership card, a Life Member Marine Corps League Pin, and are eligible for Life Member recognition on their Marine Corps League Cover. The following are the current Life Member rates:

Up to and including age 35: $500.00

Age 36 up to and including age 50: $400.00

Age 51 up to and including age 60: $300.00

Age 61 and over: $150.00