OneManGang
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'Walking Dead' Marine battalion to be deactivated - The Greeneville Sun: AP National News
Longtime readers of my ramblings will recall that, while not a Marine myself, I do feel a particular attachment to the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment. My cousin was in the 106mm Platoon, H&S Company, 1/9 when he was Killed in Action by VC/NVA mortar fire on 18 June 1968 near Cam Hung village in I Corps near the DMZ.
http://www.volnation.com/forum/pub/161185-lest-we-forget-june-1968-a.html
I was saddened to learn that this proud battalion is being deactivated today (29 August) in a ceremony at Camp LeJeune.
The battalion earned its ominous nickname "The Walking Dead" when they landed in Vietnam in 1966. Radio Hanoi's version of "Tokyo Rose" dubbed "Hanoi Hannah" greeted the new arrivals and said she pitied them as they were "walking dead men." With typical Devil Dog attitude, the Marines of 1/9 adopted the label as a badge of honor and to this day, the battalion has been known by that name. They eventually adopted a unit patch featuring a leering Grim Reaper.
1/9 suffered the highest KIA rate of any Marine battalion during it's time in Vietnam. 747 of its young men never saw hearth nor home again.
In 2007, I put together a book covering my cousin Bobby's time in Vietnam. During my research I came in to contact with a number of 1/9 vets from that era. I treasure them all.
There are points in time where words my mentor, the late Professor Chuck Johnson of the UT History Department, spoke to me some thirty odd years ago ring more true than ever: "If you are 'doing' military history and it doesn't just break your heart - you're doing it wrong."
This is one of those times.
Semper Fi, you Devil Dogs of 1/9.
And thank you.
Longtime readers of my ramblings will recall that, while not a Marine myself, I do feel a particular attachment to the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment. My cousin was in the 106mm Platoon, H&S Company, 1/9 when he was Killed in Action by VC/NVA mortar fire on 18 June 1968 near Cam Hung village in I Corps near the DMZ.
http://www.volnation.com/forum/pub/161185-lest-we-forget-june-1968-a.html
I was saddened to learn that this proud battalion is being deactivated today (29 August) in a ceremony at Camp LeJeune.
The battalion earned its ominous nickname "The Walking Dead" when they landed in Vietnam in 1966. Radio Hanoi's version of "Tokyo Rose" dubbed "Hanoi Hannah" greeted the new arrivals and said she pitied them as they were "walking dead men." With typical Devil Dog attitude, the Marines of 1/9 adopted the label as a badge of honor and to this day, the battalion has been known by that name. They eventually adopted a unit patch featuring a leering Grim Reaper.
1/9 suffered the highest KIA rate of any Marine battalion during it's time in Vietnam. 747 of its young men never saw hearth nor home again.
In 2007, I put together a book covering my cousin Bobby's time in Vietnam. During my research I came in to contact with a number of 1/9 vets from that era. I treasure them all.
There are points in time where words my mentor, the late Professor Chuck Johnson of the UT History Department, spoke to me some thirty odd years ago ring more true than ever: "If you are 'doing' military history and it doesn't just break your heart - you're doing it wrong."
This is one of those times.
Semper Fi, you Devil Dogs of 1/9.
And thank you.
