M14 Forum

mariodesmo

We’ve Lost Another WWII Marine…

I mention this to celebrate the life of this Marine, and let others know
about their brother in arms. It seems there are a number of Marines here, so
I felt this would be appropriate.

This was my Uncle Pete who recently passed away after living a long and
fruitful life. He was born in Arizona, and joined the Marines soon after Pearl
Harbor.

Uncle Pete served at:

Guadacanal – Fought like hell and made it out alive.

Iwo Jima – Fought like hell, was fighting on the beach during the raising of
the flag on February 23, 1945, his 22nd birthday. He was wounded there as
well. Uncle Pete made it home; the Japanese officer that shot him wasn’t so
lucky…

Occupation of Japan – He served in Japan after the Japanese surrender,
during the occupation.

He was discharged in 1946 as a Corporal with an Honorable Discharge, Purple
Heart, and Good Conduct Medal.

After the war he married his sweetheart and gave us a bunch of cousins to
play with as kids. :-)

Semper Fi Uncle Pete, Rest In Peace.

Boom Stick

Many thanks to Pete from a former Marine. Semper Fi, Marine.

cachunk

Thanks for posting this. May God bless him and keep him for eternity.

captain_bob_badfish

Thanks for sharing. Rest in Peace Uncle Pete.
Was he in the 1st Marine Division?

USMC Dog Handler

Semper Fi Uncle Pete.

mariodesmo

Yes he was. And very proud of it.

Thanks for all the kind thoughts, men.

sam68

Many thanks uncle Pete, we are losing these great men at a very fast rate so thanks to all the vets out there god bless you guys.

jens5

God bless Uncle Pete. Keep a look out for my Dad, PFC. Dick LaReno, 5th Div. Iwo and Japan occupation as well.
Semper Fi Marine

willriskit

We are still fortunate to have some WWII Marines in our local detachment, including one of the last of the Cactus Air Force pilots from Guadalcanal who endured "the night of the battleships," when the Kongo and Haruna shelled the Marine perimeter with 14" guns back and forth for ninety minutes. When we shared memories of our first Marine Corps Birthday, he remembered that his was on Guadalcanal in the company of Gen. Geiger and his fellow pilots (and some of us think we're salty!). He went on to the Palaus and Philippines flying Corsairs after he transitioned from SBD's. During Korea, he was an FAC in the Inchon landings and again flew Corsairs out of Yonpo in support of the Chosin campaign in temperatures of -20 to -30 under conditions that the ground crews had to start engines every half hour to keep them from freezing-up. I know all this because I used his 214 for background information when we named the building in his honor. He's nearing ninety and is going blind, but if you ever meet Lt. Col. Bill Godbey, he is still a great Marine of the old breed. May God Almighty bless him with many more years among us.

Semper Fi, Bro's

smallie9

Thank You for sharing another story of the many that have served. Like my father who passed recently, ther're are not many of these true HEROES among us, and we need to acknowledge what they accomplised. I wish more of the younger generation were aware of the sacrifices these men made, so they could spend everyday concernerd about how many friends they have on Facebook!


SEMPER FI