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How familiar is this? You
attend a reunion and inevitably several members recollecting a significant
event begin arguing over when that event actually occurred. As you listen
to them debating over the circumstances you realize that neither has a clue
as to the facts.
Since 2003 I have been attending the Third Battalion
Third Marines Viet Nam Era reunions and have noticed that every year the
details of events become more and more obscure. Of course one could consult
the official Command Chronologies, but not everyone has access to them.
Even if you do have access to this information, it takes time to wade
through all the details; a task that the average individual would find tedious.
Wouldn’t it be helpful if all the information was assembled in one area and
available for quick reference?
This project was an answer to that problem. I started
with the company roster for the end of February 1967, which listed all the
members of Company Lima that participated in the battles during the first
five days of March for which we were tagged with our name. I then determined
the Marine who had been with the unit the longest and the Marine who had
been there the least length of time. It was my goal for this project to
chronicle their tours of duty. This required compiling information for a period
of twenty eight months: December 1966 thru March 1968. I accessed the
National Archives on line and over thirteen months transcribed everything I
could find into one chronological record of the events experienced by the
members of Ripley’s Raiders. On many occasions the same information was included
in battalion, regimental, and division chronologies. When I encountered
this I used the most detailed information to represent the event. Where no
details existed I simply used the record of the radio or land line message
that was recorded. On the days that had no recorded events I simply left
the day blank.
Check out some of the sample
pages
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