Echo
Company
2/7
Vietnam
Veterans Chapter
1ST Marine Division Association
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Two-Seven Tooter
Message Board
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FMDA Annual Reunion San Antonio
The Alamo Chapter and San Antonio are ready for the Reunion! NBC'S Today Show calls San Antonio "one of the top 5 friendliest cities in America". The Alamo Chapter would like to show you why this is true.
Join us at the El Tropicano Hotel on the famous San Antonio River Walk. San Antonio City Tours, The Alamo, Spanish Mission Trail - River Walk, National Museum of the Pacific War, Mariachi Concert, and Marine Forces Reserve Band to name a few of the activities you are invited to attend. Many other activities like strolling and dining along the San Antonio River Walk, shopping at El Mercado, the Tower of the Americas, San Antonio Botanical Garden, La Villita shopping, and the San Antonio Zoo. Everything is ready for a great reunion. All we need is "U".
THE 63RD ANNUAL 1ST MARINE DIVISION ASSOCIATION REUNION AUGUST 23-29, 2010
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Famous
Quotes |
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"One last thing ... when you check into your first unit and start the fantastic voyage that only Marines will ever know ... kick some serious ass ... because it is a full time job and there is a lot of that activity that must occur for America and her allies to survive. Long live the United States .... And success to the Marines."
~ Colonel James M. Lowe, USMC, Commander, Marine Corps Base Quantico
"When
I
give
you
the
word,
together
we
will
cross
the
Line
of
Departure,
close
with
those
forces
that
choose
to
fight,
and
destroy
them.
You
are
part
of
the
world's
most
feared
and
trusted
force.
Engage
your
brain
before
you
engage
your
weapon.
Share
your
courage
with
each
other
as
we
enter
the
uncertain
terrain
north
of
the
Line
of
Departure.
Keep
faith
in
your
comrades
on
your
left
and
right
and
Marine
Air
overhead.
Fight
with
a
happy
heart
and
strong
spirit.
For
the
Mission's
sake,
our
country's
sake,
and
the
sake
of
the
men
who
carried
the
Division's
colors
in
past
battles
-
who
fought
for
life
and
never
lost
their
nerve
-
carry
out
your
mission
and
keep
your
honor
clean.
Demonstrate
to
the
world
there
is
No
Better
Friend,
No
Worse
Enemy
than
a
United
States
Marine."
~ MG
James
N.
Mattis,
USMC,
Commander,
1st
Marine
Division,
March
30,
2003,
Central
Iraq, excerpts
from
his
"Message
to
All
Hands",
on
the
eve
of
crossing
into
Iraq
"If
you
think
the
Marines
were
tough
on
you
when
they
were
cleaning
out
Fallujah
you
haven't
seen
anything
yet.
If
you
want
to
know
what
it
feels
like
to
have
the
Wrath
of
God
called
down
upon
you
then
go
ahead
and
do
it.
We
are
not
Turkish
truck
drivers,
or
Pakistani
laborers,
or
independent
contractors
hoping
to
find
work
in
your
country.
We
are United
States
Marines,
and
we
will
be
coming
for
you."
~ Andy
Bufalo,
MSgt
USMC
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Echo
Company
2/7
Memorial
Monument |
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88 Fallen
Hero's
of E 2/7
The
cut-off
date
for
donations
has
come
and
gone.
Our
Memorial
Fund
now
stands
at
$40,395.
The Echo
Company
2/7
Monument Dedication
with
next
of
kin's
as
honored
guest will
be
held
at
Quantico,
Va.
sometime
in
May
of
2011.
It
will
be
an
"E
Company
2/7
Reunion/Monument
Dedication".
The
Monument
Committee
will
continue
to track
our
Monuments
status
and keep
you
informed
with
our Tooter
newsletters.
Semper
Fi,
The
Monument
Committee
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Marine
Corps
News
Thousands
of
Vietnam
vets
to
gather
for
thanks
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Thousands of Vietnam-era veterans are set to converge on Lambeau Field in Madison, Wisconsin this weekend hoping for the words they've waited 40 years to hear: Thank you.
The Wisconsin Historical Society, state Department of Veterans Affairs, Wisconsin Public Television and more than two dozen other groups have invited veterans from across Wisconsin and beyond to the Green Bay Packers' legendary stadium and grounds for food, camaraderie and memories. It is huge. It's an opportunity to really say thank you and welcome to Vietnam veterans and their families.
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The
Marine
Corps
Highway |
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U.S. 17 stretch in North Carolina to be called Marine Corps Hwy.
Taken from the Roanoke-Chowan Herald
The Marines will be marching on Edenton this Saturday as part of a ceremony to rename a section of U.S. Highway 17 in honor of their branch of the military.
U.S. 17 from Edenton to Holly Ridge in Onslow County will become Marine Corps Highway, as designated by House Bill 1021. Bill supporters say the 100-mile stretch covers a section of the state that has played a significant role in the history of the Marine Corps.
"We felt that the Marine Corps presence in North Carolina from World War II to today is so significant that there needed to be a visual recognition," said Col. Bill Ayers on Friday from Jacksonville.
What is now Edenton's Northeastern Regional Airport was originally a 2,917-acre Marine Corps air base that opened during World War II, Ayers said. It served a significant role from then until its 1959 closure. It was also an instrumental base for the service of women in the Marine Corps.
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Enter
your
email
address
below
to
sign
up
for
our
mailing
list.
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We
look
forward
to
keeping
you
informed.
Semper
Fidelis!
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"Ready
for
Anything
Counting
on
Nothing"
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31 May
2010
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Memorial Day 2010
For Vietnam Veterans, every day is Memorial Day.
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.
 Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. General Order No.11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971).
Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.
To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed in Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 PM local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps'".
In memory of our fallen Marine Corp and Corpsmen Brothers, and all the service men and women through out our history that gave all for the freedom of the United States of America, remember them in our prayers.
MAY GOD BLESS THEM ALL
& MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!
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Things
to
Remember
on
Memorial
Day |
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1968 TET
Offensive
1968 |
What the Media Didn't Tell America
During the 1968 Tet Offensive America suffered a catastrophic military defeat - but only on the evening news.
 Tet was named for the Vietnamese new year season during which it was fought. All over Vietnam in this brand new Year of the Monkey, VC and NVA units came out to fight and long-submerged political leaders of the VC infrastructure surfaced to lead, posture and purge. This fighting had been building for a long time; the decision to launch the 1968 Tet Offensive, as it is now called, had been made long before and far away.
> U.S. Marine raises flag over brick wall in Hue to mark his units progress.
(AP Photo)
General Vo Nguyen Giap, architect of the Dien Bien Phu victory, was charged with executing the "Tet" offensive. Giap's assumption included the notion-held as article of faith by the Communist leadership that the Americans would recoil and the South Vietnamese Army would run. He also assumed the the people of South Vietnam would join in attacking the Americans, and he made a third, and equally erroneous assumption: That Khe Sahn, one of his objectives, presented him with much the same tactical opportunity as when he had been so successful in 1954. Only this time, he misjudged. This time, the defenders were United States Marines.
The Tet offensive, according to the Communist doctrine, would be the time of great civilian uprising, the upheaval of the masses to final victory. Ho Chi Minh had written, 'Total victory shall be ours!' But it wouldn't. Instead, the VC and NVA forces ran into a buzz saw. The Americans killed them by the thousands. The end of the fighting left the NVA with units ravaged, and the VC so lacerated that they would never recover. One veteran VC officer, Truong Nhu Tang, later called Viet Cong losses "agonizing and irreplaceable". The vital infructure of the VC was in ruins and would never fully be rebuilt. In the end, the cost of the Tet offensive's VC and NVA casualties would be colossal - including many of their best personnel - they achieved nothing - except in the American media. It was they that continued the battle after the Viet Cong were destroyed as a fighting force in the Tet Offensive where they lost over 30,000 troops.
What you didn't hear on the evening news was that there was a bloodbath in Hue. Before the Marines wiped out the enemy in a prolonged and vicious fighting, the NVA who captured the city systematically murdered thousands of civilians. Many of the people murdered in Hue were shot or beaten to death. Many others had been bound and buried alive. The deliberate mass murder in Hue should have outraged any observer. But not Walter Cronkite, premier American TV news reader.
Set against the perfidy of the VC & NVA and their ruthless murders in Hue and elsewhere was the courage of the US Marines who fought them. In the end, Tet was a crushing defeat for the Communists...everywhere, that is, except on the evening news.
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Echo 2/7
Marines |
Echo
Company
2/7
Corpsman
Elected
to Top
Position
Echo 2/7
Corpsman Verl
H. "Doc
Matt"
Matthews
has been
elected
to the
top
position
of Commander
of the
State of
North
Carolina
for the
Military
Order of
the
Purple
Heart for
the
coming
year.
Doc
Matt was
elected
this
month at
the
NC/SC
Convention
of the
Military
Order of
the
Purple
Heart
(MOPH).
Way to
go Doc
Matt...
Congratulations!!
Awards are common among the Marines of Echo 2/7. For example, our  Chapter President Jeff "Doc" Levine received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star with Combat V in the Vietnam War. Many other Marines from our unit have also received the Purple Heart and other awards. Most have succeeded in life after the Corps and have done good for the community in which they live. Some have become attorneys, school teachers, professors, and successful businessmen. Some have pursued carriers in law enforcement. Others have become accountants and consultants. Many rose through the ranks from 2nd LT to Colonel, from Private to Sergeant, and most are outstanding members of their communities still serving their country in one way or another helping their fellow Marines. Many help servicemen and women reconnect with old friends and share in the camaraderie of others helping to link-up with one another. Some write chronologies of the war so no one ever forgets. These Marines stay faithful to the Brotherhood of the Corps and will for the rest of their lives. The Marines of Echo do not flaunt their successes but rather incorporate them into their every day lives.
Today, several of our Chapter members have risen to achieve Officer status within the 1st Marine Division Association. Richard "Moon Man" Mooney was recently elected to the FMDA top-slot of Sergeant At Arms and is also President of his local VFW Chapter. Jim Zalpis in now the FMDA Treasurer, and Jimmy Clendennen Director of the 7th Marines. All this is no surprise. The Marines of Echo are still moving forward today as they did 42 years ago during those long years of combat in the Vietnam War. They say if you want it done, just "Send in Echo Company".
Semper Fi,
Echo Company 2/7 Vietnam Veterans Chapter
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