May I please nominate Lt. Colonel Clovis C. "Buck" Coffman, Jr. USMC (Retired) [Deceased] for the Famous Marine page, please.
1949 Graduate of Craddock High School, Portsmouth, VA.
Entered USMCR 1949, and served in the USMC during the Korean War, including the battles at Chosin Reservoir.
Graduate of the University of Richmond.
Gunnery Sergeant, 97th Rifle Company, Fleet Marine Force, Newport News, VA - 1963 to 1965.
Volunteered for Active Duty in USMC 1965, sent to Vietnam with Force Recon Unit,
awarded the Navy Cross for valor in action.
Resided in Virginia Beach until his recent death.

- Maj. Joseph A. Madagan, USAR Ret. ('57) of FL - 07/07/04
Certainly!  Thanks, Joe!

Coffman, Clovis C., Jr.
Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps (Reserve)
Co. C, 1st Force Recon Bn., 1st Marine Division
Date of Action:  October 10, 1966

Citation:
The Navy Cross is awarded to Gunnery Sergeant Clovis C. Coffman, Jr., United States Marine Corps (Reserve),
for extraordinary heroism in action against Communist Forces while serving as a Platoon Leader with Company C,
First Reconnaissance Battalion, First Marine Division in the Republic of Vietnam on 10 October 1966.
Sergeant Coffman was leading a thirteen man patrol assigned the mission of observing
a valley near Long Bihn, Quang Ngai Province for enemy activity.
Early in the afternoon, while leading his unit from their observation post to a helicopter landing zone,
the patrol came under a heavy small arms and grenade attack from an estimated thirty-five to fifty man enemy force.
Reacting immediately, Sergeant Coffman skillfully organized and directed the return fire of his out-numbered unit.
Fearlessly disregarding his own safety, he repeatedly exposed himself
in order to deploy his force and deliver maximum fire power against the attackers.
On one occasion during the ensuing fierce action, he observed a wounded Marine lying helpless forward of his position. Courageously he went to his stricken comrade's aid. Although wounded himself,
he killed three of the enemy at point blank range in order to reach the stricken Marine.
Sergeant Coffman was successful in his effort to return his stricken comrade to friendly lines.
When the patrol's medical corpsman was disabled by wounds,
he skillfully administered first aid to four seriously wounded Marines.
Sergeant Coffman directed fixed wing and armed helicopter attacks against the enemy with devastating accuracy,
with the result that helicopters were able to land and extract the force.
Although wounded, he remained until all of his men were safely embarked, resolutely defending the landing zone.
As the last rescue helicopter was loading, he and another Marine held the landing zone alone,
killing four of the enemy in close combat.
Only after all of his patrol were embarked, did he board the aircraft and depart the embattled area.
By his courageous devotion to duty, and extraordinary leadership, Sergeant Coffman reflected great credit
upon himself and the Marine Corps and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

- Courtesy of  Maj. Joseph A. Madagan, USAR Ret. ('57) of FL - 07/08/04
Thanks again, Joe!

This image from television shows part of the Marines advertising campaign. The Marines have launched a new, more patriotic ad campaign since the war with Iraq (news - web sites) began. The new ads incorporate the credos ''For Honor,'' ''For Courage,'' ''For Country'', with the longtime slogan ''The Few. The Proud. The Marines.'' (AP Photo/US Marines, HO)	- Courtesy of http://www.marines.usna.edu/yard-events/photos/2001/JUL/12-JULY-2001-Eigth-I/ - 05/29/04

	1917 - THE LIVING EMBLEM of the UNITED STATES MARINES 100 Officers and 9000 Enlisted Men at the Marine Barracks, Parris Island, S.C.
Courtesy of  Frank J. Kovacs of FL via Maj. Joseph A. Madagan, USAR Ret. ('57) of FL - 07/08/04 WOWZERS!!!  How incredible!  Thanks, Guys!

Washington Post November 26, 2002 Pg. 29 My Heart On The Line By Frank Schaeffer
Before my son became a Marine, I never thought much about who was defending me. Now when I read of the war on terrorism or the coming conflict in Iraq, it cuts to my heart. When I see a picture of a member of our military who has been killed, I read his or her name very carefully. Sometimes I cry.  In 1999, when the barrel-chested Marine recruiter showed up in dress blues and bedazzled my son John, I did not stand in the way. John was headstrong, and he seemed to understand these stern, clean men with straight backs and flawless uniforms. I did not. I live on the Volvo-driving, higher education-worshiping North Shore of Boston. I write novels for a living. I have never served in the military. It had been hard enough sending my two older children off to Georgetown and New York University. John's enlisting was unexpected, so deeply unsettling. I did not relish the prospect of answering the question "So where is John going to college?" from the parentswho were itching to tell me all about how their son or daughter was going to Harvard. At the private high school John attended, no other students were going into the military. "But aren't the Marines terribly Southern?" asked one perplexed mother while standing next to me at the brunch following graduation. "What a waste, he was such a good student," said another parent. One parent (a professor at a nearby and rather famous university) spoke up at a school meeting and suggested thatthe school should "carefully evaluate what went wrong." When John graduated from three months of boot camp on Parris Island, 3,000 parents and friends were on the parade deck stands. We parents and our Marines not only were of many races but also were representative of many economic classes. Many were poor. Some arrived crammed in the backs of pickups, others by bus. John told me that a lot of parents could not afford the trip. We in the audience were white and Native American. We were Hispanic, Arab and African American and Asian. We were former Marines wearing the scars of battle, or at least baseball caps emblazoned with battles' names. We were Southern whites from Nashville and skinheads from New Jersey, black kids from Cleveland wearing ghetto rags and white ex-cons with ham-hock forearms defaced by jailhouse tattoos. We would not have been mistaken for the educated and well-heeled parents gathered on the lawns of John's private school a half-year before.	After graduation one new Marine told John, "Before I was a Marine, if I had ever seen you on my block I would've probably killed you just because you were standing there." This was a serious statement from one of John's good friends, an African American ex-gang member from Detroit who, as John said, "would die for me now, just like I'd die for him." My son has connected me to my country in a way that I was too selfish and insular to experience before. I feel closer to the waitress at our local diner than to some of my oldest friends. She has two sons in the Corps. They are facing the same dangers as my boy. When the guy who fixes my car asks me how John is doing, I know he means it. His younger brother is in the Navy. Why were I and the other parents at my son's private school so surprised by his choice? During World War II, the sons and daughters of the most powerful and educated families did their bit. If the immorality of the Vietnam War was the only reason those lucky enough to go to college dodged the draft, why did we not encourage our children to volunteer for military service once that war was done? Have we wealthy and educated Americans all become pacifists? Is the world a safe place? Or have we just gotten used to having somebody else defend us? What is the future of our democracy when the sons and daughters of the janitors at our elite universities are far more likely to be put in harm's way than are any of the students whose dorms their parents clean? I feel shame because it took my son's joining the Marine Corps to make me take notice of who is defending me. I feel hope because perhaps my son is part of a future "greatest generation." As the storm clouds of war gather, at least I know that I can look the men and women in uniform in the eye. My son is one of them. He is the best I have to offer. He is my heart.
Frank Schaeffer is a writer. His latest book, co-written with his son, Marine Cpl. John Schaeffer, is "Keeping Faith: A Father-Son Story About Love and the United States Marine Corps."

The following (courtesy of my nephew's wife, Leslie - Thanks, Leslie!)
is provided by Joe Galloway, author of "We Were Soldiers Once, and Young."
FYI.  The author of the letter was a teen-aged Marine who marched and
fought as a rifleman to and from the Chosin reservoir in Korea in 1950.
 He cross-decked to the Army, and served as a Special Forces officer in Vietnam.
After Vietnam he joined the CIA, and went back to Korea.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 If you aren't interested in the ramblings of an old man, please delete now.
If you're still there, pull up a chair and listen.

    Is there anyone else out there who's sick and tired of all the polls
being  taken in foreign countries as to whether or not they "like" us?
The last time I looked, the word "like" had nothing to do with foreign policy.
I prefer 'respect' or 'fear'.  They worked for Rome, which civilized
and kept the peace in the known world a hell of a lot longer than our puny two centuries-plus.

     I see a left-wing German got elected to office recently by campaigning against the foreign policy of the United States.
Yeah, that's what I want, to be lectured about war and being a "good neighbor" by a German.
Their head honcho said they wouldn't take part in a war against Iraq.
Kind of nice, to see them taking a pass on a war once in while.
Perhaps we needed  to have the word "World" in front of War.
I think it's time to bring our boys home from Germany.
Outside of the money we'd save, we'd make the Germans "like" us a lot more,
after they started paying the bills for their own defense.

    Last time I checked, France isn't too fond of us either.
 They sort of liked us back on June 6th, 1944, though, didn't they?
If you don't think so, see how nicely they take care of the enormous American cemeteries up above the Normandy beaches.
For those of you who've studied history, we also have a few cemeteries in places like Belleau Woods and Chateau Thierry also.
For those of you who haven't studied it, that was from World War One, the firsttime Europe screwed up and we bailed out the French.

     That's where the US Marines got the title 'Devil Dogs' or, if you still care about what the Germans think, "Teufelhunde".
 I hope I spelled that right; sure wouldn't want to offend anyone, least of all a German.

    Come to think of it, when Europe couldn't take care of their Bosnian problem recently,
guess who had to help out there also.
Last time I checked, our kids are still there. 
I sort of remember they said they would be out in a year.
Gee, how time flies when you're having fun.

     Now we hear that the South Koreans aren't too happy with us either.
They "liked" us a lot better, of course, in June, 1950.
 It took more than 50,000 Americans killed in Korea to help give them the lifestyle they currently enjoy,
but then who's counting?
I think it's also time to bring the boys home from there.
There are about 37,000 young Americans on the DMZ separating the South Koreans from their "brothers" up North.
Maybe if we leave, they can begin to participate in the "good life" that North Korea currently enjoys.

   I also understand that a good portion of the Arab/Moslem world now doesn't "like" us either.
Did anyone ever sit down and determine what we would have to do to get them to like us?
Ask them what they would like us to do.
 Die?. Commit ritual suicide? Bend over?
Maybe we should follow the advice of our dimwitted, dullest knife in the drawer, Senator Patty Murray,
and build more roads, hospitals, day care centers, and orphanages like Osama bin Laden does.
What with all the orphans Osama has created, the least he can do is build some places to put them. 
Senator Stupid says if we would only "emulate" Osama, the Arab world would love us.

   Sorry Patty; in addition to the fact that we already do all of those
things around the world and have been doing them for over sixty years,
I don't take public transportation, and I certainly wouldn't take it with a bomb strapped to the guy next to me.

     Don't get me wrong: I'm not in favor of going to war.
 Been there, done that. Several times, in fact.
But I think we ought to have some polls in this country about other countries,
and see if we "like" THEM.
Problem is, if you listed the countries, not only wouldn't the average American know ifhe liked them or not,
he wouldn't be able to find them.
 If we're supposed to worry about them, how about them worrying about us?

     We were nice to the North Koreans in 1994, as we followed the policies of "Neville" Clinton.
And it seemed to work; they didn't re-start their nuclear weapons program for a whole year or so.
 In the meantime, we fed them when they were starving,
 and put oil in their stoves when they were freezing.

    In a recent visit to Norway, I engaged in a really fun debate with my cousin's son,
 a student at a Norwegian University.
I was lectured to by this thankless squirt about the American "Empire",
and scolded about dropping the atomic bomb on the Japanese.
 I reminded him that empires usually keep the stuff they take;
we don't, and back in 1945 most Norwegians thought dropping
ANY kind of bomb on Germany or Japan was a good idea.
 I also reminded him that my uncle, his grandfather, and others in our family spent a significant
time in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, courtesy of the Germans, and they didn't all survive.
 I further reminded him that if it wasn't for the "American Empire" he would probably be speaking German or Russian.

    Sorry about the rambling, but I just took an unofficial poll here at our house,
 and we don't seem to like anyone.

Happy New Year.
 

TOYS FOR TOTS

The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, an IRS recognized 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity, independent of the U.S. Marine Corps,
is the fund raising, funding and support organization for the U.S. Marine Corp Reserve Toys for Tots Program.

The Foundation’s mission is to raise funds to provide toys to supplement the collection of local Toys for Tots coordinators.

From 1991 through Christmas 2000, the Foundation supplemented local toy collection campaigns with over 29,000,000 toys
valued at nearly $14,000,0000!

- Joe Madagan ('57) of FL - 07/21/04
Thanks, Joe!

The United States Marine Corps Hymn

Words: L.Z. Phillips (?) (1919)
Music: Jacques Offenbach from Genevieve de Brabant (1868)
 

From the Halls of Montezuma
To the Shores of Tripoli;
We fight our country's battles
In the air, on land and sea;
First to fight for right and freedom 
And to keep our honor clean; 
We are proud to claim the title 
of United States Marine. 

Our flag's unfurled to every breeze
From dawn to setting sun;
We have fought in ev'ry clime and place
Where we could take a gun;
In the snow of far-off Northern lands
And in sunny tropic scenes; 
You will find us always on the job--
The United States Marines. 

Here's health to you and to our Corps
Which we are proud to serve 
In many a strife we've fought for life 
And never lost our nerve;
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven's scenes; 
They will find the streets are guarded 
By United States Marines. 

"Marine Corps Hymn" lyrics courtesy of http://www.fiftiesweb.com/usa/marine.htm

"Marine Corps Hymn" midi courtesy of http://www.f11view.net/usaflag/midmusic/marine2.mid

"The Few.  The Proud" logo courtesy of Joe Madagan -f FL - 06/10/04
Thanks, Joe!

Marine Corps logo also courtesy of Joe Madagan of FL - 06/12/04
Thanks again, Joe!

Famous Airmen

Famous Coast Guardsmen and Famous Merchant Marines

Famous Marines

Al Simms' Visit to the National Museum of the Marine Corps 
and Heritage Center - 07/04/07

Famous Sailors

Famous Soldiers

Return to Newport News High School

Famous Marines "Once a Marine, Always a Marine"

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	If you have images or stories pertaining to the United States Marine Corps which you would like to be included on this page, please submit it to the Web Mistress for consideration: Carol Buckley Harty of NC: cluckmeat@nc.rr.com Thank you.
07/22/01