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John Kane
Korea
| 1st Battalion, 7th Marines
There was no getting off the plane in Hawaii for John Kane. He was on his way to Korea but a previous bunch of Marines had busted up the place in a rowdy night of drunkenness. Then, when he arrived at Seoul, he was assigned to a company with the nickname Suicide Charlie, which was earned at Guadalcanal. (4:50)
There was the Main Line of Resistance, the MLR, and then there were outposts out in front of it. The North Koreans were gone, it was all Chinese, now. John Kane had just arrived there and, when moving to a trench position, he did something that was either very brave or very foolhardy. Either way, it earned him a Purple Heart. (7:43)
The Marines crept up to Outpost Warsaw in a bid to oust the Chinese but, when they got there, it was empty. They were relaxing with some coffee when the barrage began. It was devastating and John Kane scrambled for a hole to hide in. Then, the Chinese attacked. Part 1 of 2. (10:11)
John Blair
Vietnam
| 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines
Hailing from South Carolina, John Blair is a true son of the South but his younger years were spent in Hawaii, where his father was stationed. He was an Army officer but when the younger Blair came of age, he took a different path, the Marines. (4:28)
It was a mystery to him but John Blair had a top secret security clearance when he graduated from advanced infantry training. His first assignment was guarding a warhead depot. That only lasted a few months and then he got orders for Vietnam (5:15)
Like all Marines, John Blair wanted a part of any war that was going on and he got his wish. When he arrived at Da Nang, he was impressed with the strange look on the faces of Marines who were going the other way, back home. He was based up at Con Thien where he immediately got sick trying to get used to eating C-Rations. (5:18)
I want that guy. Bob Espinola was looking over the new guys and he saw that John Blair had an 8-Track player. They were up near the DMZ and on one of Blair's first patrols, he was made point man and killed two NVA soldiers. (Caution: strong language) (8:54)
The Marines were set up on three hills near Khe Sanh. They were there to protect a bridge vital to trucks supplying the base. NVA could be seen in the distance moving in so they knew something was about to happen. John Blair heard the shooting begin over at another hill and then his platoon was ordered to move out on the road and come to reinforce. The road? Well that's dumb. We're not coming back. Part 1 of 2. (9:04)
The NVA soldiers were setting up an ambush and John Blair, who was cut off and alone, saw them. Not going to let that happen, he crept up and took care of it. Then his buddy Bob Espinola appeared and the two of them saw that an enemy machine gun was mowing down Marines. We're not going to survive this but let's go get 'em. They hugged each other and began a rampage that resulted in a Silver Star for each of them. Part 2 of 2. (Caution: strong language) (10:08)
After the ferocious Battle of Mike's Hill, John Blair and his fellow Marines moved to Khe Sanh, which was a total mess. The siege had left dead NVA all around and there were rats as big as cats. What followed was a series of small battles, one of which put him uncomfortably close to a friendly 500 pound bomb. (5:09)
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