Marine Corps Association & Foundation

Amphibious landings have been the hallmark of the Marine Corps since its inception in 1775. That was our inheritance and our legacy for the future. Today, we are fortunate to have among us veterans of campaigns of a more im­mediate generation: Marines who fought and endured Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Korea and Vietnam. They are now the old salts and gyrenes who easily recall the blaring announcement over a ship’s squawk box instructing their units to “lay up” to embarking stations. With steel helmets covered in herringbone twill or cotton cloth of tan and brown or green and brown, armed with M1, M14, new M16 rifles, .45-caliber pistols and Ka-Bars, young Marines, dressed in utilities and boondockers, climbed over the ships’ sides, scampering down 20 feet of cargo netting and into bobbing landing craft.

Part I of “Eyewitness to Combat” de­scribed 2d Battalion, First Marine Regiment’s November 2005 offensive to eliminate the insurgency in the cities of Husaybah, Karabilah and Ubaydi during Operation Steel Curtain. The 17-day offensive commenced on 5 Nov., and by 14 Nov., 2/1 found itself on the outskirts of New Ubaydi, which the locals reported was “lousy with foreign fighters.”

Tinian. It certainly has a past with the Marines: The fighting on Saipan was not yet over on July 20, 1944, when U.S. Marine 105 mm and U.S. Army 155 mm “Long Tom” can­non were towed south to Agingan Beach and started shelling Japanese defensive positions on Tinian three miles away.

Jason Carter stood on the yellow foot­prints at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego less than three months after graduating from high school and found a brotherhood that made a lasting impact on his life. Today the Marine veteran is a racecar driver on a fast track with a unique mission as the founder of Racing for Our Heroes—a motor-sport-focused nonprofit organization that supports veterans who have been injured or wounded during a deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.