It all started in June 1954 and I was about to get a letter from Uncle Sam saying he would like to have me join him in the Army. I, along with about 30 other boys from around Sedalia, decided we didn’t want to go that route, so we joined the Marines. We were called the Sedalia Leathernecks.
After our physical and induction, we were sent to San Diego for boot camp. While in boot camp, we were put in platoons which competed against each other. Out of three platoons, my platoon was the honor platoon. This may be where my luck started.
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