Marines: Recent Episodes
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Peter Janse joined the Navy when he was 23. For the next three decades, he worked as a hospital corpsman, an aerospace med tech, an independent duty corpsman, and faculty adviser and instructor in various duty stations, including the Pentagon and Afghanistan.
Michael Barretti Sr. joined the Marine Corps’ Platoon Leaders Corps during his sophomore year at St. John’s University. After graduation, he was sent to Officer Candidates School, where he completed basic and learned about logistics. He was sent to southwest Vietnam in December 1967, assigned to the 3rd 155 Gun Battery in an area known as “the Arizona territory.” Barretti was wounded in action, and sent back to the States in late 1968. He would serve with the Marines, both active duty and reserves, until 1987, when he retired as a major.
Michael Barretti Sr., right, appearing on “Veterans Corner” on Westborough TV.
Andrew DeFrancesco joined the Marine Corps shortly after graduating from Don Bosco High School in Boston. He was a member of the Corps’ Force Reconnaissance Unit; his training included scuba diving and parachuting. He served in Okinawa, Australia, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam, and was wounded five times.
Jim Ramsey interviews Andrew DeFrancesco at the Bedford VA Medical Center.
Paul Carew joined the Marine Corps shortly after graduating from Natick High School in 1970. Trained to be a radio operator, Carew joined the 2nd Battalion, “Hotel Company,” 4th Marines, as part of support for a helicopter force based on the USS Tripoli. He went on missions to Vietnam and Thailand, as well as the … Continue reading Paul Carew
James Martin had just become a teacher in the Boston Public Schools when he joined the Marines in early 1967. He would be sent to Officers Candidates School in Quantico, Va.; he would receive further training in infantry and communications before he was sent to Vietnam. He would serve with the 11th Marines in a … Continue reading James Martin
In summer 1943, Richard Somersall had just entered MIT to study aeronautical engineering when the Marines called him into service. Somersall would become a machine gunner for the 21st and 1st Marine regiments, and serve in Guam and northern China.
Jacob Darnel enlisted in the Marines shortly after graduating from high school in Kentucky. He learned cryptography, and was assigned to Paris to help establish the Defense Command Agency. He would also be assigned to Vietnam to help run a message center near Da Nang Harbor. This interview was recorded at the Bedford VA … Continue reading Jacob Darnel
David Wall joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1967. After OCS training and a session at a Vietnamese language school in California, he was sent to Vietnam, where he served as a forward observer with I Corps. This interview was recorded by students at UMass-Lowell.
John Lobberecht didn’t study much during high school and college, so he joined the Marines in 1983. He learned how to fly, and became a loadmaster on a C130; he served mostly in the United States, with a tour of duty in Okinawa. He said although he was a Marine serving in peacetime, he … Continue reading John Lobberecht (audio only)
This interview covers Mr. White’s service with Dog Co., 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division stateside and in Korea.
This interview covers Mr. Webb’s service with the 2nd Marine Air Wing in Cherry Point, N.C.
This interview covers Mr. Newsom’s service as an ammunition carrier and machine gunner with the 3rd and 9th Marines in Cho Lai and Danang, Vietnam.
Ron Michael grew up in East Natick; several of his neighbors had served with the U.S. Marine Corps, and that’s where he enlisted in 1956, right out of high school. He would serve three years as an amphibian tractor repairman, serving in the United States and in Lebanon.