Patriot Stories from the United States Marine Corps

JOHN P. McMAHON

JOHN P. McMAHON

Dec 1, 2018 | ,

John Paul McMahon was born in St. Cloud, Minnesota in 1947. He was the oldest of five children in the McMahon family. He got the first name, John, because his father, a WWII veteran who had been the navigator on a B-17 bomber, had lost his brother John during the war; and his middle name, Paul, was chosen for an uncle on his mother’s side, Paul, who had been killed in action during the war. John grew up and attended schools in St. Cloud, and graduated there from Cathedral High School with the Class of 1965. During his childhood years John had a best friend, Dave Nelson, who also graduated from high school in 1965. At the time, knowing that being drafted for the war in Vietnam...

ROBERT “ALLEN” LEATHERWOOD

ROBERT “ALLEN” LEATHERWOOD

Mar 1, 2018 | ,

Allen Leatherwood was born in Austin, Texas in 1983 but he grew up in a country home near Elgin where he attended public schools. In high school he was a 3-year varsity Football letterman and was also on the Power Lifting Team. As a 17 year-old during his senior year, and with his parents consent, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Both of Allen's grandfathers had served in the military and he had an uncle that was an Army Vietnam veteran, but Allen was the first Marine in the family. He graduated from Elgin High School with the class of 2001 and was soon sent off to begin training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in California. After completing Boot Camp in November 2001, he...

GABRIEL TAMAYO

GABRIEL TAMAYO

Apr 1, 2014 | ,

Gabriel Tamayo was born in Lockhart, Texas in 1925. He grew up there and attended public schools. He was still in high school when his draft notice came in 1943, but Gabriel didn’t wait. He dropped out of school and enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve instead. He entered active duty in San Antonio on December 11, 1943, and was sent to San Diego where he went through boot camp. After boot camp and advanced individual training at Camp Pendleton, Gabriel was immediately sent off to the Pacific Theatre without having any home leave. His ship sailed on May 13, 1944, and his destination was Pavuvu, in the Russell Islands northwest of Guadalcanal. At that time, Pavuvu island was...

VINCENT (VINCE) RIOS

VINCENT (VINCE) RIOS

Jul 1, 2013 | ,

Vincent Rios was born in Houston, Texas in 1945. After WWII his family settled in Bryan for several years and then, when Vince was eight, they moved to Fort Worth where, from second grade on he spent his growing up years. He was attending Diamond Hill Junior High School in 1960 when he first met Cheryl, the girl who would become his wife. He liked being on the football team in high school, but Vince describes those times as “tumultuous” and says he was a “high strung” teenager. Among his misadventures he spray painted his school’s initials on a rival team’s bus (Castleberry High) and that got him kicked off the football team and out of school for a week. Nonetheless, Vincent...

CHARLES S. (CHUCK) GAEDE

Jan 1, 2012 | ,

Charles S. Gaede was born in Olney, Illinois in 1944 and he grew up on a farm in Edwards County near West Salem. In his first five school years, he was one of four students in his class in Shelby School, a one-room country school. He moved up, attending the West Salem School through 9th grade, and then Edwards County High School in Albion, where he graduated with the class of 1962. He enrolled in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and in October 1964 joined the Marine Corps Platoon Leader Course. He graduated from the university in January 1967, was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve on February 10, 1967, and entered active duty May 31st....

RUBEN ESPINOZA

Apr 1, 2011 | ,

Ruben Espinoza was born in Lockhart, Texas in 1930. He grew up there in the care of his grandmother and attended school until sometime in his twelfth year. Although very young, he did some work at the Baker Theatre in Lockhart and learned to run the movie projector, a skill he used to advantage in later years. When he was thirteen, he was sent to live with his sister in San Antonio where he continued to attend public schools for another two years. At age fifteen he moved out on his own, lived in a rented room, worked as a projectionist in a movie theatre and also worked in a grocery store on weekends. Two years later, just days after his seventeenth birthday, Ruben visited...

JESSE J. FARMER

JESSE J. FARMER

Jan 1, 2010 | ,

Jesse J. Farmer was born in Devine, Texas in 1926, the first of three children born to James T. and Bessie (Rogers) Farmer. In his early childhood, his family moved to Uvalde. His father became chronically ill there while working for a car dealership, so they moved to Llano, the parental home of Jess’ mother. After some months in Llano, her family set her up in business and she operated a store in Travis County at “4-points” (intersection of today’s RM 2222 and RM 620). When Jess was about 13, his mother turned the store over to her brother and they moved into Austin. They lived in the 10th Ward in east Austin where he attended 6th grade. His mother found work doing...

JOHN C. BURKHARDT

Jan 1, 2009 | ,

John C. Burkhardt was born in Austin, Texas in 1946. He was the youngest of four children in his family while growing up in South Austin and attending public schools. He went through Becker Elementary and Fulmore Junior High, and then graduated from Travis High School in 1964. Also graduating with John in the Class of 1964 were neighborhood friends James L. Brown and John Eli. Raymond Diaz and Bennie Matias, Jr. were two years younger, but they were also among his group of friends that lived within a few blocks of one another and all played sandlot baseball together in the vacant lot next door to the Burkhardt home. The first job that John ever had was with a local electric...

WILL A. BEATTY

Jun 1, 2008 | ,

Will Beatty was born in 1931 in San Antonio, Texas. He spent all his growing up years there, attending Highland Park Elementary School, Poe Junior High School, and then graduating from Thomas Edison High School with the class of 1949. Will says, “Thomas Edison High was in the north part of town then, but it has built up so that area is really more in the central part of the city now.” Shortly after graduation, he secured employment with Southwestern Bell Telephone, and he had a very good job for a young man at the time. He was trained to operate an “addressograph” machine that was used to print telephone bills, not just those for San Antonio, but for the cities all over...

ROBERT N. (BOB) LICHTENBERGER

May 1, 2008 | ,

Chapter 1919’s own, Patriot Robert N. (Bob) Lichtenberger, Past National Commander (2004-2005), died at home in Austin, Texas, April 30, 2008, at age 65. Robert N. Lichtenberger was born in 1943 in Corpus Christi, Texas. He grew up in South Texas and graduated high school in Agua Dulce as Salutatorian. He was also a letterman in football, basketball, and track and field and was offered a four-year university scholarship. But Bob, determined to serve his country, turned down the scholarship and enlisted in the Army in 1962. He was selected for Officer Candidate School and upon graduation in 1964 was commissioned Second Lieutenant. He earned Army Parachutist wings, Army Aviator...

KEN WALLINGFORD

Dec 1, 2007 | ,

Ken Wallingford was born in Munich, Germany in 1948. He says, “My dad was in the Air Force and like most “Air Force Brats” I really grew up everywhere. I went to school in a lot of places, mostly though in Florida, Maine, and New Mexico.” In 1966, Ken graduated from high school in the Miami Military Academy, Miami, Florida. He then attended Texas A&I College in Kingsville, Texas (now known as Texas A&M University, Kingsville). In September 1969 he enlisted in the Army. He completed Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training in Infantry at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and then graduated from Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia. After receiving his “jump wings” as an...

WILLIAM C. (BILL) LANE

Oct 1, 2007 | ,

Bill Lane was a WWII Glider Pilot who flew two combat missions into German held territory. His tow planes were shot down both times when he was still short of his landing zones and he was wounded when his glider was hit during the second mission. His experience carrying 101st Airborne Division troops into Eindhoven on Operation Market Garden closely mirrored scenes from the movie “A Bridge Too Far.” This is his story. William C. Lane was born in Greer, in the middle of “the Upcountry” of South Carolina in 1920. He grew up and attended public schools there and then enlisted in the Army, entering active duty May 27, 1938. He was assigned to the 4th Coast Artillery Regiment,...