From :
[email protected] (Frank Gross)
To :
[email protected]
Subject :
great site gunny
Date :
Tue, 15 Oct 2002 06:59:02 -0400 (EDT
wow im really interested as you may see by my many pages i
been around
marines for a long time Knew guys who fought at bellau wood s
wwi
thou my dad and been a neighbor and a friend of sgt al
schmidtt
guadalcanal wwii at 15
i was a member of the naval coast patrol marine detachment at
17 i was
a full paris island graduate and a us marine Before the
corps i was
a member of the keystone ramblers a country western
entertainment
band But in my first years in the corps i mixed in quite well
with
the boys from the southern states Especial those who were the
deep
south musicans Boy how many nights we stayed up all night long
playing
and singing in the head at camp lejune Next morning our sarge
would
say as we fell out for revile Heard you guys had a party last
night
OK now were really going to party around the barracks 12
times MOVE
But so much for rommance Yep it wasnt long after that id
going into
the 6th fleet med cruise Where i was lucky to find another
small group
of hillbillys with the taste for singing and playing that music
we now
call country and western
Every sunday we had a happy hour aboard ship used to be called
ROPE
YARN SUNDAY At times the group of us went ashore at a uso here
and
there like france italy greece etc to do a bit of entetaining
at an
officers club etc They gave us the name of the SALT WATER
COWBOYS
back then Boy those were the days
Well wasnt to long before all hell broke lose when we got to
Istanbul
turkey in late june the world changed As south korea was
invaded And
trueman spoke out to say I WANT ALL MARINES READY FOR AN INCHON
INVASION NO MATTER WERE THEY ARE So that was the end of my
guitar
and time for a B AR
ON september 15 1950 we landed at inchon and a short time
later went
to the 38th parrell Wasnt to long after we were back at sea
waiting
for the wonson landing which was to take us up to the chosin
reservoir
And i think ever marine knows the story from there on and back
to the
sea in december But to my amazement i heard those words from
my
child hood days once again RETREAT HELL My dads buddies of
ww one
spoke the same phrase when speaking of bellau wood france Say
sarge
did you every hear the poem CAPTAIN JIMMY JONES AND HIS DEVIL
DOG
MARINES Boy that was a poem but its older the the lou diamond
days
But it getting more current even through the above facts leads
to the
roots of my pages in country and military compositions If you
take
note to the song in my country composition called SAILING THE
OCEAN
BLUE its bassed on my 6th fleet military days in a humorous
way
Many of the others i composed while at chosin few reunions in
new
orleans nashville etc
In the ballads of honor the lyrics are mostly bassed on my
feelings on
the chosin reservoir
the YOUNG MARINE is me But the most emotional two songs are
the
Christmas ballads
espcial THE DIAMOND IN THE SKY Of which is read every year at
many
churches After the story of THE STAR OVER KOTO RI
The story and music of A WALK TO FREEDOM has been also read
and played
at local korean peoples churchs in english and korean IN fact
tv
national channel 6 wpvi has run a documentry on it The
diamond in
the sky is now in the hands of a motion picture screen writer
Hoping
for a good current movie on the korean war If it happens ill
let you
know
well sarge so much for rommance but if you like any part of
the
above facts of my life and days in the corps i be glad to
compose a
more detailed profesional data to it ok thanks buddy for
the great
great site semper fi
ps if you like to print any of the above are short stories
gathered on
my sites your sure welome
Oh next week ill be reciving a new edition cd of the ballads of
honor
korea if you like to send me a us mailing address id be glad
to send
you a free gift copy
frankie g semper fi
http://www.yesterdayscountry.com original country music
http://www.yesterdayscountry.com/koreanwarballads.html
