A Country Worth Fighting For

Marines landing at Guadacanal (PC: Karl Soule, USMC Archives)

http://nedforney.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/A-Country-Worth-Fighting-For.mp3 “If this country is worth living in, it’s worth fighting for. There is no set pattern – no time when you can say you’ve done enough.” – Albert Ireland, USMC, WWII and Korean War veteran, 9-time Purple Heart recipient Born in Cold Spring, New York, during the final months of WWI, Albert L. Ireland seemed…

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We’ll Go Down Fighting Like Marines

Marines fighting their way through Seoul, September 1950. (PC: USMC)

“Hang on, Bert. I’m coming to get you!” – Medal of Honor recipient PFC Gene Obregon to his buddy, PFC Bert Johnson, during a firefight in Seoul Athletic, witty, and hard working, Eugene “Gene” Obregon, was the kind of kid everyone liked. Born on November 12, 1930, in Los Angeles, California, he graduated from LA’s Theodore Roosevelt…

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Walking in the Boots of a Marine

A Marine rifle platoon moves toward the enemy. June, 1952.

“I have good memories of my time with the Marines.” – Johnny Nam, interpreter and guide during the Korean War He’ll always remember his first week scrubbing pots and pans for the Marines stationed near Yongchon, his hometown. “I thought it might be a good way to learn English, get food, and maybe even earn…

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Following in His Father’s Footsteps

Fighting In Korea On the night of November 27, 1950, PFC Joe Dunford, a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) gunner, sat shivering in his foxhole at Yudam-ni, a village deep in the mountains of North Korea. It was his 20th birthday. Having already fought at the Pusan Perimeter, Inchon, and Seoul, Dunford, like all the Marines…

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A Marine for All Time

Capt. Stevens and his men at the Battle of Okinawa

John Stevens, the steely-eyed, tireless Marine who fought in World War II and Korea and played a major role in establishing the Korean War Memorial Foundation’s memorial to Korean War veterans at the Presidio, passed away on May 25, 2021, just four weeks after celebrating his 100th birthday. During his 23 years as a Marine,…

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There Was an Angel on Her Back

On March 26, 1953, nearly four months to the day that the Korean War armistice was signed, one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history began: The Battle for Outpost Vegas. Located in the strategically important “Iron Triangle,” a bitterly contested area along the DMZ, or MLR, Main Line of Resistance, Outpost Vegas was…

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A Famous Landing and an Infamous Missile Launch

Yesterday, the 67th anniversary of the Inchon Landing, was a particularly memorable Friday.    For South Koreans, the commemoration of one of the boldest, most successful amphibious operations in military history began with a typical early-morning commute and “Americano” – the coffee drink of choice for millions of Koreans. But, as has been the case all…

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