Glimpses Of The Marine In My Life

I have mentioned my Father-In-Law before on this blog.  He joined the Marines in 1942 and served in the Pacific.  He has a few pictures tucked away, and I grabbed a few to share with all of you.  The top one is probably taken right after he finished boot camp.  His bunch went to New Zealand for more training, then to Guadalcanal, where they became experienced at hunting down enemy in the jungle.

He landed twice on Bougainville, because he was part of a pre-invasion recon team.  This picture was taken after they finished up on Bougainville; I figured that out by zooming in on the plexiglass grip on the .45.  They still had Kwajelein, Guam, and Iwo ahead of them.

O.T. made it through all of the fighting without a scratch, but he came back to the states with Japanese typhus, and spent quite a bit of time hopitalized.  He looked pretty good by the time he had this photo taken in St. Jo after the war.

He went back to work on the CB&Q, got married, and did his part to help out with the baby boom.  Thanks for making it home safely, O.T.!

Update:
O.T. passed away at 12:21 AM, November 30, 2011 with his wife and daughters by his side.