The first issue of 2013 “Now Hear This” the official USMCCCA newsletter, should be arriving in your mailbox soon. If you DO NOT receive it, then you need to make sure CCHQ has your correct mailing address. You can MAKE SURE you get future newsletters by using the membership update Read more…
The “exercise” we went through February 4 trying to get information on the passing of Col. Barbara “Bobbi” Weinberger tells us this Association can do things better. The day started with a call from the Deputy PAO at MCRD San Diego asking for information about Major Margaret Weinberger who had Read more…
Looking for more personal info on the late Major Barbara “Bobbie” Weinberger who will have military honors rendered February 6. No problem with the honors or funeral but G-3 would like more personal info than they have on her career. She was at El Toro. If you have any personal Read more…
Rosenthal photos up for auction
NEW YORK—Bonhams is honored to announce its upcoming 22 February sale, World War II: the Pacific Theater, the first-ever auction to focus entirely on the war’s historic events in the Pacific Ocean and western Pacific Rim. The chronologically structured sale begins in December 1941 with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and concludes with signing of the peace treaty in Tokyo bay on the USS Missouri in September, 1945. From iconic monuments to ships models, this sale offers powerful, authentic WWII material sure to interest individuals and institutions alike.
“We only have a few more years to learn from our WWII veterans during their lifetimes, so the timing of the sale is important to collectors,” explained Tom Lamb, the Director of the Books & Manuscripts Department at Bonhams in New York, and one of the specialists for this sale.
The sale’s top lot is the original 1945 Iwo Jima Monument, a symbol of wartime bravery and national unity which was unveiled on Constitution Avenue in Washington DC in November, 1945 (est. $1,200,000 – 1,800,000). It is one of the most potent images of heroism in battle of the 20th century. The world-famous monument depicts the raising of the Stars and Stripes on the summit of Mt. Suribachi by five Marines and a Navy Corpsman. Joe Rosenthal, an Associated Press photographer, captured the Pulitzer-Prize winning scene that inspired the monument’s creator, Felix de Weldon. The monument is perhaps best known in its secondary incarnation, the eighty-ton bronze Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Bonhams will auction de Weldon’s original cast stone version, which until 2007 had been drawing crowds at New York’s distinguished Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.
“Into The Fray” by Tom Mascaro
Into The Fray: How NBC’s Washington Documentary Unit Reinvented the News
By Tom Mascaro
ISBN #978-1-59797-557-5, $29.95
Into The Fray vividly recounts the characters and experiences that helped create a unique, colorful documentary film crew based at the Washington bureau of NBC News. From the Kennedy era through the Reagan years, the journalists covered wars, rebellions, the Central Intelligence Agency, covert actions, the Pentagon, military preparedness, and world and American cultures.While the above excerpt from the book’s foreword by Drew Pearson might not give goose bumps, don’t be fooled. This is a darn good read!
For we Marines who grew up during this period and served in virtually every “clime and place” mentioned, the book explains many of the reasons why we were there risking life and limb. You will meet World War II Marine combat correspondent Stuart Schulberg, son of Los Angeles movie royalty, and Ted Yates, who cut his journalistic teeth on the Camp Lejeune Globe in the early 1950s, you will be right at home.
Former Marine Captain Michael McClung, a Vietnam war veteran, seemed to speak for all those gathered at the Mall in Washington, D.C. yesterday. He choked a bit as he addressed the crowd. “We have a legacy of service and we can only ask that you remember us.” McClung, father of Read more…
By Jack T. Paxton, Executive Director
For photos of the event click here
There have been many highlights in this organization’s long and glorious history dating back to the late 1940s but none would match that associated with the dedication of the Brig. Gen. Robert L. Denig Sr. Memorial at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, Quantico, Va., on November 17.
With more than 70 members, friends, and relatives of two of the original “Denig Demons” looking on, the Memorial was officially unveiled by Mrs. Bernice Stavisky, Mrs. Maria O’Leary, and Brig. Gen. Paul A. Kennedy, Director of Public Affairs, and Bill Hauptfleisch, President of the USMCCCA.
Bernice, wife of Sam Stavisky, said at the unveiling, “This was Sam’s dream. He loved this Association and loved being a Marine…”
Bernice and Maria are the only two surviving wives of Denig’s Demons and, if you went by the smiles (and some tears) each was thrilled to be included in the festivities. Bernice said, following the unveiling, “This was Sam’s dream. He loved this Association and loved being a Marine in World War II although it took a waiver from the Commandant of the Marine Corps for him to serve…”Fred Lash, past USMCCCA President, read a letter that Sam wrote to him just prior to his death requesting that the Association do everything it could to honor Brig. Gen. Denig and the concept of the combat correspondent program which started in 1942 and continues today. The Denig Memorial is the only edifice of its kind at the Museum that recognizes Marines serving in the 4300 and 4600 occupational fields.
The program began inside Semper Fidelis Chapel with President Bill Hauptfleisch welcoming everyone and introducing special guests. He then introduced Chaplain (Commander, CHC, USN) William D. Stallard for the invocation. Bill then turned the program over to Brig. Gen. Paul A. Kennedy, Director of Public Affairs, HQMC.In his comments, General Kennedy reminded the audience that what General Denig started in 1942 continues today. “Today’s Marines recognize those who came before them and are definitely aware of the legacy they have inherited.” He assured the audience that they, too, are continuing to tell the Marine Corps “story” to the American public.