|
In
Memory of
Larry
Searight
Passed
away May 10, 2002
Larry
Searight
Larry
Searight served in Vietnam with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines,
Mike Company. He was Wounded in Action during Operation MAMELUKE THRUST,
losing his foot after stepping on a mine. Larry was on his way from
Southern California to La Grange, Georgia for his first Reunion with
Marines he served with. He made it to Fort Worth, Texas to his daughter's,
then succumbed to a massive heart attack. Larry will always be remembered
and missed by his fellow Marines. Semper fi, Brother~Brad
and Debbe Reynolds
Larry
Searight
I joined "M" Company in July of '68, was in 3rd platoon. Spent
the first week packing company gear because we were going tobe a roving
battalion for the monsoon season. Took a truck convoy to Hue, where
the gear was loaded on a LST, then to Da Nang. From there we went
to Phu Bai then An Hoa, or An Hoa then Phu Bai.
Joined the rest of the company, went to Hill 310 where we walked into
an ambush. We took a couple WIA's, and spent 7 days there.
From there over to Hill 55, got there for lunch, we were supposed to
stay the night, but got word that we were going to Phu Bai for another
operation. Everybody was mad because the movie that night was the "Dirty
Dozen".
I was wounded on August 17, stepped on a land mine. We were near that
Swiss or German hospital outside of Phu Bai or An Hoa. We were to hit
this village, but it was raining pretty hard and we lost our air support,
so the CO said we were going to set up a 360 for the night. My squad
leader started off, I let him get out about 15 feet or so. I followed
in his footsteps, took 3 steps and that's when the bobby trap/land mine
went off.
One of the corpsmen that patched me up I met him in the Naval Hospital
in Philadelphia, he was wounded around October. I can't remember his
name offhand. He did say the other corpsman was killed in the beginning
of September. This corpsman was Doc Wright I found out after finding
the "M" 3/5 site.
Semper Fi, Larry Searight
Platoon
#323, MCRD San Diego, April 1968
(click
to enalrge)
I'm
in the second row, fourth one in from the right, the next guy to me
has glasses. The
majority of the platoon came from Minnesota, but we had guys from
AZ, KY, TN. In searching for guys from boot camp, I have located 15,
with one name on the Wall. Hoping to find more.
Drill
Instructors were: S/Sgt. R. C. Jarrett, S/Sgt. R. W. Tanner, Sgt.
B. R. Stanley.
ITR
(click
to enlarge)
 
Larry
(left) and his former DI, S/Sgt. Tanner, meet up after 33 years!
Larry's
wife, Karolyn (left), and Debbie Tanner
Memorial
for Larry Searight
24
May 2002
M
Co. 3/5 Marines Bill Vandegriff and Jim Blankenheim brought the 3/5
Memorial wreath from our Reunion to Larry's Memorial.
Pictures
courtesy of Jim Blankenheim (M/3/5)
Rest
Easy Brother Marine, We Will Never Forget
[Home]
[Intro] [Table
of Contents] [What's
New] [My Marines]
[FMF Corpsmen]
[Combat Wives]
[Combat Histories]
[Memorials]
[Stories,
Poems, Memoirs] [Reunions]
[Picture Gallery]
[Links] [Guestbook]
|
