Posted on 04/03/2024 7:58:53 AM PDT by Chainmail
Numbers were different series for different services and times, and from what locations, et. Mine was from Atlanta Ponce DeLeon Induction Center in May of 1968 Airforce.......
6 months they changed it from AF127890XX to an FR(my social security number).
Ah, Ponce Induction center. now there’s a memory.
Next stop PI.
2570297
ahhhh
FYI, my dad’s USAAC WWII number was in the 349XXX series and he was enlisted in 1939
If it had been, you'd likely have joined during WWII..
Sadly, both of my uncles and my father served in the Army Air Forces in WWII and they developed a rather loftily superior attitude when dealing with me - one of uncles said that "anybody who's dumb enough to join the Marines during a war is an idiot".
It was quite a while until he and I spoke again.
I was drafted.
8 of us out of about 200 had a blue sheet of paper on our induction record books.
They haul us off into separate room and a Marine 2nd Lt. comes in and tells us he is going to administer the oath. (I was 5’9” and weighed 160 and my concept of a Marine is John Wayne, so why do they want me ?)
One of us gets out of line and says no way...he’s joining the army.
A friend of mine from the hood sticks his head in the door, sees me and asks hey Dxxx what are you doing in here?
The 2nd Lt. goes into a drill instructor voice and says hey you get in here and stand next to him.
He does and we take the oath. Too Funny. I was with him up to VN then we got separated.
On the flight to MCRD San Diego boot camp, i gets to talking with the guy next to me and I tell him I was was drafted and I asked him about his enlistment...he tells me “The judge said...” again too funny.
Too funny was over cause then came the yellow footprints...
When I came noe to announce joining, my stepmonster proclaimed “Only thugs and criminals join the Marines”.
This must have just pleased the hell out of my father, who spent WWII as a navy corpsman saving the lives of Marines on Guadalcanal, Okinawa, etc.
She did not like her stepkids much.
Their attitudes may have come from the extremely heavy losses air crews over Europe eclipsed that of the marines, even at Iwo Jima. They were two different types of War environments and both were horrific.
It has been correctly pointed out to me that we had Service Numbers, not serial numbers… Must be getting old to have made that mistake!
We had a draftee join us in Echo company 2/1, early in ‘67 and we didn’t believe him - but he was living proof that the Marine Corps was actually taking draftees! We found that to be crazy, since in our view, that wasn’t any place for anyone but volunteers.
Sad that the Corps resorted to that system, but our draftee was a fine Marine for us.
Now - when were you in ? 257Xxxx is a tall service number!
1468876, I even know my father’s at 224683. USMC Old Timers.
Reminds me of Willie and Joe from;
‘Up Front’ during WWII!
Thanks
69-71
just dang...
Sheer madness ... as a minor-age military brat I saw it less directly than you, but I don’t miss much.
Interesting. Mine is 2057635
OK, I'm boot - when did you come in?
On July 23, 1963, Nam was in 65/66 with 2/1. How about you? I established and ran the VC (mine and boobytrap) Trail behind the old Navy hospital at Mainside, Pendleton until I got out in July 67. Did you ever go through the trail while I was the instructor?
I arrived in Vietnam in January '66 and in November '66 was assigned to Golf company 2/1 as a Scout Observer for my parent battery, Bravo 1/11. Last until May '67 and then finally got out of the hospital (that same WWII temporary hospital at Camp Pendleton) in December '67.
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