In the Marines

by David Sussman


I’m shocked about the subject but I’ll try. It’s past 67 years ago, when I was 20 years old. I’m certain my mind is different than it was then, in 1942. I had the outlook and mind that I don’t have now, that I haven’t had for many years. I worked in Manhattan, and went to City College at night. I knew I was about to be drafted into the military.

One night, around that time, I saw a movie about a heroic American Marine. A few weeks later I was in North Carolina as a Marine volunteer with the rank of private. I survived the next 3 months of military training; some did not.

Six to 8 months of military instruction were followed by 3 years of working in Marine Fighter Aircraft maintenance. Much of the aircraft action was in the Pacific. I’m pleased to note that none of the pilots or any of the aircraft that I worked directly with were lost.

When I try to remember my four years as a volunteer in the U.S. Marines, I’m shocked that I survived to the present existence in a senior center writing class in the Bronx. I have never written about this or ever talked about this in 65 years.