uglyfatbloke,
I'm glad to help. I was a lowly Marine grunt at the end of the VN era so I do have a lot of first and second hand knowledge. The Marines were still transitioning from WWII equipment so I had the M-14 more than the M-16, we had the M-48A3 tank, flame throwers, 3.5" Super Bazooka, 106mm RCL, M1919 LMG for training, and web gear, helmet and canteen were WWII. I think our 105 and 155 arty was WWII also. The Army was not that far ahead of us. We got to train with the Royal Marines and FFL on Corsica. I have a WWII Ka-Bar and M1 Garand in my collection.
The Marines "celebrate" their birthday every year with a big get together. Over the years I've been fortunate to meet other Marines that were at Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Pelelieu, Roi Namur, Guadalcanal (as was my father-in-law), Guam (I was born there), Saipan, Chosen Reservoir, Khe Sanh, and many other battles. A good friend of mine was a Marine F-4 pilot in VN with two tours and two Purple Hearts. I've also met Kyle Carpenter and Brad Kasel and attended a talk by Gen Mattis when he was CENTCOM Commander. It was very humbling experience.
Up until about 2005, every other year in California they put on a Fighter Ace Symposium where they fly in 6-12 WWII pilots and Aces that would discuss their experiences and you'd get to meet them. I got to meet people like Gabby Gabreski, Jim Swet, Jeff De Blanc, Bud Anderson, Bud Mahurian, Marines who flew Corsairs with Pappy Boyington and Charles Lindbergh, Alex Varciau, Besby Holmes (P-38 pilot on Yamamoto Raid), Tuskegee airmen, and many others and had my son come along with me. It was great listening to the details of flying different aircraft and their tactics. Alas, they are all gone now.
I had a WWII Ace on my paper route as a kid too. A friend of my dad (a WWII Navy pilot) flew with Boyington. I still remember him saying what an ass Boyington was.
My wife's uncle flew B-25's in the Pacific and spent 3 days on a raft after being shot down. Her dad was a crewman on PBY Catalina's at Kaneohe Bay, HI on Dec 7, 1941 and PB4Y-1 (B-24) on Guadalcanal. Two from his squadron received the MOH, John Finn and Bruce Van Voorhees. You could write a book about his experiences.
When I lived in Coronado, CA in 1992 they flew in about a dozen WWII B-25's and put them on the deck of the USS Midway at North Island Naval Air Station that was being decommissioned. On 18 April, the 50th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid, we watched them all take off from the Midway, formed up and flew about 50 miles north and flew around Jimmy Doolittle's house for him to see them all before he died. It was awesome.
We had the 60th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain in Santa Monica, CA and I met German, British, American and Romanian pilots that flew in the campaign. They had a real Bf-109E, a Spitfire trainer and a Fiesler Stork there too that I got to see close up and fly. Standing on the ground I could look into the cockpit of the 109 and see the rudder pedals, that's how small it is. I also saw how the leading edge wing slats worked too. We had Adolf Galland come out for a Living History event but I missed him.
I did volunteer work for the Collings Foundation when their WWII bombers came into town and met many WWII crewman that came out to see the old birds they flew in. All WWII vets got to fly free which normally costs $450. USD I flew total of 2.5 hours in the B-24 for helping out. A good friend of mine from high school has 450 hours flying a B-17. He said flying it is like driving a dump truck with four flat tires.
Sorry if my reminiscing got off topic. I'll have to save all of this before I forget it. California had many opportunities like that and I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and know the right people. I met some great gamers there too. However, all good things must come to an end. I sold my house and took my money and guns and moved to Tennessee last month and don't regret it.
Happy Thanksgiving
Wolfhag