LCpl Eshelman, USMC

Lance Corporal Eshelman was the senior enlisted man on my forward observation team, one of four such teams from India Battery, 3d Battalion, 11th Marines. Everyone called him "Esh." He and Green were my radio operators; I cannot now remember the names of the other two men of the team.

We had trained together in Camp Pendleton, in the winter snows and the summer heat of the desert at the artillery firing ranges of the Marine Corps Base at 29 Palms, California. We lived together aboard ship on our way to Okinawa and Vietnam, together with the infantry company from the 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, for whom we would provide supporting artillery fires.

"The men on my FO team were so young, and for Marines, they were very reserved. I felt honored when they asked me to join them on liberty. There were guidelines about fraternization among enlisted men and officers, but those rules didn't seem to apply here--not just now. We were all new to this, we were all young with only a few years separating them from me, and we had begun to be comrades-in-arms. So we fraternized and drank a few bottles of San Miguel beer together in Olongapo." (Excerpted from Images from the Otherland.)

We were nothing without are communications and Esh was an excellent radio operator who was an example to the others on the team. We were initiated together into combat and I will never forget them.

I failed in locating Esh, but I lucked out. Turns out that he had been looking for me for a few years, when a boot camp buddy of his ran across my book and sent a link to him from which he could send me e-mail. I work from my home and tend to leave my computer on until I go to bed. So about 10:00 one night I heard a beep, checked the mail, and there was my message from former LCpl Donald J. Eshelman. Oddly, he and I had vacationed several times in the same town in western New York - probably passed each other on the street. In the fall of 2003, Don and I and our wives enjoyed a reunion dinner together in Rochester, NY. There is something magical about being again with old friends. Thanks for the memories, Donald.