Page 5 - Aerotech News and Review – March 2024
P. 5
Vets gather at memorial of WWII Marine
By Dennis Anderson
Special to Aerotech News
LAN CAST ER, Cali f . If there is a service that defines itself on its culture and heritage, the U.S. Marine Corps stands out, and nothing is so celebrated as the Marine Corps birthday.
The Corps was launched Nov. 10, 1775, in a Philadelphia pub, Tun Tavern, and the celebrated lore is that the “Corps of Naval Infantry,” raised, rough men with cutlasses and muskets, formed in a bar amid tankards of strong ale.
So, it was fitting that Palmer Andrews, elder statesman of the Antelope Valley’s Marines, had his life celebrated and his death marked at Bravery Brewing Co., a pub as close in spirit to Tun Tavern as any such gathering spot.
Featuring a flag mural the size of a military helicopter and wall photos of hundreds of veterans, the Bravery microbrewery and pub was coowned by “Gunny” R. Lee rmey, the reallife Marine Corps D.I. who starred in Stanley Kubrick’s saga of Vietnam War Marines, “Ful l M etal J ac k et.”
E rmey, who presided at Bravery during several Marine Corps birthday celebrations before his death in 2018, introduced Andrews several times as the Antelope Valley’s senior Marine. It is honored tradition that the oldest Marine, and the youngest, join at the slicing of the Marine birthday cake, cut with a ceremonial saber.
“Grandpa loved cake, and he loved that cake,” his grandson and caregiver Allen Quinton said.
And the Marines gathered revered Andrews as the beloved senior Marine on deck.
Nearly 100 veterans, many Marines, oined by Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard brothers and sisters turned out Feb. 17, to lift their glasses in a farewell salute to a beloved comrade.
Family members gathered at a tribute table of photographs, awards and decorations, flags and memorabilia that chronicled Andrews’ adventurous life.
Andrews, who died age 98, on Jan. 11, 202, was the triple
crown of Marine Corps his- tory. Andrews was Marine infantry, the heart of the Corps. He was also a World War II combat veteran who served in combat with the legendary Lewis “Chesty” Puller.
A veteran of the “Blue Diamond Division,” the 1 st Marine Division, in the long-lived and fast vanish- ing population of World War II veterans, Andrew’s life was diamond rare. Of the 1 million Americans who served in World War II, about 119,000 remained alivein2023.
“My grandpa did not even
have a set of ‘dress blues,’”
recalled his grandson, Allen
Quinton, 55, of Palmdale.
“He was in training or com-
bat practically his entire time in the Marine Corps from the end of 192 to 195.”
As a private 1 st class, Andrews served through the most bloody and brutal combat of World War II. His baptism of fire arrived with his arrival on New ritain in the Solomon Islands sand, rocks, and dense jungle within range of the waiting Japanese enemy.
Andrews, with another 1 0 0 or so Marines, was tabbed for a long reconnaissance that became known as the Gilnet Patrol, named for a village. He got his assignment with a curt order from the legendary commander, Puller, who simply pointed and said, “You’re going.”
Photo Dennis Anderson
Members of the Marine Corps League gather at Bravery Brewing Co. to honor and say farewell to W orld W ar I I Marine Palmer Andrews.
They lived for weeks in the jungle, hunting and hunted by the Japanese, with raw nature, heat and disease as much an adversary as the enemy. Next, came one of the Marines’ bloodiest island fights, ranking with Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
The Marines landed on Peleliu Sept. 15, 19. The National Museum of the Marine Corps called it “the bitterest battle of the war for the Marines.” What had been briefed as a four-day assault of the small island became a battle of more than two months, with more than 2 ,0 0 0 Marines killed and 1 0 ,0 0 0 wounded.
Japanese dead numbered more than 1 0 ,0 0 0 with few prisoners
See MEMORIAL, Page 12
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