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The drive to Camp Las Pulgas was a little depressing. From the time I entered the Main Gate at Camp Pendleton til I arrived at Camp Las Pulgas I saw nothing but dry, brush covered , brown hills--everything looked dusty and hot! It was nothing like Quantico or Camp LeJeune which were lush and green. The road to Las Pulgas is named after the Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone--‘Basilone Blvd.’--a two lane road!
Checking in was not what I expected. Battalion Headquarters was in pandemonium. The 2nd Bn. and the Seventh Marine Regiment was being reconstituted after being disbanded in the years following Korea and the eventual downsizing that had taken place. Everyone was ‘new’. Boxes were everywhere and people were scurrying around trying to get set up. I met a First Lt. who introduced himself as the S-1 ( personnel officer ). I completed the necessary paperwork and found I had already been assigned to E Co., Second Battalion. I found the E Co. billet and checked in at the Company HQ office. The First Sgt. welcomed me and took me in to meet the Company Commander, Capt. Fred Tolleson. a Naval Academy graduate from ten yrs. earlier as I found out when he shared some of his background. Tolleson was a gung ho, hard charging, no nonsense Company Commander who treated his new officers like we were ‘boots’—which we basically were!
Over the next few weeks our command assignments were sorted out and those were:
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