Robert Winn

My father was a career Marine enlisting in 1941 after Pearl Harbor, commissioned in 1944 as an, Infantry 2 nd Lieutenant, and retiring as a Lt. Col. in 1966, just 6 months before I was commissioned as a 2 nd Lt. from the NROTC unit at the University of Idaho. I inherited his sword, most of his uniforms, and most of his accouterments. Upon arriving at TBS in June 1967, some of the officers (Capt. J. D. Jones) loved that I had “old Corps” stuff, and some, particularly our Company Commander Major Angus gave me grief at every inspection but couldn't deny they were regulation.

Upon graduation from TBS as an 0302 (my requested MOS) I had orders to Vietnam, departing Travis Air Force base at 1800, Dec. 31 st 1967. Jan 4 th, I landed in Da Nang and was assigned to Golf. Co. 2 nd platoon, 2 nd Bn, 26 th Marines stationed in Phu Bai. On Jan 20 th we were loaded on C130's and told we were going to Con Thien but after takeoff, I was told we were headed to Khe Sanh. I didn't know where either of them was at that point so it didn't make any difference until we landed at Khe Sanh and the whole picture changed. I remember thinking “this isn't good.” I was wounded on April 8 as Golf Co. was the first Company to leave the wire from hill 558 after being kept inside the perimeter for 2 ½ months. The objective was hill 700, from which we had been receiving fire for the entire time we were on the hill, to search for and destroy the enemy. We found them.

When I rejoined the unit, the 2 nd Bn was at Camp Carroll, then Con Thien, and in June became the 3 rd Marine Divisions Battalion Landing team always working along the DMZ (not good duty.) I was later transferred to Hotel Co, as the XO, and as the Company Commander. I left Vietnam in late Jan. 1969 with orders to Camp Pendleton (my home for about 6 years growing up as a dependent.) Since I'd initially requested Recon at Basic School, I finally got my wish and spent the bulk of my time at Pendleton in the 5th Force Recon Co, until they were disbanded in 1970 and finished my commitment with an Infantry regiment. I left the Marine Corps in late 1970. I always thought I would make a career of the Corps since that was all I'd known for the first 25 yrs. of my life but that changed.

I married my high school sweetheart 10 days after returning from Vietnam and 10 months later she was pregnant with our first child. I was due to return to Vietnam in 1970 and decided, based on my first experience, "it was a war we weren't going to win, and I wasn't prepared to leave my ife a widow and baby without a father" so put in my papers to exit the Corps.

I spent the next 40 years on the Company side of the Property Casualty Insurance industry retiring in Monterey, Ca. in 2010. My wife (Sue) and I have been married since Feb. 1969, have 2 grown daughters and 5 grandchildren. We've lived in Carmel Valley, Ca. since 1994.