Newsletter Issue 3 2017

An Invitation by Rich Hine

A week or two before the “great eclipse”, my wife got the idea that she wanted to get into the path of “totality”. She told me that it was a big deal so I started doing some researching where the path of the total eclipse was supposed to hit. Oregon! I made some phone calls and was told by several hotels along the coast that everything had been booked up for months- if not a year. The local casino in Lincoln was renting $80 rooms for $500 and you had to reserve for 2 nights. I gave the wife the bad news and she seemed ok with us staying here in Washington and only seeing a 93% eclipse. As an act of desperation, I grabbed my MCTA roster to see if any members lived in the area. I found that Dan Whitlock in Depoe Bay! I made a call and reached his daughter Shannon. She confirmed that there was concern there that all the stores and gas stations would be sold out by the huge crowds. She had no idea where we could stay if we came down.

A short time later, I got a message on my phone from Dan (never met him before). He told me to “come on down” and had a vacant house right next door for us! He said that the owner of the house was an eye doctor and lived somewhere else and he wanted someone to house sit. We started packing!

When we arrived, Dan, his daughter Shannon, and son- in-law Paul, welcomed us with open arms. After the wife and I did some local tours of the coastline, we had a chance to get to know Dan and the family. Seems, he is a Korean War veteran. Despite being over 80 years old, Dan’s recollection of his Marine service was amazing. He told me that he joined the Corps in 1949 and was a “1-yr wonder”. After his training at San Diego and mechanics school at Del Mar, he returned to civilian life. In 1951, he was recalled to active duty and was put into a replacement pool and sent to Korea to man M-26 tanks. He said that he never saw a live NK tank because the aircover had already shot the crap out of anything that moved. He had some amazing stories about his Marine buddies and had photos to match (will be added to the web site photo gallery). I could not believe that he still knew most of their names and their hometowns.

After his year in the replacement pool, Dan returned home and had some more interesting stories about owning and sinking a ferry up in Alaska as well as his life as a builder. He gave us a tour of his house that he built (no small feat considering the size) and all his life’s numerous collectables. My wife told me that it seemed that Dan packed about 5 lifetimes into one! But with all his experiences, what he talked about most was the Marine Corps and his Marine buddies.

As we were leaving that night, Shannon pulled me aside and thanked us for listening to her dad’s stories about the Marines and Korea and that she had never heard them before and maybe he just needed a fellow Marine to listen. It could have gone on for hours more.

ust before we left for home, Dan cooked up a lot of sourdough pancakes (made with his homemade starter) and Shannon treated us to scrambled eggs.

Not a bad visit and we made new friends. Thanks for the MCTA hospitality! Semper Fi Dan!