14 Jan 2021 Garand Picture of the Day - 1948

[Mark in Rochester]

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[browningautorifle]

I'm wondering if this is Parris Is as I've been to MCRD San Diego back in the '70s when lots of the old buildings were still there and don't recognize this one? Or is it somewhere else altogether? Shouldn't get cold enough to warrant gloves in California...?

[Mark in Rochester]

I'm wondering if this is Parris Is as I've been to MCRD San Diego back in the '70s when lots of the old buildings were still there and don't recognize this one? Or is it somewhere else altogether? Shouldn't get cold enough to warrant gloves in California...?

Parris Island Wood Barracks

[ssgross]

That last pic was my guess - because only the 1st & 2nd battalion parade ground was that big. The memory of my 13 week vacation at 3rd battalion recalls a far lesser parade ground about half a football field or less (may be exaggerating a bit) with mess hall at one end, sand pits on either side with 3 story brick barracks behind them. Sand pits on the other sides of the buildings too. Sand pits everywhere...and always filled with recruits day and night playing fun games together in the sand. 3rd battalion felt like the neglected step child in terms of facilities. Then again we were trained that we always had it worse than the other guy, always, no matter the circumstances, and would necessarily always thrive as the underdog. If we had ice cream on the ship, the navy guys had more colorful sprinkles on theirs. I think that mentality goes all the way back to 1775.

[browningautorifle]

My Great Uncle went through Parris Is back in 1919, I wonder what the facilities were like then? Doubt they were even Quonset huts...likely wooden shacks. Maybe even bell tents? I think the navy owned it until after WW2?

[Mark in Rochester]

My Great Uncle went through Parris Is back in 1919, I wonder what the facilities were like then? Doubt they were even Quonset huts...likely wooden shacks. Maybe even bell tents? I think the navy owned it until after WW2?

1914 barracks

[ssgross]

nice. I remember staying in quonset huts somewhere during overnight training...hump out all day, sometimes pitch shelter halves, sometimes the training area would have quonset huts with metal bunks...no mattresses. Most chose to sleep on the floor. It was a lovely swamp. On a clear day you can just make out bikinis on the beach at Hilton head across the water.

[browningautorifle]

I remember staying in quonset huts somewhere during overnight training

Pulgas? Margaritaville?

Those tarpaper shacks look about right, what I'd expect. He told me about a guy coming off guard and firing a shot down the line of bunks and out the end across the parade ground. That shack would fit his description.

[ssgross]

Pulgas? Margaritaville?

Jimmy Buffet comes up on the radio regularly. I'm ashamed to admit having to actually reference urban dictionary for the most to-the-point definition...
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Pulga
I want to say they were by the land navigation course? the grenade throwing was close by? I remember daytime and night time land nav, then using the huts to practice clearing buildings, sleeping in them, short truck ride to throw grenades, then...well...not much sleep that week - I'm sure someone will corroborate that USMC boot camp tends to be a blur. For certain, there were still huts somewhere on the base, like the ones in the pics, and days of different overnight training events. shelter halves were for when the ground was relatively solid (rain soaked mud/sand is considered solid), the huts were in areas where things tended to get swampy regularly.

[browningautorifle]

Pulgas was named for fleas... Las Pulgas: Eighteenth century soldiers accompanying a survey party for the San Luis Rey Mission were constantly bothered by fleas, or Las Pulgas, while camping here. The area was then named after the tiny pests that made a stronger impression than the physical beauty of the area.

A link on the whole camp, might bring you chills so grab a fifth first... https://www.pendleton.marines.mil/Ne...f%20the%20area.