Annals of Chesty O'dunahy (ePub)

Adam Dumphy's first introduction into the aura, the espirit, the tradition, of those exalted personages,  'Marines of the Old Corps' was in fifth grade when he ran across a book by J. W. T. Jr. Though he knew even then that it must be partly fantasy he was thrilled by the whole idea.

            This fascination plummeted the night he went to see his brother embark with the Ist Marines at San Diego's Broadway pier for the Guadalcanal campaign. That was a macabre scene: the flood lit shabby pier with a high grey wall on the right, actually the hull of a navy transport; the orderly line of Marines winding up the two stage embarking ladders; the grizzled veterans laughing and smoking while the replacements quiet and pale. And behind the barrier their loved ones unashamedly sobbing.

            It increased again, as a Navy Recruit (Not a Marine at family insistence.)  at the  NTC San Diego where he floated though Boot camp while just beyond the chain link fence his Marine counterparts grunted through seemingly impossible evolutions.

It decreased again through involvement in the medical care of the broken bodies of those who did return at USVAHosp LA.

Then resurfaced in years of medical practice in an area where many senior officers retired and told their stories.

He longed to record the aura for subsequent generations but didn't know how to present it. He finally decided on a comedic format in accord with the fantasy but such that would never distract from reality, (the sobbing Mothers and broken bodies).