We few, we lucky few: for he who sheds his blood with me today, him I shall call my brother tomorrow.

Motto inked on the sea bag of Sergeant (E-5) Don Aherns, Hotel Company Weapons Platoon M-60 machinegun section leader, the Second Battalion, 27th Marines Regimental Landing Team (RLT) at Ha Dong Bridge, Viet Nam, 1968. I know. I was there. I was in the same weapons platoon. I knew Don. I saw his seabag. He was a Marine's Marine.

1968. A bloody year in I Corps, Republic of Vietnam.

As author Edward F. Murphy tells us in his excellent book, Semper Fi Vietnam, [available in the UTEP library], on page 382, "At the peak of the war in 1968, more than 86,000 Marines were ashore in South Vietnam--more than 25 percent of the Marine Corps' total strength." Out of these 86,000 Marines, as he tells us elsewhere on page 250, roughly 4,618 were killed in action, and another 29,320 were wounded in action, for a combined total of 33,938 casualties, roughly 40% of the total pairs of Marine boots on the ground for that particular year.

My tour from November, 1966 to December, 1967. A bloody time for Fox Company, the Second Battalion, First Marines, w/more than 45 Killed in Action.

And now, for a comparison and contrast between two combat battalions, one in World War II and the other in Vietnam.

Colonel Glover S. Johns' famous 1st Battalion, 115th Infantry, 29th Division, aka The Indestructible Clay Pigeons [of St. Lo].

"From Omaha Beach to the Elbe, this battalion sustained a loss in killed and wounded of 2,384 officers and men -- almost three times its strength. Of these, 454 were killed in action. And its commander was commended for taking objectives with minimum losses." Forward to Col. Glover S. Johns' fascinating book, Clay Pigeons of St. Lo, [UTEP Library], by Maj. Gen. William H. Sands, US Army.

2nd Bn, Ist Marines, aka The Professionals, "Vietnam Wall of Honor."

During their years of deployment in Vietnam, 2/1 sustained at least 546 Killed in Action (KIA), including some 19 officers ranging from 2nd. Lieutenants to one Lt. Colonel and one Naval Lt. Commander. If we assume the same ratio of 5.25 wounded to every Marine killed as the Army suffered in this combat unit in World War II, that would give 2/1 a total of 2,867 Wounded in Action(WIA). Then, by adding the wounded to the killed we can say that 2/1 sustained at least 3,413 casualties during its time in Vietnam. Sure enough, this too, adds up to "almost three times its strength" as Maj. Gen. Sands comments about Colonel Glovers' WW II battalion.