The Paper
Basilone Cont. from Page 1 guns. The squad was part of Company C, which was near the center of the defense perimeter.
Basilone, then twenty-six years old, was of average height but wellbuilt, and a veteran soldier. Born in Buffalo, New York, on November 4, 1916, he grew up in Raritan, New Jersey. His father, Sal, was a tailor who had emigrated from Italy and his mother, Dora, was born in Raritan.
After Basilone graduated from eighth grade, he quit school and at the age of 17, with signed papers from his parents, joined the peacetime Army. Following basic training, he was assigned to Company D of the 16th Infantry in Manila, the Philippines (the Filipino and government and U.S. government had close ties then) and there he became a champion boxer and given the nickname of “Manila John” by the men in his company.
In the Army, other traits besides his boxing prowess, became evident. He was by the force of his self-confidence and personality a natural leader. He also showed an exceptional mechanical talent, and became an expert with guns, particularly machine guns, and surprised enlisted men and officers with his
Give Us This Day Our Daily Chuckle This week, a compendium of wit, wisdom and neat stuff you can tell at parties. Enjoy!
So...Anybody interested in a ride in a helicopter for 4 people? I'm still looking for 2 more adults to join us.
We leave early Saturday morning (July 2nd) from SAN and will fly to Catalina Island where we will have breakfast, then have lunch on a yacht.
Then we’ll do a flight up the coast to see the beautiful shoreline returning to San Diego for dinner.
If interested, please message me. Preferably someone with a helicopter and yacht, otherwise we can't go... •••• Two Mafia hitmen are walking deep into a forest in the middle of the night. One of them says, "I gotta admit I'm scared out here.” The other replies, "You're scared. I gotta walk back alone.”
Page 2 • June 30, 2022
ability to breakdown and re-assemble the numerous parts of the weapon blindfolded.
When his time of enlistment was up, Basilone returned home. He took various jobs, all of which bored him. Meanwhile, there were rumors of war. If war did come, Basilone wanted to be where the action was. In July, 1940, he joined the Marine Corps and trained at Quantico, Virginia. Because of his leadership abilities and knowledge of machine guns, he quickly moved up the ranks, making Private First Class in August, 1940, Corporal in May, 1941 and Sergeant in January, 1942. Basilone seems to have been a born soldier.
Those soldiery qualities would be tested beginning Friday night, October 23, 1942, on Guadacanal.
With his finger on the trigger of the machine gun, in the stillness of the night, Basilone waited for the order to fire. For long moments, the jungle was quiet, then suddenly, the silence was shattered by voices. The Japanese were yelling taunts, which surprisingly were in English (a number of the Japanese, particularly officers could speak English): “Blood for the Emperor! Marines, you die!” A smile is a sign of joy . .
A hug . . is a sign of love.
A laugh . . is a sign of happiness . And a friend like me? . . Well, that's just a sign of good taste. We'll be friends until I am senile Then we'll be new friends. •••• Grandma & Grandpa
Grandma and Grandpa were visiting their kids overnight.
When Grandpa found a bottle of Viagra in his son-inlaw’s medicine cabinet, he asked about using one of the pills. Paul said, "I don't think you should take one they're very strong and very expensive." "How much?" asked Grandpa. "$10. a pill," answered Paul.
"I don't care," said Grandpa, "I'd still like to try one, and before we leave in the morning, I'll put the money under the pillow." Later the next morning, Paul found $110 under the pillow. He called Grandpa and said, "I told you each pill was $10, not $110. "
"I know," said Grandpa. "The hundred is from Grandma. " •••• I don’t always go the extra mile but when I do it’s because I missed my
The Marines were quick to respond, “______you! Come on, you yellow ______!” Again taunts. The Japanese wanted to say, “Roosevelt,” but because they weren’t able to say certain syllables, it came out, “Roozerover eat shit!” And “Babe Roo eat shit!”
The Marines hooted back, “Your grandmother eats shit! And so does the Emperor!” Then came the roar of voices from the darkness of the jungle. “Banzai! Banzai!” And on they came.
Over the battalion phone circuit, Colonel Puller’s Virginia drawl resounded, “Commence fahring!”
The night exploded. The crack of rifles, the stutter of machine guns, the twang of mortars—a cacophony of noises that almost drowned out the screaming Japanese who, with bayoneted rifles, charged, many of them covered head to heel in camouflaged leaves, in their crouched positions looking like rapidly moving bushes, the spent shells popping out of the guns, but like a river in flood, the Japanese kept coming, and then they ran into the knee-high rows of barbed wire, their charge slowed down as they struggled to maneuver through it, the next wave crowded into them, their bodies becoming an entangled mass. The Marines kept blazing away. Someone was tapping Basilone’s shoulder. In the infernal din of bat-
exit.
•••• Most people don’t think I’m as old as I am until they hear me standup. •••• I miss the 90’s when bread was still good for you and nobody knew what kale was. •••• The Surfing Sermon
The minister and his wife were having breakfast on a Sunday morning. He remarked that his sermon today would be on surfing.
She asked “Why surfing? You don’t know anything about that subject.”
He replied “I’ve made up my mind, that’s what I’m going to talk about !” So she let it go at that.
On his way to church he had second thoughts and decided to give his old “Sex in Marriage” sermon instead. It was received well by the congregation and one lady, in particular, was so inspired that she rushed over to the minister’s house, arriving before he did, and told the wife how much she had enjoyed the sermon.
The wife replied, “Oh, he really doesn’t know much about that subject. He’s only tried it twice and he fell off both times.” •••• Sister Mary Ann’s Gasoline Sister Mary Ann, who worked for a home health agency, was out making her rounds visiting homebound
tle, he could make out only two words, “Almost overrun.” Basilone jumped to his feet and as fast as he could ran to his second section and there he found three of his men dead and, tended by a medic, two men badly wounded. One of the machine guns was demolished, the other was jammed.
He ran back to his pit, picked up a machine gun, shouted at two of his men to follow him, and as they headed for the other section, they ran into six Japanese who had infiltrated the line. Before the Japanese could react, the two other Marines, from hip level, fired their rifles. The Japanese crashed to the ground.
In the gun pit, while two of his men loaded and began firing the machine gun he had carried, Basilone took hold of the jammed machine gun and began to take it apart. In the darkness of the pit, Basilone moved his fingers over the machine parts. His fingers stopped, and then slowly moved over a single part. The head spacing was out of line.
In a moment the machine gun was ready. Basilone set the gun on the tripod, and with one of his men feeding the ammo belt into the
Basilone Cont. on Page 3
patients when she ran out of gas. As luck would have it, a Texaco gasoline station was just a block away. She walked to the station to borrow a gas can and buy some gas. The attendant told her that the only gas can he owned had been loaned out, but she could wait until it was returned. Since Sister Mary Ann was on the way to see a patient, she decided not to wait and walked back to her car.
She looked for something in her car that she could fill with gas and spotted the bedpan she was taking to the patient. Always resourceful, Sister Mary Ann carried the bedpan to the station, filled it with gasoline, and carried the full bedpan back to her car.
As she was pouring the gas into her tank, two Baptists watched from across the street. One of them turned to the other and said, 'If it starts, I'm turning Catholic!' •••• New Bra Technology Dr. Calvin Rickson, a scientist from Texas A&M University has invented a bra that keeps women's breasts from jiggling, bouncing up and down, and prevents the nipples from pushing through the fabric when cold weather sets in. At a news conference, after announcing the invention, a large group of men took Dr. Rickson outside and kicked the pudding out of him.
