"It is also a policy that has cost the United States
countless service members---men and women who were doing patriotic work and
risking their lives daily defending a country that said it couldn't tolerate
them telling the truth about their sexuality."

Sun-Sentinel Editorial on the issue of "Don't
Ask-Don't Tell"

In February 1954 I enlisted in the United States
Marines. I went through boot camp in the swamps of the Carolinas and was then sent to Camp Pendleton, California before being
shipped off to Korea. I spent over a year there cleaning up as that's what
Marines did/do. It was near the end of the war and before I was shipped back to
the States the war was over. I was no longer needed and, as in WW2, gays in the
military were being kicked out on any pretense.

I had served my country ably, willingly, giving my
all and I was rewarded with an 'undesirable discharge' just for the fact that I was gay. I was never asked and I never
told--I was accused by someone who I never knew
and found guilty without a trial.

The country saved a lot of money over the years, and
especially the past few years with my health problems, and I still have a little
residual of bitterness left BUT whenever I hear the U.S. Marine Corps Hymn, or
see the recruiting ads in the movies, I fill with that Marine Corps pride.

ONCE A MARINE ALWAYS A MARINE AND 'THEY' CAN'T
TAKE THAT  AWAY FROM ME!