WW2 Marine
Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 5:37 pm
A few weeks ago while attending our family reunion, I had a chance to talk to my Dad`s cousin "Red"Moody who is 93. He did a stint in the Marines in the late 30`s, then re-uped when the war broke out. He was in the 1st Division. While on the island of Cape Briton (I think?), He was approched by a Major and asked to remove a rather large tree that was too close to the officers mess. The Major asked; "Sarge, can you fell that tree without crushing the mess tent?" Red replied that he could. The Major, somewhat dubious, asked what he wanted as a reward for the job. Red replied that a steak dinner would do. The Major said it was a deal, and to pick some men and start in the morning. Next morning he had 4 Marines, 2 crosscut saws and an axe. There was a crowd starting to gather and bets were made. The Major told Red to check the wind so the tree would not fall on the mess tent. Red said; "Dont worry Major, I aim to drop it away from the tent". The Major asked; "Sarge, just where do you intend to drop this tree?" Red walked out from the tree and made a mark in the sand with his axe handle. "I will drop her right here", he said. Before the war Red and his brothers- Ike and Sprout, with there father would work up a stand of timber down in the bottoms, and hew the logs into railroad ties for cash money. Anyhow, he put 2 men working the notch and 2 men sawing the backside of the log. When they were about through a wind blew up blowing the wrong way. A crack was heard, and the tree swayed....Red said, "Hold-up boys! After the wind died down they resumed their sawing. Directly another louder crack was heard and the crew stepped back. Yes you guessed it ,... The tree fell right on the mark. The crowd cheered as the Major walked up to Red. "Hear is your reward" he said and handed him a peice of paper....It was a promotion to Gunny Sargent!