Comments

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  JOHN BALDINO February 17, 2012 at 10:06pm

  Jay, I worked in the 21 building which was the building in front of the Admiral's house. It was the chest medicine building. We had active TB patients on the 3rd floor. After becoming senior corpsmen on the 1st floor, the commander who ran the building offered me the job of doing the TB and fungal skin test. I had my own office on the 1st floor and would get chits to go to different floors thru out the hospital to give the tests and go back 2 days later and check for results. I had this job for 9 months before my drop card came in in 8/69. I went to Pendleton in Nov for FMS and went to the 3rd Mar Div in 2/70. By then they had been pulled back to Okinawa. I went with BAS 3/9. That was where I met the corpsmen from balboa I knew.  We went afloat twice, we went to subic bay, Hong Kong, Singapore, spent 1 week in Korea on an operation with the ROK marines, spent 6 weeks at the marine training area at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan. We also went off the coast of vietnam twice and were waiting to load in the copters for back up for 1st mar div operations. When the army invaded cambodia we rode on the LPH back and forth between the DMZ and Danang
  waiting for the NVA to come across the Z. I did make it in country by being able to hitch a ride on the mail chopper into Danang and saw a friend who worked at NSA Danang. I was going to reenlist for cardio pulmonary school off of the coast so I could get the money tax free but I had some personnelman on the ship tell me I could not get the money because I was shipping to early so I did not do it. When we get back to Okinawa I went to Divdoc and the master chief told me I would get the money but not tax free. Long story short, I did not reenlist. Because I am from New Jersey they sent me to Amphib base Little Creek, VA

  for my last duty station.
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  Jay Swartz February 17, 2012 at 9:04pm

  John, where did you work at Balboa? We got to go to FMS right out of school. We were told after FMS graduation that we would be in Vietnam with a year. I made it a year. Who were you with in Vietnam? I was with Fox 2/12. I met several Corpsmen in Vietnam that I had known at Balboa. Alonzo Cole, Mike Mannot, Ray Thorton, and Mike Titko. Cole was wounded during Operation Dewey Canyon and I hear that he was killed. After Vietnam I went to Camp Pendleton for my last year. After I got out I was waiting at the LA Air Terminal, I looked up and Cole was standing about 10 feet from me. We saw each other at the same time and the first thing out of my mouth was "I thought you were dead". Anyway we had a nice visit before our flights. I don't know what happened to the rest of those guys.  
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  JOHN BALDINO February 17, 2012 at 4:31pm

  Jay,my corps school company got passed over for going to FMS out of school. I originally signed up for pharmacy school thats why I stayed at balboa after school. Most of my company, the ones who did not apply for C schools went to NH Yokosuka. After talking to some students in pharmacy school at that time, I decided I did not want to do that. Another A school classmate of mine, this one did end up going to the pharmacy, we bought a car from another corpsmen who had orders to nam in the summer of 68. It was a white Austin Healey converible that he parked by the front gate. I moved off base in 69 to C street with a corpmen who work in the Derm clinic. He got orders after me to NSA Danang. I did meet a fellow balboa corpsmen when I got sent to the 3rd Mar Div. His name was Joe Sennott and he was with 3/9.
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  Jay Swartz February 17, 2012 at 1:44pm

  John I worked in the grey ghost. I started on the ground floor in general surgery then I moved to the ER. I can remember some of the nurses names that I worked with. Miss Mitchell, Miss Kershner, Miss trazousky( I know I spelled that wrong. Maybe that was why we called her Miss. T.) Miss Allen and Miss Chart. I cannot remember the Corpsman's names that I worked with. I lived in the barracks. I liked Balaboa. I tried to go back to the ER but there were no 2nd Class openings in the ER. I would like to find out what happened to the nurses and Corpsmen I worked with, and knew while I was there.
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  JOHN BALDINO February 17, 2012 at 11:35am

  Jay,

  So you left Balboa in Nov 68. I was still working on 21 1 then. So you were in the big grey ghost, right? Did you live in the barracks? The only nurse's name I remember from that building was a Miss Mersky (I think that was the spelling).
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  Jay Swartz February 17, 2012 at 11:15am

  John Baldino, I don't remember anyone by the name Kool working in the ER, but there was a guy from South Africa that worked in internal medicine; I think. A lot of the names have dissappeared from my memory.
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  Jim Decota February 17, 2012 at 10:03am

  Richard, that goes for you too! We could staff the entire sick bay before she even arrives!
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  JOHN BALDINO February 17, 2012 at 9:59am

  Jay Swartz,

  When you worked in the ER at Balboa, was there a guy with the last name of Kool who was from South Africa working with you?
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  Jim Decota February 17, 2012 at 9:58am

  Dave, the Iowa will be in San Pedro in the Spring. They'll need a corpsman! Interested? I am in contact with one of the PBC board members, I can sign you up!
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  David Freeman February 16, 2012 at 10:47pm

  John Baldino,

  After a stint at Naval Hospital Guam I went back to San Diego for OR Tech School. Then I was assigned to the USS Long Beach homeported in San Diego so I got to spend quite a bit of time there.