Bill Paxton knew he wanted to be a marine the day his family buried his dad, a marine who had been killed while fighting the Japanese during the Pacific campaign of World War II. His drill instructor in boot camp had a significant impact on him and would later be the focus of the movie The DI. His early years in the marines formed the basis for his successful career; he twice served as a drill instructor and had two tours of duty in Vietnam as a grunt. His impact on all who he came in contact with was evident in the drive that pushed Ken Norton, his former recruit, to become the Boxing Heavyweight Champion of the World. Paxton received the Bronze Star for heroic actions in Vietnam and was also awarded several Purple Heart Medals for wounds he received in battle. Having achieved the rank of sergeant major, he retired from active duty after thirty years; still, he proudly says, "Retired, but still active!" He has become an icon in the marines and is one of the most well-known marines in the San Diego area.

OOORAH!

Biography of a Marine Icon: Sergeant Major Bill "Ooorah" PaxtonBy GREGG STONER

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 Gregg Stoner
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-4189-2

Contents

Forward.............................................................................................ixIntroduction........................................................................................xviiiPart One:...........................................................................................1Chapter One: The Beginning..........................................................................3Chapter Two: Growing Up.............................................................................8Chapter Three: The Hell of Boot Camp................................................................19Chapter Four: Sea Duty..............................................................................32Chapter Five: Military Police.......................................................................42Chapter Six: Recon: First Time Grunt................................................................49Chapter Seven: Becoming a Drill Instructor..........................................................69Chapter Eight: The Horrors of Vietnam...............................................................90Chapter Nine: Back To the Drill Field-Close Combat Instructor.......................................113Chapter Ten: The Anchor.............................................................................132Chapter Eleven: The Quest to Honor the Known Marine.................................................138Chapter Twelve: Vietnam, My Second Tour.............................................................144Chapter Thirteen: Twentynine Palms..................................................................162Chapter Fourteen: Recruiting Marines................................................................170Chapter Fifteen: Okinawa: First Sergeant, Ooorah!...................................................185Chapter Sixteen: Back To MCRD Support Battalion.....................................................194Chapter Seventeen: Camp Pendleton-Making Sergeant Major.............................................200Chapter Eighteen: The Lingering Affects of War......................................................214Part Two:...........................................................................................219Chapter Nineteen: A Chip-Off-The-Old-Block..........................................................221Chapter Twenty: Civilian Duty at MCRD...............................................................230Chapter Twenty-One: Retired, But Still Active.......................................................248Chapter Twenty-Two: An Interview of SgtMaj Bill "Ooorah" Paxton by Gregg Stoner.....................255Chapter Twenty-Three: Reflections by Marines and Friends............................................276Chapter Twenty-Four: Poems, Writings, and Hymns.....................................................287Chapter Twenty-Five: Afterward Sergeant Major Bill "Ooorah" Paxton Day..............................300Chapter Twenty-Six: SgtMaj Bill Paxton's Photo Album................................................306Glossary of Marine Corps Terms......................................................................408Credits.............................................................................................423

Chapter One

The Beginning

The Great Depression was still going strong when I was born on July 11, 1935. My parents, like most parents, were struggling to make ends meet. The world was in economic crisis and there was a major political shift occurring around the world. Japan and Germany were increasing their military strengths that would change the world.

Times were really tough for families during the depression-we had very little money and could not afford to heat our home in Brightwood, a community on the east side of Indianapolis, Indiana. Winters there were bitter cold. We used to scavenge along the railroad tracks to find pieces of coal that fell off the trains. We scrounged around to find old newspapers and pieces of wood to burn in the fireplace just to keep warm. Still, there many nights when we had to just huddle under layers of blankets just to stay warm.

My dad and uncle joined the Marine Corps when I was about five years old, and he was away most of the time. When he got home on leave he would take my sister and I to the amusement park and let us ride on the rides-those were special memories to me because we were all together and we were having fun. My dad meant a lot to me, ooorah!

I was only seven years old when the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor. I remember the horror that my family and everyone felt over the attack. We listened to the newscasts on the radio, and I remember it was hard to imagine such a thing could have happened. My dad was home on leave at the time. That night civil defense workers went door-to-door telling everyone to turn off their lights and close their blinds and curtains. It was a very scary time for everyone. My dad knew he was going to war with most other young men in America and he soon received his orders to depart. Before Dad left he pulled me and my older sister Joyce Anne aside and told us that while he was gone we were to do our very best at whatever we were doing-advice I would always remember my whole life, ooorah! He gave us a hug and a kiss and then left to fight in the war-that was the last time I would see my dad alive.

My mother took over as head of the family at that point and our struggling continued. She was a real dedicated mom and she sacrificed enormously for us by working as a waitress at the Fegi Well restaurant, and later at Woolworth's department store. She had to walk a quite ways to get to the trolley and then rode the trolley to work. She rented an old double-house at 2329 Wheeler Street from our neighbors, the Bostic's, and the rent was fifteen dollars per month. The neighborhood was very rough, and at night it was dangerous to walk on the sidewalk-I used to walk down to the trolley station at night to meet both my sister, who also worked after school at Woolworth's, and my mother, and together we would all walk home, always walking down the middle of the street to avoid being mugged or attacked. We had no phone, radio, or television. Every dime we earned had to go toward just surviving. If we wanted to listen to the radio, or later to watch TV, we had to go to the Bostic's house next door. The Bostic's were the only family in the neighborhood that had a radio-it was one of those huge radios in a large wooden cabinet. The sound from that radio was magical to us kids and we were mesmerized by the programs we listened to. As kids growing up during those hard times we had to use our imaginations to have fun-unlike kids of today who rely on computer games and TV programming, ooorah! Before TV came along we listened to the radio and the many shows and plays that were put on. Our imaginations painted the pictures in our minds. We had no playgrounds to play in so we played in the streets outside, and as little boys do, we played cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, soldiers playing war games, hide-and-seek, and a lot of baseball in those streets. We had a lot of fun growing up then despite the hardships around us.

The Bostic's were the first family in our neighborhood to get a TV, and we used to go to their house on Friday nights and watch the Friday Night Fights that were sponsored by...