Reflections of a Grunt Marine: Memoirs of Bruce F. Meyers, Colonel of Marines - Softcover

Bruce F. Meyers

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0984722580 ISBN 13: 9780984722587

Publisher: Patos Island Press, 2015

Reflections of a Grunt Marine is the personal memoir of Bruce Meyers, whose adventures began early in life and continued through two wars and his time as a Colonel of Marines.

At thirteen, he built and used a diving helmet to recover items lost overboard in Lake Washington; at sixteen, he had climbed all six of Washington state s highest peaks; at seventeen, he was a summer forest fire lookout in the Cascade Mountains.

These were preludes to a distinguished twenty-eight-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps, which began with the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) at the University of Washington. After further training in the Marine schools at Quantico, Virginia, Meyers was commissioned as a Marine lieutenant in January 1945. Released from active duty in 1946, he worked as a National Park Service Ranger on Mountain Rainier, remaining in the Marine Corps Reserve until called up for active duty when the Korean War broke out in 1950. He left the Reserves to be a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps, where he began fighting in wars.

Meyers commanded a rifle company on the front lines in Korea and led a small team behind the lines to rescue two wounded Marines. In Vietnam, he was a colonel commanding the Seventh Fleet s Marine Landing Force, and then commanded the 26th Marine Corps Battalion at Khe Sahn.

Meyers distinguished service as a leader of men in combat will long be remembered, but his peacetime activities for the Marine Corps may become his true legacy. Between his service in the Korean and Vietnam wars, he was involved in the development of methods for clandestine insertion of military teams into hostile territory, both from air and sea. As part of this duty he formed the first Force Recon Company, a unit that could carry out these missions and was expanded to a Second Force Recon Company. Many of the techniques developed at that time are still in use by the SEALS and other special force units.

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About the Author:

Bruce F. Meyers was an active youngster--growing up in the Pacific Northwest, he built and used a diving helmet at the age of thirteen, and climbed all six major peaks in Washington state when he was sixteen. He entered the University of Washington's Navy Reserve Officer Training School and graduated as a 2nd lieutenant of Marines in 1945. Following battle action during the Korean War, Meyers spent much of his time in the Marines developing clandestine means to insert specialized troop units in the war zones. Some of the techniques Meyers developed are now used by Navy SEALS and other branches of the military. By the time of the Vietnam War, Meyers had been advanced in rank to colonel, and among other assignments he commanded 6,300 men at the site of the fabled siege of Khe Sahn. He retired after twenty-eight years in the Marine Corps and returned to the Pacific Northwest, where he practiced law for more than two decades. He currently lives in Seattle, WA.

Review:

"An inspiring story of a 'Grunt Marine'--a participant and innovator in some of the most pivotal chapters in Twentieth Century military history."

----W.E.B. Griffin, #1 Wall Street Journal and New York Times best-selling author of The Corps,Honor Bound, and Men at War series

"Reflections of a Grunt Marine is a 'last hurrah' celebration of a long, remarkable, can-do panorama life by an exemplary member of the Greatest Generation. Bruce Meyers has lived a life of courage, determination, and accomplishment through three wars and much more--surviving to share his story now."

----Dave Olson, author of Bonded by Water, CIA officer during Korean War

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