I NEVER HAD TO DUCK
Adventures in the Peacetime Marine Corps
by
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From Uncle Homer Who Was Not a Marine On that Fourth of July, however, he took my challenge and taking my 22 caliber, single shot rifle dropped into a perfect prone position on the creek bank. He raised his right elbow high and then up and over, like a contortionist, so to tightly nestle the stock in his shoulder; anyone taught to shoot on a military range would instantly recognize the maneuver. He then proceed to sink three cans, at a respectable distance, with three quick shots, stood up, insured the rifle was cleared, returned it to me and walked to the makeshift bar for another drink. Later that evening, sitting together at the celebration bonfire I said, “That was some shooting, Colonel.” After a moment he said, very quietly, “I was always good with a rifle. When I was a kid I banged away at the squirrels with an old one shot 22 cat gun and when I was drafted they polished my technique so I always shot high expert.” After a long pause he continued, “Early in 1945, I was a driver back at battalion in a little German village and we started getting sniper fire. No one was hit but it was incessant. You do not want to be the last guy in your outfit killed and we knew the war was about over. Anyway, I saw movement in a tower, took aim, snapped off one shot and the firing stopped. When we went to look, I had killed a skinny, blond kid, maybe twelve or fourteen, dressed in parts of a Hitler Youth uniform. He had an old, Mauser hunting rifle, taller than he was lying beside him. No wonder no one was hit! I never fired a gun again until today.” What to say? After awhile I said, “How about bourbon?” He quickly agreed. Then I added, as a compliment, “Being able to shoot like that you should have been a Marine.” He replied, “I tried to enlist, but they said I was too old.”
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About the Book
In this engaging memoir, retired Pittsburgh public servant C.A. (Chuck) Peters tells the captivating story of his ardent, lifelong love of and “undistinguished” service in the United States Marine Corps. His affair started when he was a “Junior Marine” during World War Two in a little Ohio River town, continued through his commissioning as a second lieutenant in March of 1956 and discharge as a reserve captain in 1969.
While attending Thiel College in Greenville, Pennsylvania, Peters endeavored to enlist in the Corps’ Platoon Leaders Course only to be rejected for poor eyesight. A year later he tried again, and through a combination of chart memorization and lowered standards, he was accepted.
After surviving the grueling twelve-week PLC selection process, Peters, in March 1956, reported to the Corps’ six-month-long Basic School at Quantico, Virginia. Once there he muddled through and in October of 1956 joined the famed First Marine Division in California where he experienced peacetime active service with the Marines.
He met his future wife and love of his life, Georgina Chamberlain, at Thiel College. They were wed in July of 1957, over the strenuous objections of both families, and remained happily married until her untimely death in December of 1999.
I NEVER HAD TO DUCK reveals Peters’ love of the Marine Corps through true stories of his adventures in the storied Corps. But he also weaves tales of friends and acquaintances who served as Marines who did have to duck.
About the Author
Seventy–seven year old C.A. (Chuck) Peters is the retired director of the Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) award winning, $176,000,000 Mental Health-Mental Retardation–Drug and Alcohol-Homeless Program. He lives on Pittsburgh’s South Side in a prize-winning home that he and his wife Georgi renovated in 1990. He has three adult children and five grandchildren.