The Legacy of the Twins Platoon

About the Book

In early June 1967, Marine Corps recruits from Minneapolis-St. Paul and outlying Minnesota received a letter stating all those scheduled for active duty in June would go as one platoon on June 28, 1967. One hundred fifty Marine applicants would be shipped to San Diego, California, to the recruit training depot. The Minnesota Twins baseball team was sponsoring the unit.
They were sworn in on television at a pregame ceremony and were guests of the Twins at the game. By the end of the fourth inning, the recruits were hustled to buses whisking them to the Wold-Chamberlain Field Airport, and they flew to San Diego. Before dawn the next day, the Twins Platoon met their drill sergeants at the receiving barracks of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. By the end of the year, the Marines were in Vietnam sprinkled across the length and breadth of the Marine Corps operating areas of I Corps, the northernmost part of South Vietnam where they experienced some of the toughest combat of the war. Khe Sanh and Hue City were just a few of the hot spots they encountered as the 1968 TET Offensive rolled across the country. Not all members of the Twins Platoon came home in one piece. Some did not come home at all. In The Legacy of the Twins Platoon, author Christy Sauro Jr. tells their complete stories from baseball to combat and their lifelong readjustment to civilian life.

About the Author

Christy W. Sauro Jr., a former Marine Corps Sergeant, was a member of the Twins Platoon. He served in Vietnam from December 1967 to January 1969. After being honorably discharged in 1970, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Technology degree from Northwest Missouri State University. He had a successful career as an insurance agent for Country Financial and retired after forty-seven years. Sauro and his wife have three children and three grandchildren and live in North Branch, Minnesota.