MICHAEL  C.  ARRAND
[A special accolade involving respected character and the persistence of memory may be found at the end of this report.  Readers will not want to miss this.]
Like Hiawatha, Mike came from "the shores of Gitchee Gumee … the shining Big-Sea-Water …"
Gitchee Gumee is the Ojibwe name of Lake Superior, referred to in that manner by a  French missionary in 1648 as being 'superieur' (higher) in elevation - not larger - than lower level Great Lakes to the east with names like Ontario, Erie and Huron.  In 1855, American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow indirectly referred to Lake Superior by using the Ojibwe name of Gitchee Gumee in his famed romantic, epic poem The Song of Hiawatha.   Mike Arrand often found himself on, in and around 'big water' during his wartime service in the Pacific.
http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_print.php?pid=283
www.wisconsininhistory.org
Mike Arrand's hometown was Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, located at the southeasern end of Lake Superior (Gitchee Gumee), where the busiest maritime navigation locks in the world are found.  From here, Mike joined the United States Marine Corps when he was 17.
http://web2.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/SooLock.html
Locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, looking downstream from Lake Superior
Mike’s hometown off to the right in this photograph
http://www.exploringthenorth.com/soo/locks.html
Some two years later Mike really was on the 'Big Water' when his artillery unit - Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines (3/10), attached to the 1st Marine Division - crossed the not-so-pacific Pacific Ocean.  That trip quite impressed on Mike what the term 'big water' could really mean!   For six months of tough combat in Operation Watchtower, Mike fought in the Solomon Islands,  on Tulagi for a few days and then on Guadalcanal for the next six months.   In fact, at the end of operations on Guadalcanal on 9 February 1943, "The only Marine ground unit still in action was the 3rd Bn, 10th Marines."
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Guadalcanal.html
http://www.hidesertstar.com/observation_post/news/article_c05fc670-1c20-11e3-adac-001a4bcf887a.html
This battalion (de-activated in April 2013) was about 560 men in strength.  Throughout the war, its  tactical mission was to provide fire support of infantry units of the various Marine Corps Divisions to suppress, neutralize or destroy enemy.   Their main weapons of choice were the 75mm Pack Howitzer and 105mm howitzer.
August 1942, Tulagi:  a 75mm pack howitzer of Battery H, 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines
http://www.ww2gyrene.org/weapons_pack_howitzer_75mm.htm
July 1944, Guam:  a 105mm howitzer of the 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Guam/USMC-M-Guam-5.html
Though Mike modestly does not dwell much on his six months at Guadalcanal, his battalion was one of several units attached to the 1st Marine Division awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for "outstanding gallantry" reflecting "courage and determination ... of an inspiring order."   The full wording accompanying the Presidential Unit Citation appears near the end of this report.
http://www.ww2gyrene.org/spotlight_2ndmardiv_awards.htm#DIVISION
Then, along with many others who survived the 'Canal, even many who were afflicted with malaria, Mike went to Pauatahanui Camp, about nine miles north-northeast of Wellington, New Zealand.   There for about nine months, 3/8 restored its battalion personnel and equipment strength, recuperated and trained extensively.   Fortunately, the beauty of the area and a lot of attractive New Zealand women provided welcome relief and raised spirits of the Marines.
Pauatahanui Camp on Motokaraka Point, Mike's temporary home in New Zealand
http://marinenz.com/Poriruacamps
Mike relates how by late October 1943, all manner of matériel were moved down to the docks in Wellington, and transports and cargo vessels were loaded for the next battle.  Though unaware of the details of their next encounter, Marines were beginning to get underway in their move to Tarawa where the hellish battle for a pile of sand and a small airfield began on 20 November 1943.  Tarawa was to acquire different nicknames, but "Bloody Tarawa"  and "Terrorwa" really convey the truth of what happened there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Battalion_Tenth_Marines
Mike and 3/10 were in Task Force 53, specifically Task Unit 53.1.2,  on board the USS Monrovia (APA-31), a Crescent City class attack transport of the US Navy.
http://pacific.valka.cz/forces/tf53.htm#galvan
USS Monrovia (APA-31)
www.navsource.org   and   www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Monrovia_%28APA-31%29
What a vessel Monrovia was!  Her wartime service and Mike's crossed paths a little over three months after her service finished in mid-August 1943 as the command ship for General George Patton and his US Seventh Army in the invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky).   By the end of the war in 1945, Monrovia had earned seven battle stars.
On 1 November 1943, Monrovia had finished loading at Aotea Quay in Wellington and departed for parts unknown, as far as other Marines knew at the time.  About a week later, Monrovia arrived at Efate Island in the New Hebrides (present-day Republic of Vanuatu).  Efate was about 1,500 nautical miles north-northwest of Wellington and about 600 miles west of Fiji.
Monrovia entered Havannah Harbor, up on the northwest coast of Efate Island, accompanied by the USS Maryland (BB-46) which was the 2nd Marine Division command vessel for the coming battle.  This stop was made for at least three reasons:  waiting for more vessels to join Task Force 53; practicing more amphibious landings at Mele Bay (on Efate’s southwest coast) while waiting for those additional vessels; and refueling Monrovia and resupplying the troops on board.
Documentation indicating the presence of Monrovia at Havannah Harbor comes from the HISTORY OF USS SHERIDAN (APA 51) …
"SHERIDAN arrived in Noumea, New Caldeonia on 18 October 1943, debarked her troops, and commenced unloading her cargo.  She sailed to Lamberton Harbor, Wellington, New Zealand on 21st, and on 1 November, sailed for Havannah Harbor, Efate Island, New Hebrides in company with the battleship USS Maryland, and attack transport USS MONROVIA."
History of USS Sheridan (APA-51).  Division of Naval History, Ships' Histories Secion, Navy Department, 1952.  http://usssheridanapa51.com/Sheridan_History.pdf
A WWII US Navy Seabee map of Efate Island, New Hebrides
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_approach_to_Efate_Island.jpg
Good planning and logistics made Havannah Harbor a good and practical place to be at this time for our convoy.   For at least 18 months prior to our arrival at Havannah Harbor, the US Army and, eventually, US Navy Seabees had been constructing port and airfield facilities at Havannah Harbor.  Initiated by the 101st Engineer Regiment of the US Army's Americal Division and completed by US Navy Seabees, this work gave the US Navy a support base that increasingly enabled its warfare strategy in the South and Western Pacific.  The first tough test of this build up was the Navy's costly but ultimately successful performance in the nearby Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/Building_Bases/bases-24.html
http://americal.org/about.html
Cronin, Francis. Under The Southern Cross: The Saga of the Americal Division.  Boston: Americal Division Veterans Association, 1978. 15-16, 31-32.
Early morning view to the west at Havannah Harbor, Efate Island, New Hebrides
www.treesandfishes.com
Mele Bay, Efate Island, New Hebrides (now, Republic of Vanuatu)
http://www.vanuatubeachbar.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/air-view-of-Mele-Bay.png
Havannah Harbor and Mele Bay were unbelievably beautiful stops for these Marines!  These  photographs bring back good memories, except back in November 1943, these harbors were fairly full of US Navy warships.  Strangely, these images pretty well give the impression that Efate was a sort of paradise, and it was, in a way.  These Marines knew, though, they were not tourists, and they dared not get very attached to the place.  Even today, one wonders how many, if any, Marines ever have gone back to Efate.  If few or none have, it is probably because they all remember just how terrible their next assignment proved to be.  Contrasting memories of Efate with memories of where their next assignment took place just boggles one's mind.  Some 70 years ago, if they had time to think about it, that was the case.  That still is the case, but Mike is aware that he really was at someplace as beautiful as Efate.  Painfully, Mike also acknowledges that these Marines might as well have gone to hell considering how ghastly battlefield conditions were after the coming battle in contrast to the natural beauty they experienced at Efate.
After a couple of days at Efate, Task Force 53 resumed our inexorable progress toward its as yet unannounced destination.  There was some scuttlebutt that these Marines were headed all the way to Wake Island, some 2,200 nautical miles north of Efate and some 2,000 nautical miles to the west of Honolulu.  This made sense, in that a successful amphibious assault there would avenge the loss of that island to the Japanese nearly two years previously ... the day after their attack on Pearl Harbor.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Wake.html
Time to think, perhaps too much time to think, as the convoy progresses toward the next battle
http://navyvets.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/wwiiconvoy.jpg
A few days out of Efate, Marines were told about Operation Galvanic and that Tarawa and Abemama Atolls in the Gilbert Islands were their destinations.  Briefings were held revealing details about their locations and about what we could expect there.  For example, Marines were told that before their arrival,  intense and sustained aerial and naval bombardment would have been finished, effectively reducing those places to rubble and destruction that nobody could survive.  Not bad, Marines thought! Our work will be done for them before we even get there!
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ACTC/actc-18.html
Well, it didn't work out that way, but more on that later.
A couple of hours before sunrise on 20 November 1943, Monrovia anchored in Transport Area Able, off Tarawa, waiting for the 'dawn’s early light' ... and a battle that would be recorded as one of the most intense and significant engagements in Marine Corps history.
Picture this:  sunrise finally comes in an ominous fashion:  looking to the east across Tarawa's lagoon, the eastern sky is all red and smoky, a result of fires caused by pre-assault naval bombardment.  Even though Marines were told that pre-battle bombardment would significantly erode the enemy's defensive capabilities, Mike says this battle turned out to be pure hell.  In some ways, I have tried to erase my memory of what happened there, but that's so very difficult to actually do.  I lost many buddies there, and my heart still aches just thinking about them.
Along with many other Marines on D-Day, I had finished a large, protein-rich meal; checked and tested equipment; reviewed instructions for what we would do in the coming hours; and waited … talked with others in my unit … and waited … and waited.  In fact, on D-Day, Saturday, 20 November, our unit and some others stayed on the Monrovia.  For the time being at least, we were held there in reserve.
On D+1, I am a 19 year old Marine corporal ready to move to shore with a group of my H&S 3/8's communications team. We were in the 1st wave landing on Red Beach 2 close to the pier.  Going in on the second day is probably the single most important reason why I am still alive, since D-Day proved to be so lethal to so many good men.  With me, I had my rifle, ammo, back pack, telephone and a roll of combat wire. The ride in was quite rough and wet.  We had some waterproof Jeeps but their exhausts leaked water, so I left mine.  I took cover under the pier, and gradually I was able to lay telephone wire to the beach.  Then we laid telephone line to one gun battery  ("I" Battery) and to a nearby observation post.
Again, I'm personally very glad we didn't go in on D-Day.  It was awful what our men on shore went through.   Unit cohesion broke down; individual guys worked with other individual guys to cobble together some sort of effective team.  Everybody did their best, but it just seemed like doing your best wasn't actually all that good during that first day. I'm sure a lot of the guys on shore didn't really know the what the outcome would be.  Even from our position in Transport Area Able, the sounds and a lot of smell of battle reached us on the Monrovia.
The punishment we took was something else.  It was brutal.  KIA and WIA figures during this 76-hour battle are awful but true.  Over 5,600 were killed, including enemy defenders and US Marines.  Over 2,000 Marines were wounded.  There was roughly one fatality every 48.3 seconds and one casualty (counting KIA and WIA together) every 34.8 seconds.  It was ghastly, and I'm still very upset about it all.  I lost a lot of really good buddies there.  The intensity of combat and the number of killed and wounded over such a short period of time seem to permit historians to rank the Battle of Tarawa as one of the most memorable in Marine Corps history.  Their perspective and mine, though, are different and very personal.  For me, it was pure, unrelenting trauma, and I have spent decades trying to forget it ... largely successfully.  Some things I'll never forget.
When the fighting stopped, a few of us guys in my unit were at the north edge of the airstrip.  All told, I was on Betio itself for 6 days.  Glad as hell to be off that bloody sand pile.  I just can't give words to the details of what my buddies and I went through until we left on D+6.  Too many terrible memories.
Somehow, we got out to the USS Ormsby (APA-49) for the trip to Camp Tarawa on the Big Island of Hawaii.   Survivors on that trip away from Betio were in a state of shock.  The mood was palpable:  somber emotions right at the surface, disbelief, angry, sad, questioning, shock ... we were in a wrecked state.
There were at least eight sea burials from the deck of the Ormsby.  On each of these very sad commitals, emotions and ideas ran round and round in our minds.  The mixture of anger (over losing our comrades) and gratitude (that we were still alive) produced irreconcilably conflicting emotions.  Each burial was very difficult to take.  All of us knew that each of those Marines had had a home, a family, perhaps a girl friend and hopes for a future.  Each of us had gone through the tough times of the Great Depression.  So many survivors say luck is the only explanation they have for surviving the battle.  Those who did not survive would probably say, if they could, that they just didn't have enough luck during the battle.  I don't know.  Perhaps both views are valid for the living. Nevertheless, these men that were buried need to be remembered!  They are my heroes, says Mike.
So, for Mike and readers of this report, at least these eight Marines are going to be memorialized, now.  Here are the surnames of these eight men buried at sea from the Ormsby while she was still at anchor in Transport Area Able:  Weldte, Hensel; Bettiek; Wells, W. #291324; Taylor; Benson; Soyak; and Hopp. Another 31 wounded were transferred to the USS Monrovia before the Ormsby departed for Hawaii.  We salute you. Rest in peace, Brothers.
USS Ormsby, APA-49:  Operational Remarks (War Diary) 20 - 25 November 1943.
http://www.ussormsby.com/pdf_files/1943_11_Tarawa_War_Diary.pdf
USS Ormsby (APA-49), six battle stars at war's end
www.ussormsby.com
At Camp Tarawa, I remember having much needed rest and recuperation and training - lots of physical and tactical training.  Once we had a great pig roast at the Parker Ranch.  On a liberty to Hilo, I remember meeting a wonderful family and spent time with them.
In summary, before Tarawa, I was at Guadalcanal and Tulagi.  After Tarawa, I was at Saipan, Guam and Iwo Jima.  Each of these battles was a grim, brutal fight; each, though, had exceptionally different characteristics.  And still I lost good buddies.
Among the medals I received back then are the USMC Good Conduct medal; the Asiatic-Pacific medal with five stars; the World War II Victory medal; the American Theater medal;  two Presidential Unit Citations; a Navy Unit Citation with two stars; the World War II Victory medal; the American Theater medal; the Asiatic-Pacific Medal with five stars; a USMC honorable discharge; and a Navy honorable discharge.
USMC GOOD CONDUCT             WWII VICTORY            ASIATIC-PACIFIC CAMPAIGN            AMERICAN CAMPAIGN
Navy Commendation ribbon:   Mike cites the Navy Unit Commendation with two bronze stars, and the unit action recognized in one of these commendations appears below.  Other unit action documentation remains to be found.   Text of the Navy Commendation ribbon citation appears below.
A respectable record of service in the Pacific is evident in the array of medals above, but Mike modestly elects not to go into the details of these events.  He does, however, provide sufficient information pointing to recognition for unit actions in which Mike participated.  In chronological order, the next three statements make clear Mike's involvement in three historically significant combat operations in the Pacific.
PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION - GUADALCANAL
Cited in the Name of the President of the United States
THE FIRST MARINE DIVISION (REINFORCED)
Under command of Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift, USMC
CITATION:
"The officers and enlisted men of the First Marine Division, Reinforced, on August 7 to 9, 1942, demonstrated outstanding gallantry and determination in successfully executing forced landing assaults against a number of strongly defended Japanese positions on Tulagi, Gavutu, Tanambogo, Florida and Guadalcanal, British Solomon Islands, completely routing all enemy forces and seizing a most valuable base and airfield within the enemy zone of operations in the South Pacific Ocean. From the above period until 9 December 1942, this Reinforced Division not only held their important strategic positions despite determined and repeated Japanese naval, air and land attacks, but in a series of offensive operations against strong enemy resistance drove the Japanese from the proximity of the airfield and inflicted great losses on them by land and air attacks. The courage and determination displayed in these operations were of an inspiring order."
Frank Knox
Secretary of the Navy
http://www.ww2gyrene.org/spotlight_2ndmardiv_awards.htm#DIVISION
ASSAULT AND CAPTURE OF TARAWA
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the
PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION
to the
SECOND MARINE DIVISION, REINFORCED
consisting of the Division Headquarters, Special Troops (including Company C, 1st Corps Medium Tank Battalion), Service Troops, 2nd, 6th, 8th, 10th and 18th Marine Regiments in the Battle of Tarawa,
CITATION:
"For outstanding performance in combat during the seizure and occupation of the Japanese-held Atoll of Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, November 20 to 24, 1943. Forced by the treacherous coral reefs to disembark from their landing craft hundreds of yards off the beach, the Second Marine Division (Reinforced) became a highly vulnerable target for devastating Japanese fire. Dauntlessly advancing in spite of rapidly mounting losses, the Marines fought a gallant battle against crushing odds, clearing the limited beachheads of snipers and machine guns, reducing powerfully fortified enemy positions and completely annihilating the fanatically determined and strongly entrenched Japanese forces. By the successful occupation of Tarawa, the Second Marine Division (Reinforced) has provided our forces with highly strategic and important air and land bases from which to continue future operations against the enemy; by the valiant fighting spirit of these men, their heroic fortitude under punishing fire and their relentless perseverance in waging this epic battle in the Central Pacific, they have upheld the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service."
For the President
JAMES FORRESTAL
Secretary of the Navy
http://www.ww2gyrene.org/spotlight_2ndmardiv_awards.htm#tarawa
NAVY UNIT COMMENDATION
The Secretary of the Navy takes pleasure in commending the
THIRD BATTALION, TENTH MARINES
for service as follows:
"For outstanding heroism while serving with the Second Marine Division in action against enemy Japanese forces on the Island of Saipan in the Marianas on 7 July 1944.   When Japanese forces initiated a final concerted attack down the west coast of the island before dawn of July 7, the 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines, was occupying a newly won position astride the railway along the west coast road, with two batteries disposed on the left of the railroad and the remaining two on the right and echeloned to the rear. The mounting enemy attack penetrated the extreme left flank of our front lines and moved between the coast road and the railway. Security elements to the front of the forward batteries recognized and gave battle to the oncoming force of approximately 600 Japanese supported by tanks. Battalion howitzers opened up at point-blank range, firing shells with cut fuzes; gunners employed ricochet fire when the fanatic banzai troops overran the forward section; and the canoneers, command post and supply personnel in the rear united as one to engage the infiltrating Japanese soldiery. Under the forceful direction of skilled officers, this artillery battalion functioned as an infantry unit despite the lack of specific training, the four batteries waging a furious and prolonged battle from quickly organized strongpoints and holding the line indomitably until relieved several hours later. Strengthened by fresh troops, the defending garrison continued its counter-and thrust-tactics and, recapturing the heavy guns which had fallen into hostile hands, knocked out three of the enemy tanks and annihilated approximately three hundred Japanese troops. By their valor, determination and sustained fighting spirit, the intrepid officers and men of the 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines, had succeeded in breaking the enemy's last desperate effort to oppose the seizure of Saipan, thereby hastening the conquest of this strategically important base. Their gallant defense of a vulnerable position in the face of overwhelming disparity adds new luster to the traditions of the United States Naval Service."
All personnel attached to and serving with the 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines, on 7 July 1944 are authorized to wear the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon.
James Forrestal
Secretary of the Navy
http://www.ww2gyrene.org/spotlight_2ndmardiv_awards.htm#NUC
Other than the little I have shared here about events at Tarawa, Mike says, over the years I have tried to make my short time at Tarawa a blank.  Had to.  Those were painful times.  I lost many buddies.  Far too many good buddies!   Those men who never came home are real heroes in my mind, and they are still over there!  As a Marine artillery unit at Tarawa, we acquired the nickname of The Lost Battalion.
Even almsot 70 years after Tarawa, my greatest hero in all my service in World War II was and remains my commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion 10th Marines at Tarawa, Lt. Colonel Curry.  In Korea, he was still fighting our nation's battles up on the DMZ.
http://www.tarawaontheweb.org/usordbat.htm
What sort of personal character would a military leader have that would leave such an indelible and positive impression on one of his men -  so long after one of the most brutal Marine battles in our country's history?  That question warrants inquiry, and the results of that inquiry appear hear and now.
A common observation here is relevant:  "Tell me who your heroes are, and I'll tell you who you'll turn out to be."   This applies to Mike Arrand, as it inevitably does to all people.  Mike's freely-given accolade about Manly L. Curry ... " My greatest hero in all my service in World War II" ... says a lot about Manly Lamar Curry AND about Michael C. Arrand.  It highlights the life-changing importance of role models and inferentially suggests qualities in Mike's character that should be recognized and shared.
Lamar Curry, as his family refers to him, was a 1929 graduate of the US Naval Academy and continued his military service to our country in the Marine Corps for 30 years with the rank of Brigadier General.  He was a 37-year old Marine Corps major when his service career and that of 18-year old Mike Arrand converged at Guadalcanal.   At that time, Lamar was the commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines, and Mike was in a communications unit in the H&S Battery of 3/10.    Lamar and Arrand were in 3/10 until after the Battle of Tarawa, and then their ways went in different directions for the remainder of the war.   Arrand got out of the Corps in late 1945, while Lamar remained in the Corps in a variety of roles and ultimately rose to the rank of Brigadier General.
Lamar’s last posting in the Marine Corps was as the Commanding Officer of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Program (NROTC) at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.  While at Northwestern, he also had the faculty position of Professor of Naval Science and completed his Masters degree in mathematics.
http://www.northwestern.edu/nrotc/index.html
Lamar’s son John says that his Dad looked on the men he commanded as his boys, as young Marines for whom he had the moral responsibility to lead, serve and inspire.  His Dad had values and a vision of life that included helping his fellow man according to the highest moral principles.  Those values promote qualities of life seen in leaders in many walks of life, and, in Lamar’s case, he came by these principles at an early age, through Boy Scouts.
Lamar, whose parents had died before he was five years old and whose older sisters became the main parenting figures in his life, joined the Boy Scouts at an early age.  The basic principles of scouting - THE SCOUT LAW ...  THE SCOUT PROMISE ... THE SCOUT MOTTO - formed and energized much of his outlook and approach to life.  Being trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent were essential guides to the development of good moral character.  For Lamar, these principles were meant to be lived, not just known.
To Lamar, an effective parent figure has the moral duty to live the principles of scouting so that the difference between the Boy Scout Promise and the Boy Scout Promise fulfilled could be manifest in the people's lives.
BOY  SCOUT                                                US  NAVAL   ACADEMY
PROMISE                                                  MIDSHIPMAN’S   OATH
On My Honor I will do my best                                   I solemnly swear I will support and defend
To do my duty to God and my country                        The Constitution of the United States
And to obey the Scout Law;                                         Against all enemies, foreign and domestic;
To help other people at all times;                                 That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;
To keep myself physically strong,                                That I take this obligation freely,
Mentally awake, and morally straight.                         Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion;
And that I will well and faithfully discharge
The duties of the offie on which I am about to enter,
So help me God.
BOY  SCOUT                                                           US NAVY
MOTTO                                                       (unofficial)  MOTTO
Be Prepared!                                                                     Not self but country!
The principles of scouting were the orienting principles by which Lamar always lived his life and, leading by example, these were life's essential principles he hoped to instill in the young men in his command.  Placing these two oaths side by side, one clearly sees the amazing similarities and consistencies between these documents.
http://www.scouting.org
http://www.usna.edu
Thoughtful, responsible and compassionate integrity seems to be at the core of how Lamar Curry led his own life and influenced the lives of others.  Nurturing, optimizing and transforming life experiences for himself, family members and others with whom he came in contact was the philosophical, even spiritual, context in which he sought to create a life well-lived for all he met in his enriching and long life.
While a book or two might do some justice in revealing the full expanse of Lamar’s life and approach to life, for this report three involvements of Lamar’s post-military career will suffice to illustrate how committed he was to enabling and empowering the quality of life for others.   With a focused sense of mission to individuals and communities, Lamar lived his life according to principles and ideals fostered and developed in the Boy Scouts, the Marine Corps and the Christian Gospel.
EMPOWERING INDIVIDUALS AS A TEACHER - Lamar capitalized on his Masters degree by teaching mathematics and working with students as a counselor in personal, academic and vocational ways. Several years later, in Virginia, through the auspices of Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship ministry, he taught math (and his wife taught basic reading skills) to prisoners at the nearby Rockbridge County Jail.   The goal in this endeavor was to help prisoners transform their lives and become self-confident leaders in their families and communities once they were released back into the community.  Lamar and his wife helped prisoners earn their General Educational Development certificate (GED) to empower these people’s sense of accomplishment and self-confidence,  inspiring prisoners to take care of themselves and be productive and contributing members of society.
http://www.prisonfellowship.org/about/
FACILITATING PRACTICAL COMMUNITY SERVICE - Lamar developed ham radio skills he had first begun as a boy, and then he progressed in that area of interest to the point where he became the Eastern Region Coordinator for the American Radio Relay League, the national association for amateur radio in United States. In this position, he was responsible for relaying messages across the country and for starting and developing the infrastructure for emergency communications services that continue effectively to this day in the Shenandoah Valley and even more broadly in western Virginia.
CHRISTIAN COMMITMENT AND LEADERSHIP – Throughout his life, Lamar was active in his church, the last one being the R. E. Lee Episcopal Church in Lexington, Virginia.   Consistent with the Mission Statement of this church, Lamar was dedicated to being the ‘witness in service to one another, and our community, our neighboring institutions of higher education, and … to the nation and the world.’  Lamar Curry and Mike Arrand would humbly and with gratitude respond in the affirmative to this paraphrase of the message in Matthew 25:23…’Well done, good and faithful servants.’
http://www.releechurch.org/
In so many ways and in so many contexts, Lamar Curry was an altruistic man of sterling integrity, faithful and widely respected, with eclectic personal and community interests.  The affection and respect Mike Arrand continues to exhibit for his former artillery commanding officer of some 70 years ago suggests that Mike, too, believes in, is inspired by the same ideals, and aspires to be the same sort of constructive influence in the lives of others that Brigadier General Manly Lamar Curry proved to be.
Manly Lamar Curry
Brigadier General (USMC ret)
1905 - 2000
Courtesy:  John L. Curry, his son
It should be fairly easy now to see why Mike thinks so highly of then-Lieutenant Colonel Curry.  "Tell me who your heroes are, and I'll tell you who you'll turn out to be."   Curry was more than just a commanding officer to his men.  His character has had a lasting impression on Mike Arrand, the former Marine corporal from H&S Battery, 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines at both Guadalcanal and Tarawa.
Mike concludes by adding that the Marine Corps put him on track after the war, and he is grateful for Uncle Sam paying his way through podiatry school.  At 89, Mike wrote, "I look back over the past decades, and I can truly say that life has been good to me."
Mike, we so admire your service and sacrifice and your ability to return home and lead a happy, productive and fulling life.  This report will help the wider community to remember your commitment to country and community as expressed through your spirit and actions.
S E M P E R   F I,    M I K E !
Received initially 23 November 2010; updated 29 March 2014
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