It all happened by pure luck. Two former Suicide Charley Marines finally meet up after over a year of conversations that came from them meeting on the SuicideCharley.Com website. The two Marines, Dean Smith and Patrick Huwiler (Active Duty) finally were able to shake hands and take pictures upon the arrival of the 31st Meu in Brisbane Australia early September, 09. Dean showed his gratitude to the Marines by inviting SSgt Huwiler to an exclusive dinner aboard the USS Essex. The invite was a special invitation from the state dept for a special reception aboard the USS Essex, as guests of Rear Admiral Richard Landolt, amphibous force U.S. Seventh Fleet. Later that week Dean celebrated his 62nd birthday and the Marines made a special trip from the ship to attend as guests  in Deans' home for an awesome barbeque. After the barbeque was finished, the Marines Shook hands andsaid their good byes and got onto a bus and headed back to ship. The ship pulled out of port the next morning and headed back to Okinawa, Japan. All in all it was a great time seeing Marines from two different parts of the world unite.

Please take some time and look at the pictures below:

LIEUTENANT COLONEL LEWIS B. PULLER, Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines
(Note: LtCol Puller is being recommended by General Vandegrift for the Medal of Honor for leading his battalion, with 7 holes in him, continually for 24 hours. I met him the day he came out of the hospital. LtCol Puller had considerable experience in jungle warfare in Haiti.)

"In handling my companies I take the Company Commander's word for what is going on. You have to do this to get anywhere. In order to get a true picture of what is going on in this heavy country, I make my staff get up where the fighting is. This Command Post business will ruin the American Army and Marines if it isn't watched. Hell, our platoons and squads would like the command post in the attack if they are not watched! As soon as you set up a Command Post, all forward movement stops.