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WORLD WAR II GYRENE
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
(Note: Click on the question to go directly to its answer. )
1. What's new at World War 2 Gyrene?
2. What's a Gyrene?
3. Why did you start WW2 Gyrene?
4. Who are the Marines in the photo on the
index/home page?
5. Is there a "secret" picture on the index/home page?
6. Who's the Gyrene in the rollover photo on the
index/home page?
7. Who wrote the content in WW2 Gyrene?
8. Where did the pictures in WW2 Gyrene come from?
9. Who made your banner?
10. Who made the other graphics in WW2 Gyrene?
11. What program did you use to create WW2 Gyrene?
12. This website is pretty boring to look at. Why don't you have cool graphics & stuff like that?
13. Are you a Marine?
14. I have a relative who was a World War II Marine. How can I get information about their service?
15. I want to find some of my or my relative's old Marine Corps buddies. How can I do that?
16. What's the best movie about World War 2 Gyrenes?
17. When is The Pacific going to be released?
18. Do you make any money off of World War II Gyrene?
19. What happened to your guestbook? I really enjoyed browsing through all the entries.
1. What's new at World War 2 Gyrene?
(22 October 2012) I've been doing quite a bit of work on the site recently, updating some old pages and creating new ones. Here's an incomplete list:
Who was Sgt John M. Stryker
The M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle
The M1 Rifle
Winter Service Uniform Image Gallery
Pre-war 782 Gear
Contents of the M1941 Haversack
The World War II Gyrene Glossary
I apologize for any broken links you find. I've been slowly working my way through, trying to find them. The Marine Corps has recently changed most of its URLs, so anything that linked to their sites also changed. I'm going to switch over to Wikipedia, since their content is good, and their URLs are stable.
S/F, Mark
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2. What's a Gyrene?
"Gyrene" was a nickname for the Marine of the early 20th century through the early 1950's. The picture below shows Gyrenes of the 2nd Marine Division during the invasion of Tarawa, November 20th, 1943.
Marines moving forward on Tarawa.
20 November 1943 USMC Photo
3. Why did you start WW2 Gyrene?
Because it's tough to find well-organized links for the World War II era Marine Corps. I wanted to pull alot of great links together for the researcher and historian of this time in US history. Plus, WW2 Gyrene is my tribute to the Marines of World War II. It's also a way of thanking the Marine Corps for teaching me so much.
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4. Who are the Marines in the photo on the index/home page?
That's my great buddy, Tom Williams on the right as you look at the photo. He's with some of his platoon buddies in H 3/26, 5th MarDiv. This was taken in 1944 in Oceanside, Calif. Tom's still doing great. He's active & stays in contact with many of his old buddies. He also is involved with the Marine Corps League, & Toys For Tots. Also in the photo are Walter Grale in the background, and Bernard Woole next to Tom. All three Devil Dogs served together on Iwo and are still alive! (Photo courtesy of Tom Williams)
5. Is there a "secret" picture on the index/home page?
Well, it's not a secret, but there IS a rollover photo on the other side of the photo of Tom Williams & his buddies. If you run your cursor over that photo, you'll see the rollover photo.
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6. Who's the Gyrene in the rollover photo on the index/home page?
For me, he represents every Marine who served our Nation in World War II. If you're one of those Marines, he's you! Semper Fi, Mac!
7. Who wrote the content in WW2 Gyrene?
I wrote everything in WW2 Gyrene, unless otherwise credited.
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8. Where did the pictures in WW2 Gyrene come from?
Many are from official source, or from the families of World War II Marines, and in some cases, from Leathernecks themselves. The photo on my home page is courtesy of Tom Williams.
9. Who made your banner?
My wife is a graphic designer, & she made it in Photoshop.
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10. Who made the other graphics in WW2 Gyrene?
Marine Veteran Richard Tracy made many of the the outstanding Marine Corps Emblem graphics on the WW2 Gyrene home & legacy pages. These images are used by permission. Click HERE to visit Mr. Tracy's great Marine Corps art website.
11. What program did you use to create WW2 Gyrene?
Dreamweaver MX on a Macintosh G5 - We had this program on our computer already when I started working on WW2 Gyrene. I decided to teach myself to build a website using the book Dreamweaver MX for Dummies. I said to myself, "No problem, I got this all figured out." Boy, did I get my shot group tightened up fast! After I pulled all my hair out & nearly fried the computer, I called my good buddy, Todd Barnhart, who's a computer guru. He squared me away & got my templates all set up. (Thanks, Todd!) WW2 Gyrene is my first-ever web project. I couldn't have done it without Todd.
(below) This is me trying to figure out how to use
Dreamweaver while I'm sitting in front of the computer.
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12. This website is pretty boring to look at. Why don't you have cool graphics & stuff like that?
Graphics are cool, but the content is most important. I want everyone to have equal access to the site, even if they have an old computer & a dial-up modem.
13. Are you a Marine?
I served as a Fleet Marine Force Hospital Corpsman. I was in the US Navy, and served with the 1st & 3rd Marine Divisions, as well as at the Naval Hospital, Camp Pendleton. I was an FMF Doc from 1980-1984. I retired from the Army National Guard in 2001.
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14. I have a relative who was a World War II Marine. How can I get information about their service?
The National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO is the central repository for all military records from the World War II era. No Marine Corps records were lost in the disastrous 1973 fire at NPRC, so they hold a fairly complete archive of these service and medical records. This is a US Government agency, and they have strict regulations about who can access military records.
Click HERE to visit the NPRC homepage. They have a great site with lots of helpful information. Be patient if you make a request for a relative's military records. Sometimes it takes months to receive the records, since most have to be searched for by hand.
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15. I want to find some of my or my relative's old Marine Corps buddies. How can I do that?
A good place to start is on the WW2 Gyrene Links page. There are links to the Marine Division associations, where you may be able to link-up with World War II era Gyrenes. Sadly, many have passed on in the past few years, but there are still quite a few who are still with us.
16. What's the best movie about World War 2 Gyrenes?
My personal favorite is Sands of Iwo Jima, but I also like
Battle Cry. Some other great ones are The Shores of Tripoli,
Wake Island, Guadalcanal Diary, & The Halls of Montezuma.
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17. When is the HBO miniseries The Pacific going to be released?
The Pacific is a 10 part miniseries scheduled that aired in the USA on HBO network starting on 14 March 2010. This program follows three main characters; Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge and John Basilone, through the war. To learn more, visit HBO's web site on The Pacific. To read my guide and review for each episode, visit the WW2 Gyrene The Pacific section. To purchase the DVD set, visit the WW2 Gyrene bookstore on Amazon.
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18. Do you make any money off of World War II Gyrene?
Absolutely not! I actually spend money on my storage space on the internet server. That's why you don't see any advertisements on my site.
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19. What happened to your guestbook? I really enjoyed browsing through all the entries.
Unfortunately, after nearly eight years, my guestbook provider stopped offering that service. I've decided that I'll no longer offer a guestbook. It was getting harder and harder to catch and delete all the spam. Also, the number of entries got to be so extensive, I couldn't answer them all any more. You can always e-mail me with anything related to WW2 Gyrene and I'll do my best to reply.
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