01 Jan 2001
"Tell Me I am Beautiful"
June 1968, Operation Mameluke Thrust
3rd Platoon Lima Company 3/26 Marines
sitting in position on a mountaintop
in Happy Valley ...
Night falls and enemy troops are heard
gathering around Lima's positions.
LCPL James Leroy Brown had the task of
making sure his Marines remained awake
and alert through the night.
Crawling on his belly Brown began
making his rounds to each fighting position.
I watched as he approached my position
He got to within ten feet of me and whispered
"Greer, tell me I am beautiful."
I responded "Brown, you are beautiful."
He crawled closer.
"Tell me I am beautiful." he repeated.
"Brown, you are beautiful." I replied.
He crawled up to me,
he was wearing a rubber poncho.
He threw the poncho over my head
so both of us were under the poncho.
We were face to face in pitch darkness
Once again he said "Tell me I am beautiful."
As he said these words he turned on his flashlight
and shined it on his teeth.
I began laughing hysterically.
Brown had decorated his teeth with "Chuckles" candy,
Green ... Yellow ... Black ... Red ... Orange ...
"Brown, I never saw anything as beautiful as you,"
I said while laughing out loud.
Loud enough that the Marines
in the other fighting holes could hear me.
Brown proceeded to open a pack of Chuckles
and he helped me decorate my teeth.
When he was finished he crawled to
the next fighting hole.
Each time he did it you could hear
the same laughter.
All the time you could hear enemy troops
below us getting ready to attack.
The enemy must have heard all the laughter.
If nothing more it made them aware that
we were awake and alert and ready for them.
They did not attack that night.
Sometimes battles are won by brave Marines,
but in this case the battle was won by a
small group of beautiful Marines under
the command of the most beautiful of all Marines -
James Leroy Brown.
From a friend - we served together in Vietnam,
Robert Greer
4930 Knorr Street Apt 1 F, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19135
kaishinga@prodigy.net
