Marine waits 68 years for Dress Blues to be issued.

August 23, 2010 · By Jerry Castillo

Now, that I’m back after a few weeks of rest and relaxation, let me begin with a story of someone Doing the Right Thing.

LCpl. Dustin Tunnell, recently attended the funeral of one of his uncles.  After the ceremonies an elderly man walked up to LCpl. Dustin Tunnell to thank him for his service to our country and admire his uniform.  The elderly man, as it turns out is LCrpl Dustin Tunnell’s great-uncle, began to recall how the uniform was a contributing factor in his decision to join the USMC, but at the time not all Marines were issued a dress uniform since, they were immediately shipped out to war as soon as they completed basic training.

LCpl. Dustin Tunnell began thinking about how could he obtain a uniform for the Marine veteran he met at the funeral.  He talked to some of his buddies and they decided to start a group page on FaceBook to solicit funds to purchase a dress uniform for the veteran.

Contributions began pouring in from people everywhere.  They quickly obtained the $730 needed to make the purchase.  They then prepared for a way to present this great gift.  After presenting him with his new dress blues they had to have a group picture.  After all what is the purpose of being a part of the few, the proud, the Marines; if not a photo-op in dress blues?

I’ve had the pleasure of asking the Marine a few questions and below, was his responses.

USF Q:  What motivated you to do this?

LCpl. D. Tunnell A:

I did not do this for any personal recognition. To be honest, the way this started was at an uncle of mine’s funeral in Tennessee. My uncle John “Curtis” Sammons passed away on April 28, 2010. His funeral was on April 30. I wore my Dress Blue uniform to the funeral to honor my uncle who served in the Army during Vietnam. At the funeral Bobby and I started talking about the Corps and how he served during WWII and I’m serving today.

As Robert and I were talking, he brought up that he had never received a Dress Blue uniform, and it was 1 of 2 reasons he joined the Corps. During WWII, the US devoted a lot of funds toward the war, and therefore stopped issuing the Blues uniform and only issued the Service (green uniform) until after the war was over. Bobby brought it up several times how proud he was of me, the Corps, and how nice the Dress Blue uniform is. He joined the Corps and not another branch for two reasons, 1 being for our Dress Blue uniform, and the second because he wanted to go to nice tropical places. Robert also gave me a copy of his memoir that he wrote for the family, as his daughter had requested it. Bobby told me that he did not know what medals he was awarded, and that he tried to gain that information with no luck, but he wanted it for his son and daughter.

USF Q:  How to did you plan for this?

LCpl. D. Tunnell A:

On my drive back to Cherry Point, where I am currently stationed, I kept thinking about what he had told me and how happy he was to see me in my Dress Blues. I decided that a hero like him should not go any longer without our nicest uniform and made up my decision. I called my dad and told him that I would need some help from the family finding out his measurements because I was going to purchase and present a Dress Blue uniform to Bobby. Dad was kind of confused about the idea, as he knows that the uniforms are expensive, but due to never having served, he has no idea the pride we have.

He brought up the idea of possibly trying to take donations to cover part of the cost so it would not all come out of my pocket. When I arrived back to Cherry Point, I brought up the idea to my fellow Marines and everyone was very enthusiastic and excited about my idea. I decided to make a Facebook event with the idea. At this point, I was hoping to receive maybe a small portion of the cost, but anything would help due to the cost of the uniform and the pay that we receive. I made the event on May 9 of this year, and in less than 24 hours I had already received $105 in donations. I was very shocked at the interest in this. When I realized that this was interesting to people, I decided to start posting it on different Marine Corps pages, and military pages.

USF Q:  What were your challenges?

LCpl. D. Tunnell A:

During this time, I could not figure out how I wanted to present this uniform to Bobby. Robert Webster is a very humble individual, as he even stated at the presentation when asked to speak he said “I just wanted to help my country.” To this day he says the true heroes are the ones who died, and the Navy Corpsmen. I wanted it to be something special for him, and something he would never forget, but nothing that would upset him. I considered several options, such as taking him to a recruiting station and presenting it there, or simply arriving at his house with the uniform. Then I thought of Independence Day coming up in the near future. I knew this was less than two months away, and not knowing any of his sizes, or even what medals and awards he rated, this would be very hard to accomplish.

I eventually got in contact with two individuals from Pepsi, who coordinate the Independence Day events every year at Freedom Hall. They informed me that the events would partake on July 3 this year due to the 4th being on Sunday. They were very excited about my idea, and so we sat down and discussed how this would take place. I was also able to gain all of the information regarding his service, including all of his campaigns, both times he was wounded, and even a picture that was taken on January 20, 1942 while he was in boot camp. He was very happy to receive this information, and got many laughs out of the picture that he has not seen in so many years.

USF Q:  What did you learn about Bobby?

News Clipping of Webster

LCpl. D. Tunnell A:

Bobby, along with a few other good friends joined the Marine Corps on December 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked. He shipped for boot camp on January 13, 1942 to MCRD San Diego, California. His dates of service are from January 13, 1942 until December 14, 1945 when he was honorably discharged as a Sergeant. He was assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 25th Regiment, 4th Marine Division as a machine gunner. He was wounded in action on Saipan on June 15, 1944 and then again on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. His unit participated in 4 campaigns during WWII before it was disbanded due to heavy casualties at Iwo Jima. These campaigns consisted of the Battle of Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands campaign, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima. They were in the first wave on Saipan and Iwo Jima and third at Tinian. The battalion played a critical role in the seizure of Hill 382 (“Turkey Knob”) in an area that Marines on Iwo Jima called the “Meat Grinder.” They were awarded two presidential unit citations for their campaigns, 1 being at Iwo Jima.

USF Q:  Why was this, the right thing to do?

LCpl. D. Tunnell A:

I remember being so extremely proud after finishing the crucible and receiving my Eagle, Globe and Anchor and welcomed into the Marine Corps and then walking across the parade deck at Parris Island, at graduation. This is the only thing that I could compare to the way it made me feel having the opportunity to do something like this for such a wonderful man like Robert Webster. I’m honestly not sure which event made me feel better, because becoming a Marine was a great feeling, but it’s hard to compare anything to giving great joy to another individual.

The other marines who participated in this as well agreed that we all felt great about getting the opportunity to be part of this. Another very nice outcome of all of this was that it brought a lot of family together.

USF Q:  What did you learn from this experience?

LCpl. D. Tunnell A:

His daughter, her husband, and her daughter all flew in from Texas to witness this. His son was able to attend, one of his brothers, and it just brought a lot of the family together, some of which I had never met until this day. My cousin just told me the other day, that after we left his house Monday evening, as he was hanging up his uniform, he said “I never thought I would have this.” I really wish more heroes like Robert Webster could have the opportunity to receive the uniform and recognition that they deserve.

The Marines who presented the Dress Blue uniform were:

Cpl Lyle Marston from Camp Lejeune, NC attached to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit
Cpl Raymond Ortiz from Cherry Point, NC attached to the 6th Special Security Communications Team
LCpl Colin Wine from Cherry Point, NC attached to the 6th Special Security Communications Team
LCpl Michael Wilson from Cherry Point, NC attached to the 6th Special Security Communications Team
LCpl Dustin Tunnell from Cherry Point, NC attached to the 6th Special Security Communications Team

Update:  The remainder $150 that they received in donations was donated to the Wounded Warrior Project – http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/ – on Robert Webster’s behalf.Three weeks after LCpl Tunnell brought the greatest joy to another, he and his partner Shelia Goodson, gave birth to Alannah Jane Tunnell, a beautiful, healthy, bouncing baby little girl.

Please join me in saluting this young Marine for Doing the Right Thing.