27th Marine Combat Regiment
John McKay, served with him at Corry Field USN radio school. He was quite the critic on just about everything. We had a 3-piece group with myself and Roger Gass on guitar and McKay on vocal accompany.
We would play local beach bars in Pensacola; McKay was one of the few at the base with a car. We drove to New Orleans for Mardi Gras in '66 and played the Bourbon Street "Intellect" bar for free beer; claim to fame for sure.
We also participated in a Navarine Club show on the base but lost out to a Navy sax player who did a standup performance of "Harlem Nocturne," and we left quietly amid the cheers of the sailors.
After much trouble with command, some restrictions and office hours, I literally fought my way out of that class A radio school and was transferred to the West Coast, Camp Pendleton, to the 28th Marines at Camp San Mateo. It was a new unit building up in anticipation of sending more Marines to Vietnam, that was in January 1967. McKay dropped off the radar for over 50 years, then one day resurfaced on Facebook with a friend invite; a ghost from the past.
McKay died suddenly in 2022, before we had a real opportunity to debrief on some of the more classified missions, off limits, in which we participated.
McKay profiles, 1st Radio Bn:
TO BE CONTINUED 04/16/23/1900PDT--
James C. L'Angelle USMC