Delta Battery, Second Battalion, Eleventh Marines

I was commissioned as a second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in August 1965. After finishing Marine Officer Basic School at Quantico, I attended Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, OK. In June 1966, I was deployed to Viet Nam and joined Delta Battery, Second Battalion, Eleventh Marines. I was then assigned to the First Battalion Fifth Marines as an Artillery Forward Observer. I served as a Forward Observer until mid-August 1966 when the First Battalion Fifth Marines engaged in battle with an NVA Force. Our Battalion had 14 KIA’s and 64 wounded in the encounter. I was among the wounded and was evacuated to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, Japan. The Naval Doctors patched up my wounds, and in about a six weeks, I rejoined Delta Battery and served as the Fire Direction Officer and later as Exec until I left Viet Nam in June 1967. It should be noted that Lieutenant Ross Bailey, a fellow Marine Option at Tulane, was my Battery CO for a part of that time.

In July 1967, I was assigned to Marine Barracks, Clarksville Base, located at Fort Campbell, KY. Clarksville Base was a nuclear arsenal at that time, and the Marines were there to protect the weapons. I was a Security Guard Officer, and later the Security Operations Officer for the Base. (Clarksville Base was subsequently closed in the later part of 1969.) While stationed at Clarksville, I married my Beloved Wife, Margaret (Peggy) Collura; and our first Son, Karl, was born at the Fort Campbell Army Hospital. I resigned my commission, as a Captain in the Marine Corps during August 1969, and accepted a position in the Land Department of Texaco, Inc.

I served in various positions with Texaco, and retired after twenty–five years with the Company. Peggy and I will be married for fifty-two years in November 2019; we have two Sons, Karl and Jason, and three Grandsons, Dominic, Samuel and Alexander,

Carlos J. Indest III

October 2019