Beaufort’s Richard Surrett, 62, joined the United States Marine Corps in Sacramento in 1979. After boot camp in San Diego, he trained in Aberdeen, Md., as an armorer, to repair small arms. His first assignment was at MCAS Yuma. He then trained for embassy duty and was assigned first to East Berlin, East Germany before unification. While there he was on lock-down when Egypt’s Anwar Sadat was assassinated; President Reagan was shot and Lech Wałęsa led Solidarity to power in Poland. His next embassy was in Caracas, Venezuela where he met his wife.
He then trained as an Aircraft Ordnance Technician before being assigned at MCAS El Toro. After that duty, he attended Drill Instructor school before serving as a DI in San Diego. He then transferred to MCAS Beaufort (ordinance) with deployments to Iwakuni, Japan, and, during Desert Storm, to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia arming air combat operations in Iraq. He then returned to embassy duty first in Cairo, Egypt and then Dhaka, Bangladesh.
His final duty station was at MCAS Tustin, Calif., from which he retired in 1999 as a Gunnery Sergeant with 20 years of service. He returned to Beaufort where he built a home during 17 years working in construction and as a building inspector, both for Beaufort County and commercially for military housing construction at PI, Tucson, Fort Knox, Camp Lejeune and in Hawaii.
Compiled by John Chubb, American Legion Post 9. For nominations, contact jechubb1@gmail.com.
