Marine Corp

In a meeting Friday with Marine Corps families whose loved ones are stationed in the Persian Gulf, U.S. Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) said he was encouraged by their spirit and discussed concerns ranging from child-care problems to skyrocketing telephone bills amassed in long-distance calls to Saudi Arabia.

As the chaperon of Michigan's Muskegon Lassies in the 1940s, Helen Hannah Campbell made sure the professional baseball players wore lipstick and properly modest uniform skirts in the "girls league" founded to keep ballparks filled while men were away at war. The daughter of a major league catcher who played on the New York Yankees with Babe Ruth, Campbell was familiar with the demands and rules of the game. But she credited her experience in the Marine Corps Reserve with preparing her to oversee the conduct, care - and personal lives - of her young charges.

Marine commanders have brought charges against a lieutenant and two sergeants in the death of a Marine who was left behind in the Mojave Desert during a training exercise, the Marine Corps said today. Earlier this week, the top two commanders of the Marine's battalion were relieved of command over the death of Lance Cpl. Jason Rother, 19, of Minneapolis. He was left behind Aug. 30 and died of heat stroke. The military today said it has ordered a court-martial against 1st Lt. Allen V.

The Marine Corps released the identities Wednesday night of the seven Marines who died this week when a mortar shell exploded during a live-fire training exercise at Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada.  Those killed were Pfc. Joshua M. Martino, 19, of Clearfield, Pa.; Lance Cpl. David P. Fenn II, 20, of Polk City, Fla.; Lance Cpl. Roger W. Muchnick Jr., 23, of Fairfield, Conn.; Lance Cpl. Joshua C. Taylor, 21, of Marietta, Ohio; Lance Cpl. Mason J....

Banc One Corp. and Milwaukee-based Marine Corp. have agreed to a stock-swap merger valued at about $543.3 million, the two bank holding companies announced Friday. The definitive agreement, if approved by shareholders of both companies and by banking regulators, would create a $22-billion institution with offices in five Midwestern states. Under the definitive agreement with Banc One, each share of Marine stock would be swapped for 2.332 shares of Banc One.

President Reagan watched Marine Corp recruits clamber over a forbidding series of obstacles at this training center today and said advocates of cuts in his defense budget should "tell it to the Marines." "America didn't become great because we took the easy road," Reagan said in a speech to about 200 graduates who have completed an 11-week training course at the Parris Island Marine Recruit Depot.

Troop activity around Orange County's two military installations intensified Monday as thousands of Marines prepared to leave at a moment's notice to join the U.S.-led military operation in the Middle East.

The Marine Corps has joined the battle to plug the flow of drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border, deploying reconnaissance drones for the first time to monitor the movements of smugglers. The small, remotely piloted aircraft sent television-like pictures to ground operators, surveying an 80-mile-long stretch of border west of Laredo, Texas. During the three-week that ended Feb.

San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation filed a federal appeal Thursday in a continuing effort to halt a proposed Marine Corps housing development overlooking a famous surfing beach. A San Diego federal judge in January gave Marines the OK to build 60 duplexes on a bluff at Camp Pendleton, saying extensive environmental assessments had been satisfied.

The Marine Corps released the identities Wednesday night of the seven Marines who died this week when a mortar shell exploded during a live-fire training exercise at Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada.  Those killed were Pfc. Joshua M. Martino, 19, of Clearfield, Pa.; Lance Cpl. David P. Fenn II, 20, of Polk City, Fla.; Lance Cpl. Roger W. Muchnick Jr., 23, of Fairfield, Conn.; Lance Cpl. Joshua C. Taylor, 21, of Marietta, Ohio; Lance Cpl. Mason J....

SAN DIEGO - A recruit who made a perilous dash across the runway at San Diego's Lindbergh Field in an apparent attempt to flee Marine boot camp is no longer in the Marine Corps, authorities said Thursday. Benjamin Yi, 22, of Colorado Springs, Colo., has been separated from recruit training and the Marine Corps, officials said. Last week, Yi was detained by airport police after being spotted dashing across the runway from the adjacent boot camp. Yi's pants were torn off when he climbed two fences, including one topped with razor wire.

A surveillance drone is buzzing overhead. The booming of heavy artillery can be heard in the distance. On the desert floor, Thelma and Louise, the grand dames of the desert tortoise population at the massive Marine base at Twentynine Palms, are blissfully munching on their breakfast of mixed fruit and vegetable slices. At one time the two were the pets of a Marine general. But he deployed to Iraq, and there is no room in a combat rucksack for tortoises, despite their status as the state reptile of California.

Kim Kardashian had a few Marines seeing red on Thursday. The reality star needn't run for cover from the troops, however: The red was on a body-hugging Roland Mouret gown Kardashian donned to attend the Marine Corps Ball in Greenville, N.C.  Invited by Sgt. Martin Gardner, Kim flew in from Miami, where she's filming "Kourtney & Kim Take Miami," and enjoyed dinner. "Just left the Marine Corps Ball. Thanks to all of the marines I had the opportunity to meet tonight," Kim tweeted . "Thank you for all that you do. " ALSO: Kim Kardashian talks love, plans old age with Kanye West Kim Kardashian winning with Kanye, striking out with airlines   Mila Kunis enjoys Marine Corps Ball; Sgt. Moore thanks wingmen Follow Matt Donnelly on  Twitter  and  Google+ . Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter  @LATcelebs  and on Facebook  facebook.com/ministryofgossip .   PHOTOS AND MORE: PHOTOS: Celebrity portraits by The Times PHOTOS: Victoria's Secret Fashion Show The Envelope: Celebs on the red carpet

SAN DIEGO - The bellowing from the drill instructors began as soon as the newcomers arrived. "GET OFF THE BUS!" barked one D.I. It's a ritual reenacted countless times since 1923, when young men first began coming to boot camp to see if they were tough enough to be Marines. But last week's group was not composed of frightened young recruits. Instead they were high school teachers, guidance counselors and administrators from school districts in the Los Angeles and Sacramento areas.

Reporting from Camp Pendleton -- Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and the jurors in his court-martial are all wearing crisp Marine uniforms. All have had combat experience. And all have known Marines killed in combat. But the defendant and those who may decide his fate come from different eras in the Marine Corps mission in Iraq, divided by that November morning in 2005 when 24 unarmed civilians in the town of Haditha were killed by Marines in Wuterich's squad. All eight jurors served after that event, which scandalized much of the American public and shook the Marine Corps.

Christmas Day was painful for Leslie Frokjer. That morning, she stepped away from her family briefly and tearfully reread her husband's last, loving letter, sent from Afghanistan just days before he died. It didn't get easier when she emerged from her bedroom to be with her parents, grandparents and 2-month-old son. Looking into the baby's eyes, she was reminded again of her husband and that her boy will never know his father or spend a Christmas at his side. Marine Sgt. Chad Frokjer was killed June 30 when he stepped on an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, on the Pakistani border.

James E. Swett, a former U.S. Marine Corps pilot who was awarded the Medal of Honor after shooting down seven Japanese bombers in 15 minutes over the Solomon Islands during World War II, died Sunday of congestive heart failure at Mercy Medical Center in Redding, Calif. He was 88.

In resetting "Othello" in the present-day Marine Corps, director Scott Rabinowitz aims for heightened relevance in his staging for the Pasadena Shakespeare Company. In some intriguing ways, he succeeds in illuminating the text--Othello is foremost a soldier, rewarded and betrayed within a culture shaped by the unique mind-set of the military. Meticulous detail makes a good case for the Marine connection, from the emphasis on discipline to the unchained carousing of soldiers on leave.

A judge ruled Wednesday that the federal government should pay $17.8 million to the grief-stricken survivors of four family members killed when a Marine Corps jet crashed into their San Diego home in 2008. U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Miller made his ruling based on three days of testimony from family members and evidence presented by lawyers for the government. The family had initially sought $56 million. The Marine Corps admitted responsibility for the Dec. 8, 2008, crash of an F/A-18D Hornet that destroyed the Yoon family home in the University City neighborhood.

Just after graduating from San Ramon Valley High School, Joshua D. Corral joined the Marine Corps, leaving behind his close-knit Bay Area hometown of Danville. A little more than a year later, he was brought back home to a hero's welcome, with more than 3,000 of his neighbors somberly saluting as a motorcade bearing his casket proceeded down flag-draped streets. His death Nov. 18 was announced at his old school's Friday night football game. In text messages, emails and hushed hallway conversations, word had already spread: The fun-loving student everyone knew as "Chachi" had been killed in combat in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, on the Pakistani border.