Charles C. Gallagher

Charles Gallagher was born in February 1946, immediately after World War II. He grew up in Irvington, New Jersey in a military family. Although no one talked much about it, his mother and uncle served in World War II in the Navy and Army. At age 10, Gallagher lost his father. During his teenage years, he was taken from his mother and sent to live in Keansburg, New Jersey with his older sister Gail. At the age of 17, Gallagher dropped out of high school. His interest in the military was sparked by a friend of his. The friend also dropped out of high school, enlisted in the Marine Corps and then told Gallagher that he would never be able to handle the training required to become a Marine. Despite his friend’s and his sister’s warnings, Gallagher had his mind set on the Marines. After four attempts to enlist, he was accepted in November 1963, and then sent to Parris Island in South Carolina to train for five months.

At Parris Island, Gallagher learned the importance of unit comradery, an ideal that stuck with him for the rest of his life. After Parris Island, he moved to Camp Geiger, North Carolina, for advanced infantry training. Gallagher’s time in the military provided a definite culture shock, as he went from being a “punk teenager,” cleaning tables in a pool hall in order to play for free, to becoming a responsible young man. He stated that the Marines turned him from a “non-thinking human being” into someone who discovered how to learn and live on his own. Gallagher earned his GED while a member of the Corps. From North Carolina, he and his fellow Marines moved to Camp Pendleton, California, where they reported to the 7th Marine Regiment, then were sent to Okinawa for more training as part of the 9th Marine Regiment in the 3rd Marine Division. For thirty days, they learned how to deal with guerrilla warfare by being thrown into realistic tactical situations, with other Marines acting as guerrillas. Once they completed training, Gallagher’s unit got to become the guerrillas for a new trainee group.

When the Tonkin Gulf incident occurred in August 1964, Gallagher and his unit boarded the USS Renville. They were kept on alert status, and floated around the South China Sea for some time, in case they were needed in Vietnam. Food began to run low, and morale dipped, but the men on board did what they could to entertain themselves. They were interested in calisthenics and boxing and would often have boxing matches on deck. Gallagher reflected on this time and said that his sense of humor was the chief thing that helped him get him through. If they could laugh at small, silly things, it could make all the difference.

Gallagher told a story about when his unit finally got restocked with food supplies. One man in his unit stole the captain’s canned strawberries; and, for days the enlisted men shared a few cans of the fruit they hadn’t had for months. Fortunately, they didn’t get in trouble; a few days later, a message on the intercom rang out throughout the ship asking for whoever stole the strawberries to return them as the captain would like them back.

The Renville eventually docked in the Philippines, for the Marines to receive additional survival training in jungle conditions. Two weeks later, they boarded the LPD-2, aka The Vancouver. landed in Vietnam on March 8, 1965, and then were deployed in the defense of Danang Airbase. Gallagher recalled how hot it was in Vietnam and said that during routine patrols, men would pass out from heatstroke, especially if they only had two canteens of water. He spent a few days in sick bay, suffering from dehydration.