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Paul Prosise with his sons Jeff on
the left and Glen on the right and grandsons.
Paul Prosise
Place of enlistment: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Years Served: 1958 - 1962
The DIs: I had a lot of respect for all the DIs. S/Sgt.
C.W Connell introduced me to the "invisible chair".
I don't remember what I did wrong, but I'm sure I never did it
again!
Sgt. Cockrell - see "Worst Memory - Running" below.
I enjoyed Sgt. Beltz's sea stories and also remember him having
the whole platoon write his girl friend.
Best memory of boot camp: I survived.
Worst memory of boot camp:
3:00 AM Footlocker Drill - that the DI's liked to do is
have us run around in the sand holding our footlockers over
our heads until we wished we were dead. However, I did get
away with using an empty locker most of the time. Being 6'
tall and only 130 lbs., I was in total agony every time they had us do this,
so the next time I just took an empty locker from across my bunk.
I did take the lock off mine and put it on the empty one across
from my bunk then put my locker under the empty bunk. Some other
guys tried doing it too but got caught. I think I got away with
it because (1) my lock was defective and all I had to do was
pull hard on it to unlock it, so I could change it and make the
switch quickly. (2) I hammed it up barely holding it over my
head and falling down now and then. Had they caught me, I am
sure I would not be writing this now as more than once I ended
up in the duty hut with my back against the wall in the sitting
position holding my rifle out on the top of my fingers (the
invisible chair). That also was pure agony.
Also hated having to quick time in place and dry shaving because
the DI thought I had not shaved good enough not pretty,
lots of blood. The thing was, at 17 I really did not need to
shave yet.
Running: In high school I was on the track team. I had
injured my leg, but I thought it had healed when I enlisted.
Then came boot camp and Sgt Cockrell just loved to have us
RUN, long runs and with each run the pain in my leg got worse.
My squad members were betting each other as to when I would drop
out, but the thought of being sent back and starting boot camp
over was worse than any pain so I managed to make all the runs
limping most of the way.
Outfits: 1st 75mm Anti-Aircraft ( SkySweeper) Bn. 29 Palms,
CA that changed to 1st Light Anti-Aircraft Missile Bn. (1st
LAAM) 29 Palms, CA. NCO School 1960. Corporal E-4 / Worked up
to Communication Chief first three years; photography instructor
last year.
Tours in: 29 Palms, Hawaii, Philippines, Taiwan
(Formosa).
Bio: Was going to high school in Hawaii. From there, I
went into the Marine Corps for 4 years. Signed up hoping to be
a combat photographer but the closest I got to that was teaching
photography! After I got out, was a photographer for 7 years
for North American Aviation which became Rockwell Int'l. I traveled
all over the country photographing at their various plants and
different bases. Then I worked for Scientific Data Systems which
became Xerox Corp. for 5 years
as their Photo Department Manager. In 1975, I started my own
business as a commercial photographer and in 1994 added computer
graphics and web design. I also taught basic computing to seniors
at the Irvine Senior Center. Was married for 20 years and have
two terrific sons. In 1986 I got remarried to my lovely wife,
Willa, on a catamaran off the coast of Maui. In
May of 2006 we moved to Hawaii and plan to spend our days kayaking and snorkeling
- and eating mangos and papaya!
Personal Web Sites: My Hawaii web site.
Sea
Stories
A 349er
Out in the Middle of Nowhere & Bayonet
Training
1st 75mm Anti-Aircraft (SkySweeper) Battalion
Email address: wpkona@yahoo.com
Photos:
1. The Seven Amigos June 2008.
2. 75mm SkySweeper
3. Hawk Missile.
4. With my old outfit (1st LAAM) at El Toro CA air show in 1998.
5. Prosise Family 2008.
6. One of my Dolphin photos 2008
7. Getting scuba certified in Kona 2007
8. One of my Kona Turtle photos 2008
  
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