THE LAST MAN COMMITTEE
John Ferguson, Chairman
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John Ferguson, Chairman
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Joseph O. Bedard , Raider in the 3rd Bn –I Company I AM INCLUDING JOE’ OSCAR BEDARD'S HISTORY TO HONOR JOE’S MEMORY. HE WAS THE FOUNDER OF THE LAST MAN COMMITTEE AND ACTED AS THE CHAIRMAN , UNTIL SEVERAL YEARS AGO WHEN HIS CANCER BECAME ACTIVE AGAIN AND HE COULD NOT CONTINUE. AFTER BATTLING THE CANCER FOR SEVERAL YEARS JOE DIED THIS SPRING. HE WAS A VERY DEDICATED MARINE AND MARINE RAIDER. HIS WIFE RITA IN NOTIFYING ME OF HIS DEATH STATED “HE DIED LIKE A MARINE, FIGHTING TO THE END” JOHN M FERGUSON---LMC CHAIRMAN
My story basically is the same as most 15 and 16 year olds who was too young at the time (Dec. 7th 1941) to react to the confrontation and bold invasion of our American Navy in Pearl Harbor. Even at our age, we were personally angered at the Japanese people for going along with their leaders to commit such an atrocity. Somehow, we found a way to get into the service and did what ever was needed to be done to retaliate against the brutality inflicted on our country. Losing our lives over it as a consequence though, didn’t seem to hit home as a reality until we experienced, seen, and felt the first days of live combat when we had to walk over or go by the dead bodies of our own troops and then the bodies of the Japanese, as we needed to continue forward. Now the 16 year old and all the others for that matter who viewed the glamour films of the colorful Marines clearly remembered they didn’t stress the deadly realities waiting for them in combat. But that is what world wars are all about, unreal, chaotic and very deadly. In December of 1942, I too volunteered for the 3rd Raider Battalion on American Samoa and was assigned to a mortar section of a weapons platoon. I helped take the Russell Island, Bouganville, Emirau and Guam. By the end of 1944, my name appeared on a twenty four-month rotation plan. For those who had spent two or more years overseas were to be sent home for a rest. I could hardly believe my eyes and definitely attributed my good luck to having said my prayers faithfully every night. By the time we were called back to the west coast after a little state side duty at the Brooklyn Navy yard, the atomic bombs were dropped and a new world of hope arose to end the war with the Japanese people before any more lives were wasted in continuing the war. My idea of true happiness is the uninterrupted feeling of joy and freedom at the end of the war. Then began my civilian life again. The first thing I did after the war was over, was to go back to school at the age of 19, signed up for all commercial classes under Business management, passed the Mass. Insurance Brokers exam and operated an insurance agency for the next twenty years. As a result of 21 years with the wrong woman, a first wife, I have a Daughter 48 and a son of fifty years old. My second wife, Rita, and I have been together for twenty-nine years, but have had no children. So you might say that I could celebrate 50 years of Marriage, but I did not. My favorite pastime these days is spent writing these newsletters and answering your mail, so lets hear from you. Joseph O Bedard |
