Veterans Corner
Community Contributed
By Jesse Church
Aloha my fellow veterans and residents of Molokai, old Jesse here with all the veterans news and upcoming events. The 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, is nicknamed “The Walking Dead.” Do you know why? First activated during WW II, the infantry battalion earned its macabre nickname during the Vietnam War. In a 1966 speech former Vietnamese Prime Minister Ho Chi Minh referred to the Marines as “walking dead,” dead but not buried. The unit sustained the highest casualty rate in Marine history during the Vietnam era, according to the battalion’s webpage on Marines. Military deployed for a combat tour lasting 47 months and seven days, another record.…