In February, the Department of NC Marine Corps League was made aware of a WBTV program that provided the opportunity to purchase high quality combat socks for $6 dollars a pair from ThorLo a Statesville, NC company. These socks normally sell for $12 to $14 a pair. An initiative was undertaken to get each Detachment to donate funds to purchase these socks. We collected a total of $2,375 dollars from the Department, Captain Jeb F. Seagle Detachment, Onslow County Detachment, Chris S. Ebert Detachment, North Carolina Foothills Detachment, Iredell Count Detachment, Tri-County Detachment, Blue Ridge Detachment, Stanly County Detachment, Richmond Leathernecks, Outer Banks Detachment and a special donation from Doc Kaczmarek.
36 pairs of socks were purchased in April and sent to Sergeant Joshua Haynes for distribution to his unit. Joshua is a member of the Foot Hills Detachment and his unit was already deployed in Iraq.
On October 13th, the Commandant Brockland and Dick Camery went to Camp Lejeune and personally delivered 207 pairs of socks to the 2d Battalion, 2d Marines since they are preparing to deploy to Afghanistan in October. Sergeant Major Heyob met us and provided us the opportunity to distribute the socks, gave us a tour of their Battalion and Company Headquarters, and introduced us to many of the troops, Staff NCO’s and Officers. The entire team was very appreciative and gung ho on what their mission is going to be. We even met the entire Battalion Aid team. See pictures
Picture 1: (L – R) LCpl Olson, Sgt Major Heyob, Commandant Brockland, Dick Camery
Picture 2: Marines getting socks with Commandant Brockland observing
Picture 3: Battalion Aid Station Corpsman with Commandant Brockland and Dick Camery