One Marine's World War II

THE OLD BREED . . . is the saga of a naive high school graduate, long hoping to become a Marine, who enlisted in the dark, gloomy days immediately following the overwhelming Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.



The memoir details Dana T. Hughes' traumatic experience overcoming the challenges of Marine boot camp at Parris Island, SC. It then follows him through advanced combat training in both barrage balloons as well as special weapons before his outfit was shipped across the Pacific in mid-1942. After a short but idyllic tour in New Zealand, Hughes' unit was quickly detailed north into harms way.



This included seven months combat in the malaria-infested, starvation islands of Guadalcanal and Tulagi followed, months later, by transfer to a new outfit in New Zealand for advanced 90 mm AAA gun training.



Hughes soon found himself on his way back to the Solomon Islands and was quickly immersed in the heavy fire of the Marine Corps' 1 November '43 landing on Bougainville, where he campaigned for another seven months.



Finally, by Fall, 1944, Hughes had put in the time overseas required by the Marine Corps for rotation Stateside, so that--in his words--in early November, he was surprised to reach "My front door in '44."

Born and raised in the suburban town of Glen Ridge, NJ, Dana T. Hughes graduated from high school there with the fateful class of 1941. Following a short stint as a stock transfer clerk with the Texaco Company in New York City, Hughes enlisted in the US Marine Corps immediately following the sneak Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.



He spent the next four years immersed in the rigors of Marine boot camp, advanced combat training and shipment across the Pacific in mid-‘42 . . . followed by three combat campaigns, all in the Solomon Islands.



Having been awarded the Navy/Marine Corps Combat Action Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation and three campaign stars, among other decorations, he was discharged as a Corporal in early October, 1945. Taking advantage of the GI Bill, Hughes immediately enrolled in Lafayette College, graduating with an economics degree in February, 1949.



After a short period as a personnel assistant, he soon became entranced with the, then, new business field of public relations. He spent the next 50 years practicing as a top PR executive in such diverse cities as Schenectady and Rochester, NY; Pittsburgh; Atlanta and two stints in Philadelphia, before moving to Boston in 1981. There, Hughes and his wife, Marie, opened their own public relations firm in 1986, which they operated successfully until deciding to retire by early 1991.



In mid-1992, the couple bought a house in the small Pinelands retirement community of Whiting, NJ, where they are still enjoying a happy and productive retired life.