The Marine Bible

The image is of a marine bible. This is the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) which I photographed before giving that copy to a marine. As I have written in another post, I am a sailor myself, formerly in the navy back in 1961-1965. I served aboard the USS Point Defiance (LSD-31) from late 1961 until early 1965, so I was aboard just over three years. Our duty was amphibious and marines and their equipment were often aboard. I met many, made friends with a few and I developed respect for all marines. One day I found a marine bible in a bible store and I bought it and used it for awhile, until I also discovered that there was a sailor's bible, so I bought my sailor's bible and gave the marine bible to a marine. I had an opportunity to meet another marine and he said that he wished he had an HCSB Marine Bible, so I bought and gave him one. I discovered that many marines knew about this bible and wanted to have one. I try to keep one on hand but they have a way of finding a new home. When my friend, Jerry Malone, a former marine lance corporal who served in Vietnam died, I placed one in his casket.

I wanted to start a project to provide marine bibles to marines in Iraq (2007) and I arbitrarily decided on one thousand as the number of bibles I would try to get my community to provide. I learned that there were security problems in shipping that many bibles, or even a few, to Iraq; I worked with the Marine Chaplains Corps in Washington, D. C. to find a way to deliver them but we have not yet been successful. I have not surrendered on that goal but I have postponed it until I can learn what is required. In the meantime, my personal goal has become to provide one hundred marine bibles from my personal funds. When I have money, I buy one or two bibles and I take them to our local marine recruiting office, where there are two staff sergeants, and leave them in their hands to give to new recruits, or any marine that happens by and provides an opportunity. Since I have begun this project, I have delivered seven bibles. I need only ninety-three more bibles delivered to reach my goal. Ninety-three marine bibles on the wall.