By Dottie Sargent
Della is my mother. She joined the Marines at 18 years old in 1958. She always wanted to join because her whole family is service oriented. all her brothers were already in the Air Force, Army, and Navy, So she joined the Marines. Her MOS was Secretary/Typist. She loved the idea of marching and only had her bunk messed up one time. She got it right every t her time after that.
| NAME: | Della A Davis |
|---|---|
| RANK: | E1 |
| MUSTER DATE: | Oct 1958 |
| STATION: | Spl Vol Res 4Th Mcrrd Philadelphia Dpi 24 4Th Mcrrd Philadelphia PA |
She met and married Donald W. Craig while in the Marines. She and her friend Marge Davis were there when they heard a call over the intercom that some male Marines were out there and wanted to come in, but needed to have an escort by one of the women to get in. She volunteered to bring one of them in, which was my father Don. They danced and had a couple of drinks together and hit it off very well.
She said being in the Marines was the best time she ever had.
Together they had four children, My sister Margie, me, my brother Edward, and my youngest sister Pauline.
They involved us with the group, The Young Marines. We all loved it. they trained us like boot camp. My mom and her brother Alfred Davis were the ones to run it. Instead of Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts, we and all the town kids were in The Young Marines. We got dropped off in the mountains with a canteen and a compass and told to find our way home. Which we always did! We cleaned mock rifles until we were old enough to go hunting and pass the hunter’s education course we started cleaning real rifles. Best time we had growing up with some of the best memories.
They were married from 1961 to 1982 when my father passed away from a massive heart attack at 47 years old. Two years later our sister and my mom’s youngest was killed at 15 years old.
Then she lost a granddaughter at 7 days old, then her grandson (my youngest son), was murdered at 17 years old. she is still alive and living like a Marine should at 84 years old!
She has 5 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchildren.
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