I stopped watching the Olympics for a while and switched over to the history channel...I couldn't believe it..but there was Bob Haidinger, with cane, talking about defending Wake Island .. The Alamo of the Pacific..

A few minutes later his was on again..this time with Corp. Robert F. Haidinger Ret ..San Diego under his picture.. During the two hour show he was highlighted many times..

He looked very well ..the last time I saw him was at a reunion in Quantico...the time before that was 1954 when I was a Second Lt. at Camp Delmar..1954.

After I got my 1803 MOS I was sent TAD to the Marine Corps LVT liason Office at Camp Delmar..the purpose being to be in charge and conduct the field test of the LVTPX-2.

The test was 600 hours of vehicle operation..in addition to all the tests involved with a new vehicle ..speed, braking, water and surf tests, fuel consumption and many more.

My assistant was Staff Sgt Robeson..who I soon found out was a most capable Marine .(he retired as a captain with a Navy Cross and Siver Star and Purple Heart)

In order to conduct the test, out test unit was made up of 24 Marines from 3rd Amtracs..our office was two Quonset huts on the 3rd Amtrac ramp.

The test started out ok but soon was plagued with the failure of 16 Chrysler transmissions (Connected to Chrysler engines) We fell behind in test hours and went from 3 eight hour shifts to 2 twelve hour shifts. Robeson had one and I had the other..they went from 12 to 12 at midnight.One ofthe men assigned to the tests was MSGT Haidinger..he was the senior enlisted Marine.. So over a period of time , I had lots of time to talk about Wake Island and the years he spent as a Prisoner of War.. As a Second Lt. I was very impressed and enjoyed the stories he told..and never forgot them.

. We finished the 600 hr test and the PX-2 (built by FMC) was approved for production but never produced ..It was planned to have a Battalion of mixed P-5's and what would have been P-6's The basic design of the PX-2 was picked up by the Army and became the M51..of which thousands were produced by FMC

A similar test of two PX-2's was conducted a Camp LeJeune..but their test ended with only one vehicle as the other caught fire and was destroyed. Lt Col Seigel had the Bn at Lejeune. The night before their vehicle burned, we had sent them an urgent message that one of our vehicles had a crack in the aluminum fuel tank and one in a gasoline line. Before they got the message, they lost the vehicle.

The officer's I reported to in the LVT Liason Office was LT Col Sylvester Stephenson, Major Micheals and Capt Gene Fox. ..Col Stephenson had the 3rd Amtrac Bn almost through all of World War ll..longer than any other CO. He later went to the Korea and was Comanding Officer of the Units on the Kimpo Pininsula...right next to 1st Armored Amtac Battalion,,where I was..Our Bn CO was Lt Col Bill Stolle...my Company Commander was Capt Gordy..1st Lt Bill Bailey was our Bn Maintenance Officer..

Just some memories caused by seeing Bob Haidinger...

S/F Stub