Roscoe Chatelain was born Marksville, LA. 1942.
He joined The United States Marine Corps in 1960 and graduated from Marine Corps Boot Camp MCRD San Diego, CA. His next duty station was ITR (Infantry Training Regiment) Camp Pendleton, CA and then on to Special Radio Operator School, Imperial Beach, CA. After SRO School, Roscoe was stationed at the Naval Security Group Activities base in Sidi Yahri, Morocco. His next assignment was TAD as a Special Radio Operator on an Air Craft Carrier for a Med Cruise. After completion of the cruise he was transferred to 1st Composite Radio Company at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

This is where most of us met Roscoe for the first time, and he fit right in with the rest of us misfits. (See the picture taken at a beer party in K-Bay with Dennis Fouts) One of our other members, Gordon Hagan, was with Roscoe from ITR until they both arrived at 1st Composite Radio Co. Then Gordon went to RVN with Sub Unit #1 in 1962. When Detachment Alpha of 1st Composite Radio Company was given orders to ship out to Phu Bai, RVN in May of 1963 Roscoe was one of the Marines who were part of the unit and performed his duties as a Special Radio Operator while attached to the Army’s 3rd RRU. (Radio Research Unit) Detachment Alpha returned to Hawaii in September, 1963 and when Roscoe was about to complete his enlistment he was sent to Treasure Island, CA, where he was discharged from the Marine Corps. He returned home to Marksville, LA sometime around April or May 1964, where he lived until an auto accident on LA Hwy 1 took his life. Roscoe is buried in a small cemetery in his hometown. I’m sure many of our members can remember the day when we got the word over in Hawaii that Roscoe had perished in an automobile accident. He was a good Marine, a great friend to have, and is still remembered and missed to this day by many of us. “Only The Good Die Young”

Roscoe had something that the rest of did not have. As Gordon Hagan put it: “That Cajun boy could speak French”. I’m sure Gordon and Roscoe took a little advantage of that ability while in Morocco, and I know some members of Detachment Alpha did so in the bars of Saigon on our way home from Phu Bai.
 

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