Elliott Laine

World War II

Elliot Lane graduated high school in Windsor, VA in 1944 and immediately after he attended VMI. Lane could only stay at VMI 1 year and then enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve, which he began active duty in 1945. The first camp Lane was sent to was Paris Island, South Carolina for boot camp. Next, he was sent to Cherry Point, NC where he was initially assigned miscellaneous jobs, but his most notable assignment was his employment in the control tower. In the control tower he sent up balloons to retrieve wind velocity and wrote weather maps for the pilots. In the Summer of 1946, Lane found time to go Navigation School at Cherry Point and graduated as an enlisted ariel navigator. After graduating from Navigation School, Lane worked with a team of other navigators to shuffle ground troops from North Carolina to other army bases around the country. Lane was released from active duty in October of 1946 and continued his training at VMI until graduating in 1950 with a regular commission Marine Corps.

During the Korean War, Lane was a lieutenant at Paris Island, working with a recruit battalion until the Summer of 1950 which at that point he was assigned to duty in Quantico Virginia to help train reservists and midshipman. In February of 1951, Lane was sent to Camp Lejeune in NC and was assigned to the 8th Separate Tank Battalion, an addition to a battalion in the marine division. His main tank training was with M-4 Sherman, M-26, and M-47. He left Camp Lejeune in September of 1952 and went overseas to Korea. In Korea, Lane became a platoon commander in the 1st tank battalion. His main duties while in Korea were direct support to the 5th Marine regiment and the operational control of the 25th Army Infantry Division. Lane remained in Korea for another 8-9 months after the armistice was signed.

After the Korean War, Lane went to a Marine Corps Logistic Base and performed security duties for 3 years. After, he was sent to Headquarters of the Marine Corps in the Ordinance Department to work on tanks in Washington D.C. and stayed there for 3 years before returning to Quantico Base to study at the Amphibious Warfare School for 9 months. Next, he used his knowledge at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was the Marine Officer and Instructor for the Naval ROTC Unit. After working at UNC, he returned to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and was a part of the 2nd Anti Tank Battalion working on the Ontos Tank. The Vietnam War was just beginning at this time and Lane was sent to Vietnam in the Summer of 1968 where he was lieutenant colonel making operational plans for the 3rd Marine Division. Lane returned home and worked at Headquarters in D.C. until his retirement.



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