Whitman County Gazette - Serving Whitman County since 1877

THORNTON – Marine Corps, combat veteran Michael Pick lives out past Thorton with his wife, and two adopted grandkids.

Pick joined the Marine Corps in 1967, and served in Vietnam in the late spring of 1968.

"I was second battalion third marine, so telecompany second platoon," Pick said, adding that he was part of the northern I Corps DMZ. The northernmost region of South Vietnam, bordering North Vietnam at the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone. Pick was a rifleman, machine gunner, assigned to search and destroy missions.

"I was the designated in my platoon to set up all the trip flares, trip...