Trio of Marines is Inseparable
Louisiana Group Joins, Gets Promoted Together
Times Picayune New Orleans States October 17, 1943 page 27      
Submitted by Larie Tedesco


************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
************************************************


(The following story was written by First Lieutenant Millard Kaufman of Baltimore, a Marine Corps public
relations officer)

Dutch Harbor, Alaska, October 16..

    Three inseparable Louisiana Leathernecks who celebrated the Marine Corps 167th Anniversary by enlisting
together, attended boot camp in concert, were promoted the same day and served collectively at a Marine base
in the States are united at Marine Barracks here.   They have never been apart.
    The trio comprises Privates First Class Richard C. Silvia, 19 years old, of Lake Charles; Anthony J.
Tedesco, Jr., 20, whose parents live at 1408 Frenchmen Street, New Orleans, and Fred J. Thibodeaux 20, son
of Mr. and Mrs. Fred C. Thibodeaux of Houma, La.
    They met in a New Orleans recruiting station November10, 1942, when they took the oath of allegiance
jointly.   At San Diego, they marched in the same platoon and slep in the same squad room.
    At a naval air station they were mustered into the same working details, a concidence accountable to the
alphabetical propinquity of their surnames.   Moreover, a marked physical similarity exsists among them.
Within three pounds in weight and one half inch in height of eath other, they pass readily for reasonable
facimilities.
    They were assigned to the same compartment aboard ship, and they suffered in unison the horrors of
seasickness.
    Private First Class Silvia is a graduate of Gillis High school, Lake Charles, where he played baseball
and basketball.   He attended Vincent's Business college until his enlistment.   Two brothers, Melvin, 28,
and William Thomas, 25, are sergeants with the army infantry overseas.
    Private First Class Thibodeaux is a graduate of Houma's Terrebonne High school.   He is a former employe
of an oil company on the Gulf Coast.   A brother, Second Leiutenant E. C. Thibodeaux, 23, is stationed with
the army artillery at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
    Private First Class Tedesco is a former New Orleans Cab driver.