Marines to the core

For Fred Arnold, the annual golf tournament that he’s organized in Costa Mesa since 2005 is his way of staying “always faithful” to wounded brethren in his beloved Marine Corps, who live and die by the credo Semper Fidelis.

“Make peace or die,” said Arnold, 67, a Marine veteran and Costa Mesa resident. “Marines are killing machines. We’re there to protect our freedom from those who want to take it away from us.”

On Monday, at least 150 golfers, many of them Marines or former Marines, including some who had served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, or who had been wounded in combat, took part in the fifth Injured Marine Golf Benefit tournament at the Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club. Costa Mesa officially adopted the Marines’ 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment.

Proceeds from the tournament would go toward the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund at Camp Pendleton, which provides wounded Marines and their families with help and other services. To date, the annual tournaments that Arnold has staged have raised a total of $160,000. He hoped Monday’s tournament would take that total to the $200,000 mark.

“Five years ago, 12 Marines were killed in Iraq, and my brother Mark, who’s a Vietnam veteran, called me and said, ‘What should we do about this?’ I had heard about the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, and I called them and told them I want to do a golf tournament to raise funds,” Arnold said.

“We pick up after the Department of Defense, and the Department of Veterans Affairs do all they can,” he said. “They have a limitation to what they can do. They can only go so far, and that’s when the civilians pick up the rest.”

Monday’s tournament was a fierce competition. Participants were divided into four-person scrambles. A post-tourney auction, dinner and dance were scheduled to follow at American Legion Post 291 in Newport Beach.

“It’s remarkable that people would go out of their way to help somebody they never even met,” said Juan Gomez, a family readiness officer at Camp Pendleton, expressing his gratitude for the work done by Arnold and other people behind the tournament.

So far, thousands of American servicemen and women have died in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with the death and casualty toll widely believed to be considerably higher among civilians. The number of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq is many times that of those wounded in Afghanistan. The Obama administration is weighing a controversial recommendation by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, to deploy an additional 40,000 troops there.

None of the Marines interviewed at the tournament hesitated before expressing support for Gen. McChrystal’s view.

“I would want the troops there to have all the resources they need,” said Philip Levine, 35, a Marine veteran who was shot in the arm while serving in Iraq. “If the general said he needs 40,000 more troops, I would do my best to get the 40,000 troops and accommodate his request.”

Levine, who was awarded the Purple Heart, said he was wounded during a house-to-house search, when his unit was ambushed by a group of Iraqi insurgents.

Although Levine lost much of the motion in his left arm and continues to undergo surgery, he never regrets his decision to enlist.

“It’s an honor to serve your country,” Levine said. “And it’s something that I wish I could still do. I miss it.”

How To Help

To donate to the Injured Marine Golf Benefit, send a check to P.O. Box 1221, Costa Mesa, CA 92626; or call Fred Arnold at (949) 689-3570.