Corporal John “Jay” Tucker / United States Marines

“I got to tour the Mediterranean and proudly served with 55 of the finest Marines I could have ever been assigned to serve with. I’m proud to have been chosen to be part of the oldest aspect of the Marine Corps, and that is Sea Duty,” began John Tucker of his service time with the Marines.

John Tucker came into the world on October 2, 1951 in Nashua, NH. As a child he moved around quite a bit, living in Merrimack, Manchester, and then back to Nashua. As such, he attended various schools. Tucker explains, “My dad left when I was 10 years old. It was hard on my mom. We lived for a time in the Nashua housing project off Burke Street. Back then it was not a bad place to live. There were no gangs. The guy in charge kept a lid on things. I never worried about getting hurt in that neighborhood, and all the kids knew each other.”

Tucker attended Spring St. High School in Nashua, and about that time he took up the guitar. This was the period where bands like the Beatles and Rolling Stones were big and everyone wanted to be like them. There was a “garage-band” on practically every street. Tucker kept playing his guitar, got caught up in some of the garage bands, and moved on to Nashua High School. He talked about his high school life, “I got nothing out of high school. I was bored. I did OK scholastically, but my heart just wasn’t in it. I had a girlfriend at the time… I met her over the summer… and at the end of the summer, she went back to her home in Maine. Now I was bored and heartbroken and didn’t know what to do with myself. So, I decided to quit school in my senior year, and join the Marines… an outfit where I could see some action.” Tucker would have graduated with the class of 1970.

Tucker explains what happened next, “I walked into the high school, went right to my guidance counselor, and told him I was quitting school and going into the Marines. He blew a gasket and told me that they couldn’t do that. I explained that I wasn’t drafted… I had joined on my own free will, and was old enough to do it! And I was probably headed for Vietnam…where I could see some action. And so ended my high school career. Later, I would get a GED.”

Tucker was going to join up with his cousin through the Marines’ “Buddy System” whereby two people could join at the same time and be assured of going through at least boot camp together. Plus, he was hoping to meet up with some other cousins who were already in Vietnam.  Tucker signed on with a deferment for a few months when he and his cousin were supposed to ship out together. His cousin signed up, evidently didn’t know he was supposed to take a deferment and was shipped out right away. So much for the “Buddy System.”

John Tucker, taking a deferment until after the Christmas holiday, started his Marine career on December 30, 1969. First, it was off to Parris Island and then Camp Lejeune for basic training. From that point, Tucker bounced around a bit before he settled on a permanent job. 

After basics, Tucker decided to take a trip home to Nashua. He wanted to stop by the high school to see his guidance counselor, dressed in his Marine uniform. The late 60’s was a tough time to be a US soldier no matter where you were. As Tucker approached the high school, a student threw rocks at him and jeered him… he called Tucker “baby-killer.”

His first stop after basics, and after his trip home, was San Diego for communications school. That was not to his liking, so he transferred to being a truck driver. While waiting for a truck driving job to open up, Tucker served as a night cook, getting meals ready to be served the following day. While serving as a cook, he continued to ask for Vietnam duty. Tucker continues, “Finally they got sick of hearing me talk about Vietnam and next thing I knew, my orders for Vietnam came through.” But before he could go to Vietnam, he needed to take Advanced Infantry Training, which he completed. He was then selected for sea duty aboard a Navy ship.

Because Tucker was in the top 10 percent of his class, he got to select the ship he would serve on.  He first toured a destroyer as part of his indoctrination. While walking around in the ship’s interior he noticed boot prints on the bulkheads in some places, so he asked about them. He was told that in heavy seas, the ship sometimes listed so far to one side or the other, that shipmates could walk on the walls. Tucker didn’t need to hear any more. If he was going to be out in the ocean, he wanted to be on the largest ship afloat, something that wouldn’t bob around like a cork, and chose the USS Forestal; an aircraft carrier. 

As defined by Wikipedia, a Marine’s primary job on a Navy ship is to provide security and defense for the vessel, including protecting the ship’s captain, conducting boarding operations, and acting as a rapid response force in case of threats, essentially serving as a highly trained combat unit. Tucker explains, “We spent a lot of time in our dress-blues, escorting dignitaries around the ship. It was a lot of ‘pomp and circumstance’. We also served as ship’s security; we were in charge of the brig.”

For a time, they were based in Norfolk, VA, about an 11-hour drive from Nashua. “I had a car, explains Tucker, “so on weekends five of us would pile in the car, split the cost of gas and take turns driving so we could be home for a weekend. We would make it back to the ship just before our duty time on Monday morning.” Tucker continues, “There were 5,000 Navy personnel on that ship, and only 55 Marines. Because we were such a small contingent, we were more like a family than a military detachment.”

While assigned to the ship, they took a cruise through the Mediterranean. Asked if he had stopped at any interesting ports, Tucker replied, “We stopped at Malta, a small island country between Sicily and North Africa. It was there that we ran into our British counterparts (the Royal Marines). They really liked our uniforms and especially our boots. They invited us to an outdoor shooting range for some sport. We brought along one of our M60 machine guns and a few belts of ammo. We showed them something they had never seen before; tracer bullets. Every fifth round was a tracer, so the shooter could follow the trajectory of his line of fire. They got a kick out of it, until the pyrotechnic charge in the tracers ignited the paper and wood targets.”

During his last six months on the ship, Tucker served as a tailor and operated the steam press to press uniform pants with a sharp crease. Tucker says, “The guy who served as a tailor left, and nobody else knew how to sew or work a steam press… so I was their guy. For six months I sewed on patches and insignias and pressed slacks.”

Tucker left the Marines on November 9, 1972. One might say Tucker was a renaissance man given the different jobs he had after the Marines. For 20 years, he worked at Improved Machinery Company on Nashua’s Burke St., less than a mile from the address he lived just before leaving for the Marines. He started as a welder, then became a production supervisor. He has worked as a gunsmith, a print press operator, managed an electric supply warehouse, worked construction, and sold life insurance across Tennessee. 

Of his musical career, Tucker started playing guitar at 14 years old and never put it down. He spent 15 years playing in and around Nashville, TN, the center for country music. On his band’s website, he was asked about his style of music. Tucker replied, “My ‘style’ is pretty eclectic, but probably the combination of: Cream, Grand Funk Railroad, The Eagles, Willie, Waylon, and David Allan Coe. Kris Kristofferson is one of my favorite writers.” His trio’s repertoire consists of many cover songs, and a few of their own compositions. They enjoy singing in three-part harmony. 

His nom-de-guerre, “Jay,” was borne out of the fact that he had a close cousin also named John. So, when he was about three years old, his family started calling him Jay-Jay to differentiate the two. It eventually was shortened to Jay… which he kept for his professional musical career. 

At 73 years old, he still works five days a week at Caring Hearts, helping the physically and mentally challenged. Tucker provides direct support. And he plays 2 nights a week with his band, The Studio G Project, consisting of his wife Karah and their third voice, Jim. John Tucker now resides in North Carolina with his wife, and dog, “Rosie.” His outlook on life is simple. He says, “It’s all about relationships… and making a mark, without leaving a stain.”

US Service Personnel Profiles
By Gary Ledoux February 16, 2025