{"id":169,"date":"2026-07-28T23:53:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T23:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dmcmanus.biz\/?p=169"},"modified":"2026-08-19T02:59:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T02:59:46","slug":"john-plenzler-pineapple-marine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dmcmanus.biz\/?p=169","title":{"rendered":"John Plenzler, Pineapple Marine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I knew for quite sometime that my grandfather, John Plenzler, had been in the US Marines. He served from August 1908 until July 1912. I had a muster calls that placed him in a number of places, including Honolulu. And I remember my Mom saying to me when I was maybe 6 or 7 years old, her father served in Mexico. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Curiosity got to me recently when my grandfather\u2019s original discharge papers dated 1912 were located. I scanned the document and read it\u2013it\u2019s in remarkable shape despite the fact it is now 114 years old. It repeated much of the information that I had in a descriptive book that I had received through a relative. The discharge papers though had mentioned foreign service in Honolulu from January 14 1909 to April 4 1911. (Hawaii was not a state until 1959, but was a protectorate from 1893 until 1959.) The discharge papers also clearly state that John was a member of the 4th Expeditionary Regiment and had seen sea duty aboard the USS Buffalo from January 5 through 14 1909. My mother told me once, I think I was no more than maybe 7 or 8 years old, that he had also served in Mexico. That fact sat in the back of my mind all these years, but I never put any importance on these facts until I had gotten the original discharge document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started researching the USS Buffalo. This ship had an interesting history. Built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dock Co., in Newport News, VA in 1892, its original name was the SS El Cid. It was then sold to Brazil and was renamed the SS Nictheroy. In 1898, it was purchased back by the US and renamed the USS Buffalo. The ship was decommission and recommissioned a few times through November 1906 when it was outfitted as a transport. This would be the ship that John was on while traveling to Hawaii. NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive<\/a> has numerous photos of the ship through it\u2019s history and it was quite interesting to me to see a ship my grandfather sailed on over 100 years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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USS Buffalo<\/em> , between 1900 and 1905.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Arriving in Hawaii, John was to be stationed at Camp Very. Named after Captain Samuel W. Very, was established by instruction from President Teddy Roosevelt to Secretary of War William Taft. The first Marines arrived at Honolulu on 4 February 1909 to provide \u201ccoast defenses of the United States and the insular possession (including Hawaii).\u201d The Marines stationed here became known as the \u201cPineapple Marines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marines stationed here from 1908 until 1913 lived in tents until barracks could be built in 1914. I was pleased to find some photos of my grandfather\u2019s life during this period. I\u2019ve never had a photo of him, so I am trying to picture his life in any way possible. Photos courtesy of US Militaria Forum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Company, Camp Very 1909<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Pineapple Marines, Batallion Marching Honolulu 1909<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When John\u2019s time as a Pineapple Marine ended, he became part of the 4th Marine Regiment activated in April 1911 for expeditionary duty in response to the Mexican Revolution. John was assigned to this regiment on 20 April 1911. The regiment patrolled the shores of Mexico through May and June and returned to San Diego when tensions were eased between the US and Mexico.1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found it interesting to learn more about John\u2019s life. Because he died when my mother was very young, she was only 9, she knew fragments of her father\u2019s life and did not have photos of him that I was ever able to locate. Holding the very same document that he once held over 100 years ago gave me more of a connection to him than I could have hoped for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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John Plenzler, Discharge from Marines 1912 p1<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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John Plenzler, Discharge from Marines 1912, p2<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1.<\/sup> The present day 4th Marines does not trace its history to this early expeditionary regiment. Current day 4th Marines was begun in 1914, per the Brief History of the 4th Marines, 1970<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I knew for quite sometime that my grandfather, John Plenzler, had been in the US Marines. He served from August 1908 until July 1912. I had a muster calls that placed him in a number of places, including Honolulu. And I remember my Mom saying to me when I was maybe 6 or 7 years…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plenzler","tag-plenzler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmcmanus.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmcmanus.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmcmanus.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmcmanus.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmcmanus.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dmcmanus.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":332,"href":"https:\/\/dmcmanus.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmcmanus.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmcmanus.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmcmanus.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}