Doc Joe Churchill (SEAL)
Med. Diving Tech.  &  FMF Corpsman(KOREA)


I first met Joe Churchill in Independent Duty school at Portsmouth,Va. We became
good friends there along with Red Maurath who was already a diver. Red tol
us all about Deep Sea Diving school so we both applied for DSDS in D.C. When
we arrived there we asked the training officer how assignments were made out
of school , as we both wanted to come to the West Coast. He told us that of
the open billets all assignments were made by the class standings of the
graduating divers but, not to be concerned as pecker checkers never ranked
high in the class. That pissed off Joe and I so we asked to be diving
partners in school. To make a long story shorter I graduated as honor man
and Joe was .2 of a point behind me. At that time we were the first HM,s to
graduate at the top of the class.

We were stationed either together or near
each other for the next 6-7 years. I reported to ST-1 as the 4th HM,Beaver,
Raymond & Cline were already there.
Cline also knew Joe from DSDS so we went to Capt. Del Guidice and Joe was
the 5th HM.

We both retired Joe going into the MEDEX program and me going
into law enforcement. He had an Independent
pratice in Othello,Wa. his sponsoring MD was in Moses Lake,WA. After
a couple of years he called wanting to know if there was room for another
deputy sheriff as he had a disagreement with his sponsor over Rxing healthy
patients placebo drugs and charging for them. Joe remarking for the previous
20 plus years he had ran malingering patients out of his office.

He came to
work here in the county where I was Sgt, then I got into it with the
Undersheriff about giving people of higher social standings better law
enforcement than the poor people. This ended by me quitting and taking a job
managing a wildlife refuge here in the county. I got talked into running for
county sheriff with Susanne Churchill as my campaign manager.I was elected and Joe was my
Undersheriff. We done quite well bringing the department from the bottom of
the proficiency rating to the top 10%in the state our first year.

When I told Joe I was going to retire and suggested he run for Sheriff,
he said he was going to run for District Court Judge. He challenged the
test for district cou rt judges and passed it higher than any previous
persons. He wo n the election from the encumbent judge who was an attorney.
The next 2 terms he ran unopposed, dying in his 3rd term from pancreatic
cancer.

He handled death the same way he handled life,very well. His second
wife (Susanne) was Doc Marshall's sister.

He by the way if you don't know is also living in Birmminham as a
hyperbaric chamber operator with a nursing degree.

Well, Rio that is
a nutshell of Joes life after the teams. He was a outstanding man and my
best friend.

My response to the "Guardian Angels Assholes" Defending SEAL Wannabes