Leatherneck

My Dad has occasionally referred to himself as a "leatherneck", but I did not previously understand the meaning of the term, which signifies his service in the United States Marine Corps.

When my Dad and his best friend Grant Phillips enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1946, it was just on a whim. There had been no discussion around the dinner table about military enlistment, but when he and his buddy noticed a recruiting poster "it seemed like a good thing to do". After signing the paperwork, Dad went home to tell his mother, and if there was a dramatic reaction to the news, he does not remember it. 

The spelling of Dad's surname in this article has significance. Prior to his enlistment, he used the surname "Mack" which the family had preferred for a couple of generations. The prior year, he is listed in his high school yearbook as simply Harold Mack. In order to enlist, he needed to use his legal name, but what appeared in the article is a hybrid of the two forms of his surname, Mack and McCracken.

In this Post Register article, he is said

Leatherneck

to have joined the ranks of the "Leatherneck Corp". The term "leatherneck" is military slang for a member of the United States Marine Corps. The nickname came about during an earlier time period when each Marine was issued a stiff leather collar which was fastened by two buckles behind the neck. It measured between 2 1/2 and 3 inches in the front and tapered at the back. You can see the discomfort associated with this piece of their uniform, but Marines were punished for failure to wear their collars while on duty.

There are two popular opinions on the purpose of this very uncomfortable collar, also known as a "stock":

1. A military fashion statement because its use improved the wearer's military bearing and appearance by forcing the chin up, which resulted in better posture. One general said the "effect of the stock when buckled around a man's neck was to hold his head high in the air, like geese looking for rain".
2. Protection against sword cuts. 

Whatever the purpose, thankfully Dad did not have to endure this wicked

fashion. The dress blues uniform of the Marines in 1946 did not include a leather collar, however, it did sport a very rigid collar which produced the same high neck posture and bearing modeled by Dad at left.