Only three months into his senior year at Weymouth High School in Weymouth, Massachusetts, Richard McGuinness enlisted on Nov. 14, 1961, choosing the Marines for the adventure it promised.

“My mother was crushed, my father was angry, but he signed off anyway,” McGuinness recalled. “I felt I needed a dramatic change in my life, and I got it!”

Following boot camp at Parris Island, training in technical schools and Advanced Infantry Training at Camp Geiger, North Carolina, McGuinness entered the Marine Corps Air Wing. More training ensued at Aviation Ordinance School in Jacksonville, where he learned to handle weapons systems on fighter jets. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, McGuinness was assigned to the 2nd Marines Aircraft Wing out of Beaufort, SC. “That was my primary base, but I got deployed to Cuba, Puerto Rico and Spain — I really liked Spain — and that got me thinking about embassy duty.

With less than two years remaining, McGuinness applied for and was accepted into foreign service, requiring an additional nine months of active duty.

“You needed to have at least two years left in order to be part of that,” he explained. He never did get back to Spain, but he was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, West Africa. “It was a very good assignment,” he recalled. “I have no regrets and would have stayed there after the year was over, but that assignment is considered ‘hardship’ service, so I got to choose my second assignment, and I picked Athens, Greece.”

By the time he had completed his second year of foreign duty, McGuinness had less than four months remaining on his commitment.

“After the first two years, I had considered a career in the Marines, but I changed my mind once I had been on Embassy duty,” he said. “I had met a lot of people, and I decided I wanted to finish my education.”

Before that could happen, however, the Gulf of Tonkin incident during the Vietnam War took place in 1966. “President Johnson froze all retirements discharges,” McGuinness recalled. Having been accepted to Los Angeles City College, he had to procure proof of acceptance, and in the days of snail mail and no FAX machines, McGuinness ended up serving an extra 24 days. By the time he arrived in California, classes had commenced, and McGuinness was too far behind to catch up. He returned to Massachusetts, eventually enrolled in Northeastern University and completed a degree in civil engineering.

“Serving in the Marines molded my life — as a student, a worker, a husband, a father,” he said. “It gave me confidence, the desire for self-improvement, hard work and a ‘never give up’ positive attitude. Having the concept that things will get better is inherent to the teachings. There have never been any regrets, and I’ve never really left the Marine Corps.”

McGuinness says he could easily have returned to Embassy Duty as an officer in charge, and even though he chose not to pursue a career with the Marines, he encourages the parents of teens considering enlisting in the military to learn more about foreign service. “It’s a great opportunity,” he added.

Today, McGuinness is a life member of the Marine Embassy Guard Association, which holds a reunion each year, as well as serving as the Commandant of the Central Maine Detachment of the Marine Corps League. He’s also a member of the Navy Corpsmen and is Chaplain of the Department of Maine Marine Corps League. In addition, McGuinness is a member of a unique organization called the Military Order of the Devil Dogs, described by the MODD as “the fun and honor society of the Marine Corps League… promoting good fellowship among members of different Marine Corps League Detachments.”