Meet the author
June Andrade
June Andrade lives with “the boys,” tomcats Pepper and Bubba Billy in Beaufort, SC. Her career adventures with the Federal Civil Service included tours in South Korea and South Vietnam. She was Secretary to the Commanding General, MCRD, Parris Island, SC from 1973 to 1978. June worked as a training review officer at Headquarters Marine Corps and retired in 1993 as a GM-13 Logistics Management Specialist/Program Analyst at Quantico, VA. She enjoys reading, writing and collecting data for her next book.
June's Federal Service Background:
1964 – 1993: Joined – Department of Defense
1964 – 1973: US Army Audit Agency, Washington, DC/Atlanta, GA Hunter Army Air Field, Savannah, GA
1969 – 1970: Served in South Korea- Yongsan (Intelligence Office)
1971 – 1973: Served in South Vietnam (LongBinh/TanSonNhut AFB)
1973 – 1978: Secretary to the CG, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, SC
1978 – 1993: Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC): Manpower/Aviation Training and Logistics Departments
1993 - Retired as a Program Analyst GM-13 from the Marine Corps Systems Acquisition Command, Quantico, VA.
Awards/Memberships:
Service in Vietnam Medal
Glider Pilot License
Associate Member, Marine Corps League (MCL)
Associate Member, AMERICAN VETERANS (AMVETS) Post 70
Member – National Association of Active & Retired Federal Employees (NARFE)
Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) recognition of
June's service in Vietnam
Library of Congress – Video/file recognition of June's service in Vietnam
After Retirement:
The Beaufort Gazette, Beaufort, SC: published 86 weekly columns by June titled "Pepper - Cat About Town."
June wrote and published three books:
THE HAT and THE CAT
A WILD MARINE’S BOOT CAMP TALE* Same manuscript
as THE HAT and THE CAT
YOUNG MARINES (and a cat) SAVE CHRISTMAS
a wORD FROM JUNE
I’m June Andrade and one of the reasons I wrote A Wild Marine's Boot Camp Tale was to give the children of Marine Corps drill instructors an insight into what their mom or dad did when they left home in the wee hours of the morning and sometimes didn’t return before they were tucked into bed. I used the actual U.S. Marine Corps recruit training manual, so the kids could follow the kitty cat (Recruit Parker) through his training – the exact same schedule their parents would be putting their real recruits through. I could just see them putting themselves into the cat’s “boots” and trying to survive the impossible-like the cat. No matter how cantankerous or talented he was, his drill instructors (their parents) were more determined to train him than he was to escape! The imagination is a wonderful thing and I hoped the kids would gain strength from Pepper’s antics and survival. Also, I hoped they’d better understand their parent’s job and be proud of their shared accomplishment when the recruits graduated. The book is beautifully illustrated, giving the kids another incentive to read it.