Master Gunnery Sergeant

George Hijar: Master Gunnery Sergeant, USMC (Ret)
Secretary

Committees:

  • Newsletter Editor
  • Web Content Manger
  • Public Relations Membership

A native of Mexico, George immigrated to the USA in December 1958 and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in August 1960. He attended boot camp at Parris Island, graduating in January 1962. He went on active duty in July 1967 and was sent to Camp Pendleton, CA, for jungle warfare training. Arrived in the Republic of Vietnam in October 1967 and was assigned as a machine-gunner with the 2nd Bn, 4th Marines, 3d Marine Division.

He came to Parris Island and became a Drill Instructor in March 1969. While here, he was redesignated as a Public Affairs Specialist in 1971, and served as a reporter, assistant editor and editor for base newspapers, media operations chief and Public Affairs Chief for the remainder of his career. George retired in July 1993 after more than 32 years of combined service.

Assignments include MCDEC, Quantico, VA; Okinawa, Japan; Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC), Washington, DC; MCAS Cherry Point, NC, and Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii; The Defense Information School, Fort Benjamin Harrison, IN; and Division of Public Affairs, HQMC, where he was the Public Affairs Chief for the Marine Corps.

From June 1994, after receiving a BS Degree in Business Administration, he was a construction Project Care Manager for Pulte Homes; Route Supervisor for a commercial courier company; Career Development and Financial Aid Officer for Strayer University; and worked as a Public Affairs Specialist for HQMC Manpower Dept., at Quantico, and the Defense Information Systems Agency in Arlington, Va. He retired from Federal Civil Service in July 2004. He did volunteer work for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Bowling Green, Va., and was a senior docent at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, VA. He was elected to the Board of Directors of the Society in the Fall of 2012, and is a volunteer docent for the Parris Island Museum.

He and his wife, Maureen, moved to Sun City-Hilton Head, Bluffton, SC, in October 2010. Their son, Mark, is an attorney in Washington DC specializing in compliance/corporate law. They have a Boxer, named “Chesty.”