This 84-Year-Old Marine Dropped a Thug 🤯
A story about Ted Ellist, an 84-year-old former Marine from the Fifth Marines, who knocked out a man he believed was assaulting a woman on Central Avenue. Despite his age, Ted retained his combat instincts and fighting ability from his youth as a boxer and fighter.
Summary
The transcript describes an encounter with Ted Ellist, an 84-year-old retired Marine who served in the Fifth Marines during World War II. The speaker highlights Ted's military history, including a harrowing incident on Guadalcanal where he ran out of ammunition and was forced to kill an enemy soldier with only a hunting knife—a weapon he kept by his bedside for the rest of his life as a memento of that experience. Years later, at 84 years old, Ted demonstrated that his combat instincts and physical toughness remained intact. When he witnessed what he believed to be a man roughing up a woman on Central Avenue, Ted intervened decisively, knocking the man unconscious and leaving him in the street. The speaker notes that Ted's hands showed visible signs of his fighting past, appearing purple and beat up. Ted's ability to act at such an advanced age is attributed to his background as both a boxer and fighter in his younger years, and his continued physical presence as a 'big guy' even in old age.
Key Insights
- Ted Ellist ran out of ammunition on Guadalcanal and was forced to kill an enemy soldier with only a hunting knife, which he then kept by his bedside for the remainder of his life
- At 84 years old, Ted Ellist knocked out a man he believed was assaulting a woman on Central Avenue, laying him out in the middle of the street
- Ted's hands were visibly damaged and discolored (purple and beat up) from his history of fighting
- Ted remained a physically large man well into his 80s, maintaining the size and strength from his youth as a boxer and fighter
- Ted carried a water-cooled .30 caliber machine gun while serving in the Fifth Marines, as evidenced by a photograph of him on horseback with the weapon
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] He dropped a dude at 84. >> Yeah, I ran into a guy named Ted Ellist. There's a picture of him carrying an old water cooled 30 on horseback. He was in the fifth Marines. Ted ran out of ammo on Guad Canal. It was him and a soldier. He had nothing but a hunting knife. He didn't even have a kar. He had to kill this with a hunting knife. He still slept with that hunting knife by his bed. Ted was 84. I met him. His hand is kind of purple and beat up. He thought this guy was roughing up a girl on Central Avenue. Ted goes boom knocked him out, laid him out in the…
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