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Show For 169 Years U. S. Marines Have Been Fighting Their Country's Battles on Land and on the Sea Anniversary Finds Corps in Forefront Of War Against Japs The United States marine corps celebrates its 169th anniversary an-niversary this November 10th, without pause and with no fanfare. fan-fare. For the relatively small marine corps this has been a year of herculean tasks, never before equalled in the long and heroic history of the corps. Over thousands of miles of Pacific ocean, Leathernecks have leap-frogged to within bomber-range of Japan itself. Behind them lay the heaviest marine casualties in history but small when weighed beside be-side one of the greatest military mili-tary sagas ever written within with-in a period of twelve months. Since November 10th, last, marines have advanced the front on Japan by at least three thousand miles, all the most difficult kind of amphibious amphibi-ous operations against an enemy ene-my who did not know how to surrender except in death on the point of a marine bayonet. Since the year 1775 when Capt. Robert Mullin recruited the first marines In the Tun Tavern at Philadelphia, Phila-delphia, Leathernecks have expected ex-pected as their share the hardest type of fighting. The first two battalions bat-talions of marines were promised nothing more than six dollars a month, a liberal daily ration of rum, and plenty of action. For the last 169 years Leathernecks have teen action In virtually every corner of the world. In the War of Independence the new-born marines served creditably on land and sea. Their first recorded action was a raid on New Providence Provi-dence In the Bahamas. A detachment detach-ment fought with Washington in the Battle of Princeton and in the sec- ond Battle of Trenton. Marines were also present for the historic crossing cross-ing of the Delaware and were part of the force that surprised the Hessian Hes-sian garrison on Christmas Eve, 1776. Among their earlier admirers was John Paul Jones who saw them in action and openly spoke his admiration. ad-miration. Reorganized in 1798. With the coming of peace, the marines were disbanded, not to be formed again until 1798. It was seven years later that they set out on their first overseas venture an operation opera-tion that was later to be recorded jt the Marine Corps hymn. This iction ("shores of Tripoli") was made notable by Lieutenant O'Ban-.ion O'Ban-.ion who led seven marines and a handful of natives in one of the most daring raids in military history. Always busy, the year 1812 found marines in action again. They fought m many engagements, from Lake Erie with Commodore Perry to New Orleans with Andrew Jackson. It was remarked even In those days .that such a small force numbering jcarcely more than a thousand tould fight so effectively on so many fronts. The marines were still a very mail force when they went into iction in 1845 in the War with MexU to. But despite their numbers they took a major role in the attack on the Fortress of Chapultepec, and. joining with a small force under Lieut. Ulysses S. Grant, marched to the gates of Mexico City. For the 50 years the marines fere " '.die. They played an occa in restoring order in Cor a, but they didn't get in a serious scale again 'jr. lsh-American war. In th they struck the first 61 erican arms; they won tht lories; they electrified the natiu.. ith their skill and dar-jig. dar-jig. Rarely has such a small group of fighting men received so many decorations for valor. At Front in World War I. World War I also demonstrated the high percentage of individual marine heroism. One thousand, six hundred and sixty-eight marines received re-ceived awards despite the fact the marine corps was still a relatively small organization. The first American Ameri-can to win the Congressional Medal of Honor was a marine Gunnery Sgt Charles F. Hoffman who itlenced five enemy machine guns In Belleau Wood. Typical of marine plrit was this report: "9:30 a. m. Four officers and 78 prisoners arrived ar-rived at brigade headquarters brought in by Marine Private Leonard to whom they surrendered in the Bols de Belleau." Marines entered World War II on. the firing line. "Send us more Japs" aired the beleaguered marines on m& AZiiA, i. A , i A weary machine gunner carries his gun on his shoulder and his rifle I in his band, as he trudges along a soggy trail on New Britain island. Another Marine slogs along behind him, with a can of lubricating oil in each hand, while a Jeep bounces past. Marine units made their first landing on New Britain on Christmas, 1913. It took many bitter weeks j to clean out the Japs. i Wake Island. On Bataan they fought with equal courage. At Midway they helped stem a major enemy invasion. in-vasion. Then on August 7, 1942 they were again chosen by their country to spearhead an offensive. Guadalcanal Guadal-canal was the first offensive blow struck by the Allies against Japan. First Division marines fought ashore carrying with them the hopes and prayers of the entire civilized civil-ized world. Leathernecks, recently returned from overseas, often debate the relative rela-tive fierceness of the battles in which they have engaged the enemy. All j admit that Guadalcanal rates with j the toughest. For weeks the marines fought on short rations and with the enemy fleet and air force in almost al-most constant attendance. When the marines finally moved out for a rest, they had secured the first toehold on the Japanese perimeter of defense. Bougainville, Makin, New Georgia followed. Then came Tarawa. Here the marine corps fought its costliest battle. Moving In on the shattered island the morning of November 20, 1943, marines found the preliminary shelling had failed to dislodge the Japanese. The first 24 hours saw the marines clinging to a beachhead 100 yards long and 10 yards deep. Surmounting Sur-mounting almost certain catastrophe catas-trophe the marines rallied the second day to drive inland. By the third day they had comDletelv se cured the island. Leap to Marshall!. Moving northward, the marines next invaded the Marshall Islands, meeting with less resistance because be-cause they had learned at Tarawa to land on flanking islands before assaulting the enemy's main positions. posi-tions. Marines In this period also were fighting on New Britain Island, Cape Gloucester standing as their chief campaign. But they soon withdrew with-drew from this theater. Weeks passed before the marines struck again. This time they leaped forward 1,700 miles -- from the Marshalls to the Marianas. This, the world realized, was a blow to the Japanese stomach, for Saipan would bring U. S. bombers within range of Japan proper. The ensuing battle was waged on land, sea and air. The Japanese Japa-nese fleet, drawn out to meet this threat, was turned back by long-range long-range carrier based bombers. Ashore the Second and Fourth marines, aided by an army division, ran Into even harder fighting than they had met at Tarawa. Saipan, a large Island with mountains, posed an entirely new kind of tactical problem prob-lem to marines. But, versatile as ever, they soon had secured their beachhead and were moving across the island. The enemy fought to a suicidal end at Saipan. Even the native na-tive population Joined in the battle and, when they saw their cause was lost, leaped into the sea. Tinlan and Guam followed soon after. In re-taking Guam the Leathernecks evened the score for the marine garrison which was overwhelmed on that island at the outbreak of war. This series of successes Saipan, Tinlan, Guam caused an upset in the Japanese government and led to a bad fright for Tokio. The Japs were not given much pause to swallow swal-low the Implications of these victories. vic-tories. The marines struck next at Pclcliu in the Patau group. The Japs quickly saw that this was a blow aimed at the Philippines. Thus the Japanese tide of conquest con-quest ebbed. The past year has taught the Jap to dread the marine. In one important operation the fact that marines were involved was withheld as information of value to the enemy. The enemy who learned his lesson from the Leathernecks on Guadalcanal now may agree with Allied observers that the United States marine is "the most superb fighting man in the world." |
