a brief history of the 6th marines

8/7/2019 A Brief History of the 6th Marines

1/196


2/196

C O V E R : British Prime Minister Winston S .Churchill reviews the 6th Marines, th enucleus of the 1st Provisional Marine B rigad ein Iceland in July 1941, as Marines replace dBritish occupation troops . Churchill later re -m em bered that "there w as a long m arch pas tin threes, during which the tune UnitedStates Marines bit so deeply into my memorythat I could not get it out of m y head"


3/196

A BRIEF HISTORY OFTHE 6TH MARINES

byLieutenant General William K . Jones

U . S . Marine Corps (Retired )

HISTORY AND MUSEUMS DIVISIO NHEADQUARTERS, U.S . MARINE CORP S

WASHINGTON, D .C .1987


4/196

Other Volumes in the Marine Corp sRegimental Histories Serie sA Brief History of the 1st Mariner, 1960, rev . eds . 1962, 1968A Brief History of the 2d Marines, 1961, rev . eds . 1962, 196 9A Brief History of the 3d Marines, 1961, rev . ed . 196 8A Brief History of the 4th Marines, 197 0A Brief History ofthe 5th Marines, 1963, rev . ed . 1968 (now undergo -ing further revision )A Brief History of the 7th Marines, 198 0A Brief History of the 8th Marines, 197 6A Brief History of the 9th Marines, 1961, rev, eds . 1963, 196 7A Brief History of the loth Marines, 198 1A Brief History of the 11th Marines, 196 8A Brief History of the 12th Marines, 197 2A Brief History of the 14th Marines, now in preparationA B rief History of the 23d Marines, scheduled for preparatio nA B rief History of the 24th Marines, now in preparationA B rief History of the 25th Marines, 198 1

USMC PCN 190 003100 0 0

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U .S . Government Printing OfficeWashington, D .C . 20402


5/196

Foreword

This historical monograph is the 13th in a s eries of 1 .6 regimental histories . . When com -pleted, the series will cover in similar fashion each of the infantry and artillery regiment sin the Fleet Marine Forces, active and reserve . The present narrative not only sets fort hthe significant actions of the 6th Marines, but also provides a general history of the Ma-rine Corps activities in peace and war in which the regiment participated .

The author of this monograph, Lieutenant General William K . Jones,. US MC (Retired), .is exceptionally well qualified to write a history of the 6th Marines . General Jones, bornin Joplin, Missouri, on 23 October 1916, received his A .B . degree from the Universityof Kansas in 1937 . While at the university, he attended summer training courses in . thePlatoon Leaders' Class at San Diego, California . He accepted a Marine Reserve commis-sion as a second lieutenant on 31 January 1938, entered active duty on 29 Septembe r1939, and integrated. into the regular Marine Corps in November 1940 .Upon his initial entry on active duty, he completed an abbreviated Reserve Officers 'Course at Quantico Virginia, before joining the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines at San Die-go . He remained in that battalion for almost six years . In. the process, he participatedin the expedition to Iceland in 1941, saw combat on Guadalcanal, and commanded th ebattalion at Tarawa,. Saipan, and Tinian. On Tarawa, he earned a Silver Star Medal an da field promotion to lieutenant colonel (one of a handful given to Marine officers inWorld War II) .. For his actions on Saipan, he received a Navy Cross . .S ome of his key post-W orld W ar 11 assignments included command of the 1st M arine s(1953-54) ; , The Basic S chool (1956-58) ; the Recruit Training Regiment at Parris Island ,South Carolina (1958-60) ; the 3d Marine Division (1969-70) in Vietnam and Okinawa ; ,and Fleet Marine Force, Pacific (1970-72) .. His personal decorations also include thre eawards of the Distinguished. S ervice Medal . , , the Legion of Merit the Bronze S tar Medal, .and the Purple Heart ..General Jones has been a prolific writer for many y ears . His "Bas eplate M cGurk" serie sof leadership articles in the Marine Corps Gazette has been widely read and reprinted .

He retired from active duty in 1972, and is at present the Vice President of the Marin eCorps Historical Foundation .

In the pursuit of accuracy and objectivity, the History and Museums Division welcome scomments on the history from key participants,, Marine Corps activities,, and intereste dindividuals . .

E . . H . SIMMON SBrigadier General, U .S .. Marine Corps (Retired )Director of Marine Corps History and Museum s

iii


6/196


7/196

Prefac eThe famous 6th Marine Regiment was 70 years old in mid-summer 1987 . This shor thistory attempts to outline some, not all, of the remarkable accomplishments of this unit .

The lateness of publishing such an account is due neither to a lack of interest on th epart of the Marine Corps Historical Center nor insufficient effort by that organization .In fact, for several years a Washington-based Mobilization Training Unit (MTU) took o nthe project in an attempt to assemble available information . Unfortunately, the job ha dto be shunted from one reserve officer of the unit to another as events dictated . Thisbecame evident to the author when he attempted to proofread a final draft submitte dby the MTU .Having spent the first six years of my active duty, from second lieutenant to lieutenan tcolonel and battalion commander, in the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, I understandabl yhave a deep attachment to the regiment . From my personal observation during Worl dWar II, I realized no association of men anywhere enjoyed a prouder combat record tha nours . From my close association in the Marine Corps with respected leaders who wer eyoung Marines in World War I, I learned intimately about the founding of the heritag epassed on to us by them. From younger Marines of yesteryear and today, I learned thi sheritage continues on to this day . I am confident it will do so well into the future . Thisgreat tradition continues among Marines in peace as well as in war, whether on activ eduty or in retirement . As a Marine veteran once wrote, "Indeed, the ordeal of not forget-ting may well be the only heroism of the survivors . "

Finally, I want to express my gratitude to the distinguished members of the 6th Ma-rines, whether on active duty, retired, or in civilian life, who contributed to this history .A full list of contributors may be found in the appendices . Howev er, my particular thank sgo to my editor, Dr . V . Keith Fleming, Jr ., for his contributions, advice, and encourage-ment . Other Marines who especially provided support were Sergeant Major Lewis L .Michelony, US MC (Retired) ; Colonel Loren E . Haffner, USMC (Retired) ; C olonel Jame sA . Donovan, Jr., USMC (Retired) ; and Colonel Thomas D. Stouffer, USMC . However ,as author I am responsible for the contents of the text, including opinions expressed an dany errors in fact .

To those members of the 6th Marines, dead, wounded, or remembering, this volumeis respectfully dedicated .

WILLIAM K . JONESLieutenant GeneralU . S . Marine Corps (Retired )

v


8/196


9/196

Table of Content sForewordiiPrefaceMapsiChapter 1 The First World WarThe BeginningBackgroundChateau-ThierryBelleau WoodSoissons3S t . Mihiel5The Meuse-Argonne and Blanc Mont Ridge5

The Meuse-Argonne6The March to the Rhine and the Occupation8Marine Achievements0Demobilization1Chapter 2 Between the World Wars3Background3China Duty5Second China Duty5Chapter 3 Iceland3Background . :3

Expeditionary Duty!4The First Marine Brigade (Provisional)6Arrival and Movement Ashore7Camp Life8The Days Wear On0Assigned Priorities1Assigned to a U .S . Army Command3Pearl Harbor,6Heading Stateside6Chapter 4 Guadalcanal8Background8

Preparing for Overseas Duty8New Zealand2The Baptism of Fire4The Return to `The Land They Adored'8McKay's Crossing0Chapter 5 Tarawa4Background4Off to the Gilberts4Helen6D-Day, 20 November 19437

v ii


10/196

D Plus 1, 21 November 19439The 6th Marines Attack0D Plus 2, 22 November 19431D Plus 3, 23 November 19433Mopping Up6Apamama6The 6th Marines Leave Tarawa7Lessons Learned8Chapter 6 Saipan Tinian9Background9The Island of Hawaii9Training for The Next One'1The Marianas3Shipping Out5D-Day, 15 June 19447D Plus 1, 16 June 19441D Plus 2, 17 June 19442D Plus 3, 18 June 19444D Plus 4 to D Plus 6, 17-20 June 19444D Plus 7, 22 June 19445Mopping Up0 0On to Tinian0 1Lessons Learned0 6Chapter 7 What's Next?0Background0 7Camp Life, 1944-450 7Okinawa1 3

Chapter 8 The Occupation1 7Background1 7The War Ends!1 7The Occupation1 8Just Marking Time2 2Heading Home2 4Chapter 9 1945-19652 6Background2 6Korea2 6Rebuilding the 6th Marines2 8Action in Lebanon3 0Cuban Crisis3 2The Quiet Time3 2Dominican Crisis3 2Lessons Learned3 9Chapter 10 1965-19854 0Background4 0The Late 1960s4 0The 1970s4 3Conclusion53


11/196

NOTES5 5APPENDICESA . Commanding Officers6 1B. Chronology6 5C. Lineage6 7D. Honors6 9E. Medals of Honor7 1F. Contributors7 5INDEX7 7

ix


12/196


13/196

Map s

Belleau Wood, 1-5 June 1918Guadalcanal and Florida Islands3Intelligence Map, Bititu (Betio) Island, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands ,Situation 1800 D-Day5Saipan8Tinian0 3Okinawa1 2Eastern Mediterranean2 9xi


14/196

CHAPTER 1The First World WarThe BeginningBackground Chateau-Thierry Belleau W ood Soissons St . Mihiel

The Meuse-Argonne and Blanc Mont RidgeThe Meuse-Argonn eThe March to the Rhine and the Occupation Marine Achievements Demobilization

BackgroundSo much has been written about World War I, an d

written so well by famous historians and novelists, italmost seems redundant, indeed presumptuous, t oplow this ground again . A history of the 6th Marineswould not be complete, nonetheless, without a re -count of the regiment's beginning and its exploits i nthe First World War . To cover this period, even if i na cursory way, seems mandatory .

Prior to and well into World War I the U .S . Ma-rine Corps closely followed the evolution of the Brit-ish Royal Marines . In the 19th century, Marines o fboth nations served on board naval vessels, as guard sof naval bases, and ashore in far-off lands on specia lassignments . Yet when World War I grew in feroci-ty, first the British and then the American Marine seach provided a brigade for combat service with a ninfantry division in Europe as well as staff and com-mand personnel for Army units . They a lso prov ide dunits for isolated outposts not related directly to themain battle effort against Germany . '

To refresh memories, the war had been going o nfor three y ears before the United S tates became direct-ly involved on 6 April 1917 . 2 B efore the war, an anx-ious E urope watched Germany conduct what W insto nChurchill called a "twilight war ." By 1914 Britain ,France, and Russia realized diplomacy had failed . I nthe United States, it only gradually became apparen tthat this country would be drawn into the conflict i nEurope . Not until late summer of 191 6, therefore, wa sthe National Defense Act approved which finall yprovided substantial increases in the size of all of th emilitary and naval services . The act authorized the Ma-rine Corps to increase from 344 officers and 9,92 1 en -listed men to 597 officers and 14,981 enlisted . Itfurther authorized the President, in the event of a na-tional emergency, to increase the C orps to 693 officer sand 17,400 enlisted men . 3 Recruiting was very slow .By the end of 1916 the enlisted strength was up t oalmost 11,000 . No new officers were appointed unti lFebruary 1917 and then only 10 were selected . Whenthe United States entered the war the total Marin eC orps strength was 41 9 officers and a little more tha n13,000 enlisted men . 4

The main training center development was at Par -

ris Island, South Carolina. The Marine Corps had ,since 1915, maintained at an inactive naval station o nthe island a camp where it trained recruits from th eeastern part of the country . Those from the wester npart were trained at M are Island, C alifornia s Now th eC orps gradually acquired all of Parris Island an are aof about 10 square miles exclusive of marsh and tid elands . There were many difficulties . The isolated areahad neither railway nor highway transportation . Aboutall of the necessary facilities for water transportatio nhad to be provided, including docks, barges, tugs, etc . ,to the nearest railroad terminal . Even the water fordrinking and washing had to be barged in since th esalty sea water so close to the surface of the island mad ewells impractical .

At first the recruits had to sleep under canvas . Fi-nally temporary buildings were erected . B y 1916 Par-ris Island was a beehive of activity . A majorthoroughfare was cleared and later became known a sthe Boulevard de France . A new rifle range was con-structed . A sand parade field was laid out and re-mained unpaved until 1943 . 6A little over a month after the United State sdeclared war on 6 April 1917 ; on 14 May , the Marin eCorps leased 6,000 acres at Quantico, Virginia. On14 June 1917 the 5th Marines sailed for France an dfull attention could be focused on forming and train-ing the 6th Marines .

Recruiting new enlisted men proved to be n oproblem after war was declared . An unusually highquality of men presented themselves for enlistment ,and many successful business and professional menwere among their number . The recruiting of ne wofficers proceeded more slowly . Many outstandingmen from the enlisted ranks were promoted t oofficers, both at the beginning and during the war .M any m ade careers of the Corps after the war and be -came distinguished officers, some of whom eve nreached the rank of four-star general .

Consequently , w hen the 6th Marines was organizedon 11 July 1 917 at Quantico, over half the Marines wer ecollege men, with a large number of athletes amongthem . Two thirds of one company came straight fromthe University of Minnesota 300 s tudents enlisted e nbloc, for example? Even though the new men wer erelatively inexperienced, there were plenty of noncom -

1


15/196

Photo courtesy of Mrs . Lathe W. BennetTw o new M arines on liberty pose in k haki summ er uni-forms during training on the 6,0 0 0 acres leased by th eCorps at Quantico, V irginia, beginning in May 1917 ,to prepare Marines for combat in W orld W ar I.missioned officers and captains and above to provid ethe necessary leadership . Sergeant Major John H .Quick and First Sergeant Daniel Daly, both long -service veterans, already had won the Medal of Hono rduring earlier engagements . The regimental com-mander, Colonel Albertus E . Catlin, had earned hi sMedal of Honor at Vera Cruz . He wrote the follow-ing: "If we had time and opportunity to pick men in-dividually from the whole of the United States, Idoubt whether we should have done much better .There were as fine a bunch of upstanding America nathletes as you can meet, and they had brains as wel las brawn" 8According to First C lass P rivate, later General, Ger -ald Cathrae Thomas, he and some friends enliste damong the above-mentioned group . This surge o fpatriotic fervor that swept the nation took the youn gstudent from Illinois Wes leyan U niversity first to Par-ris Island for recruit training . Then, he and other smoved to Quantico, where he joined the 1st Battal-ion, 6th Marines Intelligence Section . His battalion

commander, Major John A . `Johnny the Hard "Hughes kept him busy. Y ears later while a colonel h eargued with friends formerly in the 5th or 6th Ma-rines who had been in France as to who had the tough -est commander. They must have all been "tough "considering what they accomplished in France . AtQuantico, Thomas was assigned to the Compan yOfficers C ourse . He didn't find it very useful later .

He recalled they went by train from Quantico t oPhiladelphia where they embarked . Trained and ready ,the 6th Marines together with the 6th Machine Gu nBattalion arrived in France in late 1917 . Ships hadpiled up waiting to be unloaded . Instead of immedi-ately rushing to the front as they had expected, the yunloaded cargo when they finally docked . When the5th Marines arrived in France in mid-1917 they hadexpected to see action against the enemy in a shor ttime . Instead the only action they had seen was a sworking parties unloading ships for the Army. The ywere disgusted . S o with the arrival of the 6th Marine stheir hopes rose. In early 1918, the Marines wer ebrought together as the 4th Brigade (M arines), 2d U .S .Second Lieutenant Clifton B . Cates, w ho later becam eCommandant of the Marine Corps, stands in front ofthe canvas tent which he used as quarters while i ntraining with the 6th Regiment at Quantico in 1917 .

C .B . Cates Papers, MCHC

2


16/196

C .B . Cates Papers, MCHCThese clusters of temporary wartime-construction, tarpaper-covered wooden buildingshouse Marine units undergoing combat training for service in France in W orld War I

Division. Its 280 officers and 9,164 enlisted Marines Marines in training to fight in France line up outsideone of the crude tem porary buildings erected at Quan-tico . Many A merican college students enlisted

made it a big brigade .9On 17 March, the brigade went into the trenche ssoutheas t of Verdun, under the tutelage of the French ,with well prepared trenches and other defensive posi-

tions . They learned quickly the grim realities of trenc hwarfarecooties, rats, "wire parties," raids, and poi -son gas . They made many patrols and raids both da yand night . They also learned the difficulties of reliev-ing troops in front-line positions, how to coordinat ethe fire of their weapons with supporting artillery fire ,and how to best deal with German raiding parties .Their brigade commander was Brigadier Genera lCharles A . Doyen, who had brought the 5th Marine sto France as a colonel earlier . Although the Verdundefensive deserves longer treatment than given abov edue not only to the discomfort encountered but als oto its lengthM arch 17th to May 9thspace does no tpermit . S uffice to say the 4th Brigade suffered in tha ttime 128 killed and 744 wounded. One 6th Marine scompany, in mid-April in a reserve position, wa scaught in a German gas barrage and 40 men died .

General John J . Pershing, Commander of theAmerican Ex peditionary Forces, was both demandin gand unforgiving with elderly, ill officers so when

Historical Collection MCH C

3


17/196

C .B . Cates Papers, MCHCA group of Marines go through a gas mask drill outside World War I dugouts in France .

Men of a newly arrived unit, whose Marine Corps green wool uniforms and canvas leg-gings have not yet been replaced by Army olive drab and puttees, dress ranks in France .

Department of Defense (USMC) Photo 51492 4

4


18/196

phase lasted from 31 May to 5 June 1918 . It was amagnificient effort that had a tremendous psycholog-ical effect on the flagging morale of the French an dBritish, both their armies and their civilians . The en dof this defensive action still did not include Hill 142 ,Bois de Belleau, Bouresches, or Vaux . 1 0

The French division commander in that secto rthought he still had some soldiers fighting in Bellea uWood west of Chateau-Thierry . He asked the M arine sto counterattack . A F rench colonel, however, advise dColonel Wendell Neville, commanding the 5th Ma-rines, to retreat . He is supposed to have roared :"Retreat, hell! We just got here!" Other American sold -iers and Marines subsequently claimed the quotation ,but Neville himself later attributed it to Captain Lloy dW . W illiams, commanding the 51st Company, 2 d B at -talion, 5th Marines ."A French aviator reported that he saw the Ameri-can lines falling back . The alarmed corps commande rinquired down through channels, so the brigade com -

Area of World War IRegimental Operation s

C .B . Cates Papers, MCHCPosing for a photograph which illustrates the condi-tions under which the 6th R egiment of M arines gaine dits first exposure to combat, 2dLt Clifton B . Catesstands in a trench near Verdun in A pril 1918 .Doyen fell ill he was invalided back to the Unite dStates . An Army officer, Brigadier General James G .Harbord, took command of the brigade . He had bee nPershing's chief of staff .Their familiarization period abruptly terminated .The first of the great German drives against th eW estern Front began in 1918 . Nothing seemed to sto pthem as they advanced . O n 2 7 M ay 1918, Ludendorfflaunched his Chemin des Dames offensive with ove r50 d ivisions . It sliced the northern part of the Allies 'front in half. A four-kilometer gap opened, allowin gthe Germans to reach the Marne River at Chateau -Thierry , perilously close to Paris . There was utter con -fusion as the allies tried to reorganize their lines .S everal reserve divisions w ere rushed into the breac hincluding the 2d Division and its 4th Brigade o fMarines .

Chateau-ThierryThe 2d Division was deployed across the Chateau -

Thierry-Paris road where it stopped the German ad-vance on Paris . This is called the Aisne defensive . This


19/196

place 2-5 June was a m ajor victory for the allies . Th eenemy did roll back the French outposts into the 2 dDivision lines . B oth long-range rifle fire and mac hin egun fire by the Marines made the Germans halt thei roffense and shift to the tactical defense along thei rfront .

When Harbord took command of the 4th Brigade ,Pershing told him he was getting the best troops i nFrance and that if he failed Pershing would knowwhom to blame . 1 3 Neither he nor the 4th Brigade ev e r" failed" during their stay in France .

C .B . Cates Papers, MCHCMarines peer out of the door of a French railroad ca rin May 1918 . This is one of the famous " 40 and 8 "cars designed to transport either 40 men or 8 horses .mander asked Major Thomas Holcomb, who com-manded the 2d Battalion, 6th Marines . "When I domy running," Holcomb answered, "It will be in theopposite direction ." 1 2The stopping of the German advance that took

Belleau W oodThe Germans attacked again on the 4th and 5t hof June . They w ere unsuccessful . Finally the Germa n

offensive halted and they dug defensive positions .Belleau Wood, in front of the Marines, was a one-square- mile, easily fortified area full of trees and boul-ders . Two battalions of the 461st Imperial GermanInfantry, strongly s upported by Max im machine gun-ners, occupied this formidable natural fortress .

The trees were so densely planted visibility wa slimited ex cept where an ax e or shell had cleared a por-tion . Unlike American forests, Belleau Wood hadbeen cared for by a forester who cleared out the un-derbrush. Even though there was a lack of under -growth for cover, the high rocky ground was full o fgullies and crags in which the Germans could hide .Belleau Wood had once been a hunting preserve fo rthe Chateau of Belleau, which was about a half mil enorth of the wood .The American attack began on the morning of 6

Three Marine riflemen talk quietly while resting amid the vegetation of Belleau Wood .C .B . Cates Papers, MCHC

6


20/196

June . The 1st Battalion, 5th Marines led the charge "Here's where you and I part company, because w e jus tacross wheat fields dotted with blood-red poppies . The got across that place and that's the last thing I'm go -enemy machine gunners w aited for the M arines to get ing to do go back" He kept going until he foundclose before opening fire on their neatly dressed the remnants of another platoon to join . The platoonlinesoffensive tactics still preached by the French he joined was comm anded by another sergeant, name dbut not practiced by them after they gained ex perience Gay . As they started forward across the field, Gay w a searlier in the war . 1 4 hit in the back . Silverthorn bound the wound, which

When the Germans did open fire, casualties among wasn't too bad, and told Gay to stay still and he woul dthe Americans were heavy . R etired Lieutenant General come back for him after dark. He then took charg eMerwin H. Silverthorn, an unusually religious man, of the platoon and they charged ahead in rushes . Th eclaimed until his death in 1985 that it was during this noise was awesome . Silverthorn was wounded in th eepisode that he suddenly became religious . His pia- knee . He told the only man he had left, an automat -toon, close to the left flank of the 6th Marines line, is rifleman, to move on into the woods where he wa swas commanded by an Army lieutenant named Cop- needed . Silverthorn said, "I'm going to stay out ofpinger. At the bottom of a ravine it was raked by ene- sight where I am until it's dark and I can get out un -my machine gun fire. Coppinger and Silverthorn hid der cover." He thought of his father who was wound -behind a pile of wood . After five minutes, Coppinger ed at Gettysburg, yet lived to be 96 . 1 5 Nevertheless ,shouted "Follow me!" and ran over the top of the rain spite of the noise, casualties, and confusion, th evine towards the Germans. He looked back and said 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, captured Hill 142, west ofin wonder, "Where the hell is my platoon?" He had the woods, by noon and began to move into Belleaustarted with 52 men . Only six were left . He said to Wood itself .Silverthorn, "I'm going back." Silverthorn thought, On the right, Major Berton W . Sibley's 3d Battal-


21/196

ion, 6th Marines, was doing better than Silverthorn ' sbattalion . There was no yell or rush, but a relentless ,steady attack . Although taking advantage of bette rcover, men were hit and fell ; closer and closer the ycame to the wood .

The 6th Marines' commander, Colonel Catlin, hur-ried to a small rise where he could watch the attac kthrough field glasses . He s aw S ibley ' s M arines plung einto the wood . His French liaison officer begged hi mto find a safer place, but Catlin ignored the bullet sflying around him. One struck him in the chest . Itswung him around, knocking him to the ground . Hi sright side was paralyzed and he couldn't stand . TheFrench liaison officer dragged the big man to a shelte rtrench . The bullet had gone through Catlin's lung ,but he never lost consciousness or experienced pain .Since the bleeding was internal, nothing could bedone for him until treatment arrived . He was neve rable to return to the front . 1 6 Lieutenant Colonel Harr yLee took over command of the 6th Marines . He kep tit until demobilization in August 1919 .

The 2d and 3d Battalions of the 6th Marines ,together with the 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, entered

the wood . War correspondent Floyd Gibbons hear dGunnery S ergeant Daniel Daly of the 6th M arines y ell ,"Come on, you sons of bitches . Do you want to liveforever?'"Two platoons of the 2d B attalion, 6th Ma-rines, one of them commanded by then-Lieutenan tC lifton B . Cates (later the Nineteenth Commandantof the Marine C orps) got into the village of B ouresches ,and experienced repeated counterattacks . When thei rammunition ran low, Sergeant Major John H . Quickbrought some more to the platoons in a Ford truck .For this, he received the Army's Distinguished Serv-ice Cross to add to the Medal of Honor he already hadreceived before World War I .

S ince company designations in those day s were liste dnumerically rather than alphabetically as they are now ,it might be well to relate the two :Sixth Marine s

1st Bn 2d Bn 3d Bn74th (A) Co 78th (E) Co 82d (I) C o75th (B) Co 79th (F) Co 83d (K) C o76th (C) Co 80th (G) Co 84th (L) C o95th (D) Co 96th (H) Co 97th (M) Co

This damaged private hunting lodge, a landmark for those Americans who fought i nBelleau Wood in W orld War I, stands near shell-scarred trees after the battles endC .B . Cates Papers, MCHC

8


22/196

C .B . Cates Papers, MCHCA dead German soldier in his position after the hotly contested battle for Belleau no dMajor Thomas Holcomb, later the Seventeenth

Commandant of the Marine Corps, commanded the2d B attalion, 6th Marines, from A ugust 1917 to Janu-ary 1919 . At B elleau Wood he instructed Sergeant Do nV. Paradis of the 80th (G) Company to take a Privat eS lack across the wheat field, and find Major S ibley an dthe 1st Battalion, 5th Marines . He desired their maplocation and other information . Paradis, followed b yS lack, crossed the wheat field safely, and found S ibley ."For God's s ake," Sibley s aid, "tell Major Holcomb no tto take Captain Coffenberg and the 80th Companyaway from me! W e've lost at least half of our battalion . "

"Come on, Slack, let's get back," Paradis said, bu tthe private was horrified : "You aren't going the sameway we came? " "It's the shortest route," thought Para-dis, as he headed back through the smoke alone .Wounded men kept calling for help . He found Hol-comb, gave him the message, and requested permis-sion to go back and help the wounded . Holcombrefused. He had more messages to be carried .

Lieutenant Cates, while leading his platoon acrossa wheat field towards Bouresches, had an enem ymachine gun bullet knock off his helmet . It als oknocked him unconscious . When he came to, h ecouldn't put his helmet back on properly because ofa dent the size of a fist . M achine gun bullets were fly-ing all around . M en were falling all around him . "M yfirst thought was to run to the rear . I hate to admit

it but that was it," he said later . S eeing four Marine sin a ravine, he got to them and fell at their feet . Onetook off the dented helmet and poured wine from hi scanteen over the lump on Cate's head, " God damnit," the lieutenant growled, "don't pour that wine o nmy head, give me a drink of it ." It revived him. Hegrabbed a French rifle and led the Marines intoBouresches . 1 8

Lieutenant Cates was both gassed and wounded .For his heroism at Bouresches and in the BelleauWood fighting he received the Navy Cross, the Ar-my's Distinguished Service Cross, and an oak lea fcluster in lieu of a second Distinguished Servic eCross . 1 9The M arines had almost no information on the Ger-mans' dispositions . The French had told them th ewood was lightly held . The artillery fire supportin gthe attack was ineffective . During the afternoon th ecasualties climbed . The brigade loss es for the first da ywere 31 officers and 1,056 enlisted men killed, wound -ed, or missing 2 0

Floyd Gibbons' left eye was s hot out . Rumors s tart-ed that he had been killed . Upon hearing them, theArmy censor, thinking him dead, wanted to do Gib -bons a last favor . H e released Gibbons' previously -filedreport of the action in Belleau Wood . Gibbons' arti-cle named the Marine Brigade, going against the AE Fchief censor's edict forbidding mention of the kin dof troops involved in any action . As a result, the fol -

9


23/196

lowing day's newspapers electrified the American pub -lic with Gibbons' colorful story of the fighting i nwhich he praised the exploits of the Marine Brigade .This caused cons iderable jealousy in Army units eve nthough nobody in the Marine Corps had anything todo with releasing the story .

On 7 June, preparations were made for resumin gthe attack . The Germans added fresh troops to thei rdefense in anticipation of renewed as saults . They s tillheld most of Belleau Wood, in spite of the loss of th etown of Bouresches . American artillery shelled theenemy all night . At 0400 the 3d Battalion, 6th Ma-rines, one of the assaulting units on 6 July, attempt-ed to advance its lines to the north, but each positio nthey reached was flanked by German machine guns .The battalion finally withdrew even further to a ra-vine to allow friendly artillery to shell the enemy' sfront lines .

On 9 June, the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, mad ea limited attack on the southern part of the wood . I twas preceded by a heavy artillery bombardment. Ac-tually, these Marines only reached the enemy's mai nline of resistance, which had successfully stopped th e3d Battalion, 6th Marines, three days before .

On 1 1 June, the 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, with th e1st Battalion, 6th Marines, on its right, advanced t oa line across the narrow part of the wood which s epa -

rated the northern from the southern part. Their ad-vance was stopped after heavy losses . The German sstill held the larger northern part . The troops of th eGerman 28 th Division, which had been driven fromthe southern part of the wood, lost nearly 800 men .Their counterattack against the Marines to retake th esouthern part failed early the following morning .W ithin two days the 2d B attalion, 5th Marines, an dthe 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, captured more tha n400 prisoners and 60 machine guns . A w ounded cap-tured German officer reported that the German splanned to counterattack early on 13 June .

The counterblow occurred on schedule at 0400 . I twas preceded by a heavy artillery bombardment an dex tended as far south as the village of Bouresches . E x -cept for the village, which they almost recaptured, th eGerman infantry assault failed . The German artillerycontinued harassing fire throughout the day usin ghigh explosive and mus tard gas shells . The 1st B attal-ion, 6th Marines, in the southeastern section of th ewood, and in Bouresches particularly, had 45 0casualties .

The Marine Brigade had experienced severe losses ,its units were hopelessly mixed , and the men were ex -hausted from continuous heavy fighting . The enemy ' sharassing artillery fire continued while the German sreinforced the small section of the northwest part o fSurvivors of Maj Thomas Holcomb''s 2d Battalion, 6th Marines, pause while enroute t oa rest area following the 20 days of intense fighting in Belleau Wood in June 1918 .

Department of Defense (USMC) Photo 493 8

10


24/196

C .B . Cates Papers, MCH CA group of Marine officers in France in W orld War I, one of whom (right) has place dthe distinctive Marine Corps emblem on the front of his British-style steel helmet .

the wood still under their control . The German FourthReserve Corps, however, had also suffered heavy losses ,it's counterattack had failed, and they had been sur-prised by the determined Marines as fighting men .

During the gas attack and harassing artillery fire ,the 2d Battalion, 6th Marines, tried to relieve the 2 dBattalion, 5th Marines, but lost so many men fromthe gas they were unable to do so . The 2d Battalion ,5th Marines, refused to leave, so both battalion sdefended the eastern edge of the wood . LieutenantColonel Logan Feland took command of the thre ebattalionsthe 1st and 2d Battalions, 6th Marines ,and the 2 d B attalion, 5th Marines . He reorganized th eposition and ensured a more sound defense of the area .This was followed by a brief period when the 4thBrigade was out of the front lines . Its battalion sreceived 2 ,800 M arine replacements, reorganized, an dwere given all available equipment . During this peri-od the Marines were relieved by the 7th Infantry Di -vision . The front lines remained unchanged .On the night of 22-23 June the 3d Battalion, 6t hMarines, took over the line along the eastern edge of

the wood, relieving the Army troops . A battalion ofthe 5th Marines was on each of it's flanks .

At 1700 on 25 June an American artillery barrag elasting four hours fell on the German lines . It cause dheavy casualties, demoralized the enemy , and prevent-ed him from reinforcing his positions . By 2130 tha tevening the Marines controlled the wood and brace dthemselves for the expected counterattack . It neve rcame .

On 26 June 1918 the American Expeditionary Forc eheadquarters received a message, "B elleau Wood nowU .S . Marine Corps' entirely ." Twenty day s of intens efighting were over. The Marine's tenacious attack searned them the nickname "Devil Dogs" from th eGermans .

The Marine Brigade had suffered almost 5,000casualtiesabout 55 percent of its strength . Thes ewere the heaviest losses experienced by any America nbrigade during a single offensive in World W ar I . Th e6th French Army issued an order on 30 June 1918 ,changing the name of the Bois de Belleau to the Boi s

1 1


25/196

American cemetery near Belleaude la Brigade de M arine . The brigade received a cita-tion for gallantry signed by General Henri Petain* .

Now the site of an American cemetery, more than2,200 men lie buried in Belleau Wood, with 249 ofthem listed as unknown . The interior walls of th echapel, located near the center of the cemetery, ha sthe names of 1,060 men who were never recovered ,among whom are those listed as " unknown" and bu-ried in the cemetery .

Warrant Officer Arthur Martin, USA (Ret), ground ssupervisor for the cemetery, says : "The Marines hadbeen considering the idea of advancing in smal lgroups, Indian style, instead of in line, as was com-mon in World War I trench warfare . . . .

" When the fighting began, the Marines switche dto what are now referred to as squad tactics . " 2 1The first fighting by the Marine Brigade in th eChateau-Thierry sector was a magnificent stubborndefense between 31 May and 5 June . The second phas ewas the capture of Belleau Wood . Together they w er elisted as a major operation called the Aisne Defensive .

During 31 days of intense fighting the 2d Divisio nas a whole suffered an estimated 1,811 battle deaths ,of which 1,062 were Marines, and 7,252 additiona lcasualties, of which 3,615 were Marines . It was tha tfighting and 9,063 American casualties that made th e

*French maps still use the name, Bois de Belleau ; however, amasonry marker at the entrance to the wood reads B ois de la B rigad ede Marine. Robert Sherrod, Fortitudine (Summer, 1980), p . 8 .

C .B . Cates Papers, MCHCWood, photographed in 1919 .names Belleau Wood and Chateau-Thierry famous .2 2After being relieved by another American divisionon 5-6 July 1918, the 4th Brigade moved to the reararea and took up defensive positions near Nanteuil-sur-Marne . It remained there until 16 July .

The Germans attacked the American line on 1 5July . It turned out this was their last offensive an dit failed . From that time on they were on th edefensive .2 3

It is well to pause here and m ention a famous boo knamed Through the W heat, a novel by Thomas B oyd .B oyd was born on 3 July 1888 in Defiance, Ohio . H eenlisted in the Marine Corps 2 6 May 1919, and even-tually ended up in the 1st B attalion, 6th M arines . Th ehero, a Private Hicks, is an ordinary young ma ntrapped by World War I. In recounting his own ex-periences through Private Hicks, Boyd created th earchetype of the modern warrior . He used such burn-ing, vivid strokes of realism that F. Scott Fitzgerald aman impatient with bad writingclosed his reviewwith these words, "Through the Wheat is not only th ebest combatant story of the great war but also the bes twar book since The Red Badge of Courage." RetiredMarine General Gerald C . Thomas, who also partici-pated as a member of the 6th Marines in the battlefor Belleau Wood, considered the book to be the bestdescription of what the Marines experienced . Unfor-tunately the book has been out of print for some time .However, the Marine Corps Historical Center in th eWashington Navy Yard contains the first edition o f

12


26/196

Boyd's book, which contains illustrations by Captai nJohn W. Thomason, Jr . , another Marine who was als othere .

SoissonsGeneral Harbord was appointed to the rank ofmajor general, and took command of the 2d Division .

Colonel Neville had been evacuated to a base hospi-tal after leaving the Chateau-Thierry sector, butreturned in time to resume command of the 4t hBrigade for the forthcoming Aisne-Marne offensive .The Marine Brigade entered the front lines nea rSoissons .

This was to be a major operation in 1918 on th eWestern Front . The 4th Brigade was hurriedly an dsecretly sent to the Soissons sector . The 5th Marine smoved by forced night marches through rain and mud .The roads were jammed with troops, artillery, an dtanks . Although fatigued, the Marines arrived in tim eto attack on the morning of 18 July . The 6th Marine swere transported by cam ions (trucks) with Vietnames edrivers, and remained in reserve the first day . It wa sa glorious victory . Rather than the preliminary bom-bardment, massed American and French artillery, fir-ing by the map, laid down a rolling barrage, and th epicked American and French divisions charged . Theattack immediately broke through the most sensitiveportion of the German line to the heights south o fSoissons . The enemy infantry lines were overrun, a swas his artillery . His communications were interrupt -

ed . The end result was a general, although stubbor nGerman withdrawal from the Marne in order to pre -vent disaster . Paris was saved . The attack continue dthe next day . The results of the two day s' fighting wer e3,000 prisoners and 66 field guns . The tide of war wa sturned definitely in favor of the Allies .

The 6th Marines first moved from their corps reserv epositions to the vicinity of Beaurepaire Farm . On the19th, the second day of the attack, it was not unti l0630 that the leading battalion of the regimen treceived orders to lead the attack that day . The Ger-mans were still desperately attempting to stop the al -lies' drive .

The 6th Marines, under Lieutenant Colonel Harr yLee, advanced on about a 2,500-yard front . The 1stB attalion, commanded by M ajor John A . Hughes, wason the left flank ; the 2d Battalion, commanded byMajor Thomas Holcomb, was on Hughes' right ; andthe 3d Battalion, commanded by Major Berton W .S ibley, was in reserve . The ground was level, and con-tained no cover except for an occasional wheat field .This attack started in full view of the enemy and wit hinsufficient artillery s upport . The accompany ing tank sslowed the infantry . German artillery and machine gu nfire decimated the 6th Marines . Within a half hou rso many men of the 1st and 2d Battalions had bee ncut down it was necessary to commit two companie sfrom the 3d Battalion to fill the ever-widening gap .The losses to the 1st and 2 d B attalions averaged mor e

Part of the 3d Platoon, 96th Company, 2d Battalon, 6th Regiment rests at Ronvaux, France .C .B . Cates Papers, MCH C

13


27/196

C .B . Cates Papers, MCHCA 1918 M arine com m and post occupies these dugouts in the C hampagne region of France .

than 50 percent . It was almost impossible to evacuat ethe wounded . Cates, now commanding a company ,sent back a scribbled message from an abandone dtrench : " . . . I have only two men left out of my com-pany and 20 out of other companies . . . . I have noone on my left and only a few on my right . I wil lhold . " 2 4Lee ordered his troops to dig in, and they suffere dfrom enemy artillery fire throughout the next day . Th eregiment was relieved by a French unit that night an dmoved to the rear . The 5th Marines had enjoyed pur-suing a demoralized enemy the first day . The 6th Ma-rines had the bitter experience of trying to overcom ethe enemy with little more than their bare bodies . TheMarines were again cited in French Army Orders .

The 4th Brigade was relieved about midnight o n19 July . It remained in a reserve position still farthe rin the rear . Still in reserve, it remained in that are auntil 31 July . In s pite of sleepless nights, long marche sthrough rain and mud, thirst, and heavy casualtie samong friends, the Marines again had met the tes tof combat .

It was during this quiet period that the brigade wa svisited by Franklin D . Roosevelt , the young Ass istan tSecretary of the Navy . He had just toured BelleauWood where he was impressed by the splendid wor kof the brigade . He authorized the enlisted Marine sto wear the Marine Corps emblem on the collar of their

Army-issue uniforms (until then a privilege reserve donly for the officers) . 2 5On 25 July, Brigadier General John A . Lejeune ,

later the Thirteenth Commandant of the Marin eCorps, assumed command of the brigade . Colone lWendell C . Neville, later the Fourteenth Comman-dant, took command of the 5th Marines, relievingC olonel Logan Feland . General Lejeune retained com-mand until 29 July 1918 when he became command-ing general of the 2d Division. Colonel Neville the nresumed command of the 4th Brigade .

When assuming command of the brigade, Gener-al Lejeune had issued a general order which read :I have this day ass umed command of the 4th Brigade U .S .Marines .To command this brigade is the highest honor that coul dcome to any man . Its renown is imperishable and the skill ,

endurance, and valor of the officers and men have immor-talized its name and that of the Marine Corps . 2 eAs recounted above, Lejeune's elation was short -lived, only four days, as he was promoted to majo rgeneral and given command of the 2d Division whe nGeneral Harbord was detached to take command o fthe A .E .F . S ervices of S upply . (Lejeune had arrived i nFrance earlier expecting to take command of a Ma-rine Division for which Marine C ommandant Georg eBarnett was pushing .) However, General Pershin g

14


28/196

bluntly refused the idea and ordered Lejeune to tak ecommand of a National Guard brigade .

S t. MihielDuring August 1918 the brigade rested and refit-

ted . On 2 September it started to move to position sfor participation in the St . Mihiel offensive througha series of night marches . From 12 to 16 September ,the brigade was engaged in this battle .

The 6th M arines attacked in a column of battalions .The 2d Battalion led the attack with four companie sabreast, followed by the 1st and then the 3d Battal-ion. It was during this attack that the 2d Battalio ndisplayed extraordinary bravery . S ome of its member sperformed some of the most outstanding acts of hero -ism seen in the American forces during the war? 7 Itwas . 13 September, the second day of the offensive ,when the 4th Brigade passed through the 3d Brigadewhich had led the attack the previous day . Comparedto Belleau Wood and Soissons, it was an easy fight .Still, there were 706 fresh Marine casualties when i twas over. On 20 September the brigade moved to arear area and from there by train in boxcars . Thesewere referred to as "40 and 8s" because they could hol d40 people or eight horses . The Americans beganpreparing for the Meuse-Argonne offensive .

The Meuse-A rgonne and Blanc Mont R idg eThe allies were now at the Hindenberg Line . The

key terrain feature in the area was Blanc Mont "White Mountain"which had been in Germanhands since 1914 . The M arines were to attack it fron-tally with French troops on their right and left .

On 3 October 1918, the 6th Marines attacked a t0555 hours after five minutes' preparation by 200 ar-tillery pieces . They reached their objective by noon ,but the French on their left were two miles behind .

The battle cost the 4th Brigade 2,538 casualties . I tbrought them a third citation in French Army ord-ers . This entitled all units to the Croix de Guerr estreamer for their battle flags . All individual mem-bers were entitled to wear the red and green fourrager eon their left shoulders . A M arshal of France said, "Th etaking of Blanc Mont Ridge is the greatest singl eachievement of the 1918 Campaign ." 2 8

The 5th and 6th Marines are the only Marine unit swhich rate wearing the fourragere today . It is said tosymbolize a hangman ' s noose with a spike to piercethe heart . It was originally a mark of shame to be wor nby cowardly troops to remind them what was in stor eif they ran from the enemy . Naploeon reinstituted i tas a decoration for units distinguishing themselves i nbattle . After years of disuse, it was revived by th eFrench during World War I to be given to individu-als or units cited more than once in official FrenchArmy Orders .

By this time the 2d Division was tired and shor tof men. It was overdue for relief . The 1st Battalion ,6th Marines, which captured Saint Etienne, wa sreduced to a mere handful of men . All of its officer swere killed or wounded . The 3d Battalion, by thi st ime reduced to fewer than 300 men, was the last Ma-rine unit to hold a front-line position in the' Cham-pagne sector . It was not relieved until 10 October . TheGermans retreated .

In a post-war snapshot, these little-damaged dirt-covered German bunkers, captured b ymen of the 6th Regiment in W orld War I, remain intact on Blanc Mont R idge in France .


15


29/196

The 2d Division sector averaged only two kilome-ters in width, and was supported by more than 30 0artillery pieces of various calibers . Also, a companyof 15 light tanks was provided to assist the infantry .The division was supposed to drive a wedge deep i nthe German lines for future exploitation .

The German Army was attempting to withdra wfrom France . It planned to set up a line on the eas tbank of the Meuse River . To do this, strenuous rear -guard action was ordered to delay the Americans . Th eGerman morale was broken, they were facing gradua lstarvation, and their fighting power was rapidl ydiminishing .

The artillery fire supporting the Americans was in -tense . The first objective was reached at 0800 . The 2 dBattalion, 5th Marines, and the 3d Battalion, 6th Ma-rines, passed through the front lines and assumed thelead. The second objective was reached about noo nin spite of the heavy belts of barbed wire encountered ,and the enemy artillery and machine gun fire . The2d B attalion, 6th Marines, passed through the 3d B at-talion and continued the attack .

C .B . Cates Papers, MCHCAn unidentified Marine, wearing the Army woole nuniform, with cloth puttees around his legs, sits o na rooftop somewhere in France during World War I

The 2d Division's infantry units were sent to th erear where the depleted ranks of the 4th Brigade wer erefilled by replacements from the 1st Marine Train-ing Regiment .

The Meuse-Argonn eThe 2d Division was assigned to V Corps of the 1stArmy for the final drive . This was to be the cente rcorps of the 1st Army front . The 2d D ivision was as -signed the left sector of the Corps, placing this divi-

sion in the approximate center of the front .The attack jumped off on 1 November 1918 . Th eMarine Brigade led the division which attacked i ncolumns of brigades . The 5th Marines were on th ebrigade's left with the 6th Marines on the right . Bot hattacked in columns of battalions . The 1st Battalionled the 6th Marines assault, followed by the 3d an dthen the 2d Battalion . The infantry attack started a t0530, preceded by a heavy artillery rolling barrage . Th ecolumns of battalions paused at each objective to al -low the nex t battalion to leapfrog to the front line bat-talion .

B y now, all of the Germans' organized positions an da great deal of their artillery had been overrun . Th eenemy retreated from his sector during the night . Aline of exploitation about two miles in front of th ethird objective was assigned .On the third objective the Americans dug in an dwaited for the expected counterattack . Instead, th e

enemy covered his night withdrawal with the remnant sof several divisions .The Marines had made an advance against or-

ganized resistance at least equal to any made durin gthe war by an American division in a single day . Theywere exhausted . Mud, rain, and sleepless nights madeit all the more difficult . Their food, when they couldget it, consisted of Argentine beef cooked withwhatever v egetables their cooks could find . They calledit "slop." It probably was. Boring, repetitious, bu tnecessary for sustenance . They didn't have the luxuryof " C " rations, "D" rations, "K" rations, or the moder nMRE's (Meal, Ready-to-Eat) .

The 4th Brigade took a day of respite and did no tjoin in the follow-up exploitation . However, duringtheir part in the attack the Marines established thei rfront lines along the Meuse, facing the Germans o nthe other side of the river . The 4th Brigade was the nrelieved by an Army brigade, moved to the rear, an dprepared to force a crossing of the river . This tookawhile due to the utter confusion in the rear with it s

16


30/196

poor roads, traffic jams, and supply echelons attempt-ing to catch up with the advancing troops . It was im-possible to even evacuate the sick and wounded . Th ecrossing continued to be postponed from day to day .

Finally the orders for the crossing arrived . The in-fantry battalion commanders d id not receive their ord-ers until 0500 on the day of the crossing . Their me nwere still in bivouac under the cover of wood s behin dthe river . There was confusion as to when the opera-tion was to start . As a result the artillery began firingtheir preparatory fires an hour too soon . Most of th esupporting fire had been delivered before the infan-try even reached the designated crossing sites . Th eArmy engineers were ready to throw two pontoo nbridges across the river . The enemy soon located the mand prevented them from being put into place b yheavy artillery and m achine gun fire . German artilleryalso pounded the roads leading to the river . Fortunate-ly, the Marines followed a railroad track leading t otheir crossing site and were not hit . The three battal-ions of the 6th Marines and one of the battalions o fthe 5th Marines were ass igned to make the main cross-ing . As dawn approached, the bridges still had no tbeen constructed . The battalion commander agree dthat there was nothing to be done but to withdrawto the cover of woods before daylight arrived .Once they reached the woods, they learned that the

C .B . Cates Papers, MCH CThis elaborately designed and painted sign hung o nan office door of a U. S . M arine occupation force com-pany in Rhinebrohl, Germany, in December 1918 .

This post-war photograph of a chateau which once served as the command post of th e2d Battalion, 6th R egiment, belies the m yth that Marines only lived in trenches .

C .B . Cates Papers, MCH C

17


31/196

armistice had been signed to become effective at 1100 .They w ere lucky . The war was over without them try-ing to force a crossing against a stubborn enemy .

The news of the armistice was disseminated ratherslowly to front line units of the opposing sides . No-body knew the terms of the armisticeit seemed toogood to be true . M ost of the men were exhausted . Af-ter awhile, as the good news penetrated their cons-ciousness, they began building bonfires for warmt hand gathered in groups to talk and sing songs . Thenex t night they fired most of their pyrotechnics in joy ,although there was little of the enthusiasm being ex-perienced in the civilian world . The Germans werein a quiet, depressed mood, although thankful it wa sall over . It was 11 November 1918 .

The March to the Rhine and the Occupatio nOn 17 November, the 2d Division began its marc h

to the Rhine River .* Through French villages, acros sthe border into Belgium, everywhere the American swere greeted by cheering civilians, dressed in thei rbest, with tears running down their faces . Lux embourgwas reached on 23 November where they were billet-ed in a barn. M arching distances were long, sometime sup to 52 kilometers . Road s were horrible, the weathe rcold and raining, the food irregular, the packs heavy ,and the sleep spotty in super-ventilated hay barns . Th eGerman frontier was finally reached on 25 Novem-ber. A s hort pause there and on 1 December the marc hpressed on . They reached the Rhine on 10 Decembe r1918 . 2 9

Occupation duty quickly became boring . The mos tnoteworthy accomplishment was the establishing o fa Rhine River patrol manned and commanded b yMarines .Major Charles D . Barrett relieved Lieutenan tColonel E arl H . E llis as brigade adjutant . E llis was as -

signed to duty as second in command of the 5t hMarines .General Headquarters, American Expeditionar yForces ruled that the Marines serving with the 2d Di -vision were entitled to silver bands on the staffs of thei r

regimental colors for battle participation in the fol-lowing engagements :Toulon sector, Verdun, from 15 March to 13 May 191 8Aisne defensive in Chateau Thierry sector, from 31 May to 5 Jun e1 9 1 8C hateau Thierry sector (capture of Hill 142 , Bouresche s, Be llea uWood), from 6 June to July 191 8*It was not a jaunt . The division marched about 200 miles. I twas cold, raining, and snowing sometimes . The roads were mudd yand slippery . Each man carried 100 pounds of equipment .

Historical Collection MCH CA soldier's poem de corates the cove r of an issue of Th eIndian, a weekly magazine published by the A meri-can 2d Division in G ermany during the m onths of oc-cupation duty after the A rmistice. The magazine'sname derived from the division's shoulder patch, it -self derived from a U S . coin then in circulation .

Aisne-Marne (Soissons) offensive, from 18 to 19 July 191 8Marbache sector, near Pont-a-Mousson on the M oselle River, fro m

9 to 16 August 191 8S t . M ihiel offensive, in the vicinity of Thiaucourt, Xammes , and

Joulay, from 12 to 16 September 191 8Meuse-Argonne (Champagne) including the capture of Blanc -

Mont Ridge and Saint Etienne, from 1 to 10 October 191 8Meuse-Argonne (including crossing of the Meuse River), fro m1 to 11 November 1918 3 0The Marines, of course, were anxious to retur nhome . In s pite of extensive athletic programs, amateu rtheatrical productions, professional entertainers, an deducational programs, occupation duty became mor eand more monotonous . Haggling between the Ger-mans and the allies continued at the peace conferenc econcerning the terms of the final document .The men were anxious to look like Marines again .When first in France they wore their green wool uni-forms . Pershing soon made them switch to Army is -sue uniforms, claiming supply problems and the nee d

18


32/196

Photographs from the album of Cpl George A . MacGillivray, sitting on the right in thefront row of the top photograph taken in Germany in 1919 . The photograph shows aworking party from the 80th Company (later Company G), 2d Battalion, 6th Marines .The se M arines are w earing a wide v ariety ofuniform items, including (see third Marin e

from left) a German army belt . Posing for the bottom photograph are the 37 Marinesleft of the approximately 20 0 original members of the 80th Company. The remainderwere killed or wounded in the various battles in France, and their positions filled wit hreplacements. Standing on the right in the rear row is GySgt Don V Paradis, a wartim evolunteer who always claimed he originally became an NCO because he was bigger tha nanyone else in the company . His valor in France earned him two Silver Stars (precursorsto the modern Silver Star Medal) for his campaign medal . Cpl MacGillivray kneels onthe left of the front row. His son, in another, later war, fought on Guadalcanal .

19


33/196

to confuse the enemy as to unit designation . E x c ep tin rear areas, the field hat had to be replaced by th eArmy's s oft overseas cap . They didn 't mind wearingthe flat British-style helmets, sometimes adorningthem with Marine emblems . 3 1 They were suspiciou sof Pershing's reasons from the start . That suspicio nincreased as their fame as fighting men grew .At last orders were received, and trains began tak-ing Marines to Brest for the voyage home . This start-ed in the middle of July .

The 4th Brigade arrived back in the United State sin early August . It took part in a parade in New YorkC ity with the rest of the 2d Division shortly thereafter ,and was reviewed later by Pres ident Woodrow Wilso nin Washington, D.C . It then returned to Quantico ,where demobilization began almost immediately .

Marine Achievements

C . B . Cates Papers, MCHCFrench sculptor Charles Raphael Peyre"Crusader fo rthe Right" (frequently erroneously called "Iron Mike') ,paid for by donations from W orld War I Marines sta-tioned in France and Germany, and later erected atQuantico, exemplifies those veterans' view of them -selves and their contributions to victory in the war

Without a doubt, the arrival of the Americans i nthe latter stages of World War I bolstered the moral eof the A llies . With the saving of Paris, the capture ofBelleau Wood, and the breaching of the Hindenbur gLine, even the mos t skeptical of the Allies becam e con -vinced that the Americans were first-class fightingmen . This was also true of the German Army, partic-ularly in regards to the more experienced America ndivisions. Their intelligence reports at first were con-temptuous, but that opinion gradually changed . Inthe end, the Germans referred to the 2d Division a s" a s hock unit'' their highest class ification . As C olone lErnest Otto of the German Army said after the wa rin his writings, "The Second Division had answere dthe question, how would the A mericans act in real bat -

The star and Indian head design from the insignia of the A merican 2d Division decorate sone of a number of similar monuments erected by the division soon after the A rmistice .


2 0


34/196

C .B . Cates Papers, MCHCThese A m ericans stand in formation after being awarded the Distinguished S ervice C ross ,the U S . A rmy's equivalent of the Navy C ross, at a cerem ony in Lutesdorf, Ge rmany afte rthe 11 November 1918 Armistice. Marine units stayed in Europe until August 1919 .

tle?" The rising morale of the allies with the appear-ance of the Americans on the Western Front wasmatched by the corresponding discouragement of theenemy .

The Marine Corps' long stress on rifle marksman -ship paid off in France . The Marines coolly lay in thei rpositions, adjusted rifle slings to their arms, estimat-ed the windage and range, and carefully squeezed offshots from ranges up to 800 yards. The bewilderedGermans sustained casualties and had never seen suc hmarksmanship .

Because of the success of the 2d Division, the Frenc hwanted to break up the division and use the Ameri-cans as shock troops to lead their attacks . Lejeune soo nlearned about the idea and vigorously opposed it . Th edivision was allowed to remain as a unit .

The Marines, nevertheless, did not hold the mar-ket on valor and fighting ability in the 2d Division .The Army brigades fought and bled equally as much .In fact, other American divisions besides the 2d Di -vision made splendid records and contributed to th eultimate defeat of Germany. Nonetheless, as Armyhistorian S . L . A . Marshall summarized the Marines 'sense of motivation years later in his writings abou tWorld War I, "The Marine Brigade because it wa suniquea little raft of sea soldiers in an ocean o farmywas without doubt the most aggressive bod yof die-hards on the Wes tern Front ." Its losses w ere 1,51 4killed in action ; 778 dead of wounds ; 8,529 wound -

ed ; 161 carried as m issing in action ; and 986 injure dfrom poison gas . The brigade's total casualties, 11,968 ,represented 127 percent of the 9,444 men with whic hit first entered combat . Few of the original men sur-vived the war unscathed .

More important in the long run, the Marines' out -standing record in World War I, their sevenfold ex-pansion, close combat against a sophisticated enemy ,high casualty rate, generous publicity, and growin gestrangement from the other services erased once an dfor all the image of being nothing but a small organi-zation of ceremonial troops . As we shall see later, th eexperiences gained in World War I and the attack son the Marine Corps after the war (almost causing it sextinction) created an intellectual revolution in th eofficer corps . It was led by Lejeune and the enigmat-ic Pete Ellis, and caused an organizational search fo ra unique mission that highlighted both the newl yproven combat capability ashore and the Marines 'traditional maritime background .

Demobilizatio nThe strength of the M arine Corps increased approx-

imately seven and a half times during the war . In ad-dition to performing regular duties such as recruiting ,and officer and enlisted training, it had to guard nav a lstations all over the world, and provide detachment sfor sea duty, in France, and other places .

As soon as the armistice was announced on 1 1

2 1


35/196

November 1918, a clamor arose from parents, rela-tives, sweethearts, and families for the early return an ddischarge of all the men serving, whether they ha dbeen in France or not . Members of the Marine CorpsReserve and those of the regular service who had en -listed for the duration of the war caused particular con-cern . A wholesale reduction of the Corps overnigh twould be catastrophic . The 4th and 5th Marin eBrigades were still in Europe under the Army's com-mand . Troops were in far-flung places like Guam . Asolution had to be found .

On 2 0 November 1918, only nine day s after the ar-mistice, Marine Corps Order No . 56 was issued ,providing for at least limited demobilization . It stat-ed that members of the Marine Corps Reserve an dthose men of the regular service who had enlisted fo rthe duration of the war, who desired to complete thei reducation or who had urgent family or business in-terests which required their immediate and persona lattention would be demobilized . On 1 May this had

to be modified so that only those with urgent finan-cial dependency reasons could qualify .

Following the issuing of the Act of 11 July 1919 ,which provided funds to sustain a Corps with an en -listed strength of 27,400 men with correspondin gofficers, Marine Corps Order No . 42 of 12 July 191 9promulgated detailed instructions for the establish-ment of demobilization centers and the procedure sto be followed . This order also had special instruction sconcerning duration of the length of service of the war -time men and those serving in the tropics eligible fo rdischarge . B y the latter part of December 1919, prac-tically all of those eligible had been discharged .

In August 1919, the 5th Brigade was returned tothe Naval Operating Base, H ampton Roads, Virginia .The 4th Brigade, with the 6th Marines, was alread yin Quantico. The demobilization of these units wa scompleted on 13 August, a remarkably short time 3 2

On that date, 13 August 1919, the 6th M arines wa sdeactivated . So ended the regiment's World War Itour .

2 2


36/196

CHAPTER 2Between the World Wars

Background China Duty Second China Duty

BackgroundThe "Great War" was over, and the country relaxed ,

including the Marine Corps . There was a decided let -down in the Corps, but it did not include the intellec-tual giants the Corps was fortunate to have . It was no tlong before attacks against the Marine Corps by theArmy and the Navy threatened its very ex istence . TheArmy attacks were led by officers hostile to the grea trecord made by the Marines in France, and particu-larly the favorable publicity it had generated . TheNavy again tried to do away with ships' detachments ,as it had almost accomplished in 1908 during Presi-dent Teddy Roosevelt's administration . In fact ,Roosevelt did not hide the fact that he thought th eMarines should be absorbed into the Army. In thatcase, Congress saved the Corps . Now again the Corp sfound itself on the defensive .

One of the intellectual giants was Lejeune . WhenGeneral Harbord was commanding the 2d Divisio nin France, General Pershing sent for him . Pershing tol dHarbord he was putting him in command of the Serv-ices of Supply of the American Expeditionary Force ,and instructed him to turn over command of the di -vision to Lejeune, the senior brigadier general in th e2d Division . Harbord sent for Lejeune and urged tha tthe latter be promoted to major general very soon s ohe could retain command. Lejeune told him that th enew Naval Appropriations Bill had authorized twomajor generals in the Marine Corpsthe Comman-dant and one more . Lejeune was promoted within a-few days . He w as, therefore, a major general when thewar ended .

After reaching the States, participating in parades ,and taking leave, he assumed command of Marin eCorps B ase, Quantico in October .' Upon the dem obili-zation of the 4th B rigade, he gathered many of its mos toutstanding officers for his staff. Among them wasLieutenant Colonel Earl H . "Pete" Ellis .

Although M ajor General Comm andant George Bar -nett had compiled a distinguished record during th ewar, and was esteemed by the President, Wilson hadnot yet recovered from the paralytic stroke that hadalmost closed his political career . The S ecretary of th eNavy, Josephus Daniels, first reappointed Barnett t oanother four-year term in 1918 . He then turned on

Barnett . Two y ears later, on 18 June 1920, Daniels sen ta letter to the Commandant. It said Barnett was tobe relieved as Commandant " . . . one day next weekmost suitable . . :" to him . In the meantime, withi nthree hours, would General Barnett please informDaniels whether he intended to retire immediately o r(as the law allowed) remain on active duty, taking areduction to his permanent rank of brigadier general?

On 30 June 1920, General Barnett was relieved a sthe Twelfth Commandant of the Marine Corps, an dwas suceeded by Major General John A . Lejeune?While he had been at Quantico for less than a year ,Lejeune already had begun solidifying his thought sconcerning the future of the Corpsboth immedi-ate and long range . It was his duty to rebuild the struc-ture of the Corps, expand it's thinking, increase bothM ajGe n John A . Lejeune, shown we aring the shoulde rinsignia of the 2d Division, which he commandedin W orld War I, was a leading figure in the develop-ment of the Marine Corps' amphibious doctrine .


2 3


37/196

its efficiency and economy, protect it from its detrac-tors, and prepare it to meet future emergencies . Hehad many problems .During his three terms as Major General Comman-dant, Lejeune not only charted the future of the Ma-rine Corps, he convinced Congress that the countr yneeded a strong nucleus of Marines in the event ofwar . Internally, he improved the education of Marineofficers and encouraged the development of the arms ,equipment, and tactics needed for the Corps' uniqu eamphibious mission .

Recognizing the great value of favorable publicity ,the Commandant made use of the colorful Smedle yD . Butler, the most senior brigadier general in th eCorps . The 6th Marines was reactivated 15 Septem-ber 1921 at Quantico . Together with the 5th Marines ,they reenacted some of the great Civil War battles ,The Wilderness, Gettysburg, New Market, and An-tietam . The M arines' dress uniforms were a convenien tblue for playing the part of the Northern soldiers, andcadets from Virginia military schools wore their greyuniforms to represent the Southern ones . B esides th elong marches to many of these reenactments, strenu-ous sports such as boxing, football, and baseball wer eencouraged to keep the Marines in good physical con-dition3

In 1921, work began on what is now known as Bu-tler Stadium . General Alexander A . Vandegrift, the na major, recalled that, together with about 150 me nfrom his battalion, he worked 80 days moving 19,30 7cubic yards of earth ; dug 200 ex cavations for concret epillars ; poured 197 pillars ; laid 30 rails ; laid 381 con-crete slabs ; and poured concrete footings for ston ewalls . The Marines also leveled the field and plante dgrass seed on the sanded base ?

The Marines gradually tore down and replaced th eold World W ar I wooden barracks . Some of the then -lieutenants (later to become high-ranking Marin egeneral officers) recall being given a detail of Marines ,a blueprint, and instructions to build what are stillthe officers' quarters at Quantico . Of course, the bas ehas repaired and modernized these quarters man ytimes since then . Some veteran officers recall that a scolonels they lived in the same quarters they had buil tas second lieutenants .

All of the Quantico activities involving the 6th M a-rines, however, were not concentrated on building abase, reenacting old battles, or fielding fine athleti cteams . Late in 1921, Marines from Quantico, alon gwith those from other posts in the Corps, were calle dupon to protect the U nited S tates mail . Heavily-arme dMarines performed this duty until March 1922, when

the situation had dramatically improved . Concurrentlyin 1922 , the Marine Corps established a B asic Course ,a Company Officer's Course, and a Field Grade Of-ficer's S chool . Lejeune also saw to it that the Corps 'amphibious role advanced, with Ellis providing grea timpetus . Ellis had prophesied openly for many year sthat at some date the Japanese and the Americanswould fight one another . S o convinced was he that h edeveloped Operation Plan 712-H, which was a step -by-step military plan for moving across the PacificOcean amphibiously against certain Japanese islands .He had the Commandant's complete backing and ap-proval . Ellis died in late 1922, while on leave of ab-sence, scouting out Pacific islands . He died in th ePalaus without realizing that 20 years later Marine swould storm Peleliu of that group as part of a planwhich turned out to be remarkably similar to hi sOperation Plan 712-H P

Another intellectual giant was Colonel Robert H .Dunlap . W hen the Advanced B ase Force moved fromPhiladelphia to Quantico and expanded in 1921, h etook command . He agreed completely with Pete El-lis, and set out to establish coordinated s taff work, de-velop concepts, and test everything in manuevers . 8

On 23 September 1922, the 83d Company of th e3d Battalion, 6th Marines, represented the Marin eCorps at the opening of the Brazilian Exposition i nRio de Janeiro . The company arrived earlier on 5 Sep-tember to participate in a celebration commem oratin gBrazil's anniversary . Approximately two years later, i nJune 1924, the 3d Battalion performed expeditionar yduty in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic . In Jul y1924 this battalion performed expeditionary duty i nCuba. The 3d Battalion was stationed at Guantana-mo from July until January, when it was replaced bythe 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, which returned t oQuantico in September .

During this time, most of the Corp's energies wer eabsorbed in extensive operations in several countrie sin the Caribbean area . This not only delayed the de-velopment of the Marine C orps' educational and train-ing system, but it slowed the building up and trainin gof an ex peditionary force similar to today ' s Fleet M a-rine Force (FMF ) . Nevertheless, since the name of th eMarine expeditionary units was later changed to th eFleet Marine Force, the 6th M arines participated in th every birth of today's modern force in readiness, eve nthough the Fleet Marine Force itself did not becom ea reality until 7 December 1933 under Navy Depart-ment Order 241 7All of these activities cost money . Congress's desir eto restrict appropriations for m ilitary purposes durin g

2 4


38/196

Historical Collection, MCHCMembers of the 6th Marines prepare to erect tents over wooden platforms after the regi-ment's arrival in China in 1927 . A U .S . Navy destroyer is at anchor in the harbor .

the post-war period made it impossible for the Corp sto reach its authorized strength . In addition to th eCaribbean area, the Marines were called upon to keepa force of varying size in China, provide security fo rthe mail in 1921 and again in 1926, furnish guard sfor Presidents during visits to their favorite retreats ,and join in Army and Navy manuevers . However, o n15 March 1925 at Quantico, the 6th Marines once agai nwas deactivated .

In March 1927, Lejeune concluded that the Chin aforces needed to be built up to a brigade size . The4th Marines, already there, were threatened by Can-tonese troops menacing Shanghai . Serious disordersand attacks on foreigners were taking place .

China DutyOn 26 March 1927 the Marine Corps reactivated th e6th Marine Regiment at the Philadelphia Navy Yard .

Its men were veterans from east coast posts and sta-tions, as well as graduates from Parris Island's recrui tdepot . Colonel Harold C . Snyder was in command .Shortly after the 6th Marines arrived in China i nMay 1927, trouble arose in the north . The regimen tshifted to Tientsin to protect the lines of communi-cation to the American Legation at Peking .

The duty turned out to be little more than watch-ful waiting . Officers embarked on a routine of drills ,exercises, demonstrations, gymkhanas, anything tofine-polish the troops and keep them happy .Early in 1929, the situation in China had quieted ,and the 6th Regiment moved to San Diego, Califor -

nia where, on 31 March 1929, it was again deactivat-ed . It had been a good tour : peaceful, lots of sight -seeing, and plentiful and cheap servants available .Even the lowliest private could hire a "Coolie" to clea nhis rifle for him .

Second China DutyJapan was succes sful in cutting off Manchuria fro m

China in 1931-32 . Keeping continuous pressure o nnorthern China, the province of Jehol came underJapanese influence in 1933, and Chahar Province be -came a dem ilitarized zone in June 1936 . The pressur econtinued .8

On 1 September 1934, the 6th Marines reactivatedin San Diego. Lieutenant Colonel Andrew B. Drumwas commanding officer of the two-battalion regi-ment . The regiment was the nucleus for the 2d Ma-rine Brigade . Though badly understrength, thi sbrigade formed the West Coast portion of the newl ycreated Fleet Marine Force . Only three years later, th enewly reactivated 6th Marines was needed in China .Since the regiment was understrength, a decision wa smade to bring it up to full wartime strength as th esituation worsened in China . M any y oung officers ha dbeen sent to the San Diego FM F to play football . Thesemen were transferred into the 6th Marines .

When China was reorganized in December 1935 ,Chiang Kai-shek became a virtual dictator . Using theexpertise of German officers, he built a sizable army ,and made every effort to build the defenses of th ecountry . During the early summer of that year th e

25


39/196

Japanese increased their efforts to control norther nChina. The small embassy guard of about 500 Ma-rines, and other foreign troops in the Chinese capi-tal, found themselves in the midst of fighting aroun dPeiping. Fighting intensified . The then-commandant ,Major General Thomas Holcomb (who commande dthe 2d Battalion, 6th Marines, in World War I as amajor) d ecided to increase the size of the W est C oas tbrigade to a reinforced brigade . Brigade Headquart-ers, under Brigadier General John C . Beaumont, an dthe 6th Marines sailed on the USS Chaumont on 28August 1937 . Other troops followed . The brigade' smission was to defend the International Settlemen tin Shanghai and to maintain its neutrality .It was after this move that the 6th Marines acquire dthe nickname "The Pogey-Bait 6th," which it retain sto this day . There are various versions of how the term"Pogey-B ait" came into being . The most logical is thatthe term is an old one deve loped by all of the service sduring the Philippine war . It seems the native ladies ,referred to uncomplimentarily as " Pogeys," enjoy e dAmerican candy bars so much they would sell thei rcharms for one or more bars . It is reputed that th epost exchange supplies loaded hurriedly at San Die -go for China duty in 1937 inadvertently included sever -al thousand candy bars but only one case of soap .Although the nickname was not sought, it stuck . 9The Brigade and its 6th Regiment carried out thei rmission, although at times the situation was strained .General Wallace M . Greene, Jr., the Twenty-thirdCommandant, then a young officer, recalled an inci-dent involving Lieutenant Colonel Clifton B . Cates ,who later became the Nineteenth Commandant of th eMarine Corps . When a Japanese machine gun cre wset up their weapon across the street pointing at th eMarine position, an angry Cates, ignoring the dange rto his life, walked over to the position, seized the gun ,and threw it across the street .The 2d Brigade carried out its duties while tryin gto ignore the fighting of the Chinese and Japanese .As recounted by one officer who was still a bachelo rsecond lieutenant, duty was pretty routine . Inspect-ing the sentry at the entrance to the compound, an dwaiting for liberty call were his main d aily chores . Herecalled that the 4th Marines did challenge the 6thMarines to a football game . The 6th Marines had al lof the officers recently transferred to the regiment inSan Diego on their team. The 4th Marines' team wasprimarily enlisted men . Transportation to practice wa sby Chinese ricksha . The players would put on thei rfootball uniform and call for a ricksha, a sight tha tstartled even the placid Chinese . The 6th Marines wo nthe game, but just barely .'

Department of Defense (USMC) Photo 521056Tw o M arines, one of w hom wears the fourragere of th e6th Marines, stand guard by an observation post of 2 dBattalion, 6th Marines in Shanghai, China, in 1937 .

B y February 1938, the war zone had moved west ofthe city. It was no longer necessary to maintain an en -tire Marine brigade in Shanghai . The brigade head -quarters and the 6th Marines left Shanghai on 1 8February 1938, proceeding via Manila and Guam toHonolulu, where they participated in fleet manuevers .It was not until April 1938 that the regiment finall yreached San Diego, California . "

The 6th Marines' Table of Organization called fo ronly two battalions, the 1st and the 2d, in those day sof a reduced Marine Corps . Each battalion had thre erifle companies of three platoons each, and a machin egun and 81mm mortar company consisting of on emortar platoon and three machine gun platoon sarmed with World War I water-cooled .30-calibe rmachine guns . The company was equipped with Col ecarts to haul the guns and ammunition . These weresmall, low, two-wheeled carts pulled by two men . Th eenlisted riflemen were armed with World War I.30-caliber, bolt-action M1903 Springfield rifles an dB rowning Automatic R ifles . Gunners were armed withColt .45-caliber pistols, as were the officers . The fiel duniform was khaki shirt and trousers and a campaig nhat (the same as the wide-brim types worn by today' sDIs) . Commissioned officers wore scarlet and gol dbraided bands on their hats . The enlisted men wore

26


40/196

canvas leggings, the officers riding pants with eithe rleather boots or puttees .

Colonel Philip H . Torrey relieved Lieutenan tColonel Oliver Floyd, who had previously relievedLieutenant Colonel Drum as commanding officer o fthe regiment . Lieutenant Colonel James L . Underhillrelieved Torrey in 1938 and was in turn relieved b yLieutenant Colonel Alphonse DeCarre . Later in 193 8DeC arre was relieved by C olonel Harry L . Smith, whokept the regiment until relieved by Lieutenant Colone lE arl H. Jenkins in early 1939 . He in turn was relieve dby C olonel Samuel L . Howard . Fortunately, the turn -over rate of the commanding officers of the two bat-talions was not as rapid .

By late 1939, the 6th Marines was commanded b yColonel Howard ; the 1st Battalion by Lieutenan tColonel William W. Ashurst, a distinguished marks -man, and the 2d B attalion by Lieutenant Colonel Joh nW. Thomason, Jr ., the prolific writer and sketch ar-tist . All three were SouthernersHoward from Vir-ginia, Ashurst from Missouri, and Thomason fro mTexas . Mess nights, although seldom held, reminded

one more of a Confederate "the South will rise again"reunion than a get-together of Marine officers . Al lthree colonels were courtly and gentlemanly . Ashurs tencouraged rifle and pistol marksmanship . Thoma-son wrote articles and a book containing his ow nsketches . He drove around in a Ford convertible coup ewith the top down, and wore his overseas cap tilte dover one ey e . He was very distinguished looking, an dthe subject of many rumors . One was that, as a y oungman before coming into the Marines, he rode wit hPancho Villa, the Mexican bandit chieftain . Anothe rwas that he made so much money from his article she forgot to draw his pay, making him the only Ma-rine ever to have the paymaster beg him to draw hi smoney so the books would balance . True or not, thecommanding officers were a colorful lot .

In 1939, as the European war became more an dmore intense, President F ranklin D . Roos evelt declare da limited national emergency . This caused a letter t obe sent from Headquarters Marine Corps to eac hReserve officer. It asked them if they were intereste din volunteering to come on active duty for six months .

The 6th Marines board the USS Chaumont on 29 August 1937 enroute to China duty .National Archives No. 127-G-529464

27


41/196

National Archives No . 80-CF-71765- 4This photograph shows the Marine Corps base at San Diego at the time the 6th Marineswere there in the late 1930s . The surrounding land, then largely rural, is now an urba narea. To the left of the foreground building is an outdoor boxing ring . The white linesin the foreground are laundry hoisted up on a tall pole for drying and safekeeping .

There were not many Reserve officers, but most o fthem, around 160 in number, volunteered and wer eordered to Quantico in September 1939 to attend th efirst Reserve Officers Course . This course w as originall ydue to run the entire six m onths of the Reserves' volun-teer duty. The Basic School for Regular officers wa sstill at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia . First the cours eat Quantico was shortened to three months . Finally ,the length was cut to six weeks . The Twenty-s econdCommandant, General David M. Shoup, then a cap-tain, was one of the instructors . On the first floor ofone of the brick barracks was the school for the newl yforming defense battalions, whose officer student swere the most proficient in mathematics, as shown i ntheir college records . On the second floor was th eschool for the artillery officers, who w ere the nex t mos tproficient . On the third floor was the school for th einfantry officers, i .e ., the rest of the Reserve v olunteers .The first two floors devoted most of their time to class -room work . The infantry officers, while having som eclasses indoors, spent most of their time practicin gclose-order drill, on night compass problems, or o nterrain studies .

In late October the class graduated in their ne wgre