FORTITUD INEBULLETIN OF THE MARINE CORPS HISTORICAL PROGRAMHISTORICAL BULLETIN VOLUME XIX SUMMER 1989 NUMBER 1

How DID AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE COMMANDERS RATE MAJGEN JOHN A. LEJEUNE'S PERFORMANCEIN WORLD WAR I?. . . COLT .4 PIS1OL MISSING FROM MARINE ARSENALS AFTER 77 YEARS. . . VOLUNTEERS,INTERNS BOOST HIS1DRICAL EFFORT. . . SEEKING FATE OF NINE RMDERS LOST IN MAKIN ISLAND AYFACK

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Marine Corps Historical CenterBuilding 58. Washington Navy Yard

Washington, D.C. 20374-0580Telephone (202) 433-38)8, 433-3840. 433-3841

DIRECTORBGen Edwin H. Simmons, USMC (Ret)

Secretary to the Director Vacant. Secretary to the Depot)! Direc-tors/Chie/ Hi.itonan: Ms. Jeanerre R. Pelton,

HISTORICAL BRANCH

Col Daniel M. Smith, USMCDeputy Director for History

Mt. Henry I, Show. Jr.Assistant Deputy Director for History

Chief Historian

Histones Section: Mr. Jack Shulimson; Maj George R. Dunham,USMC; Maj Charles D. Melson, USMC; Mr. Charles R. Smith. Re/er.ence Section: Mr. DanoyJ. Crawford: Mr. Robert V Aquilina; Mrs.Ann A. Ferranre; Miss Lena M. Kaijot; Mrs. Regina Strorher; Mrs. SheIla

Gramblin Oral History' Section: Mr. Benis M. Frank: Mrs. MeredithP. Hartley. Architet: Mrs. Joyce E. Bonnert; Ms. Joyce C. Conyers; SgtKevin L. Parker. USMC.

MUSEUMS BRANCHCoI F. B. Nihart, USMC (Ret)Deputy Director for Museums

Mr. Charles A. WoodChief Curator

Artist-in-ResidenceCol Charles H. Waterhouse, USMCR

%Ia,rne Barracks. Special Projects: Mr. Richard A. Long. Fcch,brto: Ms.

Nancy E. Christin; Mr. Benny L. Lenoo, Sr.; SSgt Leroy M. Dyos, USMC.,'Irt: Mr. John S Dyer, Jr. PersonalPapers: Mr.J. Michael Miller. Regis.tear MtssJennitet L. Gooding. Administrative Clerk: Vacant.

Museums Branch Activities. QuanticoLiCol William A. Beebe II, USMC

Assistant Deputy Director for MuseumsOfficer-in-Charge

Assistant Officer.in.Charge /or Branch Activitiet: Mr. Kenneth L.Smith-Christmas. Education Officer Capt Cardell N. Parker. USMC.

Ordnance:Mr. Jirho G. Grifftths; SSgr Donald C. Martens, USMC.Restoration: Mr. Joseph E. Payron; Mr Stanley M. Sokolowski; SgtJames L. Arnold, USMC; Sgt Raymond E. Kirsey. USMC; Cpl Len'turd G. DeWolfe, USMC; LCpl Barry T. Goldrborough, USMC. Ace'onautico: Vacant. Exhibits: Mr. Ronald). Perkins; Mr. Frank D. Hosvurd.Lini/orms: Mrs. Nancy F, King. Programs Assistant: Mrs. Kathryn R,Trout. Secnrrry: GvSgt William P. Graybill, USMC; SSgt Mark Heather-ton, USMC; Sgr Fredrick A. Horrid II, USMC; Sgr Agusrin A. Sar.mienro, USMC; Sgr Matthew L. Dula, USMC; Sgr Ivan Vasilev, USMC;

Cpl Rodney W. Wegher. USMC; Cpl David A. Novelli. USMC.

SUPPORT BRANCHMuj Richard A. Clute, USMC

HeadlDivision Esecurive Officer

Administ,atiee: Capt John B. Dickison, Jr.. USMC; SSgt BobbyHolmes, USMC; Cpl Robert E. Clarke, USMC; LCpI Kimberly L.Tnyekoyah. USMC. Secnrrty: SSgi Randy Shouse, USMC, Library: Miss

Evelyn A. Englunder; Mrs. Patricia E. Morgan.

Publications Production: Mr. Robert E. Srruder. Production: Mrs.

Catherine A. Kerns. Graphics: Mr. William S. Hill. Typesetting: Cpl

Andre L. Owens Ill, USMC

Editor, FortitudineMr. Robert E. Srruder

FORTITUD INEMotto of the United States Marine Corps in the 1812 era.

Historical Bulletin Volume XIX Summer 1989 No. 1

This quarterly bulletin of the Marine Corps historical program is published to edu-cate and train Marines on active duty in the uses of military and Marine Corps his-tory. Other interested readers may purchase single copies or one-year subscriptions(four quarterly issues) from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. GovernmentPrinting Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Memorandum from the Director Lejeune's Bad Fitness Report 3

Seven Publications in 18 Months 7

Acquisitions: 19th Century Papers Give Look at Early Corps' Affairs 9

Readers Always Write: Wives Have Contributions toMake to Corps' History 10

Colt .45 Leaves the Corps After 77 Years 11

Interns and Volunteers Gain Experience Over Summer 13

Student Interns, 1988-1989 14

Oral History Report: Volunteers Assist with GeneralsOral History Interviews 15

The Korean War's 'Fighting' 1st Provisional Historical Platoon 17

Historical Quiz: Marines in Europe 19

Extracts of Corps' 1988 Chronology 20

Answers to Historical Quiz: Marines in Europe 21

Who was Left Behind on Makin7 22

Tarawa Historical Display Enhances 2d Division HQ 23

Waterhouse Paints Lively, Colorful Panama Action 24

THE COVER

Among a fine set of photographs loaned to Fortitudine by the Army's Center ofMilitary History to accompany "Memorandum from the Director" in this issue wasthis view of smiling Marine MajGenJohn A. Lejeune, right, Commanding General,2d Division, AEF, and Army MajGen Charles P. Summerall, Commanding General,V Corps, AEF, both on a post-Armistice visit to the 5th Marine Brigade at Pon-tanezen, France, on l8June 1919. Their host, of course, was Marine BGen SmedleyD. Butler, at center.

Forittudine is produced Ifl the Publications Production Section of the History and Museums Divi-sion. The text for Fortztudine is set in 10-point and 8-point Garamond typeface. Headlines are in 18-pointor 24-point Garamond. The bulletin is printed on 70-pound, matte-coated paper by offset lithography.

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

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HISTORYAND MUSEUMSDIVISION

Memorandum from the Director

Lejeune's Bad Fitness ReportBGen Simmons

L ejeune's bad fitness report—I hadheard rumors of it before; I think for

the first time many years ago from the lateCol Robert D. Heinl, Jr., who liked noth-ing better than to exacerbate Army-MarineCorps differences. Then last year we pub-lished the register that LtCol Merrill L.("Skip") Bartlett had done of the Lejeunepapers Uohn Archer Lejeune, 1869-1942,Register of His Personal Papers).

In the Preface, Skip dangled this bit ofbait:

"Materials critical of Lejeune's profes-sional performance can be found at theNational Archives, yet researchers havechosen to ignore their existence. Thescathing letter of admonition that Lejeunereceived from Brigadier General Com-mandant Charles Heywood in 1893 can be

located easily, as well as the critical and un-flattering fitness report written on him byLieutenant General Charles G.[sicl Sum-merall in 1918."

The bait attracted several inquiries as tothe nature of the bad fitness report. Per-sonally, I bristled at the thought of GenCharles P. Summerall, a corps commandernot well loved by the men of the 4th Ma-rine Brigade, giving my hero, "the greatestLeatherneck of them all," as commandinggeneral of the 2d U.S. Infantry Division,a less than superb fitness report. Could ithave had something to do with that lastnight of the war, that attack insisted uponby Summerall, the costly crossing of theMeuse by the 5th Marines even though itwas known at higher levels that an Ar-mistice was almost a certainty? There wasmuch bitterness in the 4th Brigade as a

result. Did some of this rub off in the re-lations between Summerall and Lejeune?

Summerall was a West Pointer, Class of1892. He made his reputation as an

artillery brigade commander in the 1stU.S. Division at Cantigny in May 1918 andmoved up to command of the division inJuly, leading it at both Soissons and St.Mihiel. He was given command of V Corpsin late September.

Lejeune, it will be remembered,received command of the 2d Division inlate July 1918. The division had to berebuilt after the losses suffered at Soissonsbut it was combat-ready again in time forthe pinching out of the St. Mihiel salientin mid-September. It was then moved overunder the French Fourth Army for open-ing moves of the final offensive of the war,

MayGen John A. Lejeune's "marking senior" for the Meuse-Argonne Campazn was Army MajGen Charles P Summerall,

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commanding V Corps, seen here, left front, at Pouilly, France,in November 1918. Summerall was a West Pointe, Class of 1892.

Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Center of Military History

getting off to a spectacular and bloodystart with the taking of Blanc Mont (andit was Blanc Mont, not Mont Blanc assome second-guessing modern-day writerswould have it) in early October. AfterBlanc Mont, the division returned toAmerican control, being placed underSummerall's V Corps for its share of theMeuse-Argonne.

Lejeune in his Reminiscences of a Ma-rine tells of receiving the attack order

at V Corps headquarters from Summer-all. During the previous two weeks thecorps had made only small gains. Sum-merall pointedly remarked that it hadbeen necessary to relieve several com-manders from frontline duty. The 2d Di-vision was, in Summerall's words, to be"the point of the wedge" of the renewedoffensive. The plan called for a D-day ad-vance by the 2d Division of nine kilome-ters and including the Brunhilde andFreya Stellung strongpoints in the Hin-denberg Line. Summerall and Lejeunetogether visited all 12 battalions of the twoinfantry brigades (3d Army and 4th Ma-rine) of the division with Summerall ham-mering home the point that a successfulassault would push the Germans across theMeuse.

The 2d Division jumped off on 1

November on a two-kilometer front, go-ing through the Germans like a knife, andtaking all objectives. Summerall congratu-lated Lejeune by telephone, followed bya letter dated 2 November which says inpart:

The Division's brilliant advanceof more than nine kilometers,destroying the last stronghold onthe Hindenburg line, capturingthe Freya Stellung, and goingmore than nine kilometersagainst not only the permanent,but relieving forces in their front,may justly be regarded as one ofthe most remarkable achieve-ments made by any troops in thiswar.

On 4/5 November the division foughtits way forward to the Meuse. At daylightpatrols were pushed up and down the nearbank searching for crossings. Next day, 6November, Summerall visited Lejeune'sheadquarters and gave him verbal ordersto be prepared to march to Sedan. Theseorders were later cancelled and the 2d Di-

vision was ordered to hold its sector alongthe west bank of the Meuse with the 77thU.S. Division on its right and the 89th U.S.Division on its left. On the evening of the7th, V Corps issued orders for the 89thand 2d Divisions to be prepared to crossthe river and seize the heights on the eastbank. Next evening the division com-manders met with Summerall. Lejeunereported that his reconnaissances showedthe east bank in front of his division tobe strongly held with many machine gunsand very active artillery. He recommend-ed a flanking attack by the 90th Division.Covered by this the 89th, 2d, and 77th Di-visions could cross in turn and roll up theGerman defenses. Summerall said hewould take this recommendation underadvisement, but Lejeune, on returning tohis own headquarters, found orders thatthe 89th and 2d Divisions would crosssimultaneously on the night of 10/11November.

N agging at Lejeune was the realizationthat his Marines and doughboys

knew that the Armistice was about to besigned. He prayed that the crossing wouldbe called off, but it was not.

As Lejeune wrote later in an order pub-lished to the division:

On the night of November10th, heroic deeds were done byheroic men. In the face of aheavy artillery and witheringmachine gun fire, the Second En-gineers threw two footbridgesacross the Meuse and the Firstand Second Battalions of theFifth Marines crossed resolutelyand unflinchingly to the eastbank and carried out theirmission.

By 11 o'clock, the time of the Armistice,the two battalions of the 5th Marines, withthe 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry in support,had linked up with elements of the 89thDivision which had also crossed. (See alsoMajGen Samuel C. Cumming, "The LastNight of the War," Fortitudine, Spring1980.)

Lejeune, in a letter home on the 11th,said, "Last night we fought our last bat-tle. . . . To me it was pitiful for men togo to their death on the evening of peace."

Next came the march to the Rhine. GenSummerall detached the division with acommendation:

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Especially I desire to commendthe division for the crowning featof its advance in crossing theMeuse River in face of heavy con-centrated enemy machine gunfire, and in driving the enemy'stroops before it, and in firmly es-tablishing itself upon the heightscovering the desired bridgehead.This feat will stand among themost memorable of thecampaign.

The division was now assigned to the IIICorps. The march was to begin on 17November. Horses and men alike wereworn out from the long campaign andhard fighting. Thousands of men were sickwith something which seems to have beenintestinal flu. As Lejeune wrote later, "Themarch was conducted as though a state ofwar existed, with flank and advance guardswhile marching, and with outposts estab-lished whenever halted for the night."

Lejeune spent the 17th on the road,watching his division march past, "Eachinfantryman carried his field kit and cloth-ing roll, and in addition a belt and twobandoliers of ammunition, rifle or Brown-ing automatic, steel helmet, gas mask,overcoat, etc., a total of seventy-five oreighty pounds. The men were still belowpar physically, and many suffered fromsore and blistered feet caused by theEnglish shoes which had been issued themafter the Armistice."

T he route to the Rhine took the 2dDivision through Belgium and Lux-

embourg. On 13 December the Allied Ar-mies crossed the Rhine, ceremoniouslyestablishing three bridgeheads, with theBritish at Cologne, the French and Ameri-cans at Coblenz, and the French at Mainz.The 2d Division was assigned a sectoralong the Rhine that included a numberof towns. Lejeune's billeting officer founda large country house outside of Heddes-dorf for Lejeune and his personal staff.

What then were the fitness reports thatLejeune received for this period'

A researcher was sent to the NationalArchives to investigate, without any greatdegree of success, the file of American Ex-peditionary Forces confidential fitnessreports. Working through Lejeune's per-sonnel records proved more rewarding.The fitness report forms are not very differ-

Excellent .

Very good...Good

UnfavorableIndifferentPoorBad

There was no provision for that favoriteof today's reporting seniors, "Out-standing."

F or the period 28 July through 30 Sep-tember, while in command of the 2d

U.S. Division, he received straight "Excel-lents" without elaboration, except for a"Should be glad to have him" as to futureservice in peace or war, from his report-ing senior who was GeneralJohnJ. Persh-ing, Commander-in-Chief.

The report for the crucial period, 1 Oc-tober through 16 November, came notfrom his corps commander, Summerall,

but from LtGen Hunter Liggett, com-manding the First Army. Liggett foundhim "Excellent" in almost every aspect,with small mark downs in "Efficiency ofpersonnel" and "Efficiency of material"

to 3.0 and a "Very good" in "Military appearanceto 2.5 and manner." Liggett described his

"General temperament" as "Calm & eventempered."

A third report covers the period 17November 1918 through 31 March 1919.MajGen John L. Hines, then command-ing the III Corps, was the reporting senior.He was not a particularly generous mar-ker. Lejeune "Commanded 2d Divisionduring entire period in a very satisfactorymanner." Lejeune's general temperamentwas "Calm, even tempered, active andpainstaking. Not particularly forceful butby no means weak." Lejeune was recom-mended for "Command of troops ap-propriate to his rank." Most of the specificmarkings are "Very good" with somecellents" at the low end of the scale (3.5).

The next report, for the period 1 Aprilto 12 July 1919, completes Lejeune's serv-ice with the AEF and is by LtGen HunterLiggett once again. As compared to the

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previous terse reports, Gen Liggett, Com-manding Third Army, is positively effu-sive. Unfortunately his handwriting is notall that clear. What he seems to say is "Iregard the perf. of Gen Lejeune & his Di-vision as exceptional — at St Mihiel and inthe Meuse Argonne operations — Excep-

tional in the ability displayed by the 2dDivision & its commander. During theduty of the 2d Div. with the Army [of Oc-cupation] the Division was at all times welltrained, well disciplined & well equipped."All the markings are "Excellent" except"Military appearance and manner" whichis 3.5, the equivalent of a high "Verygood" or low "Excellent."

T hen there is a curious concurrent orover-lapping report from Gen Sum-

merall for the period 23 October to 14November. There is a typed comment asto duty in the field and in war whichreads:

His Division was in the frontline of the 5th Corps during theassault on the Kriemhilde-Stellung and the subsequent ad-vance to the east of the Meuse

Genjohnj Pershing, Commander-in- Chief ofthe American Ex-peditionary Forces, center left, rated Leleune, center right, "Ex-

ent from what we use today. The range ofpossible markings was:

Favorable

cellent," and commented, "Should be glad to have him" forfuture service, in fitness reports not much different from today's.

4.0 to 3.53.5

3.0

2.5 to 2.02.0 to 1.01.0 to 0.0

River, including the operation offorcing a crossing of the River onthe night of November 10th. Heexecuted every mission with con-spicuous ability and loyalty andthe performance of the Divisionunder his command may beclassed as brilliant.

All the specific markings are: "Excel-lent" at the 4.0 level. Lejeune's generaltemperament is described as "Self-possessed, calm and even-tempered." GenSummerall "would especially desire tohave him" in time of peace or war.

Hardly a bad fitness report.But wait. There is something odd about

the report. The period of the report, en-tered in Lejeune's handwriting, is "Oct 23,1919 to Nov 14, 1919." The typed signa-ture block at the end of the report reads:

C. P. SUMMERALLMajor General, U.S. ArmyCommanding First Division, formerlyCommanding 5th Army Corps.

So quite obviously this report was pre-pared some time well after the period. Un-fortunately the fitness report forms ofthose days did not provide for a dating ofwhen the report was accomplished.

Was there a correction of the records?Did this report perhaps replace an earli-er, less satisfactory report that Summerallmight have rendered?

We have to look to Lejeune's correspon-dence file, as carefully cataloged by LtColBartlett, for clues.

Q n 22 November 1918, BGen MaImCraig, Chief of Staff, Third Army,

sent a rocket to Commanding General, IIICorps (Hines) which said inter alia:

Specifically the 2nd Divisionhas been particularly an eyesoreof the Third Army throughoutthe entire march. The DivisionalAmmunition Train seems to havepractically no order discipline.The officers do not supervise themarch of the column. Intervalsprescribed are not kept and thevehicles march in the middle ofthe road. The horses are notgroomed at all, or are improperlygroomed and harness not cleanedand oiled.

The straggling and unshaven,

unkempt appearance of elementsof the 9th and 23d Infantry cons-tantly directs unfavorable at-tention.

Hines' chief of staff shot the rocketthrough to Lejeune with a "For his infor-mation and guidance" first endorsement.Lejeune sent the rocket careening back toThird Army by way of III Corps with a se-cond endorsement demanding that "thecharacteristic of the Second Division as an'eyesore of the Third Army' be withdrawn,"noting that with the exception of the pastthree weeks, ". . . the 2nd Division hasfought, marched, moved by rail or cami-on, and bivouacked in the woods continu-ously since March 15th, last. It has foughtfive pitched battles, always defeating theenemy, and has rendered service of incal-culable value to the allied cause." He wenton to state ". . . in explanation of thepresent appearance of the Division, thatit left the battlefield for this marchwithout being refitted with clothing orequipment, and that practically all themen are now wearing the same uniformsthat they wore in the battles in the Cham-

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pagne district and in the recent Americanoffensive."

By the end of the year the 2d Divisionwas being showered with honors. Therewas a flowery commendation from GenHenri Gouraud, Commandant of the 4thArmy and Marshal of France, for the divi-sion's performance at Blanc Mont. Whenthe 1st U.S. Division (the "Big Red One")got a General Headquarters citation,Lejeune felt slighted and asked for equaltreatment for the 2d Division. Gen Sum-merall not only backed his complaint butasked Lejeune to send him "a draft of acitation, which you think will do justiceto the division." Said Summerall:

I feel profoundly grateful tothe division for its superbresponse to the great demandsthat it became necessary to makeupon it during the operations ofthe 5th Army Corps. It is deserv-ing of every possible honor andof the lasting gratitude of theAmerican people.

So what can we make of all this? Wasthere a bad fitness report and did it

Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Center of Military HistoryMajGens Charles P Summerall, left, and John L. Hines, i-ight, posed in November1926 with Secretary of W/ar Dwzht F Davis. As corps commanders, both wrote lengthycomments on Lejeune 's performance. Hines found him calm and painstaking.

come from Summerall? Probably not inboth cases. World War I commanders werenot as hyperbolic in their markings aspresent-day commanders, but only Hines'report on Lejeune can be considered mar-ginal. The restrained markings were prob-ably the consequence of the "eyesore"charges of the Third Army HQ. CertainlySummerall, whatever his other faultsmight have been, always seems to havebeen generous in his praise of Lejeune andthe 2d Division. It is not even fair to laythe blame for the night crossing of theMeuse on Summerall (and the very factthat he continually singles out that oper-ation for praise and attention is in itselfa kind of apology). As Lejeune makes clearin his Reminiscences the orders had come

from the top. Marshal Foch on 9 Novem-ber had sent a telegram to the com-manders of each of the Allied armies:

The enemy, disorganized byour repeated attacks, retreatsalong the entire front.

It is important to coordinateand expedite our movements.

I appeal to the energy and theinitiative of the Commanders-in-Chief and of their Armies tomake decisive the results ob-tained.Pershing ordered his First and Second

Armies to press forward. The Second Armyordered the Fifth Corps to press forwardand so it was that Pershing was able toreport:

The Fifth Corps in the FirstArmy forced a crossing of theMeuse east of Beaumont, andgained the commanding heightswithin the reentrant of the river,thus completing our control ofthe Meuse River line.

Undoubtedly it diagrammed very neatlyon the situation map back at GHQ.

Fortitudine readers can be expected toknow that John A. Lejeune went on

to be the Major General Commandant(1920-1929) and on retirement became theSuperintendent of the Virginia MilitaryInstitute, a post he held until 1937 whenhe was 70. In February 1942, long on theretired list, he received a well-deservedpromotion to lieutenant general and diedin November of that year. (The writer hadthe honor of marching in his funeralprocession which also included a battal-ion of soldiers in recognition of his war-time command of the 2d U.S. Division.)

But readers of Fortitudine may notknow that Charles P. Summerall, in a nicebit of parallelism, went on to be Chief ofStaff, U.S. Army (1926-1930), and afterretirement became President of TheCitadel at Charleston, holding that postuntil 1953 when he was 86 years old. Hedied in 1955. L111775L11

Seven Publications in 18 MonthsHenry I. Shaw, Jr

Chief Historian

T wo new histories, one of a famoussquadron, the Silver Eagles of

VMFA-115, and the other the sixth in theVietnam operational histories series werepublished by the History and MuseumsDivision and printed and sold by theGovernment Printing Office in the pastyear. In addition, several titles were addedto the list of occasional papers, originalpublications and reproductions of signifi-cant papers, which have both a limitedpublication run of a few hundred copiesand a restricted non-historical-buff au-dience, primarily closely involved in-dividuals, research activities, and militaryinstitutional libraries.

John C. Chapin, a retired MarineReserve captain and a Marine CorpsHistorical Foundation charter member,was the author of A Histoiy of MarineFzhter Attack Squadron 115. Aided inpart by a research grant from the Founda-tion which helped cover expenses, CaptChapin devoted three years of volunteereffort to the research and writing of thesquadron's story.

VMFA-115 began life as a fighter outfitin June 1943 at Santa Barbara. In July itsfirst Corsairs arrived, not long after MajJosephJ. Foss, leading Marine Corps aceand recipient of the Medal of Honor, tookcommand. Foss led the squadron overseasin February 1944 and it began its first com-bat flights from the new airfield on Emi-rau Island in the St. Matthias group inMay. Used in a variety of fighter roles, par-ticularly fighter-bomber missions, thesquadron moved on with the fightingfrom the New Britian area to the Philip-pines and finished out the war in supportof Army operations.

M oving on to China after the war,VMFA-115 followed the flow of Ma-

rine Corps operations and saw duty in theCarribbean and Japan, combat in Korea,duty at both east and west coast air sta-tions, combat in Vietnam for four tours,and duty in Thailand and on board shipin the Mediterranean. Now equipped withF/A-18 Hornets, the squadron is a part ofMAG-31, 2d MAW. The Hornets are the

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fifteenth aircraft flown by the veteranfighter-attack unit.

B ased in large part on official records,the history also relies heavily on the

recollections of men who served in itsranks. The 89-page soft-cover book isheavily illustrated and includes maps,footnotes, and appendices. It has been dis-tributed to Marine Corps and library ad-dresses and is available for individualpurchase from the Superintendent ofDocuments, Government Printing Office,Washington, D.C. 20402, at a cost of $6.00(Order No. 008-055-00174-9).

Initially available only in a hard-coveredition complete with dust jacket (a soft-cover edition for Marine Corps distribu-tion is currently being printed and shouldbe available for requisition in November),the 1969 Vietnam volume is also availa-ble for public sale by GPO (Order No.008-055-00175-7). In this case its $21.00price is justified by its 403 coated paperpages, which include many photo, map,and chart illustrations as well as extensive

The writer is appreciative of thehelp of Paul W. Hallam, formerly ofthe Personal Papers Section, andRobert V. Aquilina of the ReferenceSection in the research underlyingthis piece.

notes and appendices. The latter encom-passes a battalion-level command and stafflist for all of 1969, a glossary of terms used,a chronology, all 1969 Marine Corps Me-dal of Honor citations, January and De-cember status of forces lists for FMFPac,and a list of reviewers.

A s with all Vietnam operationalvolumes, and most other History and

Museum Division in-house publications,the contributions of the reviewers, all par-ticipants in the events described, are cru-cial to the value of the history both as anofficial reference source and as a readablestory. US. Marines in Vietnam: High Visi-bility and Standdown, 1969 is essentiallythe story of the beginning of the reduc-tion of Marine combat presence in Viet-nam, which was conducted amidst heavyfighting. By the end of the year, the 3dMarine Division, part of the 1st MarineAircraft Wing, and a corresponding sliceof service and support troops had left Viet-nam for Okinawa, Japan, and the States.Like its predecessors, this Vietnam volumeis primarily a ground-oriented narrativewhich ranges across the whole spectrum ofMarine military, pacification, and supportactivities with separate chapters and sec-tions treating the contribution of Marineaviators, logisticians, artillerymen, advi-sors, and landing forces. Also as itspredecessors in the series, the 1969 volumecovers the activities of U.S. Army andARVN units serving in I Corps as they im-pacted on Marine operations.

The author of the 1969 volume, CharlesR. Smith, is a veteran Marine historian, a

member of the History and Museums Di-vision since 1971, with degrees in historyfrom the University of California and SanDiego State. He served himself in Vietnamin 1968-69 as a member of the 101st Air-borne Division. Notable among his otherpublications with the division is Marinesin the Revolution: A Histoiy of Continen-tal Marines in the American Revolution,1775 -1 783.

Since the last notice of occasional paperpublications in Fortitudine (Winter1987-88, p. 16), the promised memoir byBGen Kessler of his Wake Island andPOW experiences and Col Angus Mac-Donald's Korean Marine POW thesis havebeen reproduced. The year 1988 also sawthe publication in limited editions of twosignificant registers of personal papers offormer Commandants and a study of thechanges in the curriculum at the Com-mand and Staff college over the past sevendecades.

LtCol Merrill L. Bartlett, USMC (Ret),a frequent writer on Marine Corps

historical topics, compiled a register of theJohn Archer Lejeune papers held by theHistory and Museums Division in thecourse of his research for a full-length bi-ography of Gen Lejeune. Bartlett's119-page typescript manuscript is consider-ably smaller than Dr. Gibson B. Smith's229-page typeset register of the division'sholdings from Gen Thomas Holcomb'spapers. Dr. Gibson's opus, which is quitedetailed, similarly represents his prelimi-nary work toward a planned biography ofthe World War II CMC. Both compilerswere helped with expenses by historicalresearch grants during the course of theirextensive studies. The division felt that thepublication of these occasional papers wasvery important to Marine Corps historyand that the material should be madeavailable to research facilities, but the costof general publication was not justifiable.It is expected that all such registers of per-sonal papers will see publication as occa-sional papers in the future.

content of senior service schools' curricu-la. LtCol Bittner's resulting study, done intimely fashion, was of such usefulness thatthe division felt it should be reproducedand distributed to other military schoolresearch facilities. The study is a first ofits type in the occasional paper series, butone that demonstrates the scope and flex-ibility of the concept.

A lso a first of its type and selectedfor its unique subject matter is an oc-

casional paper reproduced in 1989 whichdeals with Marines in World War Ii's OSSin Europe. Originally written in 1978-79as a prize-winning C&SC student researchand writing effort by then-Maj Robert E.Mattingly, the paper was reproduced as itwas submitted, including exclusivedocumentation of Marine involvement indeveloping the concept of what is nowknown as special operations but whichthen hid behind a variety of titles. Notonly is Mattingly's paper well and useful-ly documented, it is also very wellwritten —"reads like an adventure novel'—and it should find a ready audience in theintelligence agency libraries to which it wasoriginally sent. Now a lieutenant colonelretired and a member of the State Depart-ment's Foreign Service, Mattingly main-tains an interest in the exploits of Marineson special, intelligence-type assignmentsin World War II and it is hoped he willcontinue his work to include the tales ofMarines in the Pacific Theater (China-Burma-India in particular), a subject hehad no time to pursue when he was adeadline-harassed student at Quantico.

L111775 LII

T he story of curriculum evolution since1920 at the C&S College was deve-

loped by LtCol Donald F. Bittner, the resi-dent military historian on the College'sstaff, as the result of a requirement laidon the Marine Corps by a Congressionalsubcommittee investigating the historical

8

Acquisitions

19th Century Papers Give Look at Early Corps' Affairsby Jennifer L. Gooding

Registrar

A 174-year-old book of letters keptby LtCol Robert Dewar Wainwright,

USMC (1781-1841), which contains copiesof all of his correspondence written as acaptain from 10 August 1815 to April1821, has been purchased by the MarineCorps Museum. Then-Capt Wainwrightwrote letters from his post as commanderof Marine Barracks, Charlestown NavyYard, to such notable personages as thethird, fourth, and fifth Commandants,LtCols Franklin Wharton, Anthony Gale,and Archibald Henderson; the Yard'sCommandant, Navy Capt Isaac Hull; andthe Corps' Adjutant and Inspector, MajSamuel Miller.

The letters provide information and in-sight into numerous other Marine Corpsand military figures of the day. The let-ters describe normal events and occur-rences within Wainwright's command,such as discharges, payrolls, commissions,desertions, and misconduct charges, aswell as repairs to the barracks and livingquarters and distribution of guards for the

LtCol Wainwrzht's letterbook has copiesof his correspondence from August 1815to April 1821, including discharges, pay-rolls, desertions, and misconduct charges.

frigates Macedonian, Independence, andGuerriere. The letter book is in fragilecondition and has been accessioned intothe Museum's Personal Papers Collection,where it will be conserved and cared for.

Another addition to the Personal PapersCollection was donated by former MarineWilliam H. Greer, Jr., of Washington,D.C. Mr. Greer donated two letters, oneof which is an original, written and signedby LtColComdt Archibald Henderson on8 January 1821, to Senator H. Johnson,recommending "Mr. Hanna" for an ap-pointment in the Marine Corps (Exami-nation of the Navy Register covering 1821to 1825 shows no "Mr. Hanna" or varia-tion of that name as having joined the Ma-rinë Corps.).

Mr. Greer's other donation was a origi-nal letter dated 16 March 1782 from a Mr.Joseph H. Harrison addressed simply to"Sir," and concerning the delivery of ahogshead of tobacco at the "QuanticoWarehouse" which was to be appliedtowards payment of his debt.

LtCol Wainwright's book of letters andthe letter to Senator Johnson from LtCol-Comdt Henderson give us a look at howthe Marine Corps conducted its businessin the early part of the nineteenth century.

M rs. Ruth Ann Wells of Chevy Chase,Maryland, recently donated the

wool blanket, sewing kit, and shoe brushesthat her husband, David L. Wells, was is-sued at Parris Island boot camp in the1920s. She also gave the Museum his me-dals and badges, a bayonet, two pistols,aJapanese officer's sword, and letters andpapers from his later career. A switchbladeknife and case were taken from a banditMr. Wells killed in Nicaragua.

Mr. Wells' personal papers covered serv-ice in Nicaragua, Panama, Pearl Harbor,and Parris Island. Mrs. Wells also donat-ed a pair of officer's boots with spurs andan officer's sword and scabbard that be-longed to Mr. Wells' cousin, Col WilliamLeslie Bales.

Mr. John E. Staneff of Nashville, II-

9

A letter written and signed by LtCol-Comdt Archibald Henderson in January1821 Ic a gift from William H. Greer JrHenderson wrote to US. Senator H. John-son favoring an appointment in the Corps.

linois, donated the parachutist's manualand "notes" that parachutists andparachute riggers were given during WorldWar II, along with the Certificate of Com-pletion he received in 1945 for completionof the ten-week Parachute Riggers Course.

He was taught in the course to make aparachute "from scratch" using a Singersewing machine and both virgin silk andsynthetic materials.

M r. Akio Tani of Saitama, Japan, re-cently donated a now-khaki-colored

(originally dark green) Japanese officer'sshirt that he wore as a captain in WorldWar II, while occupying Guadalcanal fromOctober 1942 to February 1943.

Mr. Tani was the commanding officer ofa company in the 27th Heavy ArtilleryRegiment which was in action on the is-land. The shirt had been through a lot ofwear and tear on Guadalcanal since it wasthe only shirt he had until leaving the is-land. Repairs were made to the shirt by themen in Mr. Tani's company by cutting offthe once-long sleeves and using them topatch up the various holes and tears.

L111775E111

Readers Always lVrite

Wives Have Contributions to Make to Corps HistorySUCH A FLUFF PIECE

As one who grew up in the 1930s Ma-rine Corps I have never had any doubt thatMarine wives have participated in many ofthe truly significant episodes of MarineCorps history. Examples that I recall theladies discussing during my childhood in-clude the terrorist firebombing of Marineofficers' homes in Port-au-Prince in 1929and informal people-to people activitieswhile living on the Nicaraguan economyduring that long campaign. Wives wouldbe prime contributors on some of the pi-oneering aspects of garrison life overseas,such as building one's quarters or teach-ing children by correspondence course onthe remote stations where no schools ex-isted (e.g., Guam)

In fact, I have several times urged BenFrank to give a few hours of tape to thedistaff side of such things as the bomb-ing of downtown Shanghai in 1938 andthe circumstances of the later evacuationof dependents to the Philippines. I sin-cerely believe that Marine wives had valu-able, in some cases unique, observationsof many important events in our long andvaried service.

So you can imagine my pleasure at spot-ting the Quilter entry in the recent For-titudine (Fall 1988). What a disappoint-ment to read it and find it such a fluffpiece. Shades of the "ladies page!" JohnO'Hara gave entertaining treatment tosuch subjects as mores of the the youngmarried set and the issues of interfaithmarriage before World War II. Currentlyfashionable cultural, social, and "women's"history give them exhaustive treatment. Sowhy waste space with . . . matters havingso little to do with the Marine Corps?

I do hope that future selectionscan deal with less trivial aspects of our his-tory. And without omitting distaff obser-vations!

Col Gerald C. Thomas, Jr., USMC (Ret)The Plains, Virginia

EDITOR'S NOTE. Col Thomas, very mucha Marine junior (his father was the famousGen 'Jerry" Thomas) did not have much

company in his sentiments. The 'fluff'piece by Mrs. Quilter was enthusiasticallyreceived by most readers who wrote orcalled

UNWANTED CREDIT

I am sure you will get at least a dozenletters commenting on Kenneth L. Smith-Christmas' article on Smedley Butler's raid[Fortitudine, Spring 1989]. Usually righton target, Ken gave Gen Butler one credithe did not need and certainly did notwant. He never "wrote" an autobiography.Old Gimlet Eye, his adventures, were toldto my old friend Lowell Thomas, who col-lected and edited and artistically round-ed them into the fine book that it is.

The Farrar and Rinehart publishingcompany brought out the first printing in1933. I spoke to Lowell about Butler onseveral occasions and he never wavered inhis desire to honor him with a story as hehad honored T E. Lawrence in his WithLawrence in Arabia which broughtLawrence to the attention of the world. Ifthings had been different we may havehad Gen Butler in a wide-screen color epicinstead of the mystery man of Mesopota-mia. Lowell or "LT," as he was known toseparate him from his almost equallytalented son, "LTJ," always loved heroesand ranked both Butler and Lawrence"right up there."

I hope that eventually a book will bepublished with old Marines in mind, col-lecting the best of the Marine Corps art,as much of this history has passed theyoung Marine by and pictures speak tenthousand words, particularly pictures ofMarines in action!

Joseph S. RychetnikPacific Grove, California

EDITOR'S NOTE: The as-told-to autobi-ography by LTshouldhave been noted assuch. The closest book(s) that we have tothe type Mr Rychetnick describes are cer-tainly John Thomason's doughty tales ofMarine derring-do illustrated by the mostnotable Marine artist of the 20s and 30s.The Marine Corps Association has repub-lished Thomason's Fix Bayonets!

10

Sketch from Fix Bayonets! for the chap-ter; "Marines at Blanc Mont," is captioned"The shells began to drop into the trench."

CONTRIBUTORS SOUGHT

The Spanish-American War and theSmall Wars, a volume in the Garland En-cyclopedia of American Wars, will includea great many entries related to Marineoperations in the Caribbean, China, andthe Philippines from 1898 through 1934.Entries deal with campaigns, battles, civ-ic action, biographies of individual Ma-rines, and other topics. To date, the"typical" contributor holds the rank ofprofessor and has one or two books tohis/her credit. The Head of the Humani-ties Department at the Coast GuardAcademy will be writing Coast Guard en-tries, and an Air Force historian will bepreparing the entry related to the first useof aircraft by the Army in combat duringthe Punitive Expedition to Mexico. Pleasecontact Benjamin R. Beede, 7 ThrushMews, North Brunswick, NewJersey 08902for further information, including lists ofentries for specific countries and a guidefor contributors.

Benjamin R. BeedeNorth Brunswick, New Jersey

EDITOR'S NOTE: The History and Muse-ums Division has agreed to review draftentries related to Marine Corps operationsof the period for the encyclopedia.

Colt .45 Leaves the Corps After 77 Years

F or 77 years, the M1911 and M1911A1.45 caliber Colt semi-automatic pistol

has been the standard sidearm of the Ma-rine Corps. Over the past several years, ithas begun to be replaced by the new M99mm Beretta pistol. When our securitystaff at the Marine Corps Museums BranchActivities at Quantico turned in their .45sand drew M9s, the act underscored whathad seemed to be the inseparable relation-ship between the Marine Corps and "oldslabside."

The M1911 pistol was the culminationof John Moses Browning's efforts to de-velop a simple, yet effective, semi-automatic pistol for the U.S. Government.The first commercial model of this pistolappeared in 1900, and was followed shortlyby a military version, both in .38 caliber.However, the lessons of the Moro Risingin the Philippines, in which the under-powered .38 Long Colt proved ineffectiveagainst the fanatical native insurgents,resulted in the government's re-adoptionof the larger .45 which had been aban-doned in the 1880s. The U.S. military es-tablishment was not alone in its search fora replacement for the revolver. Concur-rently a number of European nations wereexploring the adoption of semi-automaticpistols since they had become a viableweapon as a result of the great burst oftechnological advancement at the turn ofthe century. The German Army adoptedthe famed 9mm "Luger" in 1908 (theNavy having beaten them to it by twoyears), while a host of smaller countries fol-lowed suit in the years prior to World WarI. During the war, the Mauser "broomhan-

Co/John W Thomason, Jr., portrayed aWorld War I-era Marine officer at the frontin France, just after he fired his Colt .45.

by Kenneth L. Smith-ChristmasCurator of Material History

die" pistol was used as a secondary arm bythe Germans and carried as a personalweapon by soldiers of many countries.During this same period, the Austriangovernment adopted both the 8mm Roth-Steyr and the 9mm Steyr Model 12 pistols,the Italian Army took up the 9mm Glisen-ti, the Danes and Belgians acquired 9mmBergmann-Bayard pistols, and the BritishRoyal Navy armed itself with .455 Webley& Scott semi-automatics.

In 1911, the U.S. Army and Navy for-mally adopted the 7-shot, .45 caliber Coltpistol. It replaced the .45 caliber M1909Colt revolvers carried by both the Armyand the Marine Corps, as well as the .38caliber Colt revolvers used by the Navy.The automatic Colt pistol (.45 ACP) car-tridge was shorter than the old .45 LongColt revolver round and, although it de-veloped less muzzle energy with its light-er bullet, it had an increased muzzlevelocity of about 100 feet per second overthe old Long Colt.

T he Marine Corps received its first Coltpistols in 1912 and they were put to

good use in the next few years. Carriedashore by officers in the landing at VeraCruz, Mexico, in 1914, the pistol was usedby then-Maj Smedley D. Butler in the fol-lowing year, when he was awarded his se-cond Medal of Honor for the capture ofFort Riviére in the Haitian Campaign of1915. When he burst out of a narrow,derelict drainage tunnel into the midst ofa "Caco" bandit stronghold in the crum-bling fort, he used his Colt pistol to keepthe bandits at bay while the rest of histroops forced their way into the fort.

Along with the pistol, Marines were is-sued a M1912 russet holster which had ahip swivel and the letters "USMC" in anoval embossed on the flap. Althoughlargely replaced by the familiar M1916 hol-ster (which, in a modernized version, isstill used with this pistol) during WorldWar I, the Marine Corps favored the old"long strap" holster design and developedits own version in the late 1920s. A sizea-ble number of M1916 holsters were sub-sequently converted to the new pattern atRock Island Arsenal, augmenting the stan-dard production types.

11

The M191JA1 .45 caliber Colt semi-automatic pistol has been standard MarineCorps issue since before World War I.

During World War I, front-line Marineswere fortunate to obtain enough Colt au-tomatics that they were spared the issueof Colt New Service and Smith and Wes-son "Hand-Ejector" revolvers which wereissued to much of the American Expedi-tionary Forces. These revolvers, bothdubbed the "Model 1917," were adapta-tions of commercial models which wereavailable in .45 Long Colt. The Model 1917used a curious "half moon" clip to fire therimless .45 ACP in an effort to minimizelogistical problems. These revolvers werealready in production as civilian weaponsand thus required only minor changes toadapt them to the military cartridge.Although contracts to produce the M1911were awarded to nine different privatemanufacturing firms, only those made byColt, the Remington Arms Company, andthe U.S. Arsenal at Springfield, Mas-sachusetts, were issued to U.S. troops. Thearmistice forestalled the other contractsfrom being fulfilled. The same pistolraised aloft in the right hand of "IronMike" at MCRD Parris Island can also beseen in many of ColJohn W. Thomason'ssketches of Marines in action from BelleauWood to the Argonne.

A fter the armistice, the Marine Corpsreturned to expeditionary and pacifi-

cation duties. When the second Cacorevolt exploded in Haiti during the springof 1919, it was a Colt .45 in the steadyhand of Capt Herman Hanneken (GdH)that helped quell the rebellion. He andtwo others bluffed their way into one ofthe bandit chieftain's camps and, while hismen fought a pitched battle with the Ca-

cos, coolly dispatched their leader by hiscampfire.

Eight years later, Marines were inNicaragua in an effort to enforce a peacebetween warring Liberals and Conserva-tives. One Liberal general, Augusto C.Sandino, declined to be pacified andfought Marines and the Marine-officerednative constabulary, the Guardia Nacional,in a gruelling six-year campaign throughthe jungle-covered mountains of northernNicaragua. Although the pistol carried bythe Marines and the Guardia was theM1911 in its original configuration, an im-proved version was coming out of the Coltfactory in Hartford, Connecticut.

The new M1911A1 pistol had a shortertrigger, wider sights, a longer grip safety,and a distinctively contoured handgripwhich was due to the change to an archedmainspring housing. Many of the earlierpistols were later upgraded with these im-provements, and it is these that were reis-sued along with the M1911A1s in WorldWar II.

The outbreak of World War H found theUnited States woefully unprepared for along, global war. As had been the case in1917, there were not enough pistols onhand to arm the rapidly expanding U.S.forces, and the Colt Company could notdo the job alone. As in World War I, con-tracts were again let for the manufacture

Sgt Donald K Smith, USMC, wearing acaptured Japanese helment and carlyinga M1911 Colt Pistol, pauses during a lullin the battle for Tinian in August 1944.

of pistols. Four additional companiesresponded with pistols in varyingamounts, most of which can be document-ed as having been used by Marines,whether issued or "appropriated." By theend of the war, each Marine division wasentitled to at least 1,707 pistols, whichwere carried by those officers, NCOs, andspecialists not armed with Ml carbines. Inactuality, the number of pistols carried inthe field was much higher. Many Marinesdid not feel that the stopping power of thelight, .30 caliber carbine was adequate andfound various ways to arm themselves withpistols at any opportunity. Although someMarines followed the example set by thefamed bandit fighter, then-GySgt WilliamA. Lee, and armed themselves with large-bore revolvers, most preferred the issueColt pistol.

T he Marine Corps' pre-war preoccupa-tion with marksmanship paid off

during World War II. Under the tutelageof such notable shooters as GySgt MorrisA. Fisher, Marines were able to bring skillwith the pistol to an almost legendary sta-tus. This was evidenced on the night of2 5-26 July 1944 at Fonte Hill on Guamwhen then-Capt (later Commandant)Louis H. Wilson, Jr., led his troops in therepulse of several Japanese attacks andkilled at least one Japanese officer with hispistol. The officer's sword, with a holefrom one of General Wilson's bullets inits scabbard, is on display in the MarineCorps Museum. At least two other Marineswere awarded the Medal of Honor for ac-tions in which their prowess with the pistoltipped the scales in their favor.

When the North Korean People's Armypoured over the 38th Parallel in the sum-mer of 1950, and pushed the defendingSouth Korean and American troops into

12

a small corner of South Korea, centeringaround the port city of Pusan, the Ameri-cans counterattacked by making a boldamphibious landing far in the enemy'srear at Inchon. Four days after this land-ing, as the 1st Marine Division fought itsway eastward, then-lstLt Henry A. Com-miskey rushed an enemy hilltop machinegun nest with his pistol, killing five NorthKoreans. For his bold initiative in silenc-ing this gun and routing the troops sup-porting it, he was awarded the Medal ofHonor.

The next generation of Marines, alsofighting in Asia, used the "automaticpistols" in the northern provinces of Viet-nam. Although there were some com-plaints of the more elderly blued pistolsrusting, it still served in good stead. Forinstance, while fighting near the Demilita-rized Zone in July 1966, then-LCpIRichard A. Pittman rescued a beleagueredplatoon and broke up a frontal attack byusing first a machine gun, and when thatwas damaged, a pistol from a fallen com-rade, according to the citation for his Me-dal of Honor.

Since Vietnam, the .45 pistol has beencarried by Marines to Grenada and Leba-non, and is only now being replaced bythe M9 Beretta. In fact, some units havenot yet fully transitioned to the new pistol.The Beretta was selected as the successorto the Colt after a series of extensive testsconducted over the past 10 years, and isconsidered to be a superior weapon dueto its double-action design, increasedmagazine capacity, and ease of handlingwith the lighter 9mm NATO standard car-tridge. However, we probably will have towait for the final analysis of the Beretta'ssuperiority over the venerable Colt if it,too, is used by the next three generationsof Marines. Eli 775 El

In 1969, LCpl IVilliam G. Cox, USMC, emerges from one of many Viet Cong tunnelsin the Batangan Peninsula of South Vietnam, his .45 caliber pistol at the ready.

Interns and Volunteers Gain Experience Over Summerby laura A. Cathcart

Editorial Intern

D o you have any experience? That'sa question many new graduates

hear when hunting for their first job. Thissummer, the Marine Corps HistoricalCenter gave several students experiencethat will be useful to them as they beginsearching for employment.

Over the period of three months, six in-terns and two volunteers gained hands-onexperience while working at MuseumsBranch Activities, Quantico, and at theCenter at the Washington Navy Yard. Theintern programs offered by the Center fallinto three separate categories. One pro-gram provides salaried employment, a se-cond allows students to earn academiccredit, and the third recruits volunteers,both college students and others.

The interns were placed throughout thebuilding in Washington, and at the Air-Ground Museum at Quantico, in accor-dance with their backgrounds, and de-pending upon what tasks needed the mostattention. The Personal Papers Collectionended up with the most interns, havinga total of three over the course of thesummer.

p aving the way for those to follow wasMidn Eugene Willis Herweyer, from

the U.S. Naval Academy. Midn Herweyerwas placed with curatorJ. Michael Millerin the Personal Papers unit, reckoned agood place for a history major. Herweyer'swork was cut out for him. In his month'sstay from 29 May through 22 June he wasresponsible for assessing and cataloging

Brian M. Andrew

historical papers dealing with World WarII and the Vietnam War. The catalogingof this information will make it more ac-cessible to researchers. As all non-paid in-terns, Midn Herweyer received a "lunchand carfare" stipend from the MarineCorps Historical Foundation for his work,but no academic credit, since his time herewas part of the Academy's summer train-ing program. After departing the Center,the remainder of his summer trainingwould take him to Long Beach, Califor-nia, where he would board the USS Knox(FF-1052). After completing the wholesummer program Midn Herweyer wouldreturn to the Naval Academy, where he hasone year left before graduating.

Upon Midn Herweyer's departure Mr.Miller received two new interns to pick upsimilar duties: Midn David Brent Mar-quand, also from the Naval Academy, andRichardo Albert "Ricky" Hutchinson,from the University of Maryland.

Midn Marquand was given the task ofcataloging collections concerned with Ma-rine involvement in Latin America and theCaribbean. Many of his hours consisted oftransferring information to computer,making it more accessible for researchers.From a "Marine family" in San Diego,Midn Marquand's grandfather was the lateMajGen Henry Reid Page, a former com-manding general of the 1st Marine Divi-sion. Like Herweyer a history major,Marquand found his work of great in-terest. His time here also was consideredAcademy summer training and lasted

Richardo A. Hutchinson

13

three weeks, from l6June through 6 July.The remainder of his training periodwould consist of a submarine cruisedeparting from San Diego, after which hewould also return to school for anotheryear.

R icky Hutchinson, unlike the other in-terns in Personal Papers, is not a his-

tory major, but is studying business mar-keting, and as a college "clerk-typist" hewas getting a federal program salary. Hisjob consisted of putting together a mail-ing list of all World War I Marine veteransin the effort to persuade them to donatepersonal items to the Museum collection.He found the list to be a short one and,regrettably, dwindling. Hutchinson's staywould be somewhat longer than theothers. He arrived the same day as MidnMarquand, but would end his time at theCenter on 29 August. At that time hewould return to school, expecting tograduate in 1991.

Along with Hutchinson there was oneother summer intern categorized as a col-lege "clerk-typist." Brian Michael Andrew,who had worked for the Center for sixweeks this spring, was back for a secondgo-round. Andrew attends Hope Collegein Holland, Michigan, where he is study-ing history and political science.

Working again in the Reference Sectionat the Center, he spent a great deal of histime answering requests from people whoneed detailed information on MarineCorps-related topics. Andrew feels that the

Laura A. Cathcart

experience he has gained over his two tourshas been very beneficial, since there aremany things that cannot really be learnedin the classroom. Andrew would end hisstay here on 25 August and return for onemore year of school.

Brian Andrew was not the only internwho had served here once before. Rita

Mary Plath, a junior at Mary WashingtonCollege in Fredericksburg, Virginia, volun-teered her time to the Center in the sum-mer of 1988 and decided to continue thisyear, feeling that the experience she wasgaining was extremely useful. As an arthistory major she says she could not havebeen placed in a better location. Plathspent her time in the Center with Mr.John T. Dyer, Jr., who explained anddemonstrated for her the duties of a prac-ticing art curator. Plath spent much of hertime in assisting with records-keeping.Working at the Center 10 days over thesummer was not her only job; she alsospent 40 hours a week working for theAmerican Automobile Association as aroad service counselor.

Only one of the Center's summer in-terns received academic credit for her workthis year. Laura Anne Cathcart wouldgraduate in August from James MadisonUniversity in Harrisonburg, Virginia,where she studied public relations. Cath-cart was placed in the Publications Produc-tion Section, where she performed thetasks of an editorial assistant, and ad-ditonally in the Museums Branch, whereshe worked with curators on the special re-quirements of announcing museum ex-hibits for the news media. She spent muchof her time preparing and distributingpress releases on Museum activities andevents. Other duties included helpingwith the editing and production of For-titudine. Cathcart's stay at the Center wasfor two months, from 1 June through 28July, at which time she returned home toMarion, Virginia.

T he Marine Corps Air-Ground Muse-um, an activity of the History and

Museums Division, had its interns as well.Sharon Bittner, a multiple repeat volun-teer and recent graduate of Sweet BriarCollege in Sweet Briar, Virginia, joined theMuseum for two weeks in June.

Bittner spent her time researching Ma-rine officers' dress and undress blues to de-termine when details changed, in order to

set up a new classification system. Herother duties included the preservation ofthe uniforms: tagging, wrapping, andplacing them in acid-free boxes for storage.The remainder of her summer was spentat President Jefferson's Monticello estatein Charlottesville, Virginia, participatingin an archeological dig.

Hans Nicholas Wilson, a rising fresh-man at Embrey-Riddle AeronauticalUniversity, in Daytona Beach, Florida, wasalso on board at the Air-Ground Museumfor the summer. In order to broaden hishorizons for his upcoming year of college,he assisted in restoration work on a KoreanWar-era observation helicopter.

A long with its two interns, the Air-Ground Museum had two volun-

teers. They brought not only skilled helpto the Museum, but interesting back-grounds as well.

Allen P. Maine, a guidance counselor forgrades 6-8 at public schools in Aurora,Colorado, and James C. Pilkington, atraining manager for IBM Corporation,also from Colorado, spent their two-weekvacations volunteering at the Quanticomuseum. The two former Marines servedtogether in Japan during 1958, and havestayed in touch. They became aware thatvolunteers were needed at the Museumthrough an article in Leatherneck maga-

14

zine, and decided after consulting eachother that this was something in whichthey were interested. The two men spenttheir time cataloging uniforms and repair-ing and cleaning parts of valuable flint-lock muskets. Working in the arsenal ofantique weapons was extremely interest-ing for both men. Pilkington explainsthat, "The guns we used are now relics inthe Museum."

"We are Marine veterans, not ex-Marines, or former Marines. It is part of ourhistory, our personal history. We get tocome home to the Marine Corps," saidMaine. Pilkington chimed in, saying, "Itis extremely interesting, so we read every-thing we get our hands on, making it hardto get our work done." The time the twomen spent at the Quantico museum,however, was very productive. They gotnumbers of uniforms categorized andmade good progress on the weapons col-lection.

e have had a great time, exceptfor the heat and humidity," ex-

plains Pilkington, "and we hope we cando it again." Maine remarks, "It is some-thing you read about, so it is neat to comeback and go through personal papers andhandle the uniforms and guns. It bringsus closer to the whole history of the Ma-rine Corps. It ties it all together. That iswhy we do it." E1775L1J

Student Interns, 19881989*Brian H. WilliamsDavid T. KraskaGregory G. Nezat

1988

1988

1988

Armando E. BatastiniMark C. KustraEdward J. McGovernRita M. PlathSharon L. BittnerBrian M. AndrewWillis E. HerweyerDavid B. MarquandLaura A. CathcartNicholas Wilson

Hope CollegeHope CollegeUniversity of Southwestern

LouisianaU.S. Naval AcademyU.S. Naval AcademyU.S. Naval AcademyMary Washington CollegeSweet Briar CollegeHope CollegeU.S. Naval AcademyU.S. Naval AcademyJames Madison UniversityEmbrey-Riddle Aeronautical

UniversityUniversity of Maryland

1988

1988

1988

1988-198919881989**1989***

1989198919891989

Richard A. Hutchinson

* A previous list of student interns, covering the period 1977-1987, appeared

1989

in Fortitudine (Spring 1987), p. 22.** Sharon Bittner also served as an college intern in 1986-1987."" Brian Andrew served both as a college intern and a college student aidein 1989.

Oral History Report

Volunteers Assist with Generals' Oral History Interviewsby Benis M. Frank

Head Oral History Section

R ecently accessioned into the MarineCorps Oral History Collection were

in-depth interviews with LtGens EdwardS. Fris and Robert E. Keller, MajGen CarlF Hoffman, and BGen Austin R. Brunelli.Three of these interviews—Keller,Brunelli, and Hoffman—were conductedby volunteers from the Marine CorpsHistorical Foundation, while Gen Fris wasinterviewed by the Oral History Section.MajGen NormanJ. Anderson interviewedGens Keller and Brunelli — as well as GensPaul J. Fontana, Arthur H. Adams, Vie-tot A. Armstrong, and John E Dobbins,whose interviews have not yet beenprocessed. On the west coast, LtGen Al-pha L. Bowser conducted half of the in-terview with Gen Hoffman, and when hewas prevented from completing it, GenHoffman finished it himself, taping hismemoirs in a "do-it-yourself" interview.

Both Marine aviators, Gens Fris' andKeller's last tours were as CommandingGeneral, Marine Corps Development andEducation Command, Gen Fris succeed-ing Gen Keller upon the latter's retire-ment in 1974; Gen Fris retired thefollowing year. A native of California, GenKeller was attending the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, when he became anAviation Cadet in 1940, and was commis-sioned and given his wings the following

LtGen Edward S. Fris

year. He served two tours of duty in thePacific in World War II as a fighter pilot.In his oral history, he discusses his first touras executive officer and the commandingofficer of VMF-223 in the Solomons. Herelated how his squadron, when based atGreen Island, was visited by famed pilotCharles A. Lindberg, who was then a tech-nical representative in the Pacific forChance Vought and how Lindberg flew anumber of combat missions with the squa-dron. In his second tour in the Pacific dur-ing the war, Gen Keller commandedVMF(N)-533, which he led on Okinawaand later in North China. During the in-terwar period, Gen Keller filled a num-ber of command and staff billets and alsoattended the Air War College at MaxwellAir Force Base. He commanded VMF-214at the outset of the Korean War, initiallybased on a carrier off the Korean coast.Later in this tour, he was 1st MAW liaisonofficer to the Fifth Air Force Joint Opera-tions Center in Seoul. Gen Keller receivedhis first star in 1966 when he was assignedduty as Assistant Wing Commander of the1st Marine Aircraft Wing in Vietnam. Insucceeding years he commanded the 4thMAW/Marine Air Reserve Training Com-mand and was AdS, J-3 of the PacificCommand, amongst other assignments.He received his third star in 1972, whenhe assumed command of Marine CorpsDevelopment and Education Command,remaining there until he retired.

officer of Marine Air Control Group 18.Upon his return to the States, he waspromoted to brigadier general and desig-nated the Inspector General of the MarineCorps. Subsequently, he became com-mander of Marine Corps Air Bases, West,and in 1972, when he received his secondstar, he returned to Headquarters MarineCorps as Deputy Chief of Staff for Avia-tion. Gen Fris relieved Gen Keller as Com-manding General, Marine CorpsDevelopment and Education Commandin 1974, and retired the following year.

W bile a student at Drake University,Gen Hoffman underwent PLC

training in the summers of 1940 and 1941,and was commissioned in March 1942. Hewas assigned to the 2d Marine Division inthe Pacific, participating in the Guadal-canal, Tarawa, Saipan, and Tinian opera-tions. In 1948, as a major, he was assignedto the Historical Division at HQMC,where he wrote two historical mono-graphs—Sazan: The Beginning of theEnd and The Seizure of Tinian. In theKorean War, Gen Hoffman commandedthe 3d Battalion, 1st Marines, and laterserved as Assistant G-3 of the 1st MarDiv.Following the Korean War, he was a stu-dent first at the Armed Forces Staff Col-lege, and after a tour in the G-2 'Division

LtGen Robert E. Keller

U pon his graduation from the Mis-souri School of Mines in February

1942, Gen Fris was commissioned a Ma-rine second lieutenant. During World WarII, he served as a radar officer, and follow-ing flight training in 1947, he received hiswings. As he related initially in his oralhistory, Gen Fris was very closely involvedwith the development of the innovativeMarine Tactical Data System at Head-quarters Marine Corps first, and then asMarine Corps Liaison Officer at Litton In-dustries in Los Angeles, where the equip-ment was being built. He was ordered toVietnam in 1968 as the commanding

15

at HQMC, he was assigned to the ArmyWar College as a student and then a mem-ber of the faculty. In 1965 he reported inat HQMC for the third time to becomeassistant head of the Policy Analysis Divi-sion first and then Commandant of theMarine Corps Gen Wallace M. Greene, Jr.'smilitary secretary. Three years later, uponhis promotion to brigadier general, he wastransferred to Vietnam for duty as Assis-tant Division Commander of the 3d Ma-rine Division and also Commanding Gen-eral of Task Force Hotel. While in Viet-nam, he also served as III Marine Am-phibious Force G-3. In the years followinghis Vietnam tour, Gen Hoffman subse-quently commanded Marine Corps Base,Twentynine Palms; Marine Corps RecruitDepot, Parris Island; III Marine Amphibi-ous Force on Okinawa; and Marine CorpsBase, Camp Pendleton, where he retiredin 1978. His oral history not only containshis memoirs, but also has the transcriptsof seven recorded debriefings he conduct-ed in Vietnam, at FMFPac, and at HQMC.Also included is the score of the march,"Esprit de Corps," which Gen Hoffmancomposed and for which he was the Ma-rine Corps first prize winner in the Ameri-can Society of Composers, Authors, andPublishers/John Philip Sousa contest.

A native of New Mexico, BGen Brunellistudied at Colorado College for two

years before entering the Naval Academy.Upon graduation in 1931, he was commis-sioned a Marine second lieutenant. He wasassigned sea and shore duty following Bas-ic School, and from 1936 to 1937 served

MayGen Carl F Hoffman

BGen Austin R. Brunelli

as aide to MajGenJames C. Breckinridge,Commandant of Marine Corps Schools.From 1940 to 1943, he was aide to Com-mandant of the Marine Corps MajGenThomas Holcomb. Gen Brunelli's oral his-tory contains his views of HQMC opera-tions in this hectic period. Also narratedin this memoir are the details of the tripon which he accompanied Gen Holcomband other HQMC staff officers to Guadal-canal in the early days of the operationand a subsequent visit to Adm Halsey inNoumea where, amongst other matters,the problem of command relations atGuadalcanal was settled. Gen Brunelliwent to the Pacific War as a commanderof a 24th Marines battalion and took partin the Kwajalein, Saipan, and Iwo Jimaoperations. For extraordinary heroism onIwo, he was awarded a Navy Cross. At thebeginning of the Korean War, GenBrunelli was on the staff of AmphibiousForces, Pacific Fleet, and in March 1952,he was assigned as chief of staff of the 1stMarine Division in Korea. Following hispromotion to brigadier general in 1956,he was transferred to Camp Lejeune to be-come, first, Assistant Division Com-mander of the 2d Marine Division, andthen commander of Marine Corps Base,Camp Lejeune. At the time of his retire-ment in 1962, Gen Brunelli commandedthe Landing Force Training Center, Atlan-tic Fleet.

with Adm Arleigh A. Burke, BGenSamuel R. Shaw, and the late Col DonaldJ. Decker concerning Adm Burke's associ-ation with the Marine Corps in the unifi-cation fight and during the course of hiscareer. The Oral History Section recentlytranscribed interviews with MajGens Ar-thur H. Adams, Alan A. Armstrong, andRaymond L. Murray, and with Col Wil-liam P. McCahill, who was one of the firstMarines assigned as a public relationsofficer in World War II. After these tran-scripts have been reviewed by the inter-viewees and returned to the HistoricalCenter, they, too, will be accessioned intothe Oral History Collection.

T he Oral History Section has complet-ed an interview with LtGen William

K. Jones, and recently began a series of in-terviews with Gen Thomas R. Morgan,former Assistant Commandant of the Ma-rine Corps, and former Deputy Chief ofStaff for Aviation, LtGen Keith A. Smith,both of whom retired this year. In addi-tion, the Section has begun to interviewRobert L. Sherrod, dean of war correspon-dents in the Pacific War and author of His-tory of Marine Corps Aviation in WorldWar II. The interview sessions will be con-cerned with his association with the Ma-rine Corps over the years. Eli 775L11

MajGen Donald M. Weller

p resently being processed for accession-ing into the Oral History Collection

are interviews with the late MajGenDonald M. Weller and the late Col An-gus M. Fraser, as well as a joint interview

16

The Korean War's 'Fighting' 1st Provisional Historical Platoonby Benis M. Frank

Head; Oral History Section

A t times throughout its history, theMarine Corps has activated unique,

provisional organizations, such as barrageballoon battalions, war dog platoons,glider squadrons, among others, whose ex-istence proved to be short-lived. One suchunit was the 1st Provisional Historical Pla-toon, which was established on 7 August1950.

The concept of a platoon of this type,and a field historical program as well, wasdeveloped by LtCol Robert D. Heinl, Jr.,when he headed the Historical Sectionduring the period 1946-1949. He studiedthe Army's successful World War II histor-ical program and learned that it also hada mobilization plan for historians for thenext war. According to this plan, a cadreof professional historians, who had beengiven Reserve commissions and mobiliza-tion billets, would be called to active dutyto fill these billets. During peacetime, theArmy Reserve historians would periodicallygo on active duty to keep in touch withmobilization policy and with the conceptsof employment and the objectives of mili-tary history under conditions of war.

LtCol Heinl thought that this was anadmirable idea and one which the MarineCorps should adopt. During World WarII, the Corps had no professional histori-ans on active duty as such until the Okina-wa campaign, when a major and asergeant, both historians in civilian life,were attached to the 6th Marine Divisionto attempt to capture a limited history ofthe operation. Further, when the Histori-cal Section began writing monographs onMarine campaigns in the Pacific, it veryoften found unit G-3 journals, war diaries,after action reports, and the like, lackingin the details needed to prepare a valid,well-documented history.

LtCol Heinl drew up his concept of theemployment of Marine military historiansin the field in wartime, together with aproposed table of organization, andmanaged to obtain the approval both ofthe Commandant, Gen Clifton B. Cates,and the appropriate Headquarters MarineCorps staff sections in 1949. Personnelrecords were culled to identify and preparea list of professional historians who were

members of the Marine Corps Reserve. Dr.Gordon Craig, an eminent historian whohad served as a Marine officer in WorldWar II and who, while at PrincetonUniversity, chaired the committee whichsupervised the writing of Isley and Crowl'sclassic The US. Marine Corps and Am-phibious Operations, was selected to headthe Marine Corps historical program inwartime. While this mobilization planprovided for wartime exigencies, andguaranteed a quality historical collectioneffort by professional historians, it also hadthe effect of relieving the regular Marinesin the Historical Section to permit themto go to war in their specialties rather thanas historians.

A table of organization for a Provision-al Historical Platoon, FMF (T/O

K-4911) was approved and published on7 August 1950. It indicated that this type

May EdwardL. Katzenbach, Jr., left, Com-manding Officer 1st Provisional Histori-ca/Platoon, stands with his assistant, 2dLtBenis M. Frank, at Pearl Harbor in 1951.

17

of unit would be activated in wartime only.The platoon consisted of a platoon head-quarters, headed by a major, with an en-listed clerk typist, and two field combathistorical teams, each consisting of a majoras officer in charge and a captain combathistorical officer. Each team would alsohave three enlisted Marines — a staff ser-geant (combat historian), a sergeant(stenographer), and a corporal (clerktypist).

LtCol Heinl was relieved as head of thehistorical section at headquarters in 1949by LtCol Gordon D. Gayle, who had beenwith the 1st Marine Division from beforethe war to 1944, when he commanded the2d Battalion, 5th Marines in the Peleliulanding. It was in this operation that heearned the Navy Cross. LtCol Gayle head-ed the Historical Section until 1951, dur-ing which time the United States went towar with North Korea and the 1st Provi-sional Historical Platoon was activated.

A s he recalled in his oral historymemoirs, the Historical Section "was

called upon to answer the question, 'Howwould you organize yourself to capture thehistory of the next war more effectivelythan we captured the history of World WarII?' And we addressed both the questionsof the kinds of records that should be keptand the amount of staffing that would beneeded to keep them, and the creation ofa unit to, in effect, set down a current jour-nal, a current record more comprehensive-ly and more effectively than had beendone in World War II. I was very consciousof the fact, for instance, that in my ownunit in World War II, the 2d Battalion, 5thMarines, our records had been very sketchyand I can tell you exactly why they werevery sketchy. We weren't staffed to do it,we didn't operate under conditions whichpermitted us to do it anc we were con-cerned with the fighting and we weren'tconcerned with recording what we weredoing. In my case we had only recordedthings during periods of inactivity ratherthan recording the important things dur-ing the periods of great activity. So, it wasagainst this background of dissatisfactionwith our own records of World War II thatthe concept of setting up a separate unit

to provide the means for capturing at leastsome of the history, operational history, asit occurred that we proposed this in themobilization plans and got it approved."

Within a short time after publication ofthe platoon's Tb, orders to active dutywent out to the Reserve historians whowere to man the new unit. Maj Edward L.Katzenbach, who had commanded the4th Marine Division's ReconnaissanceCompany in the Kwajalein Operation, wasdesignated the platoon commander. Hisheadquarters was to be located at Head-quarters, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, atPearl Harbor. The two combat historicalteams were to be attached on temporaryadditional duty status to the 1st MarineDivision and the 1st Marine AircraftWing, which essentially meant that theywere not in the chain of command ofeither the wing or the division. This wasto cause great problems for both teamsalmost immediately (which will be dis-cussed shortly).

H eading the wing team was Capt San-ford W. Higginbotham, in civilian

life a history professor at Rice Universityand a World War II veteran. Assigned tohim was Capt James L. Kiernan, Jr. Thedivision team was headed by Capt Ken-neth A. Shutts, who had been the enlist-ed historian with the 6th Marine Divisionat Okinawa. His assistant was lstLt AlvinZ. Freeman, who just recenty retired fromthe history faculty of the College of Wil-liam and Mary (and who now is a directoron the board of the Marine Corps Histor-ical Foundation).

In mid-December 1950, 2dLt Benis M.Frank, who had been a graduate studentat Clark University, reported in at FMFPacfor duty with the platoon. At that timeMaj Katzenbach was in Korea visiting thehistorical teams, and so Lt Frank was keptat Pearl as Katzenbach's assistant until thefollowing September, when he was or-dered to Basic School. While with the pla-toon, Frank prepared the monthly FMFPacwar diary, conducted several interviewswith wounded Marines as they passedthrough the Army's Triplet Hospital, andalso did some research for the FMFPac G-2Division.

The mission of the platoon itself wasthreefold: 1) Assist in the preparation ofhistorical diaries and special action reports;2) Preserve and forward historical docu-ments to Headquarters Marine Corps; and

3) Supplement these documents by inter-view and personal observations.

As Maj Higginbotham noted in a reporthe prepared on the platoon in January1952 (he had relieved Maj Katzenbach asplatoon commander in 1951), the unitnever fulfilled the mission for which it hadbeen organized. The first two missionswere already being carried out by themajor Marine commands in Korea; as forthe third mission, the historians were justnot militarily professional enough to per-form this mission meaningfully.

T wo basic problems arose almost assoon as the platoon was activated and

its personnel ordered to the field. First, be-cause the teams were sent to the wing anddivision on TAD orders, and since they be-longed to neither the division nor thewing, they were looked upon as potentialHQMC spies or inspectors general for ahigher echelon. And second, because oftheir status as orphans (they really had no"poppa," so to speak), in most instancesthey were unable to obtain the logisticsupport an organic unit of the division orthe wing would normally get. As a result,the teams were very often unable to req-uisition supplies, much less the transpor-tation they needed to visit various divisionor wing units. Despite the fact that theteams had no tape recorders, theymanaged to conduct a small number ofmeaningful interviews by writing downboth questions and answers, and prepar-ing a typed transcript later.

In his January 1952 comments andrecommendations concerning the platoon,Maj Higginbotham noted that, as provenby the experiences of the teams in Korea,formal historical training was less essentialthan had orginally been supposed, andthat it was far more necessary for the pla-toon members to have a military back-ground. Consequently, a number ofregular Marine officers were ordered toduty with the platoon after a period of in-doctrination by the Historical Branch atHeadquarters Marine Corps. Most of theseofficers reported to the platoon by the be-ginning of October 1951, and by Novem-ber had replaced all but one of the Reserveofficers in the unit. Even with these profes-sionals manning the teams in the field,the division and the wing were unhappywith the platoon for the reasons givenearlier and they stated that they had nouse for its services in that they had per.

18

sonnel organic to their commands per-forming the jobs that the historians woulddo. In the end, Maj Higginbotham recom-mended that the 1st Provisional Histori-cal Platoon be disbanded, and billets forhistorians as special staff be established onforce, division, wing, and corps levels, andthat a description of these billets be placedin the Staff Manual.

The 1st Provisional Historical Platoonwas disbanded on 25 July 1952, by orderof the Commanding General, Fleet Ma-rine Force, Pacific, as directed by theCommandant. The platoon headquarterswas absorbed by FMFPac's H&S Battalion,while the teams with the wing and the di-vision were transferred to the 1st MarineDivision. For the rest of the Korean War,the division and the wing both managedtheir own historical programs, each witha special staff section comprised of oneofficer and four or five enlisted Marines.The sections restricted themselves prettymuch to the preparation of basic histori-cal documents required by the StaffManual. They also served as the forward-ing agencies for the reports of subordinateunits and for other records and papersperiodically collected and sent to Head-quarters Marine Corps via FMFPac.

M eanwhile, the Historical Branch atHeadquarters continued to seek out

civilian historians who were eligible forReserve commissions, reservists who wereprofessional historians, and regular officerswho had a flair for history, and prepareda list of potential combat historians itcould call upon in the future.

In a study in 1957 by then-Maj Verle E.Ludwig, a member of the HistoricalBranch who had been a 1st Marine Divi-sion historical officer, it was recommend-ed that wartime T/Os provide for specialstaff historical sections which would be oc-cupied initially by experienced regularofficers dispatched from the HistoricalBranch. He recognized a problem here,that no regular officer wanted to be sentto a historical billet when a war began, butprovided no answer to the quandary.

If nothing else, the lessons learned dur-ing the short life of the 1st ProvisionalHistorical Platoon established a pattern fora field combat history program which wasto be reshaped to serve the needs of theMarine Corps historical effort in futureyears. E11775L11

Panama Scene(Continued from page 24)

.45-caliber Gatling gun, a 37mm (one-pounder) Hotchkiss revolving cannon, anda Dahigren brass small-boat howitzer, allmanned by Marines and sailors. Arrivingat Matachin station two hours later, a con-tingent of 90 Marines from the PensacolaNavy Yard disembarked with their Gatlinggun to guard this stretch of the rail line,the station, and a nearby bridge.

Go! Waterhouse's painting capturesthat moment in the expedition, with

Marines and sailors mingling with the vil-lagers in a festive spirit while Maj Heywoodconfers with two of his subordinates, CaptRobert L. Meade, USMC, and Capt Hen-ry Clay Cochrane, USMC, beside one ofthe armored cars.

In keeping with past efforts in this ser-ies, a number of interesting small detailswere found during the research and finallyincorporated into the painting. These in-cluded the use of practical canvas leggingsby the sailors (the Marine Corps quicklyadopted them after the campaign), thedistinctive grips of the Merwin and Hurl-but revolvers carried by the sailors, the Ma-rines' white haversacks, and the twoMcKeever cartridge boxes carried by Ma-rines in field service. Above all was an op-portunity to include a then-innovativemode of defensive transport: the armoredcats.

Fortunately, an excellent account of thedesign and construction of these cars wasavailable in a report by their builder, LtKimball, to Cdr McCalIa. The report wasincluded in McCalla's summary of thecampaign, which provided the researchteam the bulk of the material on whichthe painting is based.

R eports by other subordinate officersand later published memoirs also

were consulted by the team, as were thepapers of Col Henry Clay Cochrane in theMuseum's Personal Papers Collection.Cochrane's papers and diaries are treasuredby students of 19th century Marine Corpshistory, in part because they were so wellorganized by the methodical Cochrane.

In addition, the team studied the flora,fauna, architecture, and costumes of theregion to further ensure the accuracy of thefinished painting.

The staff of the Transportation Depart-

ment of the Smithsonian Institution's Na-tional Museum of American History washelpful in providing photographs of theengines and rolling stock used by thePanama Railway Company in the 1880s.Also of assistance was the staff of the NavalHistorical Center, in locating and provid-ing obscure source materials for theresearch team.

Artifacts from the Museum's collections,as well as some others borrowed from pri-

vate collectors, were sent to the artist's stu-dio, along with photographs of Marinesassigned to Museums Branch Activities,Quantico, modelling uniforms and equip-ment in various poses desired by the artist.

The completed painting now hangs inthe Commandants of the Marine CorpsCorridor at the Pentagon, where its brightcolors contrast vividly with the darker huesof many of the other artworks on display.

Eli 775 El]

Among sources consultedfor the content of the painting was this engraving from Harp-er's Magazine of 1885. The illustration appears in Peter Karsten 's The Naval Aristocra-cy, described as US. sailors and Marines guarding the American-ownedPanama R.R. Co.

Historical Quiz

Marines in Europeby Lena M. KaIjot

Reference Historian

Identify the following Marines, organizations, dates, or events:

1. The first U.S. Marine guard was stationed in France, in 1878, for what occasion?2. Marines were provided for this unusual mission to France during 1905.3. Identify the two Marine infantry brigades that served in Europe during World War I.4. This Marine pilot and his gunner became the first aviation Medal of Honor recipients.5. During World War II, Marines were sent to Europe to serve with this forerunner of

the CIA.6. In 1941, this future Commandant, then a captain, was assigned as a special naval

observer in [nndon to observe British commando training in Scotland.7. Marines from this command in Northern Ireland participated in the North African

landings in November 1942.8. In what year did Marine detachments organize a landing party in the harbor of Mar-

seilles to accept the surrender of German forces and to disarm the garrisons?9. During February and March 1966, Marines participated in their first joint exercise

in what northern European country?10. In what country did the U.S. Marine Band perform its first overseas concert?

(Answers on page 21)

19

Extracts of Corps' 1988 Chronologyby Ann A. FerranteReference Historian

T o outline significant events and datesin contemporary Marine Corps his-

tory, the Reference Section has been com-piling ongoing, current Marine Corpschronologies since 1982. Complete eachFebruary, the chronologies have grownfrom 85 entries in 1982 to over 135 entriesin 1988.

To compile the current chronology ofthe Marine Corps, numerous primary andsecondary sources, consisting of literallyhundreds of pages, are researched eachweek. As discussed in the Spring-Summer1988 issue of Fortitudine, primary sourcesinclude annual summaries of activities forHeadquarters, U.S. Marine Corps; unitcommand chronologies; operational sum-maries; and message traffic. Secondarysources are also reviewed for items of in-terest. They include a wide variety of pressreleases, newspapers, magazines, andjournals.

Below are selected entries from the 1988Marine Corps Chronology:

27Jan—About 400 Marines and sailors from the 2dMarine Division, 2d Marine Aircraft Wing, and 2dForce Service Support Group deployed for the war-torn Persian Gulf. The Contingency Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) CM 2-88, commandedby Col William M. Rakow, Jr., would relieve a simi-lar though larger (700-man) Contingency MAGTF,CM 1-88, commanded by Col Frank Libutti. Use ofthe contingency MAGTFs would provide a small buteffective landing force capability tojoint Task ForceMiddle East without drawing down on the Marineamphibious units routinely deployed to the Mediter-ranean and Middle East.5 Feb—The Marine Corps changed the designationsof Marine Air-Ground Task Forces that constitute itsfighting formations. The word "amphibious" was re-placed by "expeditionary." Marine Amphibious Units,Marine Amphibious Brigades, and Marine Amphibi-ous Forces—the trademarks of the Corps for over 20years—were redesignated as Marine ExpeditionaryUnits, Marine Expeditionary Brigades, and MarineExpeditionary Forces. The new term signified thatthe Marine Corps would not be limited to amphibi-ous operations but rather be capable of a wide spec-trum of deployment and employment options.15 Feb—The first recruits to undergo the most ex-tensive change in basic training in many years be-gan Basic Warrior Training at Marine Corps RecruitDepot, Parris Island, South Carolina. Basic WarriorTraining, a program to improve individual skills andsurvivability in combat, incorporated additionalweapons training. The Commandanc of the MarineCorps, Gen Alfred M. Gray, visited Parris Island on

18 February to observe the first series of recruits togo through the training.17 Feb—LtCol William R. Higgins, assigned to theUnited Nations Truce Supervision Organization(UNTSO) was abducted by pro-Iranian terroristswhile traveling on the Lebanese coastal highway nearthe southern port city of Tyre. He headed one of threeUNTSO detachments in the region responsible formonitoring the border between Israel and Lebanon.UNTSO is a multi-national peacekeeping organiza-tion comprised of unarmed military observers which,since its formation in 1948, has been responsible forsupervising armistice agreements among Israel andneighboring Arab countries.26 Feb-11 Mar—Marines of the 7th Marine Expedi-tionary Brigade (MEB) participated in FEX 1-88 atTwentynine Palms, California, the largest field exercisc ever conducted by the 7th MEB and among thebiggest force-on-force exercises in recent memory. Theexercise pitted the 7th MEB against the 3d Brigade,7th U.S. Infantry Division (Light) and involved morethan 7,700 Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corpspersonnel. It was designed to test the combat powerof the MEB in a desert environment.Mar—Three Marines were named as crew membersfor NASA shuttle missions to fly in 1989. Col JamesE Buchli and Col Robert C. Springer were assignedas mission specialists on shuttle mission STS-29,scheduled for launch 19 January 1989. The primarymission objective would be to deploy a third track-ing and data relay satellite. Col Charles E Boldenwas designated the pilot for STS-31, which would fea-ture deployment of the Hubble space telescope, tar-geted for launch 1 June 1989.1-22 Apr—More than 40,000 U.S. military person-nel participated in Exercise Ocean Vendture 88 con-ducted on U.S. beaches, the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf

20

of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. The exercise wasdesigned to demonstrate U.S. capability to protectnational interest by supporting friendly neighborsin the Caribbean. Approximately 5,400 Marines fromthe 6th Marine Expeditionary Bridge and the 28thMarine Expeditionary Unit participated in the exer-cise. On 12 April, one Marine was injured during theoffloading of a maritime prepositioning ship and diedlater that day.18 Apr—Acting on evidence that Iran had laid themine that damaged the USS Samuel B. Roberts inthe Persian Gulf, the U.S. retaliated with attacks ontwo Iranian oil platforms that had been used to helpdirect attacks on civilian shipping. Iranian counterat-tacks against civilian and military targets led to wide-ranging engagements in the gulf that resulted inheavy losses for the Iranian Navy. One Marine Corpshelicopter from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squa-dron 167 disappeared while on a reconnaissance flightfrom the guided missile frigate USS lVainwright.1 May —As of this date, traditional Inspector Generalof the Marine Corps (IGMC) were no longer conduct-ed. The responsibility for the new inspection processshifted from Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps tomajor subordinate commanders. Each commanderwould be responsible for designing and conductinga biannual Command Inspection Program (CIP). TheIGMC would provide guidelines to maintain Corps-wide inspection standardization and it would evaluatethe effectiveness of the individual CIP every threeyears through visits and the analysis of the commandinspection reports.5 May—The late Gen Keith B. McCutcheon wasrecognized in the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor atthe Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida,along with four other former naval officers and acivilian engineer. Gen McCutcheon flew combat mis-

Two Iranian oil platforms were attacked by Marines in April 1988, in retaliation fordamage to the USS Samuel B. Roberts from a mine laid by Iran in the Persian Gulf

LtCoI David C. Hilmers, USMC.

sions in World War II and Korea and commandedthe 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and III Marine Am-phibious Force in Vietnam. He recognized the poten-tial of rotary wing aircraft and became a strongadvocate for helicopters and oversaw their introduc-tion and proliferation throughout the Marine Corps.

23 May—The V-22 Osprey, the world's first produc-tion tilt-rotor aircraft, made its debut during rolloutceremonies at Bell Helicopter Textron's Arlington,Texas, facility. More than 1,000 representatives fromthe industry, military, and media gathered at Bell'sFlight Research Center to hear guest of honor Mr. JimWright, Speaker of the House of Representatives, andGen Alfred M. Gray, Commandant of the MarineCorps, praise the versatile rotorcraft designed fromthe ground up to meet the needs of all four serviceson 21st century battlefields. The Osprey is scheduledfor delivery to the Corps beginning in late 1991.

Jul — Marshal Sergei F. Akhromeyev, Chief of theGeneral Staff of the Soviet Union, and senior mili-tary leaders on his staff toured Marine Corps instal-

lations as part of a Joint Chiefs of Staff-sponsoredvisit to promote better understanding between thearmed forces of the Soviet Union and the UnitedStates. The Soviet officials visited Camp Lejeune,North Carolina, where they watched a demonstra-tion of a Marine air-ground task force operation. Theyalso observed training and professional education atMarine Corps Development Command, Quantico.4Ju1—Approximately 8,000 U.S. and Thai troops,including Marines from the 15th Marine Expedition-ary Unit, participated in Exercise Cobra Gold 88, anannual training exercise in and around the Gulf ofThailand. The exercise was designed to strengthenthe ability of the Royal Thai armed forces to defendtheir country. It also demonstrated the U.S. abilityto rapidly deploy its forces in the defense of an ally.

10 Sep — On this date, an order came from PresidentReagan that Marine units from Camp Pendleton wereto deploy to Yellowstone National Park to help bol-ster tired firefighters who had been battling the mas-sive blaze all summer. In all, some 1,200 Marinesfrom 1st and 3d Battalions of the 5th Marines, thecommand element of the 5th Marines, along withCombat Service Support Detachment 12 of the 1stForce Service Support Group made up Marine AirGround Task Force 5. The task force joined approxi-mately 6,500 other Army and civilian firefighters al-ready at Yellowstone.

18 Sep-11 Oct—Marines of the 5th Marine Expedi-tionary Brigade joined Italian and Turkish troops forExercise Display Determination 88 in the Mediter-ranean. The exercise resolved to reinforce NA'IO'sSouthern Region in time of crisis or war and meetNATO commitments to defend the region from ex-ternal aggression. The exercise marked the first timethe Corps included its newest combat vehicle, theLAy, in a six-month forward deployment.

29 Sep—The space shuttle Discovery raced into or-bit carrrying five experienced astronauts, among themLtCol David C. Hilmers, USMC. The first shuttlemission since the Challenger's explosion on 28Janu-ary 1986, the Discovery carried the nation's hopes forrenewing its space program. The successful four-day

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Then-LtGen Keith B. McCutcheon.mission included the release of a $100 million satel-lite that will be a critical link in a communicationsnetwork for orbiting shuttles and other spacecraft.10 Nov—Amongst many other Marine Corps Birth-day celebrations and ceremonies, the new Comman-dants of the Marine Corps Corridor in the Pentagonwas dedicated. The Commandant, Gen Alfred M.Gray, and the Secretary of the Navy, William L. Ball,presided at the ribbon-cutting. The art in the cor-ridor traced the history of the Corps with portraitsof 27 of the 29 Commandants interspersed with artportraying historical events of the period of eachCommandant.17 Dec—Six Soviet military museum curators visitedthe Marine Corps Historical Center, Washington,D.C. The exchange of military museum officials waspart of a two-year program of U.S.-Soviet MilitaryContact activities agreed to in July 1988 by the Chair-man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm William J.Crowe, Jr., and Marshal of the USSR Sergei F Ak-hromeyev. A reciprocal visit was scheduled for early1989. U1775LJ

Answers to Historical Quiz

Marines in Europe

(Questions on page 19)

1. During that year, Marines were called upon to protect Ameri-can exhibits at the Universal Exposition of Paris.

2. Marines arrived in France during June 1905 to escort the bodyof John Paul Jones back to his final resting place within the NavalAcademy at Annapolis.

3. The 4th Brigade was formed from the 5th and 6th Regimentsand the 6th Machine Gun Battalion in October 1917, and the FifthBrigade, organized in September 1918, was composed of the 11thand 13th Regiments and the 5th Brigade Machine Gun Battalion.4. 2dLt Ralph Talbot and GySgt Robert G. Robinson were award-

ed the medals for heroism in combat on the European front duringOctober 1918.

5. The OSS (Office of Strategic Services) employed Marines be-hind the lines in several enemy-occupied countries to assist in or-ganizing resistance units and coordinating delivery of arms andequipment to those regions.

6. Capt Wallace M. Greene, Jr., and then-Capt Samuel B. GriffithII, who received the same assignment, later wrote a report whichstressed the importance of learning to fight at night.

7. A small group of Marines from the Marine Barracks, London-derry, went ashore at Arzeu and assisted in the taking of three Frenchsteamers and a patrol boat.

8. During the invasion of southern France in August 1944, 730Germans were taken prisoner in these operations.

9. It was Norway; Company L, 3d Battalion, 6th Marines, was at-tached to the III Battalion, Brigade North, Norwegian Army, forExercise Winter Express.

10. During November 1985, the Royal Netherlands Marine Corpsinvited the Marine Band to perform at a joint concert in Rotterdamwith the RNMC's Marine Band on the occasion of the Royal Nether-lands Navy's 320th birthday.

T he Reference Section of the Marine Corps Historical Centerreceives many inquiries from World War II veterans con-

cerning their military service, or a particular battle or campaignin which their unit participated.

Recently, the section received a request from a member of theMarine Raider Association for information on Marines who wereofficially listed as missing in action from the Makin Island raidof August 1942. Founded to preserve the traditions and memoryof the Marine raiders of World War II, the Association seeks toaccount for all raiders who died in the war.

The Makin Island raid of 17-18 August was intended primari-ly as a diversion to force the Japanese to reroute reinforcementsintended for Guadalcanal. Commanded by LtCol Evans F. Carl-son, 222 Marines from Companies A and B of the 2d RaiderBattalion departed Pearl Harbor on 8 August on board the sub-marines Nautilus and Argonaut, and reached the Makin Atollin the Gilbert Islands on the evening of 16 August.

Following their suprise landing on Makin, the raiders hadkilled nearly every enemy soldier on the island and destroyedmany of the Japanese supply dumps and facilities. However, whenthe raiders attempted on the evening of 17 August to return tothe Nautilus and Argonaut, upon completion of their mission,they found the surf much heavier than expected, and many wereunable to maneuver their rubber boats through the rapid suc-cession of breakers to clear water. Equipment and clothes werelost. Col Carlson later noted that the hour-long attempt tonegotiate the surf "provided a struggle so intense and so futilethat it will forever remain a ghastly nightmare to those who par-ticipated." Indeed, several raiders probably drowned at this timeattempting to reach the Nautilus and Argonaut, as hardly morethan one-third of the Marines reached the two submarines. Theremaining raiders returned to shore and waited miserably in therain for dawn, and yet another attempt to reach the safety ofthe submarines. Further efforts to master the surf in the early

LtCol Evans F Car/son, USMCR, left, and MajJames Roosevelt,USMCR, son of the President, display the Japanese flag seizedby the Marine Raider Battalion in the 1942 Makin Island raid

morning hours of 18 August did prove successful as several boatsgot through to the submarines.

Five Marines volunteered to return in a rescue boat from theNautilus to the Makin shore with a line-throwing gun, and amessage to Col Carlson, that although the submarines mightbe forced to submerge temporarily, they would return to removeall raiders ashore. Tragically, Col Carlson later noted that therescue boat had hardly delivered its message when it was heavi-ly strafed by Japanese aircraft and "its crew probably killed."

Japanese planes continued to bomb and strafe Makin for muchof the day (18 August), while Carlson's raiders remained un-

der cover. After spending another day ashore on the atoll, theexhausted raiders finally managed on the evening of 18 Augustto jury-rig four of their rubber boats to a native outrigger, inwhich they were able to negotiate the tossing surf. The raiderforce reached the Nautilus and Argonaut, at the lagoon side ofMakin at 2330 and proceeded, along with the Argonaut, to PearlHarbor. Col Carison noted in his official report that the returnjourney "was without event except for the excellent surgery ofthe accompanying Navy doctors under difficult conditions."

An examination of operational reports and unit diaries fromthe 2d Raider Battalion lists 18 officer and enlisted Marines askilled in action during the 17-18 August 1942 raid on MakinIsland. These 18 Marines were all interred locally on Makin Is-land, and their bodies determined to be non-recoverable by afield board after the war. The same operational reports and unitdiaries also list 12 Marines as missing in action from the raid.

It should be kept in mind that several raiders were believedto have drowned while attempting to reach the Nautilus andArgonaut on the evening of 17 August, and five raiders werestrafed in their rubber boats (and believed killed) while attempt-ing to deliver a message and assist their comrades ashore onMakin. The official report of the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pa-cific Fleet, on the Makin Island raid, dated 20 October 1942,stated that "30 of our Marine raiders were killed in action anddrowned." It was only after the war that further light would beshed on the fate of nine raiders who, tragically, had been lefton Makin Atoll.

To this day, it is unclear how the nine Marines were left ashoreon Makin. A likely explanation may be that they were in a rub-ber boat which unsuccessfully fought the surf on 17 August anddrifted downshore. In any event, the nine Marines were capturedseveral days after the raid by Japanese reinforcements whichmounted out of a nearby island garrison on 18 and 20 August.The Japanese reported that they found 21 Marine bodies, alongwith five rubber boats, rifles, and other equipment. As Carl-son's Marine raiders accounted for 18 of their number killed inaction on Makin, it does appear that three Marines drowned,or were killed when strafed on their rubber boat. At least onenative from Makin Atoll reported after the war that the bodiesof several drowned Marines were found on the Makin beach af-ter the raiders departed. Thus, the 21 Marine bodies found bythe Japanese, along with the 9 Raiders captured alive, accountfor all 30 Marine casualties from the Makin Raid.

Who Was Left Behind on Makin?by Robert V Aquiina

Assistant Head, Reference Section

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T he nine Marines captured on Makin were taken early in Sep-tember by the Japanese to Kwajalein, and there guarded

by the 61st Garrison Unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy. In mid-October 1942, the nine Marines were executed by order of theMarshalls Island Commander, VAdm Kose Abe, IJN, after pur-portedly being advised by a visiting member of the General Staffthat he could dispose of the prisoners on the island, as it wasimpracticable to transfer them to Japan. The execution of thenine prisoners took place on 16 October 1942.

In April 1946 an American Commission convened at Guamby order of the Commander Marianas Area, to consider chargesof murder against VAdm Abe, who had ordered the executionof the nine Marine raiders. The Japanese admiral was convictedof murder and was executed on 19 June 1947 at Guam. CaptYoshio Obara, Kwajalein Island Commander, who was orderedby Abe to arrange the executions of the Marines, was sentencedto 10 years' imprisonment, and a Lt Hisakichi was sentenced tofive years in prison.

T he Reference Section, in attempting to shed light upon thefate of the Marines left behind on Makin, examined the

400-plus pages of the Record of Proceedings of the Military Com-mission convened at Guam to consider the charges against theaccused Japanese officers. Testimony taken at the trial clearly es-tablished that the nine Americans were Marines captured onMakin by Japanese forces several days after the 2d Marine Raid-er Battalion action. There is, unfortunately, no clue in the courtproceedings as to the specific identities of the nine Marines. In-deed, it was specifically stated in the specifications of the trialthat the names of the nine Marines were unknown. We do knowthat the nine came from the group of 12 raiders listed as miss-ing in action from the Makin Raid. L111775E1

Co/ Car/son, /eft, and LtCo/ Rooseve/t, right, join other MakinIs/andRaiders to recreate for the camera the p/anning with mapson board Nautilus and Argonaut which preceded the raid

Tarawa Historical DisplayEnhances 2d Division HQ

by Co/ Brooke Nihart, USMC (Ret)Deputy Director for Museums

T he 45-square-foot Tarawa diorama, a popular feature of theWorld War II hangar at Quantico's Marine Corps Air-

Ground Museum for the past five and one-half years, has beenmoved to the headquarters of the 2d Marine Division at CampLejeune.

The division recently occupied its new headquarters building,Julian C. Smith Hall, converted from the old base hospital onHospital Point. The division commander, MajGen Orb K. Steele,wanted to create a mini-museum reflecting the division's histo-ry and called upon the History and Museums Division for help.

We term these mini-museums in unit and activity headquart-ers "historical displays:' to distinguish them from the larger, moreelaborate "command museums." A command museum representsa major effort by a large base, such as the museums at the ParrisIsland or San Diego recruit depots, or those proposed by CampsPendleton and Lejeune or by air stations at El Toro and CherryPoint.

Establishing a historical display is more manageable. Itmight consist of an artillery piece or a tank in front of a

headquarters building or an aircraft at an air station main gate.In a headquarters lobby it typically might include photographs,maps, and art of unit's battles.

When MajGen Steele called the History and Museums Divi-sion we immediately offered high-quality reproductions of TomLovell's painting of the Tarawa landing from the perspective ofthe reef and Col Charles H. Waterhouse's painting of the attackinland from the seawall. BGen Edwin H. Simmons, Director ofHistory and Museums, then suggested the Tarawa diorama. Atruck arrived from 2d Division, the diorama was carefully pad-ded, and, after a gentle trip, it arrived at Camp Lejeune un-damaged.

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Longtime readers of Fortitudine will recall (Fall 1983) the ar-rival of the diorama at the Historical Center. It was created bythe 9th-grade history class at the junior high school in Gilbert,Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. The class teacher, former MarineGlen P. Frakes, had each class research and construct a dioramaof a famous battle or incident of American military history asa motivator and teaching tool. The Tarawa diorama took about5,000 hours of effort and $5,000 worth of material. Mr. Frakesand 15 of his students came to Washington on the 40th anniver-sary of the Tawara landing to present their work to the MarineCorps. Another of Gilbert Junior High School history class'sproductions, a diorama of the Defense of Wake Island, remainsin the Air-Ground Museum.

Historical displays are a relatively simple method of presentingunit history to Marines, in order to build esprit de corps by es-tablishing a sense of identity with the past which leads themto better face the challenges of present and future. E1775E

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVYHEADQUARTERS U.S. MARINE CORPS

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20380

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

Waterhouse Paints Lively, Colorful Panama Action

A new painting featuring Marinesand sailors in the Panama inter-

vention of 1885, and the third in a ser-ies of five works depicting Marines in19th century expeditions, has been com-pleted by artist-in-residence Col CharlesH. Waterhouse, USMCR. Following thetwo completed paintings devoted to thecapture of the abolitionist John Brownat Harpers Ferry in 1859 and the 1865Union assault on Fort Fisher, this paint-ing marks the midpoint of a project inwhich the fourth painting, on the cap-ture of Cuzco Wells during the Spanish-American War, has also been complet-ed, and the fifth, showing CommodorePerry's return from Shun Castle, Okina-wa, in 1845, is expected to be complet-ed this year.

Although largely forgotten in recenttimes and overshadowed by more wellknown naval expeditions, the 1885 Pana-ma intervention is nonetheless a classicexample of the use of a "force in readi-ness," due to the speed with which it wasmounted, the innovations in tacticaltransport, and the methodical militaryprofessionalism which terminated arevolution. This U.S. show-of-forcepresaged many such interventions in theCaribbean and Central America whichexcept for some minor improvements inequipage seem to have had no major im-pact on the Marine Corps.

by Kenneth L. Smith- ChristmasCurator of Material History

road "whistlestop" midway across thePanamanian isthmus. Maj (later Com-mandant) Charles L. Heywood's battal-ion, the first of two contingents dis-patched from New York, halts to estab-lish a post in the village before pushingon to Panama City on the Pacific coast.The Marines are part of a naval force un-der Cdr Bowman H. McCalla which sail-ed on 3 April 1885, having as its mis-sion the protection of American livesand property during a revolution whichhad broken out a week-and-a-halfearlier.

Panama, at that time a province ofColombia, was an international focalpoint due to the interest in the comple-tion of a canal. Landing at the Caribbe-an port of Aspinwall (now Colon) on 11April, Heywood's Marines boarded twotrains bound for the other coast at 2p.m. Each engine was preceded by an in-genious armored car, designed by Lt W.W. Kimball, USN, and built in the en-gine repair shops of the Panama Rail-road Company. The cars were armoredwith boilerplate and each mounted a

(Continued on page 19)

BULK RATE

POSTAGE AND FEES PAID

USMC

PERMIT NO. G-63

At right, May Charles L. Heywood confers with Capts Meade and Cochrane, asMarines and sailors mingle with the villagers of Matachin along the Panama rail-way in April 1885. The innovative armored car and artillery piece are featured

T he scene of the painting is thesmall village of Matachin, a rail-

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