Revisiting America’s First Marines

By Edward T. Nevgloski, Ph.D.

MajGen John A. Lejeune, 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps, issued Marine Corps Order No. 47, which effectively established Nov. 10, 1775, as the birthday of the Corps.

Background

It wasn’t until 1921 that the Marine Corps acknowledged Nov. 10, 1775, as the date of its official formation. Previously, it recognized July 11, 1798, as its founding date. Why the change? Part of the answer lay in Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton M. Hoyler’s November 1950 Marine Corps Gazette article “The Legal Status of the Marine Corps” in which he discusses the legal distinction between the Continental Marines and the U.S. Marine Corps. The other part can be found in a memorandum to Major General Commandant John A. Lejeune from the officer in charge of the Historical Section at Headquarters Marine Corps.

In his memorandum dated Oct. 21, 1921, Major Edwin N. McClellan suggested that Lejeune declare Nov. 10, 1775, as the Marine Corps’ official anniversary. One can only speculate why McClellan sug­gested this date. It perhaps had to do with the country’s demobilization following World War I and Lejeune’s annual budget testimony before Congress in 1921. It is possible Lejeune rationalized using the Marine Corps’ role in America’s fight for independence some 146 years earlier as patriotic leverage to secure funding for the Marine Corps and its expanding mis­sion and, quite possibly, to save it from ex­tinction. Regardless of the reason, Lejeune issued Marine Corps Order No. 47 on Nov. 1, 1921, sum­marizing the serv­ice’s history, mission and traditions. More importantly, the proclamation was to be read aloud to Marines each subsequent year on Nov. 10 as a means for renewing their faith and pride in the Marine Corps.

Why 1775? If Lejeune intended to associate the Marine Corps’ reason for existence with America’s victory in its quest for freedom and independence, then 1775 certainly makes good sense. If he intended to capture the Marine Corps’ most complete record of service, however, a better appreciation for the historiography of Marine Corps history suggests Lejeune could have— and probably should have—gone beyond 1775. Had he done so, he would have found that William Gooch and his American Regiment (in service from 1740 to 1742), or “Gooch’s Marines” as they came to be known, are arguably the nation’s first leathernecks.

Counting Gooch’s Marines in the chronicles of official U.S. Marine Corps history is neither a new nor an original idea. In fact, several of the Marine Corps’ most respected historians, including Edwin McClellan, recognize Gooch’s Marines. In 1903, Marine Corps historian Major Richard S. Collum offered in “History of the United States Marine Corps” that “the first authentic record of Marines in America bears the date of 1740.” John W. Leonard and Marine Major Fred F. Chitty emphasized in their 1919 “The Story of the United States Marines, 1740–1919” that “if one could go back to Colonial times, it would be found that three regiments of American Marines were organized for service with the British Navy on this side of the Atlantic.” More recently, Colonel Robert D. Heinl contends in his 1962 “Soldiers of the Sea: The U.S. Marine Corps, 1775-1962” that the “first American Marines were four battalions raised in 1740 to fight in the War of the Austrian Succession.” In 1974, the Director of the Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons, when describing England’s use of Marines during the colonial period recalled how “several regiments of American Marines” helped Britain fight its wars in North America, and that George Washington’s own half-brother Lawrence “served in Gooch’s Regiment of Marines at Cartagena in 1740.” In 1975, Charles R. Smith acknowledged Gooch’s Marines in the Marine Corps’ official bicentennial definitive history “Marines in the Revolution: A History of the Continental Marines in the American Revolution, 1775-1783.” Finally, academic instructors at recruit training on Parris Island and at San Diego as well as at the Officer Candidates School in Quantico acknowledged Gooch’s Marines in their Marine Corps history curriculums until the early 1990s. Upon recent inspection, Gooch’s Marines are no longer included in any entry-level instruction. This is likely the reason the Marine Corps today does not recognize Gooch’s Marines but leaves the question of the preceding two centuries unanswered. Why the Marine Corps’ lack of recognition of Gooch’s Marines? Before attempting to answer this question, it is necessary to first assess what we know about Gooch’s Marines.

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MajGen John A. Lejeune

Colonel William Gooch and the 43rd Regiment of Foot

Who were Gooch’s Marines? What we know from British and early American archival holdings is that they came into existence during Britain’s decade-long feud with Spain over access to trade markets in the West Indies and Caribbean. After the purported severing of British Navy Captain Robert Jenkins’ ear by Spanish sailors searching his ship for trade contraband in 1731, unenforced trade treaties and minor retaliatory acts between the two great sea powers forced Britain’s King George II to order military action against Spain’s Caribbean and northern Latin American possessions. One target of interest was the prized Spanish coastal fort at Cartagena in present-day Columbia. According to Marine Corps historian Joel D. Thacker, among the reasons for attack­ing Cartagena was to “make good use of the American colonies in the conflict” and for the British Navy to rejuvenate “its Marine regiments which had been allowed to fall into disuse.”

On April 25, 1740, the British Parlia­ment dispatched King George II’s signed orders “for Alexander Spottswood, Esqr., to be a Colonel of a Regt. of Foot to be raised in America for His Majesty’s serv­ice, to consist of 30 Companys.” Virginia’s royal governor at the time, King George II, advanced Spotswood to major general and made him responsible for coordinating with fellow colonial gov­ernors in organizing, recruiting, and training three colonial regiments for service alongside six British Marine regiments assigned to Admiral Edward Vernon’s fleet. Given the primary military objectives of his expedition against Spain and potential other European adversaries, Admiral Vernon wrote to the Duke of New Castle that he wanted more than just three colonial regiments of infantry. In his letter, Vernon pondered “If we should come to a general war with France as well as Spain, I believe Your Grace will have already perceived the necessity there may be of converting most of our marching regiments into Marines.”

Before raising his regiment, Spotswood suffered a heart attack and died on June 7, 1740. Command of the colonial effort shifted to Spotswood’s lieutenant governor, Colonel Gooch, who inherited mostly debtors, criminals, and vagrants in his Virginia ranks. His fellow governors provided much the same in way of soldiers and seaman. According to McClellan, aside from his four Virginia companies, Gooch raised five companies from Massachusetts; two companies from Rhode Island; two companies from Connecticut; five New York companies; three companies from New Jersey; eight companies from Pennsylvania; three Maryland companies; and from North Carolina, four companies of colonists serve in the role of Marines.

After forming the regiment and pro­viding it very modest training, British Parliament recognized the regiment of­ficially as the 61st Regiment of Foot. Wearing their signature “camlet coats, brown linen waistcoats, and canvas trousers” Gooch’s Marines of “probably from three to four thousand strong” de­parted from ports in New York, Pennsyl­vania, and Virginia on board eight trans­ports for staging off Kingston, Jamaica, in the fall of 1740. Admiral Vernon sailed for the West Indies piecemeal with ele­ments of his fleet departing from various locations in Britain and North American and at staggered times. After two months of limited training, Gooch’s Marines arrived off Jamaica sometime in December and joined Vernon off Hispaniola on Feb. 25, 1741, but in nowhere near the strength and capacity expected. British Marine historian Colonel Cyril Field in his “Britain’s Sea-Soldiers: History of the Royal Marines” lists unsanitary con­ditions, the poor quality of food and water, scurvy and heat for much of this. Reduced to half its original strength and distributed across 16 of Vernon’s ships as he sailed south for Cartagena were 1,381 American Marines (officers and enlisted), of which many were now replacement for the ships’ sick and dead crews.
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An illustration by Luis Fernández Gordillo shows the engagement during the Battle of Cartagena de Indias, 1741.

Cartagena and Cuba

Aside from the scant details provided in both British and early American archives, much of what we know about the assault on Cartagena comes from the journal of Scottish poet and author Tobias Smollett, who at the time was a surgeon’s assistant in Vernon’s fleet. Smollett’s journal entries became popular short-stories later and proved to be one of a very few existing firsthand accounts of the expedition.

Arriving off Cartagena on March 4, 1741, Admiral Vernon’s council of war recommended he proceed with the assault. To get to Cartagena, the fleet had to first pass through the small passage at Boca Chica, which the Spanish defended from three sides. Shelling of the fort’s sur­round­ing outer defenses at St. Jago, St. Philip, and Chamba began on the morning of March 9. After besieging the fort for more than a week, Colonel Gooch landed with a company of Marines (roughly 200) under Captain Washington in the early morning of March 19 at Barradera and “spiked the Spanish guns of the fascine battery” there. Once complete, Washing­ton’s Marines “stormed and carried on the 25th of March Boca Chica Castle (Fort St. Louis).” During the raid, Gooch sus­tained wounds to both legs from Spanish cannon and musket fire. Washington’s company re­mained ashore the next two weeks. On April 5, Vernon sent British Marines ashore to seize the castle con­trolling Cartagena’s inner harbor. Gooch’s Marines “covered the flank of the main attacking column deployed as skirmishers in the jungle” according to historian Lee Offen. Upon taking control of the castle, both British and American Marines returned to their ships late in the same day. Vernon’s fleet entered the harbor without issue. The main portion of the fortress and town at Fort St. Lazar was now vulnerable to British naval bombardment.

After meeting with his war council, Vernon set April 16 as the date to land the British and American Marines in preparation for an assault at Fort St. Lazar and the main side of its defenses on April 20. Vernon and his land commander, British General Thomas Wentworth, debated the fleet’s exposure to Spanish can­non fire during a pre-landing naval bombardment. Unfortunately, Wentworth could not lessen Vernon’s apprehensions and executed the assault without a pre-landing bombardment.

The attack failed. Gooch’s Marines, many of whom carried grenades and ladders for the British Marines to scale the forts’ heavily manned walls, took the brunt of the Spanish cannon and musket fire. Helpless to return fire, many dropped the ladders to find cover or to pick up muskets to return fire on the defenders. Smollett credits the American Marines for their heroism throughout. “Nor could the scaling ladders, wool-packs, or hand-granades, be of any service in this emer­gen­cy; for the Americans, who carried them in the rear, seeing the troops falling by whole platoons, refused to advance with their burdens; but though they would not advance as pioneers, many of them took up the firelocks which they found on the field, and, mixing among the troops, behaved very bravely.”

With no hope in overtaking the Spanish defenses and with losses mounting due to casualties and from lingering sickness, the war council recommended Vernon abandon the plan to take Cartagena. Vernon agreed and sailed for Jamaica on April 25. The costs were 39 of Gooch’s Marines killed in action and another 67 wounded. Combined with those overcome by disease and fatigue, Gooch commanded considerably less than half the number of Marines than when he departed North America.

In late June, Vernon’s fleet reassembled off Jamaica where the war council discussed and recommended a follow-on action to seize the Spanish territory on Santiago de Cuba, present-day Cuba. Colonel Gooch, still recovering from the wounds he received at Cartagena, departed Jamaica for Virginia. His ex­ecutive officer, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Cope, took command of the remaining four understrength American Marine battalions. In mid-August, Vernon landed his remaining Marines on the east end of the island opposite Port Santiago, known today as Guantanamo Bay. From there they established a base of operations before pushing west to gain control of as much of the island as possible. The same heat, humidity, and tropical illnesses plaguing the expedition from the start, however, brought the operation to a stand-still. The only action on record was minor fighting at Catalina Village between Spanish forces and two American Marine companies. In late November, Vernon back-loaded his disheveled force and sailed for Jamaica, where he sent some 50 American Marines ashore to help build two hasty forts: Frederick and George.

In March 1742, Vernon left Jamaica to attack Spanish forces in Panama, but sickness and fatigue forced the fleet back to Jamaica in May. While transiting to Jamaica, Lieutenant Colonel Cope grew ill and died on July 12. The remaining American Marines garrisoned at their Jamaican forts until General Wentworth disbanded the regiment on Oct. 24, 1742. The Marines quietly returned to their American colonies over the next several months, bringing an end to Gooch’s Marines.

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An ink drawing by Arman Manookian entitled “William Gooch’s American Marines” depicts the attack on Fort San Lazaro at Cartagena in 1741.

Questions Remain

Two questions worthy of further in­vestigation and debate are whether Gooch’s Marines were American, as opposed to British, and whether the reg­iment was a Marine organization in both function and name, as opposed to soldiers serving as Marines. As to the 61st Regiment of Foot being by function, task, and name Marine, Richard Collum does not make any particular distinctions. Edwin McClellan, however, offers in “The American Marines of 1740 to 1742” published by Marine Corps Gazette in December 1929, that whether one is a soldier or a Marine “depends upon the character of duty such soldier performs and not upon whether he is actually called Marine.” To that end, McClellan suggests historians “accept the statements of all the British Marines’ historians that they were real Marines.”

As for whether the Marine Corps today should consider the 61st Regiment of Foot as being British Marines or a distinctly autonomous American Marine regiment, this is more a philosophical argument, if nothing else. Historically, the colonies were British, and the colonists therefore were British subjects. The colonists viewed themselves as British initially. In fact, many remained loyal to King George III and the British Parliament during and after the War of Independence. The grow­ing ethnic dissimilarities between col­onists and the average British citizen due in part to the tyranny of distance, environ­mental challenges, and experiences con­tributed to the development of a separate colonial identity, independence, and life free of British rule. By 1740, an increasing num­ber of Irish, Scottish, Dutch and French immigrants reduced Britain cul­tural monopoly and gave rise to authentic American ideals. Within the historiogra­phy of Marine Corps history, McClellan’s position that “Gooch’s Marines were part of the British Marines’ organization” does little to support the claim that 61st Reg­iment of Foot was distinctly American. Nor does Leonard and Chitty’s declaration that Gooch’s Marines existed “before the Colonies had acquired any desire to be separated from British citizenship or allegiance.” In 1775, however, the 13 Ameri­can colonies and the hundreds of colonists who fought as Continental Marines during the American War of Independence were as well, yet Com­man­dant Lejeune chose to identify them as Americans in Marine Corps Order No. 47. Perhaps the best litmus test might come from the British themselves and the justi­fication for raising an American-specific regiment for the expedition against Spain was, as Leonard and Chitty recalled, because “native Americans were better calculated in the service for this climate than the Europeans.” Add that the British Parliament did not require Admiral Vernon and General Wentworth to furnish Gooch’s Marines with water, food, uni­forms, and weapons and ammunition be­cause they were American and this was a colonial responsibility suggests even King George II did not consider them British.

Two questions worthy of further in­vestigation and debate are whether Gooch’s Marines were American, as opposed to British, and whether the reg­iment was a Marine organization in both function and name, as opposed to soldiers serving as Marines. As to the 61st Regiment of Foot being by function, task, and name Marine, Richard Collum does not make any particular distinctions. Edwin McClellan, however, offers in “The American Marines of 1740 to 1742” published by Marine Corps Gazette in December 1929, that whether one is a soldier or a Marine “depends upon the character of duty such soldier performs and not upon whether he is actually called Marine.” To that end, McClellan suggests historians “accept the statements of all the British Marines’ historians that they were real Marines.”

As for whether the Marine Corps today should consider the 61st Regiment of Foot as being British Marines or a distinctly autonomous American Marine regiment, this is more a philosophical argument, if nothing else. Historically, the colonies were British, and the colonists therefore were British subjects. The colonists viewed themselves as British initially. In fact, many remained loyal to King George III and the British Parliament during and after the War of Independence. The grow­ing ethnic dissimilarities between col­onists and the average British citizen due in part to the tyranny of distance, environ­mental challenges, and experiences con­tributed to the development of a separate colonial identity, independence, and life free of British rule. By 1740, an increasing num­ber of Irish, Scottish, Dutch and French immigrants reduced Britain cul­tural monopoly and gave rise to authentic American ideals. Within the historiogra­phy of Marine Corps history, McClellan’s position that “Gooch’s Marines were part of the British Marines’ organization” does little to support the claim that 61st Reg­iment of Foot was distinctly American. Nor does Leonard and Chitty’s declaration that Gooch’s Marines existed “before the Colonies had acquired any desire to be separated from British citizenship or allegiance.” In 1775, however, the 13 Ameri­can colonies and the hundreds of colonists who fought as Continental Marines during the American War of Independence were as well, yet Com­man­dant Lejeune chose to identify them as Americans in Marine Corps Order No. 47. Perhaps the best litmus test might come from the British themselves and the justi­fication for raising an American-specific regiment for the expedition against Spain was, as Leonard and Chitty recalled, because “native Americans were better calculated in the service for this climate than the Europeans.” Add that the British Parliament did not require Admiral Vernon and General Wentworth to furnish Gooch’s Marines with water, food, uni­forms, and weapons and ammunition be­cause they were American and this was a colonial responsibility suggests even King George II did not consider them British.Image

This letter written by Gooch on Nov. 25, 1743, appoints fellow Virginian Lewis Burwell as a member of the governor’s council. Gooch was serving as Virginia’s lieutenant governor when he assumed command of his regiment. Burwell was an ancestor of Marine Corps legend LtGen Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller.

Conclusion

Marine Corps historian Allan R. Millet wrote in his 1980 “Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps” that the quality and caliber of colonist making up Gooch’s Marines “could hardly have given the name “marine” much distinction…” The ex­peditions to Cartagena, Cuba and Panama would likely not have given Commandant Lejeune much to be proud of in 1921 either. Regardless of their quality and per­formance, Gooch’s Marines were distinctly American. They were American by more than their name and identity; they were American by purpose. They were Marines in every sense of the word. Like the Continental Marines, they too were sailors in the absence of qualified seamen and soldiers of the sea. Perhaps it’s time to revisit the discussion on Gooch’s Marines and their place in the chronicles of U.S. Marine Corps history.
Author’s bio: Dr. Nevgloski is the former director of the Marine Corps History Division. Before becoming the Marine Corps’ history chief in 2019, he was the History Division’s Edwin N. McClellan Research Fellow from 2017 to 2019, and a U.S. Marine from 1989 to 2017.

This is My Rifle: M1 Garand

By Sam Lichtman

Perhaps more than any other military rifle, John Garand’s iconic M1 holds a special place in the hearts of military riflemen and civilian enthusiasts alike. From the jungles of the South Pacific to the infamous “Frozen Chosin,” Marines carried this revolutionary arm for nearly two decades, using it to deadly effect in some of the Corps’ most famous battles.

The year was 1932, and then-Major (later Major General) Julian S. Hatcher at the U.S. Army Ordnance Office had a problem. The Army had already decided that it wanted to replace the venerable bolt-action M1903 Springfield with a self-loading rifle to provide its riflemen with rapid-fire capability. Although there were no shortage of talented designers looking to sign a contract, Hatcher had no way to tell who was serious about building a suitable rifle and who was just a hobbyist looking for an easy cash grant. Furthermore, the workable designs that already existed had significant problems—after all, self-loading infantry rifles had been produced in small numbers since before the First World War, but no design had been good enough for a major military to adopt it as standard. A round of trials in 1924 had failed to find a rifle that was entirely suitable, but those trials set the stage for what was soon to come.

Self-loading, or semi-automatic, rifles had been modestly popular among hunters and sport shooters for decades. The ability to fire multiple shots in rapid succession without having to manually cycle the action was highly valuable in the field, but the designs weren’t nearly adequate for military use. Engineers had tried to scale up civilian designs like the Reming­ton Model 8 and Winchester Model 1907 rifles, but they encountered serious problems: the rifles were usually some combination of heavy, inaccurate, fragile, unreliable, or expensive to produce. It quickly became clear that the standard .30 M1906 cartridge was much too power­ful and the military’s requirements too stringent for an existing design to simply be adapted for soldiers and Marines to use in combat.

Enter two men named John—John Pedersen and John Garand. Pedersen was a seasoned, experienced firearm de­signer who had developed several commercially successful firearms while working for Remington. During WW I, Pedersen de­signed a conversion device which allowed the M1903 Springfield to be quickly adapted into a semi-automatic pistol-caliber carbine; it was adopted by the U.S. military and saw limited use by war’s end. John Moses Browning once called John Pedersen “the greatest gun designer in the world;” high praise from anyone, let alone Browning. Throughout the 1920s, Pedersen had been working on prototype designs for a reliable, accurate self-load­ing infantry rifle. When the Army started looking for one, he saw this as the perfect opportunity to have his design adopted.

Compared to heavyweights like Pedersen, John C. Garand was a relative unknown in the firearms world. Hailing from Canada, he was a mechanical en­gineer by training and trade. Much of his career had been spent designing industrial machinery for factories, a skillset which would later come to serve him well. Garand’s experimentation in arms design began in the early 1920s, culminating in his submission of a self-loading rifle to the unsuccessful 1924 Army trials. Changes to the way military ammunition was manufactured rendered the basic operating mechanism unworkable, but by the early 1930s, John Garand had again produced a design worthy of proper mil­itary trials.

In 1932, the Army ran another trials program to select and adopt a self-loading infantry rifle to replace the Springfield. This time, the playing field was dominated by only two serious contenders: John Pedersen with his T1E3 rifle and John Garand with his new and improved T3E2, both in caliber .276. Pedersen’s de­sign used a toggle-delayed blowback mechanism with the breech locked by a sort of knee joint during firing. Garand’s design used a more conventional rotating bolt driven by a gas piston, which tapped expanding powder gases from the muzzle to operate the action. In the trials, John Garand’s rifle was found to be more robust and reliable than Pedersen’s and had one crucial advantage—it didn’t need lubricated ammunition. By virtue of its delayed-blowback operating mechanism, John Pedersen’s rifle would seize up and stop functioning unless the cartridges were lubricated, but its internal lubrication system increased complexity and allowed dust and grit to accumulate in the receiver, eventually causing malfunctions without careful cleaning.

The Army also had been testing the prototype rifles not in the standard cham­ber­ing of .30-’06, but in an experimental .276. Military analysts had already de­termined that the new cartridge had a number of advantages suiting it well for use in a self-loading infantry rifle. Somewhat smaller and less powerful, the cartridge placed less strain on a rifle’s operating components and produced significantly less felt recoil, allowing soldiers and Marines to fire more rapidly and accurately. Furthermore, the lighter weight and lower production cost of each round allowed men to carry more ammunition into the field and stay in the fight longer.

During the late stages of testing, Gen­eral Douglas MacArthur personally inter­vened to throw a proverbial wrench in the whole program. Wary of the additional complications a new infantry cartridge would pose for the U.S. military’s logistical network, MacArthur ordered that the .276 be abandoned immediately and all rifle development focus on the standard .30-’06. John Pedersen had designed his rifles around the .276 cartridge, but Garand had an ace up his sleeve—he had been working with the .30-’06 for longer. One of his crucial advantages was that he could readily redesign his T3E2 in .30-caliber, whereas Pedersen could not as easily scale his own designs up to fire the more powerful round.

This Garand prototype, designated T3E2, competed in U.S. Army trials beginning in 1932. It features a primitive “gas trap” system which taps expanding gases from the muzzle rather than the simpler and more efficient gas port arrangement found in most production M1 rifles.

Although Pedersen was known across the developed world for his design exper­tise, Garand’s rifle proved more effective and easier to manufacture. It was officially adopted as “U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1” by the Army on Jan. 9, 1936.

The Marine Corps has traditionally been a little more conservative than the Army with adopting new rifles. Marine Corps brass in the late 1930s saw the rapid-fire capability of the Army’s new rifle as nothing more than a great way to waste ammunition and impede precision marksmanship. Despite their initial skep­ticism, the Corps ran a trials program of its own in 1940 to determine whether a semi-automatic rifle could be better than the venerable Springfield. They tested Pedersen’s and Garand’s designs along with a recoil-operated rifle designed by Marine reserve officer Melvin M. Johnson.

The Corps eventually decided to send some Johnson and Garand rifles to the Pacific theater to see how viable they were in combat. Both rifles, especially the Garand, quickly proved their worth against the Japanese in battles like Guadal­canal. The Japanese had long used the banzai charge as a way to dislodge enemy forces, and this tactic worked very well against Chinese conscripts armed with slow-firing Mausers. But against highly trained U.S. Marines with semi-automatic M1 rifles, a bayonet charge never stood a chance. Far from wasting ammunition, the sheer volume of fire provided by the new rifle allowed Marines to suppress enemy defenders and make rapid follow-up shots at moving targets.

Hearing positive feedback from Ma­rines who had used the M1 in combat, the Marine Corps formally adopted the rifle to completely replace the M1903 and began mass issuing the new rifle to Marines in the field in early 1942.

Recall that John Garand was a pro­duc­tion engineer with a great deal of ex­perience designing factory equipment. This background allowed him to design the rifle for ease of production as well as the machines that would perform each operation. This proved to be a key factor in giving the United States an edge during World War II. They could manufacture and field in the mass quantities needed, something that tripped up the likes of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany with their own self-loading rifle programs.

With America’s industrial might at their backs, riflemen of the United States Ma­rine Corps used the M1’s fire superiority to fight their way all the way across the Pacific. Marines carrying M1s raised the American flag over numerous islands, and when war broke out on the Korean pen­insula in 1950, soldiers and Marines picked their M1 rifles back up and went to go fight.

Warfare in the bitter Korean winter is very different from fighting on the hot, humid islands of the South Pacific, but John Garand had designed his rifle to function in extreme cold as well as heat. During the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir in 1950, Marines found that their M1s still functioned perfectly fine, except for one thing—lubrication. All firearms require proper lubrication in order to function reliably, and the M1 is no exception, but the natural oil in service at the time had an unfortunate tendency to thicken and gum up in the extreme cold temperatures. Undeterred, Marines simply stripped all the lubricant out of their M1s and ran them bone-dry—and the rifles kept on working.

Even after serving in two wars, the M1 kept soldiering on. Years of work on modifying and improving the rifle’s base design culminated in the adoption of the M14 in 1957. Despite the external dif­fer­ences, every M14 and variant thereof can trace its lineage directly back to the M1. Despite its official replacement, the M1 itself endured in frontline service. It dutifully guarded the inner German bor­der and other hotspots around the world until 1961 when the last examples were finally phased out and sent back to Spring­field for refurbishment and storage.

During the 1950s and beyond, militaries on six of the seven continents fielded M1 rifles received from the United States as military aid. Even after they were taken out of American service, M1 rifles gained a new life among civilian marksmen—many of them soldiers and Marines who had carried them in combat. Through the Office of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship (DCM), managed by the War Department, members of shooting clubs across the country could purchase refurbished military surplus rifles that were no longer needed by the U.S. mil­itary. To this very day, the DCM—now known as the Civilian Marksmanship Pro­gram—sells original 1940s and 1950s production M1 rifles for match shooting.

Few historic military arms have garnered such enduring popularity as the M1. This rifle, revolutionary for its time, is still held in high regard; its influence on tactical doctrine, marksmanship, and later firearm designs is felt in the modern day. Marines at Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, Inchon, Outpost Vegas and hundreds of other battlefields didn’t know how famous the rifle would become, of course. All they cared about was whether it worked, and as the record reflects, it did indeed.

Editor’s note: Special thanks to Jonathan Bernstein at the National Mu­seum of the Marine Corps and Geoffrey Roecker of MissingMarines.com for technical research and assistance with photos.

Author’s bio: Sam Lichtman is a college student and licensed pilot. He works part-time as a manager at a gun store and occasionally contributes content to Leatherneck. He also has a weekly segment on Gun Owners Radio.

Hugh Purvis

Patriot Led a Life of Military Service, Culminating in Medal of Honor

By Mike Miller

Pvt Hugh Purvis received the Medal of Honor in 1872, for his heroic actions during the Korean Expedition in 1871.

Students of Marine Corps history may know about the bravery of Hugh Purvis, who received a Medal of Honor for his actions in the 1871 Korea expedition. But what is not well-known about Purvis is that he was a veteran of the Civil War. Purvis became a Marine in 1869, the first of many years of a long and distinguished career wearing the eagle, globe and anchor. Before that, however, he was a soldier who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg.

With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Hugh Purvis was struck with patriotic fervor and joined the 23rd Pennsylvania Infantry, a three-month regiment, serving in Maryland in order to secure Washington, D.C., from Confederate incursions. At the end of his enlistment, Purvis decided that military life suited him well and joined the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry for three years. After a quiet winter on the Potomac River near Harper’s Ferry, Purvis faced sustained battle for the first time at Antietam on Sept. 17, 1862. More combat awaited at Chancellorsville in 1863, which began the road to Gettysburg. The 28th Pennsylvania was fragmented, with Purvis now belonging to the newly formed 147th Pennsylvania.

On July 1, 1863, Private Hugh Purvis and the other 297 officers and men of the 147th Pennsylvania Infantry marched hurriedly toward Gettysburg, drawn by the sounds of cannons and the knowledge that they must face General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia on their native soil. As dawn broke on July 3, 1863, Private Purvis and the 147th Pennsylvania were ready to meet the expected Con­federate advance at the base of Culp’s Hill. Across a cleared field and stone wall, the 1st Maryland Infantry (Confederate), the 3rd North Carolina and two Virginia regiments made ready to charge directly into the Union regiment’s line. Lieutenant Colonel Ario Pardee moved his men down a slight slope to the low ground to a better firing position where they would not be on the skyline. Hugh Purvis and the 147th Pennsylvania readied for battle.
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The woods where the 147th Pennsylvania Infantry lay at the time of the charge of the rebels on Culp’s Hill, Gettysburg, Pa.

At 8 a.m., the Confederates charged down the slope with the “rebel yell,” led by the Maryland regimental mascot Gracie, a black Labrador retriever. Pardee allowed the Confederates to approach to 100 yards and then opened fire. The volley tore through the enemy ranks, breaking the charge into fragments that continued to attack until they could go no further. Within minutes, the surviving Confederates drew back up the hill to safety, leaving the field littered with the bodies of the dead and wounded southerners.

The sight before the 147th Pennsylvania was horrendous. One wounded Maryland soldier pulled up to load his rifle, which caused many nervous Federals to sight in on the injured man. Major John Craig ordered the men to hold fire as it was obvious that the warrior could do little damage. The intent of the wounded man soon became clear. All watched carefully as he slowly loaded his weapon, pulled the hammer back and then placed the muzzle of the rifle under his chin. As the Federals watched in horror, the soldier placed his ramrod on the trigger and fired the weapon, ending his suffering. No one who witnessed the incident could ever forget the Maryland soldier. The field at Gettysburg would forever be known as Pardee Field, after the commander of the 147th Pennsylvania.

Purvis next saw action in the Western theater in the 1863 battle of Lookout Moun­tain and the 1864 Atlanta Campaign at Dug Gap, Resaca, New Hope Church and Kennesaw Moun­tain. On Sept. 26, 1864, he returned home at the end of his enlistment. Civilian life seemed not to suit Purvis, and he joined the Vet­erans Volunteer Corps in 1865, serving in the defense of Washing­ton, D.C., until the end of the war. Purvis remained in this service until July 20, 1866, when he again rejected civilian life for the duty of a soldier, enlisting for three years initially with the 26th Infantry Regiment. As the Army reduced in size, Purvis’ regiment was consolidated with other units.
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Ario Pardee

Purvis made a fateful de­cision on Oct. 27, 1869, leav­ing the Army for an enlist­ment in the Ma­rine Corps with his first sta­tion fittingly the Marine Barracks at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. He left the City of Brotherly Love for Boston the fol­low­ing month, fol­lowed by a quick as­signment to the Marine detachment on USS Alaska on Dec. 29, a new wooden hulled screw sloop of war. Purvis had little time to learn the ways of the Ma­rine Corps before going to sea. On April 8, 1870, Purvis found himself on his way to join the Asiatic Squadron commanded by Rear Admiral John Rodgers.

Private Purvis arrived on station just as tensions between the United States and Korea escalated over the 1866 disap­pearance of an American flagged ship, S.S. General Sherman, and the American Sailors who were supposedly shipwrecked on Korean territory. There existed no formal diplomatic relations between the two countries, so when the ship vanished, no method existed to investigate the in­cident. American warships visited Korea over the next two years, but no information was gained.

Rear Admiral John Rodgers was tasked to visit Korea and assist American diplomats in establishing some form of diplomatic relations. He assembled his squadron in Nagasaki, Japan, and sailed for Korea on May 16, 1871, aboard the screw frigate USS Colorado, accompanied by USS Alaska with Pvt Purvis aboard, the screw sloop of war USS Benicia, side wheel gunboat USS Monocacy and the gunboat USS Palos. The expedition reached Ko­rean waters three days later but was immobilized by thick fog that prevented any further movement. When the weather cleared, RADM Rodgers anchored his squadron near Eugenie Island on May 23. Rodgers sent out the gunboat USS Palos with steam launches to survey the area.

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This map shows the location of the forts and batteries engaged by land and water forces of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, June 1871. (Courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command)

At noon on June 1, USS Monocacy began the sounding mission with Commander Homer C. Blake on USS Palos steaming up the river behind three steam launches and a steam cutter performing the actual soundings. As the Americans neared the Korean forts at a bend of the river, the Sailors “observed the flags, an indication of the forts being occupied by soldiers.” As the Americans came closer, they saw the cannons in the fort were fully manned, and “the face of the hill occupied by lines of men, perhaps a thousand in number.”

The sound of a rifle shot echoed across the river, signaling the guns to open a blistering fire upon the American craft. Blake’s Sailors replied with a fusillade of cannon fire which quickly caused the gun crews to abandon their cannons. The American ships passed the fort at full speed and anchored, still firing at any sign of Korean resistance; however, USS Monocacy struck a rock and was leaking water at a rapid rate. The small boats re­ported little ammunition remaining from the fight. The Americans withdrew to re­join the rest of the squadron, firing on the forts as they passed with no response from the Koreans. The Americans lost only two Sailors wounded during the engagement.

RADM Rodgers regarded the fire from the Korean forts as an insult to the American flag and informed the Korean government he would give them 10 days to make an apology before taking further action against the forts. Ambassador Low concurred with RADM Rodgers’ arrangements. The 10 days allowed him time to plan for battle and to take advantage of the neap tide, which would provide optimum conditions for a landing. There would be no more dueling with the cannon from the river. This time, RADM Rodgers planned an am­phibious landing that would capture each fort as necessary. He pulled together a landing force of Sailors and Marines from Colorado, Alaska, and Benicia, totaling 759 men, including 105 Marines, commanded by Captain McLain Tilton. As each day passed, there remained no response from the Korean government.

On June 10, at 10 a.m., Rodgers ordered his landing force into motion with the mission to punish the forts which fired on the American vessels. USS Monocacy bombarded the first offending fort, identi­fied as the “Marine Fort,” while the Palos towed 22 small boats loaded with Sailors and Marines, including Pvt Purvis and the landing party from Alaska. The Koreans returned fire but were driven from their guns by Monocacy’s cannon. Benicia made for a landing in an inlet below the fort, flanking the Korean defenders, who scattered as the boats neared shore, leaving their stronghold vacant.
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USS Monocacy towing landing boats in the Han River during the Korean expedition in May-June 1871.

Each boat grounded on the beach, allowing the ready Marines and Sailors to jump ashore to an unopposed landing, at least in theory. No one performed a reconnaissance of the ground itself, which proved to be the major opponent of the day. The inlet possessed a seemingly bottom­less mudflat, which grasped the Marines by their legs and refused to let go. “The men, stepping from the boats, sunk to their knees, and so tenacious was the clay,” Rodgers reported, “that in many cases they lost gaiters and shoes, and even trouser legs.” Even worse were the gun crews of the nine howitzers, which quickly disappeared in the mud up the axles of their gun carriages. Dry land was a distant quarter mile to half a mile, depending on the landing site.

The lack of Korean resistance, even with obsolete weapons, allowed the Ameri­cans to avoid a disaster as the hill above the fort completely dominated the mud flat. Time was also necessary to plow through the mud and cross cavernous tidal channels in the sludge to reach dry land. Purvis and the Marines took a direct route to the fort, pulling themselves from out of the mud into the abandoned fort; however, the landing guns took a deeper route out of the swamp, avoiding the steep banks of the hill at the fort. Each cannon was pulled out by 75 to 80 Sailors and Marines manning drag lines with raw force to overcome the morass and requiring more than two hours of labor.

Once out of the mud, the sodden Ma­rines and Sailors immediately began the destruction of the abandoned fort, tossing the smaller cannons into the river while spiking the larger cannons to prevent any further use. Other working parties pulled down the walls of the fort while powder, uniforms, rations and anything else burn­able were put to the torch, send­ing blank clouds of smoke into the air. The destruc­tion went on into the later after­noon when the Americans went into camp on the heights above the smoldering fort. The Marines took position in advance of the main encampment, armed with one of the boat howitzers, placing a strong picket line to detect any counterattack by Korean forces from the additional forts upriver. A force of Korean soldiers harassed Pvt Purvis and the Marines at midnight with desultory rifle fire but was soon driven away by several howitzer shells.

Daylight of June 11 allowed complete destruction of Fort Marine, and a request was sent to Admiral Rodgers for further instructions. Rodgers signaled back, “Go ahead and take the forts.” Commander Lewis A. Kimberly ordered the landing party into motion, marching toward the principal Korean forts 3 miles upriver. Pvt Purvis and the rest of the Marines led the advance, approaching a second fort on a high ridge overlooking the river. Once again, the Korean forces evacuated their fort, allowing the Americans to destroy the large number of cannons remaining behind. When the walls were pulled down, the American column began to march the final 2 miles to the heart of the Korean defense. If there would be a battle, it would be in the final fort complex ahead, the headquarters of the Korean commanding general.
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Elbow Fort, one of the defenses of the Han River, as photographed from Fort McKee shortly after its capture on June 11, 1871.

The final 2 miles to the Korea citadel proved exhausting, and Admiral Rodgers described it as “a succession of steep hills, with deep ravines between, over which foot soldiers passed with great fatigue.” Entire companies deployed on the drag ropes of the artillery, hauling every cannon up each vertical ravine and then lowering the gun down into the next gulley in a never-ending struggle, yard after yard. As the American column moved wearily forward, columns of Korean infantry appeared on their left flank, threatening the advance. Commander Blake ordered three companies of Sailors and five of the howitzers to keep the Korean advance at bay until the main column reached their target.

At 11 a.m., Blake’s men reached the base of the peninsula holding the main Korean position well sited once again on a commanding hill overlooking the river. The approach from the land side proved most formidable with the only way to attack the position constricted by the peninsula into a narrow kill zone, commanded by the fort. The Sailors and Marines wasted little time getting into position, eager to complete their relentless attack. Purvis and the rest of the Marines moved in defilade to within 150 yards of the fort and then paused to recover their strength for the decisive attack.
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An oil painting by John Clymer, USMCR, depicting the landing of Marine infantry and field artillery on Kang-Wa Island in the Han River in Korea, June 10, 1871. USS Monocacy provides gunfire support in the background.

The final charge would have to be made up yet another steep hill and then face the walls of the fort itself without scaling ladders. “Our men kept up a fire from their resting place upon the fort whenever an enemy exposed himself,” Rodgers noted, “and this they did constantly with the most reckless courage, discharging their pieces as fast as they could load.” The Koreans desperately defended their position, returning the fire with a ven­geance. A bullet struck Marine Private Denis Hanrahan of the Benicia, killing him in the exchange of fire.

At last, the order to charge was given. Purvis sprinted ahead down a slope into an 80-foot ravine and then up the final yards to the walls of the enemy fort. The Korean defenders fired quickly on the charge until the Americans reached the wall, and then instead of pausing to reload, threw stones and boulders down the attackers. Luckily for the Americans, several gaps were blown into the wall before them, allowing them to enter the wall without a fatal climb.

Navy Lieutenant McKee was the first American in the fort and immediately engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Koreans, falling with two mortal wounds, a spear in the side and musket ball in the groin. The Koreans fought hard against the Marines and Sailors. “The fighting inside the fort was desperate,” Rodgers related, “they apparently expected no quarter, and probably would have given none.” Private McNamara, of Benicia, took on a Korean soldier on the parapet, wrenching the match­lock weapon from the grip of his opponent and then killing him in a hand-to-hand fight. Navy Landsman Seth Allen of Colorado was killed while climbing the parapet as the Korean soldiers struggled with the Marines and Sailors. “Our men fought, some with cutlasses, others with their muskets and carbines, using them as clubs,” Commander Silas Casey of Colorado related, “the Koreans with spears, swords, stones and even threw dust to blind us.”

Rodgers related the Koreans “fought to the death, and only when the last man fell did the conflict cease.” The American flag flew from the parapet of the fort at 11:15 a.m. The Korean soldiers fought bravely but could not survive the American modern firepower in the close confines of the fort. At least 108 bodies of the Ko­rean garrison were counted inside the citadel, and another estimated 20 prisoners were captured, many of whom were wounded. The garrison bravely gave their lives to defend their fort. Two Marines—Private Hanrahan and Private Michael Owens of Colorado—were killed in the fight.

Private Purvis was among the first to enter the fort and charged with Captain Tilton and Corporal Charles Brown on the large yellow 12-foot square flag of the Korean general. “The Alaska Marine [Purvis] was then a second or two before me and my corporal [Brown], but while he was unknotting the halliards, my Corporal and I tore the flag down.” Tilton noted in his report that Purvis rightly deserved credit for the capture. Both Purvis and Brown were recommended for Medals of Honor, but Cpl Brown deserted before he was awarded his medal. Pvt Purvis received his medal in 1872. He left the Marine Corps with the memories of his round the world cruise fresh in his mind. Yet, Purivis would not remain a civilian for long. On May 18, 1874, he found a new home and a new start by reenlisting in the Marine Corps at the Marine Barracks Annapolis, Md. Interestingly, Purvis rejoined his comrade of the Korean forts, Capt McLane Tilton, who was in command of the station.

Here, Purvis found his niche, remaining at the barracks for the next 10 years until 1884, when he was discharged from the Marine Corps as a corporal. He continued to serve as armorer and mechanic at the Naval Academy for many years. Purvis also met Mary Alice Jackson of Annapolis, and they were married by 1880. The two had three children. After a long and certainly interesting life, Purvis died on Feb. 12, 1922, in Annapolis and is buried in Saint Anne’s Cemetery beside Alice, who lived long enough to have the honor of sponsoring the USS Hugh Purvis (DD-709), commissioned in 1945.

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Inside Fort McKee after its capture on June 11, 1871. (Photo courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command)

Author’s bio: Mike Miller has written five books and many articles about Ma­rine Corps and Civil War history. A long­time Leatherneck contributor, he retired in 2016 after a 34-year career in the Marine Corps archival, museum and history pro­grams. His latest book is “The 4th Marine Brigade at Belleau Wood and Soissons: History and Battlefield Guide.”

Atomic Leathernecks

Nuclear Rocket Artillery in the Cold War

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By Jonathan Bernstein

When atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, they effectively ended World War II and ushered in a new era of warfare, but while the United States stood alone as a nuclear power for the first four years after the war, the Soviets detonated their own atomic bomb in 1949. From that point onward, the use of and defense against atomic weapons stood front and center of all U.S. military strategic planning.

For the Marine Corps, the ominous shadow of atomic warfare meant a reimagining of amphibious warfare. How were Marines supposed to come ashore and fight when a single atomic weapon had the potential to destroy an entire assault force before it even reached the beach? How would they counter potential nuclear-armed adversaries once ashore?

In a time of shrinking budgets and shrinking forces, the com­ing of the Atomic Age potentially threatened the very existence of the Marine Corps. The Marines lost 85 percent of total end strength between 1945 and 1950, dropping from a zenith of 474,680 Marines in 1946, to 155,679 the following year and ultimately down to a mere 74,279 by 1950. Ever living up to the adage of “adapt, improvise and overcome,” the Marine Corps had to reimagine how amphibious operations would be conducted in the Atomic Age in order to remain relevant. The National Defense Act of 1947 codified the Marine Corps’ role in protecting the nation into law and ensured its continued existence. From that point, the mission was no longer survival, but achieving and maintaining the cutting edge of American combat power in the postwar era.

The next war came sooner than many expected, and by the end of June 1950, U.S. forces were engaged in combat op­erations against North Korea. After setbacks and retreats through July and August 1950, the first amphibious assault to incorporate the lessons learned from the Bikini Atoll atomic tests landed the 1st Marine Division at Inchon on Sept. 15. Speed, dispersal, timing and surprise were key in getting the Marines ashore, with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines landing at 6:30 a.m. and securing the approaches to Inchon, enabling the rest of the Division to land later that afternoon.

The Inchon landings showed that while the primary atomic threat to a landing force was still from an air delivered weapon and that air superiority was critical for the ground force to maintain freedom of movement, the potential of tactical nuclear weapons employment lay just over the horizon. By December of that year, the Army’s missile research and development programs kicked into overdrive with one of several goals being the production of a surface-to-surface tactical nuclear weapon to enable American ground forces to attack and destroy potential origin points of an enemy tactical atomic attack.

Development of tactical nuclear weapons took a two-pronged ap­proach, focusing on rocket and gun systems as the delivery method. War in Korea had increased the potential for nuclear conflict, and if there was a chance of a third world war, the Department of Defense wanted to be prepared to fight on the atomic battlefield. As a result, both the gun and rocket systems were given emer­gency priority with prototypes planned for delivery by mid-1951.
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The platoon’s 5-ton wrecker also served as the prime mover for the reload rocket. This allowed the wrecker crew to quickly hoist the second rocket onto the launcher for rapid reloading.

Nearly from its inception, the rocket program was intended to result in a mobile, flexible system that would allow for a quick “shoot and scoot” capability; a weapon that would fit in well with an amphibious assault force. Coming ashore via LCU or LST, the launcher and support equipment could quickly be landed, driven to a feasible launch site, and emplaced. The launcher was based on the M139C 5-ton truck, which had the load carrying and off-road capability needed to properly employ the rocket. It was standardized in 1953 as the M289 transporter/launcher.

The Douglas Aircraft Company completed the first five XM31 prototype rockets, nicknamed “Honest John,” by May 1951 and the test program began at the end of June, with the first launch on May 29. The program progressed steadily with modifications and improvements to the rocket and launcher over the subsequent two years. In addition to rocket modifications, the program also developed blast and fragmentation high explosive (HE) warheads, and a chemical/biological capable warhead as well.
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While the atomic tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946 made it clear that a nuclear weapon employed against an amphibious assault force had catastrophic potential, the Corps quickly began looking at how to change its doctrine in order to adapt to the new status quo. Its first doctrinal push to acknowledge nuclear weapons was Landing Forces Bulletin (LFB) 2, issued on Feb. 20, 1953, titled “Interim Doctrine for the Conduct of Tactical Atomic Warfare.”

However, it was the 1955 revision of LFB-2 that laid out the framework for Marine Corps atomic doctrine by stating that the Marine Corps would be “tailored to conduct operations against an enemy employing atomic munitions” and would furthermore be “organized, trained and equipped to employ atomic munitions in amphibious or other operations,” with “control of the employment of atomic munitions … decentralized at the lowest echelon possible.”

This doctrinal update coincided with the arrival of the Marine Corps’ six M289 launchers and associated equipment and the standing up of the 1st Heavy Artillery Rocket Battery (HARB), FMF at Camp Lejeune. The six launchers had been appropriated for in October 1954 as part of the Army’s first follow-up purchase after the initial production run. The first Marine M289 launcher arrived in June 1955, with the balance of launchers, rockets and equipment arriving in August. The Fleet Marine Force was almost nuclear capable.

From LFB-2, it was clear that the Marine Corps intended to conduct amphibious landings and fight within a battlefield that had already been heavily prepped by atomic munitions. “An intensive atomic preparation of the objective area will be conducted immediately prior to the assault” pulls no punches as to the environment that the Marines were supposed to fight and survive within. Coming ashore with additional atomic weapons would ensure that enemy forces outside the prepared area and several miles inland could not serve as rally points for enemy reinforcements or survivors from the initial atomic preparation.

The Heavy Artillery Rocket Battery was designed to maximize its effectiveness under this doctrine. The battery was further subdivided into two platoons of two launchers and the requisite support equipment to maintain both as mission capable. The 1st HARB moved to Coronado, Calif., later in the year, and by mid-May had conducted a series of tests to identify minimum operational loads for both LCU and LST-class landing craft. They also determined the proper dispersal to ensure the survivability of at least one firing unit within an assault force. The dispersal between those firing units effectively relegated the final decision for the use of atomic weapons to the section chief, an E-6, per guidance from LFB-2.Image

Although it was supposed to fit aboard an LST, the overhead in the ship’s well deck prohibited the launcher vehicle from carrying a rocket. In fact, the launcher rail frame required modification for just the vehicle to fit with enough clearance.

The intent of the May loading exercise was to determine whether a complete firing unit could be brought ashore by a single landing craft. Loading plans were quickly worked out and a configuration for a complete firing unit was standardized for each type of craft to rapidly facilitate combat offloading. Although there were some issues with the overhead in pre-LST-1156 class that required support from higher echelon ordnance teams, the 1st HARB determined that both the LCU and the LST would allow for a complete firing unit aboard.

Once declared operational, the 1st HARB was assigned to the Field Artillery Group, under Colonel M.J. Hooper at Twentynine Palms, Calif., conducting their first field exercise as part of the Group in February 1958, using the XM4 flash/smoke practice rocket for live fire training.

The battery deployed to Okinawa in 1960 for an 18-month tour of duty, joining U.S. Army Honest John units already there. Okinawa was and continues to be critical to the U.S. presence in Asia and served as a significant “special weapons” logistics center for all of the services through 1972. Were tensions to boil over in South Vietnam or with China, the 1st HARB was prepared to jump off from Okinawa to wherever necessary.

The 1st HARB was finally disbanded in 1965 after the decision was made not to upgrade to the M50 improved Honest John rocket. While the principles behind the doctrine of medium range, medium yield atomic weapons were sound in theory, the practical survivability concerns became all too apparent. As the Cold War dragged on, newer, more efficient methods of nuclear weapons delivery ensured that the Marines would be able to continue with their historic mission of assault from the sea, while no longer needing to maintain an atomic force to hold the door open once they were secure on land.

The Honest John rocket and launcher failed to reach initial operational capability during the Korean War, but the concerns of a wider war spurred its development and gave the Marine Corps a tactical nuclear platform with which to defend an amphibious landing force from atomic attack. This nuclear amphibious landing capability, however small within the Corps, allowed for a far more capable Fleet Marine Force in the decade between 1955 and 1965. Aerial and artillery tube-delivered nuclear weapons outpaced the Marines’ need for a surface-to-surface rocket propelled nuclear deterrent, but allowed the Marine Corps to remain a relevant and significant nuclear deterrent force in its own right throughout the remainder of the Cold War.
Author’s bio: Jonathan Bernstein is the Arms and Armor Curator for the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Previously he was the Director/Curator of the Air Defense Artillery Museum. Bernstein began his museum career in 1991 at the USS Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum and has served in a number of museum roles since then. He was an Army aviation officer, flying AH-64A and D Apache attack helicopters with the 1-104th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, PA NG from 2006-2012. He has also published a number of books and articles on military and aviation history.Image

Members of the launcher crew lower the launch rail to ensure overhead clearance aboard an LST.

“Scuttlebutt” Podcast

Is Newest Addition To MCA’s Library of
Audio Content

By Sara W. Bock
When Vic Ruble joined the staff of the Marine Corps Association last year as creative content coordinator and deputy editor of Marine Corps Gazette, he knew he’d be involved in the behind-the-scenes development of the organization’s first-ever podcast. What he didn’t count on was that he would, by default, end up as its host. Initially out of his comfort zone perhaps, but to anyone listening, the role seems a natural fit for the former amtrac officer, a prior enlisted Marine with numerous deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan under his belt. Ruble retired from the Corps as a major in 2018 and then went on to earn a master’s degree in creative writing from American University in Washington, D.C.

Check out Scuttlebutt Here

With a heavy emphasis on the art of storytelling, “Scuttlebutt: An MCA Podcast” launched its first episodes in September 2021, taking its place among the professional association’s wide array of multimedia resources, which includes audio articles from its flagship publications Leatherneck and Marine Corps Gazette; an impressive “Corps Voices” collection featuring interviews with some of the most revered Marines in history, including Lieutenant General Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller; and recordings of guest speakers from MCA’s professional awards ceremonies and events.

The “by Marines, for Marines” podcast, which releases new installments weekly and is recorded on-site at the MCA headquarters aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., has quickly gained subscribers, with more listeners tuning in to each subsequent episode. Ruble and the rest of the “Scuttlebutt” production team, which includes MCA  Digital Projects Manager Nick Wilson, who had already set up a recording room and procured the necessary equipment before Ruble came on board; Marine Corps Gazette associate editor William Treuting, who recently earned a master’s degree in history; and seasoned journalist and Leatherneck deputy editor Nancy Lichtman, hope that the informal, conversational format they’ve created will invite listeners to learn from the personal stories of others as well as think critically about current events that impact today’s Marines. The podcast comprises a mix of interviews with high-profile guests and conversations amongst the “Scuttlebutt” team as they discuss the interviews, relevant issues and various aspects of Marine Corps history.

From hot topics like COVID-19 vac­cination rates among the ranks and the arrival of Afghan refugees in the U.S., to the implementation of the Commandant’s Force Design 2030 and the Corps’ newly announced talent management initiative, “Scuttlebutt” covers it all. But its primary objective is to showcase the stories and experiences of its diverse range of guests who have agreed to spend an hour or two of their time to join in the discussion.
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Retired Colonel Andrew Milburn, left, author of “When the Tempest Gathers: From Mogadishu to the Fight Against ISIS, a Marine Special Operations Commander at War,” chats with Vic Ruble, center, and Nick Wilson, right, during the recording of “Scuttlebutt” Episode 16, Jan 12.

“The conversations we will have will explore some of the themes and lessons our guests have taken with them to write their stories, so that you, the listener, will have more tools in your kit when it comes time to write yours,” Ruble said in the promotional “teaser” episode of “Scuttlebutt,” adding that his interviews with podcast guests would be akin to “coffeehouse” chats with friends.

Aptly named in a nod to the Marine Corps’ naval roots—the term “scuttlebutt” can be traced back to an early 1800s term for the cask containing a ship’s daily supply of drinking water, inviting conversation among those gathered around it, and later evolved into a slang term for rumor, gossip or “water cooler talk”—the podcast is informal, engaging and often brings out the witty side of its producers.

Ruble is adept at facilitating relaxed, congenial conversations with podcast guests, who have thus far included names like Marine veteran Miles Vining, who authored the 2020 book “Into Helmand With the Walking Dead”; actor Geoff Stults, who spoke about portraying military servicemembers in film and his work with the Merging Vets and Players organization; and retired Marine Sergeant Major and Navy Cross recipient Justin LeHew, who serves as the chief operating officer for History Flight.

“My goal for the podcast is for it to be a place where stories and narratives outside of the mainstream military mediums are featured and heard,” said Ruble. “Just because someone isn’t a Medal of Honor winner or wasn’t part of some badass special forces task force—which we have some of those folks too—doesn’t mean that what they did and how they contributed was insignificant. I would like it if our listeners got the feeling that ‘Scuttlebutt’ features stories that highlight the many nuances of the Marine Corps and that everyone’s story matters. Oftentimes, it’s the stories that we don’t know about that matter the most.”

The burgeoning podcast and the rest of MCA’s audio offerings are part of an ongoing effort to expand the association’s reach and provide content that goes beyond traditional print media. This is not to diminish the role of the iconic Leatherneck and Gazette, which have been telling the Marine Corps story and inviting professional discourse for more than a century, but rather to enhance and support those efforts.

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Justin LeHew, a retired Marine sergeant major, was the first guest on “Scuttlebutt.” His interview, which spans two episodes, covers a variety of topics ranging from advice he received during his Marine Corps career to his work in MIA research, recovery and repatriation as chief operating officer of History Flight.

Not only does audio content provide the consumer with tone of voice, inflection and emotion, which are often difficult to adequately capture in the written word, but its format also allows for multi-tasking, such as listening while driving, exercising or doing household chores. This is particularly desirable among those whose busy schedules don’t necessarily allow them time to sit and read a magazine or book but who want to absorb new information, perspectives and stories.

“We want to be both an entertaining storytelling destination and a somewhat professional resource peering behind the scenes at different aspects of the Marine Corps,” said Wilson. “We were looking to reach an audience that the MCA has struggled to keep in contact with over the years, that being the younger ‘25 to 45’ crowd. Which, as it just so happens, is the crowd that listens to podcasts.”

Podcasts like “Scuttlebutt” have soared in popularity in recent years across a broad range of demographics. According to Edison Research, approximately 80 million Americans, or 28 percent of the U.S. population over the age of 12, listen to podcasts each week, which is a 17 percent increase from those who listened in 2020—and this group also is more diverse than ever before. Additionally, the research company’s 2021 Infinite Dial study found that 62 percent of the population are weekly online audio listeners. It seems safe to conclude that these numbers will only continue to rise.

“The younger generation of Marines is less inclined to read a magazine than their predecessors, so with this format, we can reach those young men and women,” said Lichtman, who says she views the podcast as an audio magazine of sorts, employing some of the same concepts she’s used during her career in print media as she assists in its development. “Ideally, the podcast discussions will lead people to pick up a magazine, either the physical copy or the digital format, to take a deeper dive into Marine Corps history.”

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Vic Ruble Creative Content Coordinator and Deputy Editor Marine Corps Gazette

She believes that the podcast format, which allows for a free flow of ideas between guests and hosts, fills a different need than either Gazette or Leatherneck, and helps further the association’s mis­sion to develop leaders and to expand awareness of the traditions, history and spirit of the Marine Corps.

Lieutenant General Charles G. Chiarotti, the association’s CEO, agrees with this sentiment, stating that the “Scuttlebutt” team’s efforts contribute directly to the “rich discussion” that the association seeks to encourage among Marines and friends of the Corps.

“Through the research that they do to prepare for each podcast, to their casual on-air demeanor, they are able to uncover the more humanistic aspects of a story or personal ac­count,” said LtGen Chiarotti, who was the featured guest on the “Scuttlebutt” Episode 6, which was released in conjunction with the 246th birthday of the Corps. “They reach a different level of understanding of an experience or a story than most are willing or able to provide through the written form,” he added.

During his appearance on the podcast, LtGen Chiarotti, who was born and raised in Italy, discussed his unconventional path to becoming a Marine, as well as the importance of professional development and what his priorities are as he takes the helm of MCA.

Prior to the recording of each episode, Ruble writes up a pre-interview show setup with discussion points and questions, and the podcast team meets to give suggestions and feedback. The result is a well thought-out, meaningful conversation that explores what it means to serve and to claim the title “Marine.”

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On the MCA website, “Scuttlebutt” listeners can read synopses of each available podcast episode. The team continues to book high-profile guests who are willing to share their own personal experiences and perspectives.

“All of our guests have brought their own unique perspectives and personalities to this project,” said Ruble. “Some have been fun because the guest was charismatic, or I already had a relationship with them, so it really was just two friends hanging out. Others have been super informative, and I’ve just been in ‘receive mode’ the whole time as if I were a listener.”

Treuting, whose historical focus is on American military history, hopes to see “Scuttlebutt” attract both military-affiliated and civilian listeners alike and to serve as a springboard for additional audio and visual content produced by the MCA in the future.

“I want our podcast to be an entryway for civilians to become interested and invested in the Marine Corps and to help diminish the cultural/social gap between civilians and the military,” Treuting said.

There’s something for everyone among the audio resources available on the MCA website, whether it’s an oral history interview of General Frank E. Petersen, the Marine Corps’ first Black aviator, in which he describes a racial incident that occurred at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, Calif., in 1953, part of the “Corps Voices” collection, or a speech given by Gen James N. Mattis, USMC (Ret), during an October 2019 MCA professional event. Popular Leatherneck articles, many of which are read by the authors themselves, also are easily accessible. And of course, “Scuttlebutt” is sure to attract an audience both young and old, from a variety of backgrounds.

“If someone has any passing interest in the Marines, I think they’ll find a lot to like in Scuttlebutt,” Wilson said. “I only see growth in the future, and it’ll be fun to be a part of it.”

Desert Shield/Desert Storm

From the Leatherneck Archives: April 1991

Stories from the Marines on the Ground

Jan. 15, 1991, Was Payday at the Front, But Nobody Remembers It

Just hours before Operation Desert Storm began, Sergeant Kevin Kessinger, a tank commander with the 1st Marine Division’s armor-heavy Task Force Ripper, said the only thing different about Jan. 15, 1991, was that it was payday.

But over the predawn crackle of radio updates, it seemed that Kessinger and his crew would have to leave their checks in the bank.

Kessinger and his fellow Marines have been in Saudi Arabia for seven months. They said they have had plenty of time to contemplate war, and that they have come to terms with it.

“You know when you join the Marine Corps that people go to combat,” said Lance Corporal Kevin Moroney, Kessinger’s tank driver. “It’s on our minds, but we don’t dwell on it.”

This sentiment, which prevailed among Marines throughout Operation Desert Shield, did not change with the passing of the United Nations deadline. There was little change whatsoever. The recent change in weather from scorching heat to rain and cold was, in fact, welcomed by the Marines of Task Force Ripper.

“It’s been wet and miserable, but at least it’s different,” said Moroney of Lucas, Ohio. “Anything different is welcome.”

The last word from Kessinger and Moroney just before they embarked on the biggest change in their lives was that they were going into it with confidence and caution.

“The only thing I’m worrying about is doing something stupid and getting one of my Marines killed,” said Kessinger, who has been training for war for more than nine years. He added that he believes the United States has the best-trained military force in the world and that all he has to do is live up to its standards. “The people who are doing the planning for this operation are simply the best,” he said.

Colonel Carlton Fulford, commanding officer of Task Force Ripper, expressed similar concerns for his men, and also expressed confidence in the Marines’ ability to defeat Iraqi forces. He said that this is in part due to the quality and quantity of training they have had since arriving in August.

“Since the beginning of August, we have literally been on one solid training cycle,” Fulford said. “We haven’t gone out on liberty, and we haven’t gone out to the liberty ship, wherever that is. We’re desert-hard, and we know each other real well.

“I would prefer not to go to war because of the cost in human lives,” Fulford added, “but should we go, I think this organization is as ready and prepared as it could possibly be at this time.”

As Fulford, Kessinger and all the other Marine leaders here prepared for the imminent responsibilities of perhaps one of the world’s most grave crises, the waiting was indeed over.

“Things haven’t changed much out here,” Kessinger said. “Like I said, it’s payday and I haven’t been paid yet. I don’t even remember yesterday.”

Sgt Brad Mitzelfelt, USMC

Fire Mission: LCpl Gabriel Juarez Yanked the Lanyard And Sent the First Arty Rounds Onto the Iraqis

The first artillery offensive by U.S. ground troops took place here Jan. 21, 1991. The 1st Marine Di­vision artillery unit opened fire from Saudi Arabia across the border on Iraqi positions at 3:14 a.m. and concluded its mission at 3:40.

The actual firing time lasted six minutes. The battery pumped out 71 rounds of improved conventional ammunition shells from M198 155 mm howitzers, covering roughly 1,000 square meters, according to Captain Phillip Thompson, a battalion fire direction officer. The unit was about 3 miles from the border and fired about 8 to 10 miles into Kuwait.

During a routine training exercise, Lance Corporal Gabriel Juarez probably wouldn’t have moved at lightning speed after waking up at 3 a.m. to assist in firing artillery rounds into an impact range.

But this wasn’t Camp Pendleton, Okinawa, Hawaii, or any other training base. This was Saudi Arabia in the midst of a war, and Juarez and the rest of his gun crew had just received a “real-world” fire mission.

They received the order nine hours after setting-in their positions near the Iraqi border. The temperatures had been cold all night, and since his battery’s mission involved some waiting, Gun Six’s crew was at 50 percent guard—one half remaining awake and on alert, and the other half asleep and/or trying to stay warm.

“We received a call for fire from an infantry regiment and were told that an enemy artillery battery was actually firing down into Khafji [from across the border],” Thompson said.

“We were told to bring only what we needed for the raid, so we didn’t have much cold-weather gear with us,” Juarez said. “But it [worrying about the cold] kept our minds off of thinking about incoming rounds we might have taken from the Iraqis or anything else that could have gone wrong.

“It was a rude awakening,” he said, “but it didn’t take long to wake up. After I heard that we had a fire mission, the butterflies kicked in. We all just jumped up, everybody went to their respective places, and we started throwing rounds downrange.”

Juarez is the number one man, meaning that he is the last man to contribute to the gun’s operation by priming the powder charge and pulling the lanyard which fires the projectiles. “At first, pulling the lanyard wasn’t too big of a deal because my adrenaline was pumping and I just wanted to shoot the rounds downrange and get out of there, knowing that we might be taking some incoming fire, too,” Juarez said. “In a way, it was almost like a regular training mission, but at the end, we all started to ponder that we were the first ones to fire on them (the Iraqi forces).

“When you shoot the type of rounds we fired and as much as we did, the trails of the gun dig in pretty much so it took longer than usual to get them out and hooked up to the truck, but we did well, considering we were pretty tired.”

Thompson said that the battalion had less than 12 hours notice that it was going to execute the mission. Despite the short notice, the “cannon cockers” were on the road at 3:30 p.m. on the 20th and were in place at 6 p.m. They waited for a fire mission throughout the night.

About two hours before they unleashed their howitzers, the battery received enemy fire, but it had no effect, landing about 2,000 meters southeast of its position.
According to First Lieutenant Christopher Mayette, a battery executive officer, the possible targets the battery was to engage included multiple rocket launchers, a command-and-control site, and a surface-to-air missile site. “The rocket-launcher battery is one that fired upon us, but was later taken out by air,” he said. “We ended up firing on a different battery that was firing on Marine positions near the border.”
Gunnery Sergeant Juan DeWilliams said that Marines rehearse for combat but cannot rehearse actual combat. “The boys impressed me,” said the 14-year veteran. “We did what we had to do, then got the hell out of there.”

“I was nervous of the unexpected,” said Sergeant Norman Arias. “I’m an artillery meteorologist. My job is to get weather-condition information to the fire direction center, so the guns don’t have to use ‘Kentucky windage’ to aim their rounds. It felt good knowing I helped the guns get all those rounds downrange and on target.”

LCpl Robert Redwine said, “The 3rd Marines were the first to take incoming from Iraqi troops, and now we were able to give some of it back.” Redwine was one of the Marines who supplied the security for the mission. “I was happy to be out there and to make a little history,” said the Marine from Portland, Ore.

Cpl Steve Nelson, USMC and
Sgt John Dodd, USMC
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Cpl Donald Vaught, left, and Cpl Marc Carbonetto, both “Stinger” missile­men, practice honing in on targets from USS Guam in the Persian Gulf. They were part of an 18,000-Marine amphibious force that tied down several Iraqi divisions, forcing them to keep close to the Kuwaiti coast while trying to guess where the Marines would land.

While Cannoneers Sent Rounds Downrange, Infantrymen Took Incoming and Waited forWord to Attack

“Incoming, incoming! Hit your fight­ing holes!” could be heard throughout the area as the leathernecks from an in­fantry battalion of the 1st Marine Division rushed for cover.

For more than a week, these Marines were taking artillery rounds from Iraqi positions inside the Kuwaiti border.

“We don’t mind taking incoming as long as we don’t take any hits,” said Captain Kent Bradford, an operations officer. Bradford said the Iraqis had been dropping two to three rounds a night for five nights running but hadn’t hit them yet.

“Marines here haven’t displayed any amount of stress or strain,” added the captain. “The apprehension is there, but we don’t talk about shells landing on our position.”
Being shelled was the worst feeling in the world for Private First Class Scott Zmiewsky. “You don’t know where the rounds are coming from, and all you can do is run for cover,” said Zmiewsky.

“At first you’re scared,” added Lance Corporal Chad Graff. “You find yourself stopping what you are doing and looking around. Then all of a sudden, it clicks in your head what to do.”

The incoming wasn’t like the Iraqis were pounding the hell out of them, noted First Lieutenant David Johannsen, a platoon commander. “It’s just a couple of rounds a night,” said the Algonquin, Ill., native.

“Yeah, just enough to tick you off,” said LCpl John Couch. “They wake us up in the middle of night. We have to head to our fighting holes, then back to the rack after the attack is over.”

Sgt John Dodd, USMC

For These Guys, Desert Storm Means Getting Sandblasted by Helicopters

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Getting sandblasted from helicopter prop wash is part of the price Landing Support Battalion Marines paid to keep their fellow leathernecks supplied.

Hunkered down in a hole in the desert floor, four Marines sat and idly talked as the frigid wind of the Saudi winter passed overhead. Storm clouds covered the sky, intermittently spitting rain at them.

A low grumbling caused the Marines to perk up and look out over flatland toward the horizon.

“Bird comin’,” one of the Marines stated matter-of-factly.

Grabbing goggles and helmets, two Marines wearing reflective vests clam­bered out of the protective pit and scurried onto the landing zone (LZ).

Like giant bumblebees, two approaching CH-53E helicopters gently maneuvered toward the LZ. Their “pollen,” six pallets of meals, ready to eat (MRE), dangled in nets underneath. The helicopter support team used a variety of hand-and-arm signals to guide the incoming ’53s safely down onto the LZ.

Unhooking their load, the helicopters pulled up and soared out of the area.

Marines of the helicopter support team (HST), part of Beach and Terminal Operations Company, 2nd Landing Support Battalion (LSB), are the eyes and ears of helo pilots who approach and land in an LZ under their control.

During the first weeks of Operation Desert Storm, these HST Marines were working to help furnish a supply depot near the Kuwaiti border. The incoming “birds” were supplying the depot with MREs, medical supplies and maintenance parts.

“Our main mission is to talk the helos into the zone,” said HST leader Corporal J. Shane Bost. “We also help the Landing Support Equipment Marines move the cargo off the LZ, and we package and hook up any outgoing cargo.”

The Lexington, N.C., native said that his company had been in country and manning the landing zone about a month. He added that the helicopter support teams quickly learned how treacherous the desert can be during their operations.

“We have a lot more trouble seeing the birds when they get close to the ground,” the Camp Lejeune Marine said. “We get sandblasted pretty good from the rotor wash.”

Bost and his crew are usually part of an HST; however, they can perform a number of duties required of a beaching operation.

“If we were at the beach, the entire BTO company would be staging vehicles and gear. If there were any helo support ops to do, we would probably be doing that also.” He added the red patches LSB Marines wear on their utility trousers and covers are to let people on the beach know who they are as they run the operation.

Other duties an HST is tasked with are helping to move litters of wounded per­sonnel on and off helos during a medevac and the management of personnel hitching rides on the aircraft.

Although infrequent, mishaps can occur as the HST performs its duties.

“I was bringing in a bird with an external load the other day,” began Private First Class Timothy L. McClintic, a member of Bost’s HST. “He cut his load and was pulling up when one of his engines blew. The bird began wobbling around and came down within about 30 feet of me. The pilot moved to the side of his cargo and came down pretty hard,” said the landing support specialist from Seymour, Ind.

Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident and the HST reviews events such as this.
“We often have safety briefs with the pilots. They tell us if they have trouble over the LZ, they’ll try to head to an 11 o’clock position and so we move to 5 o’clock,” commented Bost.

The HST Marines are usually on the LZ shortly after daybreak. They often work into the night as long as the birds are coming in. A spotlight on the bird and their reflective vests help pilots to pinpoint them in the dark.

“We are a mobile unit, like all Marine units,” Bost said, as he brushed desert grit from one of his crew’s automatic weapons. “We don’t know how long we’ll be here at this supply depot. But anywhere we’re needed by the helos, that’s where we’ll go.”

Cpl Kevin Doll, USMC
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LCpl Danny J. House talks to an incoming helo via radio.

Tanks a Lot! The Corps Put Abrams Tank on
Front Line In Time for Shoot-Out

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LCpl John C. Maloney maneuvers his M1A1 Abrams. Tanks helped spearhead drives by the 1st and 2nd Marine Di­vi­sions that reached Kuwait City in less than three days.

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LCpl Adam Kennedy peers up through the gunner’s hatch of his M1A1 tank before aiming it north and driving into Kuwait.

Marines of 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division unloaded M1A1 tanks from military prepositioning ships Jan. 10. The Abrams tanks will gradually re­place the aging M-60s and are the first of the sophisticated tanks to join the Corps. They couldn’t have arrived in Saudi Arabia at a better time.

The tanks are out-of-the-factory new. When they rolled out of their assembly plants, they rolled onto ships and were joined with forces already in place.

When the ships docked, 2nd Tank Bn Marines boarded them to ready the tanks for offload. Private First Class Chester Bryans climbed aboard the first tank. After a quick light and instrument check, he drove the 67.5-ton tank onto the ramp spanning the gap from ship to shore.

Bryans taxied the tank to a rally point to ready it for its first test. There, a factory employee replaced Bryans for the trial run.

Once in position, a road guide gave his signal, and the tank lunged forward, picking up speed. The tank’s engine revved up as its driver drove down the darkened road, at approximately 40 mph.

At the end of the half-mile strip, the driver parked the tank in a staging area, where tankers started the depreservation process by taking off equipment boxes and removing tape from the M256 120 mm main guns.

For several days, the Marines equipped the tanks with machine guns, removed the packing grease, and readied what they call “Silent Death” for combat.

In November, the 2nd Tank Bn leather­necks had learned to operate the new tank.
“We spent two weeks learning about the M-1A1,” Lance Corporal Allan Bouchard of Lexington, N.C., said. “We mostly focused on our own stations because of the (Persian Gulf) crisis.”

According to Bouchard, the Marines like the M-1A1 much better than the M-60. “It’s a lot faster, has a lower profile, a larger gun and has much better armor,” he said. “It’s just a far better tank.”

The Marines are also very confident of the tank’s capabilities. “We can outrun, outgun and take a hit better than any other tank made,” Corporal James J. Reinhardt of Cherokee, Iowa, said. “Besides, the M-1A1 even has an NBC (nuclear, bio­logical and chemical) defense system on board so we don’t have to worry about getting gassed.”

With the new tanks in Saudi Arabia, 2nd Tanks now has a piece of equipment with the technology of tomorrow, for combat today.

Cpl Philip Haring, USMC
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M1A1 Abrams tanks arrived in Saudi Arabia in time to roll into Kuwait and battle the Soviet-made T-55 and T-62 tanks.

2nd Marine Division Took First Iraqi Prisoners: “Very Prudent Individuals”

The first Iraqi prisoners taken by the 2nd Marine Division surrendered on the afternoon of Feb. 5, 1991.

The six Iraqi soldiers, two officers and four enlisted men, drove to the berm in a vehicle displaying a white flag. They dismounted, walked to Marine units that had them under observation and asked to surrender. “Each had the pamphlets explaining surrender procedures,” said Lieutenant Colonel Jan Huly, the assistant operations officer of the division.

“They were part of a combat engineer unit,” Huly said. “They told us that they were disenchanted with the war effort. They indicated that food, medicine and other basic needs were in short supply. They were very prudent individuals.”

The prisoners ate meals, ready to eat (MREs) and a hot meal, underwent a medical checkup and had the opportunity to clean up. “They were in pretty good condition when they showed up,” said Huly, “but they were grateful for the food. They especially enjoyed the MRE candy.”

LtCol Huly stated that after questioning, the prisoners were turned over for their detainment in accordance with the Geneva Convention.

“They indicated that their particular unit was suffering greatly from desertions, apparently the results of allied bombing. They also indicated that many more of their soldiers would defect, but they lack the opportunity. There seems to be a shortage of almost everything there, so it seems that our bombing campaign is having positive effects for us,” Huly said.

Sgt Earnie Grafton, USMC

Getting Attention The Hard Way

They weren’t looking for trouble; they just wanted to be seen. Ele­ments of the 1st Marine Division were sending out mobile patrols to let everybody up north know that the United States had its eye on the area near the border.

“The patrols are mainly for surveillance and to establish a U.S. presence in the area,” said Captain Kevin Scott, a rifle company commander. “If there are un­friendlies in the area, they see us, and, therefore, know that we’re still interested in the ground we’re patrolling. It keeps them guessing.”

Each company of the task force which was running the patrols usually headed out with troops, vehicles and weaponry consisting of small arms, antiarmor, and large-caliber weapons. They also had the ability to call for fire and always had a Saudi liaison officer or translator with them.

“If we keep doing these patrols, some­body’s bound to see us and call it in on their radio,” said Sergeant Don Milojevich, a Weapons Company Marine. “As long as they know we’re here, it’s good.

With weapons always at the ready, the patrols usually headed out at midmorning and returned to their respective base camps just before nightfall.

Rolling across the barren desert, the patrols often met up with Saudi military personnel and stopped to converse for a while to further make their presence known.
Sheep and camel herders and other Bedouins were also passed by, often waving or holding up the “peace” or “victory” sign.

Whether it was dry, dusty terrain or mud-filled sabkhas, the patrols pressed on through the desert, stopping from time to time in order to compute a grid to give them their exact location and keep them on the right course.

“They [the Iraqis] may still have a forward observer in the Khafji area,” Scott said. “We want to be seen.”

Cpl Steve Nelson, USMC

A Universal Language

As Afghan Evacuees Arrive at Quantico,
Marines Get Creative to Bridge Cultural Divide

 

By Sara W. Bock
In 2009, Marine Corps combat artist Kris Battles traveled to Helmand Province, Afghanistan, where he produced numerous works depicting the bond between Marines and local Afghans who assisted them as interpreters and translators or in other vital roles. So, after he made the short drive from the Combat Art Studio at the National Museum of the Marine Corps to the newly formed Upshur Village, located on the western end of Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., Sept. 8, 2021, he felt a tinge of familiarity as he sat on his three-legged stool, sketchbook in hand, and documented a historic moment in Marine Corps history.

Once an extension of Officer Candidates School and today a commonly used training area for Marine reservists, Camp Upshur had been transformed practically overnight into a temporary home for thousands of America’s Afghan allies and their family members, and Battles needed only to travel to his own backyard to record it.

While the experience was in many ways reminiscent of his deployment more than a decade ago, Battles could sense optimism and hope in the air: a stark contrast, he says, to the troubled environment of a war zone. Just weeks earlier, these Afghan men, women and children, fearing retribution for their association with U.S. troops, fled for their lives as the Taliban seized control of their country—and they were the lucky ones. Now, they awaited a new beginning in a nation with a lengthy history of welcoming newcomers to its shores.

“To sketch them in a more safe and secure environment, to see them already starting to flourish, was a very positive thing,” said Battles, who, now a civilian, has served as the Marine Corps Artist in Residence since 2019.

Working intently with his pencil to paper, Battles created rough sketches of Afghan guests eating meals in the chow hall, waiting in line for medical attention and even merely watching him with curiosity.

A single scene in particular stood out to him during his two-hour visit to the makeshift village—one of eight designated “safe havens” at military installations across the country and the only Marine Corps base on the list—where Afghan evacuees were awaiting processing and eventual resettlement into American communities. A Marine was kneeling to the ground, teaching a group of smiling Afghan children to play the timeless childhood game, “Rock, Paper, Scissors.” While observing the simple activity that requires neither material supplies nor a common language, Battles was struck by the significance of the moment: that interactions like these gave the children a first glimpse of their newfound life in America.

“This young Marine, being a young man himself, not much out of high school, he’s not too far away from ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ himself, so he’s sharing his experience which also welcomes them, makes them feel more at home automatically,” said Battles, gesturing toward the aptly named “Rock, Paper, Scissors” oil-on-canvas painting he created based on the sketch. “Games are a great way to build rapport,” he added.

Battles points out some of the nuances in the painting; namely, that the differences in the clothing worn by the two boys gives context clues as to the setting, despite the fact that the monochromatic background does not. One boy is dressed in traditional Afghan clothing and the other is wearing shorts, a T-shirt, and a pair of Crocs that are far too big for his tiny feet.

“People were immediately responding to the call for help and donations,” Battles said in a nod to members of the local community. “It’s in our nature [as Americans] it seems, to help out and to give out of the bounty that we have, so they immediately responded, and of course, the kids are already wearing the T-shirts.”

Indeed, within hours after the news broke on Aug. 26 that MCB Quantico had been selected as a temporary housing site for Afghan evacuees, the base began receiving offers of support from individuals in the surrounding military and civilian communities, local interfaith groups and non-governmental organizations. Posts across social media platforms called for items like pillows, bedsheets, diapers and school supplies to support the arriving guests who had traveled thousands of miles with little more than the clothes on their backs.

“We were just really overwhelmed with the incredible outpouring from the community and the sheer quantity of donations that we were receiving at the outset,” said Major Tara Patton, the deputy operations officer for Task Force Quantico, which was formed in support of Operation Allies Welcome, a whole-of-government effort spearheaded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Schools and units across MCB Quantico pitched in to help collect supplies during the early days, and as the months have passed, items needed by the guests have continued to pour in. Patton describes the setup of donated goods at Upshur Village as being much like a Walmart store, where Afghan guests can come on their designated days to get the items they need.

According to Danielle Decker, the external affairs officer for Operation Allies Welcome Quantico, the cross-collaborative endeavor to help Afghan evacuees start a new life in America involves the work of multiple agencies and bureaus within DHS, including Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); Customs and Border Protection; and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as the Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department and the Department of Energy. The effort also relies heavily, said Decker, on the Department of Defense to provide security and staffing at each base. In addition to Quantico, two other locations in Virginia were chosen, Fort Lee and Fort Pickett, and across America, Fort McCoy, Wis.; Fort Bliss, Texas; Joint Base McGuire-Dix, N.J.; Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., and Camp Atterbury, Ind., also made the list.

During a Nov. 9 State Department town hall meet­ing for Afghan resettlement stakeholders, former Delaware Governor Jack Alan Markell, coordinator for Operation Allies Welcome, said that cultural advisors were assigned to each of the bases to en­sure that the efforts of the military members were supplemented with culturally appropriate food and places of worship.

At Quantico, which Decker says was chosen based on its capacity to provide a secure location that could house and meet the needs of guests while providing essential security and support, representatives from each of the participating agencies were present at an on-site Interagency Coordination Cell (ICC). For Maj Patton, who works in the ICC, it was a unique opportunity unlike anything she’s experienced in her Marine Corps career thus far.

The mission to support Operation Allies Welcome also is an out-of-the-ordinary one for Marines from units across 2nd Marine Logistics Group, part of the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based II Marine Expeditionary Force, who mobilized at a moment’s notice, diverting from a planned humanitarian relief effort in Haiti to a much closer-to-home locale.

According to Patton, on Aug. 24, the first Marines from 2nd MLG were sent to Quantico. “That was actually on about an hour’s notice,” she adds. At the onset, the Marines lived in two-man tents on site as they readied the squad bays at Camp Upshur, formerly used by OCS, to serve as temporary living shelters for the Afghan guests. As the evacuees began to arrive just five days later on the 29th, the Marines facilitated the check-in process and helped them get settled in.

“Initially we were working pretty hard with the base to use the existing infrastructure at Camp Upshur to support billeting Afghan guests,” Patton said. When it was realized that additional accommodations were needed to support an influx of arrivals, the task force summoned 8th Engineer Support Battalion from Camp Lejeune to establish “Pioneer City,” a second temporary housing area. “In 36 hours, working 24-hour ops, they built the site from nothing, on a landing zone, and turned it into a space for about 1,000 Afghan guests. It’s really been interesting to see it evolve over time,” she added.

As of Oct. 21, said Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Hummitzsch, the executive officer of Combat Logistics Regiment 2, 2nd MLG, roughly 900 U.S. servicemembers, primarily Marines and Navy corpsmen, were supporting the mission in various roles like running the donation center, performing site maintenance and repairs, providing medical care as well as visiting with the guests, playing with the children, and helping their temporary accommodations feel a little bit more like home.

“Everyone is really proud to be part of this historic effort,” said Hummitzsch. “The ability to quickly respond like we did, the opportunity to provide the necessary support to the success of Operation Allies Welcome, and to be able to walk around and see all the smiling faces from all the adults, the families, the kids.”

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In the Combat Art Studio at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, Kris Battles, the Marine Corps Artist in Residence, prepares to put the final touches on “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” an oil-on-canvas painting he created based on his sketches at Upshur Village, and the cover image for Leatherneck’s February issue.

Recognizing the trauma that many of the Afghan guests went through in order to arrive at Upshur Village, Hummitzsch said, made their smiles even more meaningful to him. “And the Marines and Sailors are doing phenomenal things helping them out every day,” he added.

In October, Decker said that approx­i­mate­ly 3,800 Afghan guests were cur­rently living aboard MCB Quantico, adding that some families had at that point been fully processed and were starting their new lives in various locations across the U.S.

“The guests undergo a series of vetting processes throughout their stay with us, and they also undergo intake immigration and biometrics processing and medical screening, and then they’ll ultimately reach their final state of assurance and then ultimately depart camps to their final destination,” Decker said.

During the State Department’s Nov. 9 stakeholders meeting, Nancy Izzo Jackson, who heads the department’s Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration, ex­plained the intake and resettlement proc­ess for those evacuees seeking special im­migrant visa (SIV) status or qualify for designation as refugees fleeing per­secution, stating that the interagency part­ners were working around the clock to resettle everyone into their permanent home communities as quickly and respon­sibly as possible. According to Jackson, after initial administrative processing and health screening on one of the eight mil­itary bases des­ignated as temporary safe havens, Afghan guests were being con­nected with one of nine resettle­ment agency partners to receive their initial place­ment and assistance.

“This process takes into account family size and composition, any special medical needs, existing connections to U.S.-based family or friends. It also takes into account the locally available housing, schooling and community resources,” Jackson said, adding, “We want to make sure every Afghan is set up for success in their new home communities.”

As the U.S. continues to deal with a critical housing shortage, making it difficult in many areas to find suitable accommodations, the State Department had to get creative and for the first time in its history, partnered with private sector actors like vacation rental company Airbnb.

“We have never had to resettle so many people so quickly and we have never done it while also facing a global pandemic, a national housing shortage and significant staffing shortfalls. So, we have had to innovate to meet the challenge,” Jackson said. “We are relying on support from local U.S. communities and private sector partners to help us succeed in these efforts, and we have already seen an astonishing outpouring of support, both material and emotional, from individual community organizations, individuals themselves and private companies. It is a true testament to the boundless American capacity for generosity towards those most in need. From New Jersey to Wisconsin to New Mexico, our Armed Forces colleagues and local communities around our military bases have opened their arms and their hearts to our Afghan guests.”

For Maj Patton, who served in Afghanistan, her role with Task Force Quantico af­forded her a unique opportunity to see her time there come full circle. During the early months of her assignment at Upshur Village, there was an in­teraction she won’t soon forget. A 4-year-old girl, who evidently had been observing the Marines’ interactions with each other at Upshur Village, stopped and saluted her as she walked by.

“I just kind of stopped in my tracks and realized that that little girl could be back here in Quantico 20 years from now as a Marine Corps second lieutenant going through [The Basic School]. While that may or may not be in the cards for her, the fact that she’s here and going through this process means that if she wants to, she has that opportunity. There are those little moments that really resonate with you personally and make it a worthwhile endeavor,” Patton said.

As Kris Battles and fellow combat artist Elize McKelvey, a veteran Marine who also is part of the Marine Corps Combat Art Program, observed and sketched at Upshur Village, children played and ran free. At one point, a large group of them gathered around McKelvey’s sketchbook with pens and pencils and began creating doodles of their own. In that moment, Battles could sense that the children felt at home there, and the artists relished the opportunity to connect with them through a shared interest.

“Part of our job as combat artists is to record for posterity in traditional media these stories for 100 years from now, for 200 years from now. This was a great opportunity, very historic, and it happened right on our doorstep,” said Battles. “An added benefit of what we do is bridge building. Combat art builds bridges in America between the military and [civilian] cultures, and we also build bridges to other cultures because art is a universal language.”

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LCpl Amir Shinwari, a linguist, sits in prayer with Afghan guests during religious services on MCB Quantico, Va., Oct. 8, 2021.

Editor’s note: On Dec. 23, 2021, just before press time, the De­partment of Homeland Security announced that the last group of Afghan guests being housed at MCB Quantico had departed the base, making the installation the second safe haven to complete its operations.Image

LCpl Tyler Zaki, a motor transportation operator with Combat Logistics Battalion 8, 2nd MLG, engages in some outdoor playtime with Afghan children on MCB Quantico, Va., Sept. 18, 2021.

Looking for ways to help support Operation Allies Welcome?Image

The State Department has partnered with Welcome.US, a nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative created “to galvanize additional private sector support and resources for arriving Afghans and channel the immense goodwill of the American people,” explained Uzra Zeya, State’s undersecretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights, during the department’s Nov. 9 town hall meeting.

Interested individuals, veterans organizations, businesses, religious groups and Afghan American diaspora groups can visit the organization’s website, Welcome.US, and from there can donate airline miles to provide transportation from safe havens to resettlement communities; volunteer to provide temporary housing, or sign up for new community sponsorship opportunities.

Operation Allies Welcome goes far beyond the mobilization of military bases and the service­members assigned there and ex­tends to the mobilization of an entire nation to welcome our Afghan allies and honor our nation’s obligation to them—an obligation that those Marines who served in Afghanistan understand well.

Nazanin Ash, CEO of Welcome.US, hopes that the effort will help repair division in the U.S.: “Our ultimate ambition is to unite all Americans in this common cause of welcome,” she said.

MCRD San Diego Marks its Centennial

West Coast Base Blends Historic Architecture With the Corps’ Modern Mission

By Barbara McCurtis
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One of the first platoons to graduate from the new West Coast Recruit Depot in San Diego, Calif., was 4th Plt, Co C, on Sept. 28, 1923.

Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego is celebrating its 100th birth­­day and its beginnings are quite interesting. Following World War I, San Diego, Calif., was a sleepy border town struggling to establish a stable economic base that would attract new residents and generate prosperity. The main thing the area had going for it was perfect climate.

The city’s chamber of commerce, led by a powerful group of local citizens, began courting the Department of the Navy to select San Diego as its southern Pacific port. Initial efforts were rejected as the Navy did not want to invest in an undeveloped location. The group then began lobbying President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1908, the fleet was passing San Diego on its world tour and the committee made a bold move. They raised more than $20,000 and chartered a fishing boat to take the mayor and a group of directors 600 miles south to intercept the fleet off the coast of Mexico. They pleaded their case on the foredeck of a battleship, and the admirals agreed to stop outside the bay of San Diego as the harbor was too shallow, narrow and dangerous.

When the fleet landed on April 15, 1908, they were greeted with parades, cere­monies, balls, guided tours, dinners and other functions in the homes of prom­inent San Diegans. The visit was such a success the group began to pursue oppor­tunities to improve the harbor. Meanwhile, a rev­olution in Mexico brought the Ma­rines to the area. The United States activated the 4th Marine Regiment to support the existing regime in Mexico. At that time, limited operations had been conducted in many parts of the globe in support of national interests.
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Marines aboard MCRD San Diego, Calif., run along Hochmuth Ave., during a 3-mile run to celebrate the Marine Corps Birthday on Nov. 5, 2015.

In March 1911, the 4th Provisional Brigade, under Colonel Charles A. Doyen, sailed from San Francisco to San Diego where they waited on Navy ships for orders south. After a week of waiting, Doyen and his Marines disembarked on March 20 and set up a temporary camp on North Island they called Camp Thomas, in honor of Rear Admiral Chauncey Thomas, Commander of the Pacific Fleet. North Island was one of two islands that transformed San Diego Harbor from a broad bay, wide open to the Pacific Ocean, into a landlocked harbor on the Pacific Coast. A flat spot of sand and scrub growth, the camp allowed the Marines to conduct physical exercises, close order drill and marches under full packs. Marksmanship training was carried out on a range that had been constructed by First Lieutenant Holland M. Smith.

By the end of May the revolution was over, and the 4th Provisional Regiment was disbanded. In 1912, William Kettner, Director of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, was elected to Congress. Kettner used his new position to find federal funding and eventually persuaded Congress to appropriate $238,000 to dredge San Diego Harbor. This was an important first step in making San Diego a Navy town.

Trouble with Mexico occurred again in 1914, and the 4th Regiment was in camp on North Island under the command of Colonel Joseph H. Pendleton. Col Pendleton saw San Diego as a strategic point for the Marines to train and embark quickly for expeditionary duty. He was not alone in this idea; Marine officers had been recommending a permanent advance base regiment since 1911.

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Tents that serve as quarters for leathernecks from 4th Marine Regiment line the beach on North Island, Calif., in 1914.

In camp on North Island, Col Pendleton took every opportunity to generate sup­port for the Marine Corps. Interested in local affairs, he rarely turned down an invitation to attend civic functions. He held an open house every Tuesday and Thursday and hosted the regiment parade for public viewing.

Pendleton’s presence in the city is well-documented in the photographs of the Panama California International Exposition as well as more than 15 articles written on him in the local newspapers. He was sought after as a speaker for civic engagements and soon became a close associate of local leaders to include Congressman Kettner, who became a strong advocate for a permanent Marine Corps installation in San Diego. Before and during the exposition, Kettner pre­pared the city for new military installations when he deepened the harbor and added a coal wharf and fuel oil station and a Navy radio station in Point Loma.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, inspected the area in April 1914 and recommended San Diego as the site for an advanced base. His proposal was approved and the 4th Regiment, ordered ashore at San Diego for an indefinite stay, became the nucleus of the West Coast advance base force. The Marines remained in Balboa Park after the Panama-California Exposition ended, and leased buildings that were part of the exposition and used them for barracks, work spaces and offices.

The 1916 Naval Appropriation Act ap­proved $250,000 to purchase 232 acres of tidal land abutting Dutch Flats, where the San Diego River frequently emptied into San Diego Bay. Dutch Flats was a low-lying marsh near downtown that was covered with water at high tide. Con­gressman Kettner had a home that overlooked the eyesore that was Dutch Flats, and he convinced Pendleton that Dutch Flats was the perfect spot for the Marine base. The San Diego airport was also in Dutch Flats. The airport would be dedicated in 1928, but by 1934 it was crowded with two flying schools; United, American and Western Airlines; Ryan Aircraft and the Marines. Located in the center of the city, the airport’s proximity to downtown gives it little room to ex­pand due to lack of land space and the environmental impact of neighboring communities.

May 15, 1917, reported that Congress had appropriated $250,000 to pay for the land for the Marine base. On Dec. 1, 1921, Col Pendleton raised the flag and the base officially opened. The new San Diego base was the Marine Corps’ first purpose-built installation. Prior to this, Marines were tenants in Navy Yards or occupied former Army or Navy installations and either expanded or remodeled them for their own purposes. The architect for the new base was Bertram Goodhue, the principal designer for the Panama-California Ex­position buildings in Balboa Park.

The original land parcel that abutted Dutch Flats was 232 acres. Eleven dif­ferent land acquisitions from 1916 to 1942 state the base acquired 890 acres. In 1948 the Marines relinquished 245 acres to the airport for construction of a new terminal. The proximity to the airport has created what one commanding general referred to as the San Diego Pause; that interval of time when multiple planes are taking off and individuals speaking outdoors must stop speaking.

Goodhue’s original plan for the base used the Spanish Colonial Revival style architecture featured in the exposition and called for 46 buildings according to a Los Angeles Times report in 1919. The barracks would be linked by a great arcade facing the parade ground; secondary structures would form a long axis behind the arcade creating a series of courtyards. Six major support buildings and small utility structures were completed from 1922 to 1923. During the 1920s and 1930s, the primary function of the base was supporting Marine Corps expeditionary operations. In August of 1923 that changed when the Marine Corps Recruit Training Depot for the West Coast relocated from Marine Barracks, Navy Yard on Mare Island.

The first group of recruits arrived in San Diego on USS Sirius (AK-18). Major E.P. Moses was the officer in charge of recruit training. At that time, the recruit depot had three departments: the recruit detachment, which consisted of all the recruits in training; the personnel section; and the recruit depot detachment which was made up of the depot’s permanent personnel and Sea School. The 4th Reg­iment, nicknamed “San Diego’s Own,” was serving on expeditionary duty and did not return to San Diego until 1924.

In 1924, the base was redesignated Ma­rine Corps Base, Naval Operating Base, San Diego and served as the headquarters for Observation Squadron One, the oldest organized air unit in the Marine Corps. Aircraft were stationed across the bay at North Island Naval Air Station at Coronado, Calif. An emergency expansion of the base began in September 1939 with construction of 27 new storehouses, a defense battalion barracks, mess facilities, hundreds of 16-man prefabricated metal huts for the recruit depot, post exchange, recruit parade ground, neuro-psychiatric building, dental and dispensary quarters, new roads, and a railroad. When the De­partment of the Navy authorized the Ma­rine Corps Women’s Reserve in 1942, several buildings were constructed to house and support female Marines. The first Woman Reserve (WR) officer as­sumed her duties the week of Sept. 25 and by the end of 1943, 187 WRs were sta­tioned on base. When World War II ended, the base focused on demobilization for thousands of Marines returning from the Pacific. WW II had a significant impact on the area; by 1942 San Diego’s popula­tion swelled so much in a single year that it surpassed the projected pop­ulation growth for the next two decades. A large portion of the new arrivals were military personnel and their families.

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Marines of “Fox” Co, 2nd Recruit Training Bn, stand in formation during a graduation ceremony at MCRD San Diego, Jan. 15, 2021.

In 1948 recruit training became the principal tenant, and the base was re­designated Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. The Korean War in the 1950s resulted in a need for housing for returning reserve Marines and new recruits. Tents were assembled on the parade deck for billeting, and the base also built hundreds of Quonset huts. The 270 corrugated galvanized steel huts were in the western area of the base with 180 additional huts located adjacent to the parade deck. Each hut housed 24 recruits.

The depot also served as a staging area for reserve Marines recalled to active duty for the Korean War. The Marines were quickly processed through medical, legal and administrative procedures on and then transported to Camp Pendleton to join new units. The units would eventually be shipped out from San Diego’s Broadway pier as they had during WW II. Col Pendleton’s foresight for the base to be quickly able to support expeditionary needs had proved true.

President John F. Kennedy visited the base on June 6, 1963. A pair of brass foot­prints were created on the site where he stood, with his feet at a 45-degree angle, just as Marine recruits stand on the yellow footprints at the start of recruit training. Dating back to at least June of 1963, gen­­erations of recruits have started their Marine Corps training by standing on the yellow footprints painted outside the receiving building at the Recruit Training Regiment.

The rapid construction of facilities for recruits occurred on the depot during WW II, Korea and Vietnam. In 1967, con­struction began on the first two of five new per­manent “H-style” barracks. Each barrack was three stories high and was designed to house 900 recruits. The depot used the Quonset huts and tents to house the large number of men reporting due to the draft before the barracks were completed.

The end of the Vietnam War and sub­sequent fewer recruits in training meant changes on the depot. In 1972, the final H-style barracks were completed, and 242 Quonset Huts were demolished two years later. In 1976 the correctional facility was demolished, and Recruit Training Reg­iment moved into offices on the arcade vacated after Communication and Elec­tronic School moved to Twentynine Palms in 1975.

The depot has had as many as five Ma­rine Corps schools as tenants over the years. Sea School was a tenant from 1921 until its closure in December 1987. In 1965, Field Music School consolidated with a like unit at Parris Island. Recruiters School was established on Parris Island in 1947 and San Diego opened its school in 1971. The two schools eventually were consolidated in San Diego in 1972. Both depots have had their own drill instructor schools since WW II.

The needs of the Marine Corps have always ruled the demolition and con­struction of buildings and tenant com­mands on the depot. In 1976 the depot was redesignated Marine Corps Recruit Depot and Western Recruiting Region after the addition of the recruiting head­quarters. Women were no longer in sep­arate companies and the new enlisted barracks model of two person rooms was developed. By 1985, the Women Ma­rine and Staff Noncommissioned officer barracks were demolished.

In 1987, Headquarters Marine Corps directives increased recruit training in support of basic warrior training. General Alfred M. Gray, the 29th Commandant, was looking for more meaningful physical exercises such as forced marches and confidence courses.
In 1988 the base opened a Command Museum and to this day, the recruits receive history classes taught by docents, most of whom are retired Marines. The docents use the displays in the museum to reinforce Ma­rine Corps history lessons. New Marines escort their families through the museum retelling the history they have learned from the docents on every Family Day.

In 1991, 25 buildings aboard the base were added to the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to the build­ings, 110 acres of land including the parade grounds, was delineated the Historic District. The depot was nominated for the register because of the significant archi­tecture and the arcade, a covered walkway north of the parade ground, more than 1 mile long that contains nearly half of the buildings. Other historic places include the commanding general’s residence and garage, four married officer’s quarters and garages, the depot disbursing office, Headquarters and Service Battalion head­quarters, the Command Museum, and the Recruit Training Regiment headquarters.

In 1996, the 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Charles C. Krulak, established “The Crucible.” Gen Krulak called the Crucible “the defining moment in a young Marine’s life.” It is a grueling test every recruit must pass to earn the title “Marine.” The Crucible and rifle range training for recruits are conducted at Weapons Field Training Bat­talion which is part of the Recruit Training Regiment but located on Camp Pendleton.

Rifle range training for recruits had been conducted on Marine Corps Base San Diego which was about 13 miles north of San Diego and built by the Marines in 1916. In 1942 the Secretary of the Navy redesignated it as Camp Calvin B. Matthews. Progressive and continuing growth of the city of San Diego in the vicinity created hazardous conditions and in August 1964 the property was trans­ferred to the Regents of the University of California. Rifle range training was re­located to Weapons Training Battalion at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and formally dedicated as the Edson Range Area Sept. 21, 1965.

Recruits are bused to Weapons Field Training Battalion in their second phase of training for rifle qualification. They live on the base for two weeks and return to San Diego to start the next phase of training. In the last phase of recruit train­ing, recruits are again transported to Weapons Field Training for the Crucible. One distinctive aspect of the MCRD San Diego Crucible is “The Reaper,” the grueling steep ridge of rugged terrain that recruits hike carrying 55-pound packs to conclude the event.

New facilities constructed in the early 2000s have energy efficient designs that save money. Physical training fields feature artificial turf cutting down on water use. In September 2007 a new 47,360 square foot Recruit Clothing Issue facility consolidated five facilities in one location. The building has four uniform alteration bays, phase lines for clothing issue, administrative offices for staff, a high-bay warehouse, and a DI lounge.

In 2009 construction of two new bar­racks, a recruit rehabilitation facility, and several independent restrooms were planned as part of the Grow the Force Initiative. The project was part of $175 million awarded to MCRD to upgrade facilities. The upgrades allow the Depart­ment of Defense to utilize the base in the case of a large war or natural disaster. The new barracks were designed with “Black/Grey” water recycling, energy saving elec­tronic monitoring systems, separate laundry facilities and a local area network.

Major changes also have affected the training schedule with the start of inte­grated training in 2020. Three female Marines completed DI school at MCRD San Diego for the first time in December, 2020. In February 2021 the first female recruits reported for training and grad­uated in May. The second in­tegrated class started training Oct. 29, 2021 and is scheduled to graduate Jan. 21, 2022.

Integrated training and new efficient facilities are signs of the future. That they take place on this space created 100 years ago is a blend of old and new. The San Diego Chamber of Commerce was seeking a new path for the city in 1911 when it pursued the Navy. When the exposition broke ground in 1911, San Diego was an optimistic, progressive metropolis of almost 40,000 people.

The chamber of com­merce directors were correct: military bases produce pos­itive economic impact. Military-re­lated spending in San Diego County grew by 5.4 percent in 2021. An annual report released by the San Diego Mil­itary Advisory Council reported that government spending associated with the defense industry in San Diego amounts to 25 percent of the local economy. That same report claimed almost 350,000 jobs can be attributed to the defense industry. About 23 percent of the total labor force in the region works, directly or indirectly, in service of the military.

The relationship between MCRD San Diego and the surrounding community has changed over the years. Urban en­croachment has been held at bay yet remains in the background. Friday parades are still popular with visitors. Training methods may change, but the mission of making Marines remains. The iconic architecture of Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego is a historic place, one that echoes with the memories of 100 years of marching feet and cadence calls.Author’s bio: Barbara McCurtis served in the Marine Corps from 1976-1998, retiring as a first sergeant. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and worked for a weekly paper. After earning a master’s degree in public history, she was a curator for the San Diego Hall of Champions Sports Museum and served as the director of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Command Museum. Prior to retirement in 2018, she was the MCRD Historian and the History In­spector for the Commanding Generals Inspection Program.

One Marine’s Return to Adak island, Alaska

By Dr. Barry Erdman

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Looking east from the Marine barracks in Adak with the Great Sitkin volcano visible in the distance during the winter of 1980.

Background



The island of Adak, Alaska, is about 1,250 miles west of Anchorage, and sits in the middle of the Aleutian chain of islands in the Bering Sea. Adak is about 32 miles long and 22 miles wide, and the tallest peak is Mount Moffet at 3,924 feet. Adak’s northern portion was formerly a military installation but is now owned and managed by the Aleut Corporation, and the southern portion is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a refuge and preserve.

 

Adak’s climate is austere, harsh and demanding for its inhabitants. Due to the extremely remote location, it was considered a hardship duty station for servicemembers assigned there. Many Navy personnel called it, “The Rock,” given the volcanic nature, and it was also well known as “The Birthplace of the Winds.”

Due to the island’s strategic location, it is replete with American military his­tory. On Aug. 30, 1942, the U.S. Army came ashore at Kuluk Bay on Adak. The Japanese occupied the nearby islands of Attu and Kiska in the Aleutians in their advancement in the Pacific. To prevent further advancement, Adak was chosen by the United States as a base of operations to launch attacks on adjacent Japanese occupied islands.

 

Ultimately, a base was set up on Adak that held more than 100,000 American mil­itary personnel during World War II. Two separate airfields were constructed along with a seaplane base. American sub­marines fighting in the Pacific could seek refuge there for resupply and refueling.

 

After WW II ended, Adak’s strategic importance was diminished, and the base was turned over to the U.S. Navy, be­coming Naval Air Station Adak. During the Cold War, Adak once again became a major strategic location, since the Kamchutka Peninsula, a part of the Soviet Union, was only about 450 miles away.

 

In the 1950s, Adak became a location for fleet communications, listening posts, an underwater sonographic post, and a support base for Navy ships as well as the P-3 Orion, the Navy’s anti-submarine patrol aircraft. As the Cold War intensified, so did the need for the strategic placement of weapons of mass destruction, and Adak became a weapons storage facility.

 

The Marine Corps established a pres­ence on Adak in the 1950s due to the need for base security. The weapons storage facility on Adak was known as the Ma­rine Airborne Underwater Weapons Com­pound, or to Marines there, “The Pound.”

The end of the Cold War and subsequent reduction in the U.S military and its bases resulted in the closure of NAS Adak in 1997. During the Cold War, there were approximately 6,100 military and civilian personnel on the base. That dwindled to 300 residents pre-COVID-19, with about 62 residents remaining today.

 

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Foreground: A view of base housing and hangars with three parked P-3C Orion aircraft. Great Sitkin Island, a semi-active volcano, is visible in the background.

The Marines on Adak Island

The Marines’ mission on Adak during the Cold War was to provide security at the weapons storage compound and other then-classified military installations on the island, such as Naval Security Group Activity and Naval Facility, both listening posts. The Marines also provided backup security for the island’s naval police force as needed.

 

There were usually 150-160 Marines stationed on Adak who were organized into three platoons—an admin platoon and two guard platoons, called the 1st and 2nd guard platoons respectively.

 

I was with the 1st Guard Platoon. The commanding officer was a major with a captain as his executive officer and one lieutenant serving as a platoon commander.

 

The Marine barracks were located on Bering Hill and overlooked Adak City. The top decks housed berthing for the single Marines with administrative officers on the first deck. They housed some noncommissioned officers and junior Marines, while base housing housed the officers and married and some single NCOs.

 

In the mornings when the clouds lifted, I had beautiful views of the Alaskan scenery, the rolling bright green tundra hills and snow-covered mountains. The climate was temperate with average 50-degree summers and 30-40 degree average winters, but high winds drove the temperature down. Precipitation was almost daily throughout the year with rain in the fall, spring and summer, and plenty of snow in the winter. On average, there were about five or six days or so of all-day sun in the summer, and when that hap­pened, schools on the island were closed so the students could enjoy the day.

 

Snowstorms were frequent and came and went when least expected in the winter. The severe storms were called “Williwaws” by the indigenous Aleuts as the snow would come down horizontally due to wind blasts. These storms were abrupt, without warning, and came and went in an instant. “White-outs” were defined as when you held your arm outstretched and you could not see your hand. These were also frequent in the winter on Adak.

 

Behind the Marine barracks was the Marines’ enlisted club called Tundra Tavern. The Marine Corps Ball and mess night were always held there. At Tundra Tavern, Marines could unwind when off duty with beer on tap, billiards and pinball machines. The open garages that housed bus, patrol and armored vehicles and search and rescue tracked vehicles, as well as a small enclosed and well-protected ammo bunker, were also located behind the barracks.

 

All buildings on Bering Hill could be traversed via a combination of above-ground and underground tunnels which enabled the Marines to reach recreational facilities including the gym, indoor pools, bowling alley and theater in poor weather. Elsewhere in Adak City, below and south­east of the Marine barracks, were multiple specialty hobby buildings.

 

The weapons compound where we worked was a short distance from the Ma­rine barracks. The guard platoon would be bused to the compound for a one week stay. The compound itself was shrouded in mystery. None of us young, enlisted Marines actually saw or even knew what we were guarding at the time as it was shrouded in secrecy. I later learned that we were guarding up to 70 M57 nuclear depth charges which had up to a 10-kiloton capacity each.

 

The Kamchutka Peninsula of the Soviet Union contained Soviet nuclear ballistic missile submarine bases, and its sub­marines roamed the Pacific Ocean. The M57 was destined for those submarines in the event of war. The M57 weapon would be released from a P-3 Orion sub­marine patrol aircraft and set to go off at a cer­tain depth to cause any submarine in a targeted area to implode. Apparently, there was always a Soviet Foxtrot class diesel-electric attack submarine within 5 miles in waters off Adak Island during the Cold War. The P-3 Orion aircraft had a magnetometer probe on its tail to detect the presence of underwater metal anom­alies, as well as drop sonobouys that would float for several days and send signals to the P-3 Orion aircraft to determine sono­graphically what was lurking below in conjunction with the land-based listening posts on Adak Island.

 

The weapons compound and adjacent areas on Adak were an exclusion zone where the use of deadly force was au­th­orized. From afar, the compound looked like a well-secured federal prison. The compound had an entrance gate with an adjacent two-story guard tower, an inter­nal as well as external barbed-wire fence enshrouded in layers of razor tape, and an internal “no man’s land” in between. Within the compound, there were three primary structures—the weapons mainte­nance building, the heavily fortified Marine “mini-barracks” that housed the Marine guard unit, and the weapons ordnance bunkers that contained seven bomb-blast protected doors. The first two bomb bunker blast doors housed the nuclear warheads, and they were ready access in the event of war as a short dis­tance away from the weapons compound. The other five bunkers contained con­ventional ordnance and ammo and explosives.

 

The compound was heavily guarded all days and times of the year. There were always two armed sentries on foot patrol around the immediate inside perimeter of the compound, each armed with an M16A1 machine gun and 200 rounds of ammo, a flak vest, a radio and a pair of binoculars.

 

The Marine barracks within the com­pound, where Marine guards would stay for a week at a time, had its own galley, mini-gym and berthing quarters as well as an armory and ammo bunker. It was completely self-contained. There were enough Marines there within the com­pound to serve as a quick reaction force until reinforcements from the main barracks arrived if needed.

 

As a Marine Security Unit, we were trained and equipped to ward off a land-based Soviet attack on the compound. More than likely, in the event of a nuclear war, Adak would have been dealt a pre-emptive first strike itself with a Soviet nuclear weapon, given its strategic lo­cation and what was on the island at the time.

 

Other facilities for which Marines pro­vided security were the National Security Group Activity Complex and Naval Facili­ties building at the northern parts of the island near Clam Lagoon. These were highly classified listening posts at the time with underwater sonographic facilities and extensive computer networks.

 

We had regular react drills but a Ma­rine never knew a drill from the real thing when a react was called. When a react was called, an off-duty Marine on Adak dropped everything and reported im­mediate­ly to the barracks, ready to do battle in defense of the weapons com­pound. During a react, Marines at the primary barracks were assigned to certain check and operational points on the island in full battle rattle. The Marines at the Weapons Compound had their own mission in defense of the complex and the immediate surrounding area.

 

Training outside the barracks entailed a variety of activities, including rappelling at Checkpoint Two and squad close quar­ters combat training using old WW II Quonset huts and old cabins in the hills of Adak. Combat training with advance­ments stomping through tundra grass-laden hills was always a work-out, carry­ing a rifle or heavy machine gun, with full combat gear through tundra grass that can be ankle, then knee, then waist deep.

 

Range day happened three to four days per year. All weapons were fired at targets positioned in the tundra. When you fire a .50-caliber in the tundra, we called that “toupee shooting,” as when a .50-cal. round impacts tundra grass, a chunk of dirt and tundra grass flies at least 20 feet in the air, straight-up. It looks like a toupee has been blown off of someone’s head. Since the tundra is so thick and the underlying permafrost is soft, mortar rounds did not always go off. Efforts to remove unexploded ordnance are still ongoing.

 

Adak was a two-year duty station for Marine officers and staff NCOs; however, for the young Marines on Adak, it was a one-year duty station. Many Marines took up bodybuilding or a regular exercise program, became music addicts with elaborate stereo systems procured at the PX, ventured out hiking and enjoyed the Alaskan landscape, or pursued either a new or existing hobby such as photography at one of many individual hobby facilities that were available on station. Some Ma­rines pursued education opportunities.

 

When off-duty, a Marine could spend a weekend hunting caribou, fishing for salmon, or spending time at an old cabin or Quonset hut that had been repurposed for leisure. Other options included “tundra-stomping,” which meant hiking the island to various WW II historic sites.

 

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On a recent return visit to Adak, Alaska, Dr. Barry Erdman looks down at the rack he slept on 41 years ago at the Modified Advanced Airborne Underwater Weapons Complex/Compound barracks.

My Story, Then and Now—Adak as it now exists in 2021

I landed on Adak Island in 1979 when I was 17 years old. It was my first duty station in the Corps. I recently returned, over 41 years later, for a five-day visit in August of 2021.

 

Through the years, I would occasionally think of Adak and wonder what it was like now and how I would react if I returned. The last 10 years or so, I searched many YouTube videos on Adak to try and satisfy my curiosity.

 

In 2019, I caught up with a childhood friend of mine, Alaska Airlines 737 pilot Fred Ripp. Fred has flown in and out of Adak many times through the years, and we decided to make the journey together.

 

Armed with far more wisdom and much more educated, older, well-traveled and experienced in life, I came in with a much different and very positive perspective.

The Aleut Corporation gave Fred and me an unrestricted permit to explore all sites and abandoned buildings and structures that are not privately owned on Adak. We stayed at the Aleut Inn which is repurposed base housing for civilian use. We secured a pick-up truck for the duration there as well. We had to fly in our own food as food is extremely expensive on Adak, and the local store is open only a limited time.

 

The flight to Adak is nothing like it was when I was 17. Back then, Marines flew in on a Lockheed-Electra turboprop airplane. Now, it’s an Alaska Airlines 737 with all modern conveniences. Passengers on flights to Adak include commercial fisherman crews, caribou hunters, salmon and halibut fisherman, bird watchers and to a lesser extent, civilian contractor workers.

 

Boarding the flight to Adak from Anchorage, I felt I was taken back in time. The many thoughts and feelings that raced through my mind, coupled with that melancholy feeling, were incredible. The three-hour flight from Anchorage gave me plenty of time to gather my many thoughts.

 

When preparing to land, we circled the island, and I saw bays and outer islands I did not see so long ago. Adak was en­shrouded in clouds and a light mist just as it was when I left. Mount Moffit was to the left. I had looked at that beautiful mountain from my window at the barracks every morning I woke up when stationed there, and I marveled looking out at it. The Marine barracks was to the right. From the air, the barracks still looked intact as I remembered. It felt good to see it.

 

As we landed, the abandonment of the base elements of Adak City became readily apparent. Many Cold War military buildings had been left to the elements. It had an eerie apocalyptic appearance as if the folks here had just gotten up and left.

 

Fred and I ventured out to the immediate surrounding areas in downtown Adak City. The downtown area was a shell of its former self. Efforts are underway to clear the island of unwanted debris, dangerous structures and contaminated areas that resulted from the military presence, primarily during the Cold War. WW II structures are pretty much long gone. Those that remain have been repurposed for liberty enjoyment, and even those are in marked deterioration and hazardous.

 

The next morning, we began at Kuluk Bay, the site of the 1942 U.S. Army land­ings, the beach that we Marines hiked on when I was stationed there, which seems to be unchanged.

 

The Marine barracks was next on Bering Hill. Bering Hill was eerily quiet but pulling up to the Marine barracks was an altogether different story. The flagpole was still there but flew no flag. The two-wheeled cannons on each side of the flag are long gone, and missing is the brass plaque on the concrete block pedestal before the flag that said, “Marine Barracks Adak Alaska.” The yellow, painted dec­orative chain fence that surrounded the sidewalk at the front of the barracks by the road is gone. The barracks’ cement super­structure is intact, but vandalized, with broken windows and doors ajar.

 

I ventured through all the floors in the barracks and then the basement. In the basement, the armory and brig had been moved after I left the island, as well as the rooms and offices on that level that once housed the sergeant of the guard, the lieutenant’s office and small gym. The laundry and its machines were still there from later guard platoons.

 

The barracks as it exists now is just a shell of its former self. The wax polished floors and polished metalwork are all long gone, and the rooms are dilapidated and in disarray, now deteriorated and vandalized throughout with broken glass and graffiti.

The ammo bunker at the rear of the barracks is still present but void of con­certina wire, and the rear garages and buildings are in various states of deteriora­tion. We proceeded up Bering Hill to the recreation center and galley/chow hall, which were also all abandoned and in various states of deterioration as well.

 

The various weapons bunkers in the Adak countryside remain in fairly good condition and we explored several of those as well as the various cabins and Quonset huts where we spent weekends when off-duty. Many are quite deteriorated and hazardous to venture into today.

 

We explored the Marine Weapons Compound that day and most of the next day. The building once had so much security and mystery that I could not believe we were actually in every nook and cranny without any restrictions. It was unheard of back in the day to even be near there if one was not with the Marine Guard or a Navy Weapons Specialist as­signed to it. The mystery behind it now exposed and abandoned for all to see and walk into unrestricted.

 

As I entered the compound, the faces and names started coming back to me. I was one of the Marine flankers on patrol who once walked this facility in all weather conditions with a machine gun and 200 rounds with deadly force authorized, 41 plus years ago. I could not believe that back in the day, I was sleeping each night, about 150-200 feet away from about 70 nuclear warheads.

 

We explored the entire compound, actually walking into the bunkers that once housed the nuclear weapons, as well into the weapons maintenance building, both floors of the guard tower, and the entire Marine Compound Barracks. I even found the rack I once slept in. I paused for a while to take that in. I retraced my patrol course around the entire compound. The sensors on the fence and ground are long gone, along with the multiple layers of concertina wire and razor tape that were once present.

 

We ventured out over the next days exploring other Marine Guard facilities. All were accessible, but abandoned, and in various states of deterioration, often stripped of valuable metals as well. The “elephant” or “dinosaur” cage (antenna array) is long gone, though their pylons/pedestals remain, which were part of the NSGA complex.

 

The center of where the “dinosaur” cage once stood, incidentally, was the crossroads of the two major runways of the WW II Mitchell Field where B-17, B-24 Liberator, B-25 and P-38s once took off to targets at Japanese held islands in WW II. You can only see the outlines of these airstrips by satellite as the Marsden Mats, once the runway floor, have long been removed and salvaged, the landscape taken over by mother nature and time.

 

Fred and I then explored places that we Marines frequented when we had time off. We visited Horseshoe Bay, and I did the arduous hike up and down with rope assistance, which was spectacular. I also visited the abandoned LORAN [long range navigation] station near there.

 

As we drove the island, we visited var­ious checkpoints that the sergeant of the guard would see daily. The most famous is Checkpoint Two or “Charlie Papa Two,” which was a tall hill on the mid-portion to the north of the east/west runway. It had many antennae and small buildings on it, but has since been bulldozed flat, and is now just a hill with a slanted rocky down fall. Marines once rappelled down the face of those rocks.

 

We visited Finger Bay to see the old WW II foundations and the anti-submarine nets that were placed underwater at the entrance to this bay to prevent Japanese mini-subs from entering. The metal mesh net is actually in pretty good condition.

 

What I also learned about present-day Adak, in an ever-changing world, is that the military may be back on Adak in some shape or form, sooner than later. As the political climate changes, this presents recurring military opportunities, given its strategic location. As well, with the melting polar ice caps, the sea has risen. Thus, shipping has increased in the region, and Adak serves as a port of opportunity. If the U.S. Navy is involved, the Marines may very well return to Adak in defense and support of that in the future.

 

While exploring Adak on this trip, one great story had led to another. This trip indeed went from a journey to an expedition that evolved into a personal odyssey that I will never forget. It was somewhat cathartic as well for me. I have done much to give back to the Marine Corps through the years, thankful for what the Marine experience did for me as a person, that shaped my future.

 

Thus, being at the place where the foundation of it all for me was started, on Adak, I felt returning here, I could in a way, show that it was all worth it.

 

When I look back at my life, I am so appreciative. I am proud and feel very lucky as the American dream worked out for me. The Marines were a good part of that, and I have so much to be grateful for.

 

Flying out of Adak, as we rolled down the runway on take-off, I felt teary-eyed, but good inside. I felt a sense of reconciliation and was ready to move on to my next chapter in life. This trip was so worth it, beyond words.

 

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Author’s bio: Dr. Barry E. Erdman is a retired foot and ankle surgeon who enlisted in 1979 and served in the Marine Corps until 1982. He is a freelance writer and explorer and supports the Marine Corps from time to time whenever called upon.

The 41st Modern Day Marine MILITARY EXPOSITION

UPDATE: Unfortunately, due to the increasing COVID cases in the national Capitol Region, the 41st Modern Day Marine Exposition was cancelled.

At the Crossroads of Force Design

By LtCol Alexander G. Hetherington, USMC (Ret)
The 2021 show theme, “Today’s Innovation, Tomorrow’s Battles Won” signals Modern Day Marine’s position at the nexus of the “theory and practice” of force design—the “theory” inherent in the technological possibilities pioneered by industry and the “practice” embodied by the lived operational experience of serving Marines. As the event enters its fifth decade, its function for zeroing in on what is both possible and needed for an expeditionary force in an age of digital disruption is more vital than ever to ensuring the Marine Corps retains its ability to be a worldwide overnight success in securing national security objectives in 2030 and beyond. As Major General Michael “Mike” Regner, USMC (Ret), National Chairman of the Marine Military Expositions Committee, pointed out, “the ability to shoot, move and communicate are the immutable principles of a credible expeditionary force, but the means and ends of maneuver warfare in the 21st century are challenged by the exponential characteristics of technological acceleration and increasing operational ambiguity, to which has been added a fifth domain imperative to neutralize adversary networks while defending our own. The United States Marine Corps’ ability to deter destabilizing activities is a function of generating the tempo, timing, and situational awareness to reach opportune locations with lethally superior systems that cause our competitors to reevaluate their priorities for challenging international norms and standards.”
WHERE WE HAVE BEEN: Providing Industry with a Venue to Reach Top Marine Corps Decision-Makers and Primary Users

For the past 40 years, the Modern Day Marine Military Exposition (MDMME) has been an industry forum providing Marine Corps leadership, requirements and procurement personnel, and prospective users—occupationally proficient Marines of every rank and qualification—with a preview of future possibilities for training and equipping the Fleet Marine Force. The first show in 1981, billed as the Modern Day Marine “Force In Readiness Exhibit,” took place at an auxiliary airstrip near Yuma, Ariz., with two dozen companies congregated in the open air to “discuss their products, programs and proposals with prominent decision makers who plan and carry out amphibious operations in our nation’s defense.” In 1982, the MDMME migrated across the country and was staged in various commercial facilities in and around Washington, D.C., before finding a long-term home aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico in 1991.During its first 14 years on base, the show took place at the now-demolished structure of Larson’s Gymnasium, which originally was an aircraft hangar built in the 1930s, located between what is now the modern Quantico Air Facility and the Marine Corps’ original aerodrome, Brown Field, the current location of Marine Corps Officer Candidates School. In 2005, the MDMME made the 1.5-mile move to its current more expansive and centralized location on Lejeune Field, a grass quadrangle and parade ground bracketed by Marine Memorial Chapel, Dunlap traffic circle and the iconic base headquarters building, Lejeune Hall. By 2019, the most recent staging of the live event, it had grown to 76,000 square feet of exhibit space housed in a $1.3 million “Expeditionary Convention Center” that is “deployed and redeployed” annually over a five-week period between late August and early October.

As the indispensable intersection for service-level guidance and industry solutions within the Marine Corps community of interest, Modern Day Marine expects to welcome approximately 350 exhibiting organizations and more than 10,000 attendees, 55 percent of whom will be active-duty servicemembers representing every Marine Corps occupational community, to the 41st MDMME, scheduled to take place over its traditional three-day period between Tuesday, Sept. 21 and Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021. Current exhibitor categories have expanded beyond industry manufacturers and service providers to include Marine Corps research, experimentation, requirements, acquisitions, training and education component commands, government logistics activities, academic research and technology organizations, state and local business development activities and chambers of commerce, and a diverse collection of nonprofit organizations which support the personal and professional needs of active-duty and veteran servicemembers, as well as their families, including the Marine Corps Association.

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LtGen Mark Faulkner, USMC (Ret), former President and CEO of the Marine Corps Association, presides over one of the many professional development events organized by MCA throughout the calendar year.

WHERE WE ARE GOING: Providing a Forum to Communicate Service-Level Messages and Institutional Priorities to Key Publics and Stakeholders That Will Support Future Force Design EffortsWhile bringing the show to the Marines has been a MDMME tradition for 30 years, during the winter and early spring of 2020, General David H. Berger, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, chartered an Operational Planning Team to evaluate the increasingly vital role of the event as a key enabler for Force Design 2030, the Marine Corps’ 10-year plan to optimize its structure and capabilities for modern operations. The most significant outcome of this Headquarters Marine Corps evaluation was the decision to move the 42nd MDMME to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., where it will take place from May 10-12, 2022.

Lieutenant General Mark Faulkner, USMC (Ret), former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Marine Corps Association, said the move is necessary. “While Quantico is the crossroads of the Corps, Modern Day Marine is at the crossroads of the whole of government process to plan, program, develop and deploy the layered and integrated capabilities which underpin our national security strategy and the Marine Corps’ role within it as the nation’s premier expeditionary force.”

In addition to sustaining dialogue with industry on capabilities that will catapult the Corps into the future, including long-range precision fires, advanced reconnaissance capabilities, unmanned systems, and the resilient networks which encapsulate the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) concept, the MDMME will become a premium venue for demonstrating to Congress and the wider Department of Defense community that major change in existing force structure and ways of doing business are needed in this era of renewed Great Power Competition. Through an enhanced and diversified lineup of presentations, structured networking activities and technology demonstrations, the event will demonstrate the advantage of persistent, survivable units that operate as a component of the Joint Force, as well as by, with, and through our allies and partners, to provide the fleet and joint force commander with a stand-in component possessing the organic mobility and dispersion to compete and deter in a future operating environment characterized by a maturing and proliferating precision strike regime.

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MajGen Mike Regner, USMC (Ret), serving as the master of ceremonies at the 2019 Modern Day Marine Grand Banquet.

WHERE WE ARE GOING: Providing a Forum to Communicate Service-Level Messages and Institutional Priorities to Key Publics and Stakeholders That Will Support Future Force Design EffortsWhile bringing the show to the Marines has been a MDMME tradition for 30 years, during the winter and early spring of 2020, General David H. Berger, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, chartered an Operational Planning Team to evaluate the increasingly vital role of the event as a key enabler for Force Design 2030, the Marine Corps’ 10-year plan to optimize its structure and capabilities for modern operations. The most significant outcome of this Headquarters Marine Corps evaluation was the decision to move the 42nd MDMME to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., where it will take place from May 10-12, 2022.

Lieutenant General Mark Faulkner, USMC (Ret), former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Marine Corps Association, said the move is necessary. “While Quantico is the crossroads of the Corps, Modern Day Marine is at the crossroads of the whole of government process to plan, program, develop and deploy the layered and integrated capabilities which underpin our national security strategy and the Marine Corps’ role within it as the nation’s premier expeditionary force.”

In addition to sustaining dialogue with industry on capabilities that will catapult the Corps into the future, including long-range precision fires, advanced reconnaissance capabilities, unmanned systems, and the resilient networks which encapsulate the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) concept, the MDMME will become a premium venue for demonstrating to Congress and the wider Department of Defense community that major change in existing force structure and ways of doing business are needed in this era of renewed Great Power Competition. Through an enhanced and diversified lineup of presentations, structured networking activities and technology demonstrations, the event will demonstrate the advantage of persistent, survivable units that operate as a component of the Joint Force, as well as by, with, and through our allies and partners, to provide the fleet and joint force commander with a stand-in component possessing the organic mobility and dispersion to compete and deter in a future operating environment characterized by a maturing and proliferating precision strike regime.

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SgtMaj Johnny Baker, USMC (Ret), 64th National Commandant and CEO of the Marine Corps League, right, reconnects with the 12th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Gene Overstreet, USMC (Ret), at the 2019 Modern Day Marine Grand Banquet.

THE MDMME SPONSORS: The Marine Corps League and the Marine Corps Association—A Stable Foundation for the EnterpriseThe MDMME is the most significant annual undertaking in fulfilment of the complementary chartered missions of the Marine Corps League and Marine Corps Association, two organizations single-mindedly dedicated to the professional development, advocacy and outreach activities which support our Corps, its Marines, and the veteran community, as intended by their common founder, the 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps, LtGen John A. Lejeune, the visionary leader who is celebrated to this day as a principal architect of the expeditionary character and ethos of the Corps as we know it.

The Marine Corps League is a national organization of more than 60,000 members and more than 1,000 community-based detachments in its 96th year as the federally chartered nonprofit advocate and veterans’ service organization for the United States Marine Corps. As SgtMaj Johnny Baker, USMC (Ret), the 64th National Commandant and CEO of the Marine Corps League, said, “We are a body of citizens transformed by service to Corps and country who provide daily community examples of the values that will inspire the next generation to earn the title and cultivate the resilience imperative to the proposition of an inside force.”

In 2020, the Marine Corps Association formally joined with the MCL as co-sponsors of the MDMME. In doing so, the MCA brought its 107-year pedigree as the professional association of the Marine Corps, dedicated to leader development and recognition of professional excellence, front and center by initiating closer cooperation with Marine Corps leadership to sharpen the focus of the conceptual design, as well as the scope and quality of presentation content for the event.

“The Marine Corps Association sees the MDMME as a natural extension of its mission to support the Marine Corps in the development of collaborative, cross disciplinary Marine leaders who prioritize learning. By cultivating a desire to know, a bias for identifying gaps in conceptual knowledge, and the intellectual tools to design questions which deliver understanding, we will continue to place the future of the force in capable hands,” said Colonel Chris Woodbridge, USMC (Ret), Editor and Publisher of Marine Corps Gazette, the professional journal of the United States Marine Corps.
Editor’s note: The presentations and panel discus­sions of the 2021 MDMME will be available to view on demand through the MCA website: www.mca-marines.org. Photos courtesy of LtCol Alex Hetherington, USMC (Ret).

Author’s bio: LtCol Alex Hetherington is a retired Marine aviator, primarily serving with the squadrons of MAG-39 flying the AH-1W heli­copter. He is the show director of the Marine Military Expos, sponsored by the Marine Corps League and the Marine Corps Association.