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DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release; distribution isunlimited.

PCN 10401220100

Marine Corps Historical CenterBuilding 58, Washington Navy Yard

901 M Street, SoutheastWashington, D.C. 20374-5040

Telephone: (202) 433-3838, 433-3840, 433-3841

DIRECTOR

BGen Edwin H. Simmons, USMC (Ret)Secretary to the Directo,- Mrs. Patricia E. Morgan.

DEPUTY DIRECTOR

Col Alfred J. Ponnwitz, USMC

HISTORICAL BRANCH

Head LtCol Thomas A. Richards, USMC. Histories Section:Mr. Benis M. Frank, Chief Historian; Dr. Jack Shulimson;Mr. Charles R. Smith; Capt John T. Quinn II, USMC. OralHistory Unit: Mr. Richard A. Long. Reference Section: Mr.DannyJ. Crawford; Mr. Robert V. Aquilina; Mrs. Ann A.Ferrante; Miss Lena M. Kaljot; Mrs. Shelia Gramblin. Ar-chives: Mr. FrederickJ. Graboske; Miss AmyJ. Cantin, Per-sonal Papers; Mrs. Joyce C. Hudson, Cpl Darian E. Hines,USMC, Official Papers.

MUSEUMS BRANCH

Head/Officer-in-Charge, Air-Ground Museum, Quantico:Col Alfred). Ponnwitz, USMC. Operations Officer Vacant.Museums Section: Mr. Charles A. Wood, Chief Curator, Mr.Kenneth L. Smith-Christmas, Material History; Mr. John G.Griffiths, Ordnance; Mr. Joseph E. Payton, SSgt Mitch Gar-ringer, USMC, Restoration; Mr. Michael E. Starn, Aeronau-tics; Mr. Ronald J. Perkins, Mr. Ronnie D. Alexander,Eschibits; Mrs. Nancy F. King, Uniforms; Mrs. Jennifer L.Castro, Registrar Mrs. Kathryn R. Trout, Programs Assis-tant. Security: SSgt Hurel J. Ward, USMC; Sgt Daryl L.Clark. USMC; Sgt Vincent L. Wright, USMC; Sgt Pete K.Basabe, USMC; CplJose G. Rodriguez, USMC; LCpI KanayaT Easley, USMC; LCpI Wesley C. Simpson, USMC; LCpIJeffrey B. Jones, USMC; L.Cpl David Nieves, Jr., USMC.

MARINE CORPS MUSEUM UNIT, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Exhibits: Mr. James A. Fairfax; Mr. Gordon Helm; Cpl Tracey

W. Thomas, USMC. Marine Corps Art Collection: Mr. JohnT Dyer, Jr.

SUPPORT BRANCH

Head/Division Executive Officer LtCol Dave Beasley, Jr.,USMC. Editing and Design Section: Mr. Robert E. Struder;Mr. William S. Hill; Mrs. Catherine A. Kerns. Library: MissEvelyn A. Englander. Administration: lstLtJohn T. Simpson,USMC; SSgt Vincent C. Allen, USMC; Sgt Exkchart Rat-tanachai, USMC; CplJean P. Duckett, USMC; Cpl Michael

J. Miksovsky, USMC; Cpl Todd M. Halacy, USMC. SecurityUnit; SSgt Treaty N. Williams, USMC.

Mr. Robert E. StruderSenior Editor/Editor Fortitudine

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

Historical Bulletin Volume XXIV Winter 1994-1995 No. 3

This quarterly bulletin of the Marine Corps historical program is published for Marines, atthe rate of one copy for every nine on active duty, to provide education and training in theuses of military and Marine Corps history. Other interested readers may purchase single co-pies or four-issue subscriptions from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. GovernmentPrinting Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Memorandum from the Director: The Commandants' PortraitsBGen Edwin H. Simmons, USMC (Ret) 3

Bust Memorializes Guadalcanal War Hero John BasiloneCharles A. Wood 5

New Showcase Updates Museum's WWII RemembranceKenneth L. Smith-Christmas 6

Readers Always W"rite: Pamphlet Cover InformationPuts Japanese Shrine in Wrong Place 7

Marine Historian Records 'Uphold Democracy' in HaitiCapt John 2T Quinn II, USMC 8

Combat Artist Preserves Haiti Service Scenes on PaperCWO-2 Char/es G. Grow, USMC 12

Historical Quiz: Marines in 1945Lena M. Ka/jot 15

Exhibit Made for Pentagon Hails 1945 Joint OperationsKenneth L. Smith-Christmas and Char/es A. Wood 16

Answers to Historical Quiz: Marines in 1945 17

Service, Achievement Honored by Historical FoundationChar/es R. Smith 18

Marine Forces Reserve Hosts 28 Wearing Medal of HonorSSgt Joseph I? Jascur USMC 19

Acquisitions: Two Colt 'New Service' .45 Revolvers Expand CollectionKenneth L. Smith-Christmas 20

Marine Corps Chronology: October-December 1945Robert V Aqui/ina 22

New Series Entries View WWII Marines' Drive to JapanBenis M. Frank 24

THE COVER

"Haitians line the dirt-and-stone streets. Cheers, chants, and merriment greet Marines fromGolf Company 2/2, SPMAGTF Caribbean, on patrol through the streets of Bord du Borgne,Haiti, Sep94," reads a side-note to the pen-and-ink drawing by CWO-2 Charles G. Grow,USMC, the official combat artist attached to Marine forces in Haiti in autumn 1994. In ad-dition to contributing another pen-and-ink drawing (page 12), CWO Grow writes abouthis experiences in the Caribbean in complement to those of Capt (Maj Sel)John T. Quinn,USMC, the official historian dispatched to the scene by the History and Museums Division.For his part, Capt Quinn looks at the Haiti intervention in its historical context as the se-cond one performed by Marines and as an objective test of skills in the conduct of an am-phibious landing and the establishment of a base within a populous city, beginning on page 8.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY PHIL ORRThe article "Memorandum from the Director: Guam Redux" in Fortitudine's Fall 1994issue is enhanced by a number of adept and attractive photographs taken during theisland's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of its liberation in World War II.Among these photographs, the four on pages 10 and 11 were prepared by Phil Ott,of Artifactual Creations, Riverside, California, who did not receive the credit due tohim within the issue. We regret the delay in recognizing this important contribution.

Fortitudine is produced in the Editing and Design Section of the History and Museums Division. Thetext for Fortitudine is set in 10-point and 8-point Garamond typeface. Headlines are in 18-point or24-point Garamond. The bulletin is printed on 70-pound, matte-coated paper by offset lithography.

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

2 Fortitudine, Winter 1994-1995

HISTORYAND MUSEUMSDIVISION

Memorandum from the Director

The Commandants' PortraitsBGen Simmons

A S THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

does with its Popes, the MarineCorps numbers its Commandants. MajSamuel Nicholas, by tradition, is count-ed as the First Commandant. Although henever held the title of "Major Comman-dant" (as it would have been then), he wasthe senior Marine and muster master ofthe Continental Marines (1775-1781).

After the "United States Marine Corps"(as opposed to the Continental Marines)came into being on 11 July 1798, WilliamWard Burrows (1798-1804) was the first tohold the actual title. It was "Major Com-mandant Burrows" at first and then, witha promotion, "Lieutenant Colonel Com-mandant Burrows." We count him as theSecond Commandant.

As the size of the Corps increased overthe years the grade of its commandermoved up. The Fifth Commandant, Ar-chibald Henderson (1820-1859), was thefirst Colonel Commandant. He also heldthe honorary grade of brevet brigadiergeneral, which causes some confusion.

M AJOR GENERAL COMMANDANT(sometimes abbreviated "MajGen-

Comdt," sometimes "MGC") Thomas Hol-

Traditionally regarded as the First Com-mandant, Maj Samuel Nicholas appears inaportrait based on a contemporary minia-ture, by LtCol Donna]. Neary, USMCR.

comb, the 17th Commandant (1936-1943),switched his title to "Commandant of theMarine Corps" after his promotion to lieu-tenant general. That made official a usagethat had been prevalent for some time.

Gen Carl E. Mundy is the 30th Com-mandant and he recently told us to takea hard look at the name plates on the por-traits of the Commandants that hang inthe Commandant's House and make themuniform in name, grade, number, signa-ture, and tenure. A by-product of ourlabors appears on these pages—facsimilesof the signatures of the 30 Commandantsto date.

The portraits of the Commandants forma unique collection (and unique is not aword to be used lightly or indiscriminate-ly). In addition to the original oil paint-ings which are held in the Commandant'sHouse (more about that later), there arehigh-quality reproductions on display atHeadquarters Marine Corps and in theMarine Corps Research Center and theMarine Corps Historical Center. Actually,many of the paintings are not as old asmost viewers suppose. Some were paint-ed from life, but many are reconstructions.

The idea of collecting the portraits of

MajGen George Barn ett, the TwelfthCommandant, originated the idea of a col-lection ofportraits and sought the help ofAssistant Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt.

the Commandants originated with Maj-GenComdt George Barnett (himself the12th Commandant) in 1916. He went toFranklin D. Roosevelt as Acting Secretaryof the Navy for permission. (It can beguessed that Barnett waited until Secre-tary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, whowas something of a curmudgeon, was outof town.) FDR was a very active AssistantSecretary of the Navy and he delighted inmoving things when acting in place ofDaniels. FDR was already an inveteratecollector of military and naval artifacts,books, prints, and paintings. Much of hisown collection can be seen today in theFranklin D. Roosevelt Library at theRoosevelt homestead at Hyde Park, NewYork.

R OOSEVELT, EVEN AS Acting Secretary

of the Navy, could not approve theexpenditure of public funds for portraits,or, for that matter, for anything else. Inthose days all expenditures of funds hadto be "warranted" by the Comptroller ofthe Treasury.

Roosevelt, perhaps with his tongueslightly in his cheek, wrote to the Comp-troller of the Treasury on October 16, 1916,stating that:

The Thirtieth Commandant, Gen CarlE.Mundy, was painted by Mark Carder

Fortitudine, Winter 1994-1995 3

COMMANDANTS' SIGNATURES FROM 1775 TO PRESENT

MAJOR SAMUEL NICHOLAS28 Nooo,obe, 1775-1781

No.2LIEUTENANT COLONEL WIWAM W. BURROWS

12J/y 1798-6 Mlrnh 1804

No3LIEUTENANT COLONEL FRANKLIN WHARTON

7 Morh 1804-I Septeoobe 1818

LIEUTENANT COLONEL ANTHONY GALE3 Ma,-ch 1819-66 Octobo, I820

2/h AZ47No.3

COLONEL ARCHIBALD HENDERSON97 October IS296 JaR000y I859

No.6COLONEL JOHN HARRIS

7J48108,y l8J9-12 Mooy 1864

BRIGADIER GENERAL JACOB ZEILINIOJR,Ie 1804.31 October 1876

No.8COLONEL CHARLES G. MCCAWLEYI No,oe,ober l876-29Jo,,Rory !89l

MAJOR GENERAL CHARLES HEYW000JOJoooo,a,y 1891-2 October 1903

No.10MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE F. EWO1T

October 1903-Jo Nooe,obe,- 19)0

No.1!MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM P. BIDDLE

Febroooy 1911-24 Febr,o,y 1964

No,!2MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE BARNETI25 Febra,y I9I4.3OJRRe 1920

No.13MAJOR GENERALJOHN A. LEJEUNE

1)8/5 1920-4 Morch 1929

No.94MAJOR GENERAL WENDELL C. NEVILLE

.fIorch 6929-8 JRly 1930

No, 93

MAJOR GENERAL BEN H. FuLLER9foy 1930-28 Febroo,y 1934

No.!!MAJOR GENERAL JOHN H. RUSSELL. JR.

1 Mo,ch 1934-JO Nooeoober 1936

No.!?LIEUTENANT GENERAL THOMAS HOLCOMB

I Dece,obrr 1936-31 Decroober 6943

No.!)GENERAL ALEXANDER A. VANDEGRIFF

I fooooy 1944-31 Dece,ober 1947

No.99GENERAL CUFTON B. CAmS

I fo,ooo,y 1948-31 Deceo,be, 1951

No.20

GENERAL LEMUEL C. SHEPHERD. JR.I J!0808,y 19J2-Jl Dece,obe,- 1955

No.2)GENERAL RANDOLPH MCCALL PATE1 fooooy 1956.3! Deooother 1959-1

No.22GENERAL DAVID M. SHOUP

I fo,,o,,y 1960.31 Dece,,obe,- 1963

No.23GENERAL WALLACE M. GREENE, JR.I JooRary 1964-31 L5eceo,ber 1967

No.24GENERAL LEONARD P. CHAPMAN, JR.

I fooooooy 1968-31 Deceother 197!

No.23GENERAL ROBERT E. CUSHMAN. JR.

1)488897 I9?2-3Ofe 9975

No.20GENERAL LOUIS H. WIlSON

1)8/5 !975.J6f,,e 1979

No.2?GENERAL ROBERT H. BARROW

9)8/5 1979.JOJBoe 1983

No.20GENERAL PAUL X. KEI.LEY1J8/y 9983-30 fORE 9987

No.29GENERAL ALFRED M. GRAY. JR.

IJo/y 1987-JOJoo8e 999!

No.30GENERAL CARL E. MUNDY. JR.

IJR/y 9999-

The Commandant of the MarineCorps is desirous of procuring, forhistorical purposes, portraits, in oil,of as many of the Commandants ofthe Marine Corps since its reorgani-zation in 1798 as may be obtaina-ble, probably eight or nine in all,such portraits to be preserved at theHeadquarters of the Corps.

FDR asked for a decision if the expenseinvolved could be borne out of the ap-propriation "Maintenance, Quarter-master's Department" under any of severalsubheads, including "office furniture" or"expenses arising at home or abroad butimpossible to anticipate or classify."

H E ADDED IN HIS OWN handwritingat the end of the letter, "I believe

that it is the duty of the government toencourage in every way possible the col-

lection and preservation of every kind ofhistorical material."

The Comptroller of the Treasury (whohad probably dined at the Commandant'sHouse as the Barnetts had great reputa-tions as Washington hosts) came throughwith a favorable decision on 21 Octobersaying that he held that [pictures] were"office furniture." His precise words werethat "paintings suitable for the decorationof rooms in a public building are withinthe meaning of the term 'furniture,' andmay be purchased from an appropriationfor furniture." Barnett later stated that hispurpose in having the paintings done wasto show the successive changes in MarineCorps uniforms.

Such things moved more quickly in1916 than now and on 13 November theQuartermaster General, Charles G.McCawley, was able to report to Barnett

Eighth Commandant Cot Charles G.McCawley in one of the Brooke portraits.


that a contract had been let with RichardN. Brooke for an "Oil portrait of MajorGeneral Commandant George E Elliott,M.C., retired, and other portraits of formercommandants as may be desired" at$225.00 each.

Q NE OF THE portraits painted byBrooke was of McCawley's father,

ColCmdt Charles G. McCawley (1876-1891). Charles McCawley, Sr. was alreadydead when the painting was done in 1917and the artist worked from photographstaken while ColCmdt McCawley was onactive service. Barnett's own portrait,

painted from life in 1917, not by Brooke,but by Louis H. Gebhardt, cost $235.00.The Comptroller of the Treasury apparent-ly did not challenge the price, and the costhas been going up ever since.

Conspicuously absent in the collectionis a portrait of the black sheep FourthCommandant, LtColCmdt Anthony Gale(1819-1820), whose tenure was cut short bycourtmartial. No known likeness of himexists.

Each Commandant now chooses the ar-tist who will do his portrait. Gen Mundychose Mr. Mark Carder of Birmingham,Alabama.

Although they may not have seen theoriginals or even the reproductions collect-ed together in one place, most Marineshave seen the portraits at one time oranother in the pages of Leatherneck, Ma-rine Corps Gazette, or elsewhere. Theymay be less familiar with the signaturesof the 30 Commandants of the MarineCorps. So we have gathered them togetherhere.

It may be that out there in the reader-ship of Fortitudine there are some hand-writing analysts. If so, we invite them totake a searching look at these signaturesand tell us what they see. LI11 7750

Bust Memorializes Guadalcanal War Hero John Basilone

A BUST OF "Manila John" Basi-lone, the Marine whose quick think-

ing and bravery on Guadalcanal duringWorld War II were credited with helpingto turn back an attack by an entireJapanese regiment, has been donated byhis family to the Marine Corps Museum.

The plaster with bronze-patina finishbust of GySgt John Basilone was present-ed by Mary G. Basilone, his sister, of Rar-itan, New Jersey, in a ceremony in theSpecial Exhibits Gallery in October 1994.Accompanying Miss Basilone were her sis-ter, Dolores Hawkins, and family friend,John Garlup.

At the ceremony Miss Basilone recount-ed how her brother had grown up with thesculptor, Philip Orlando, who later want-ed to memorialize his friend in a larger-than-life statue. Drawing on photographsprovided by the family, Mr. Orlando com-pleted the heroic bronze likeness which isa prominent feature of the city of Raritan.When the statue was completed, Orlan-do destroyed the plaster casting with theexception of the bust, which he present-ed to Miss Basilone.

G YSGT BASILONE WAS BORN in Buffa-

lo in 1916 and began his militaryservice with a tour of duty in 1934 withthe U.S. Army in the Philippines, wherehe gained the sobriquet "ManilaJohn." Hewas discharged from the Army in 1937 andreturned to Raritan, but with World WarII approaching, enlisted in the MarineCorps. In 1942 he shipped out for theSolomon Islands with the 1st Battalion,

by Charles A. WoodChief Curator

Mary G. Basione is Jianked by her sister;Dolores Hawkins, and family friendJohnGarlup, who helped to transport the bust.

7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. Duringthe Guadalcanal campaign, on the nightof 24-25 October 1942, as a sergeant incharge of two heavy machine gun sections,Basilone manned one gun and skillfullydirected the remaining guns to help turnback an attack by a Japanese regiment af-ter most of his gun crews were either killedor wounded. For his actions he was award-ed the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:"In a fierce frontal attack with theJapanese blasting his guns with grenadesand mortar fire, one of Sergeant Basilone'ssections, with its gun crews, was put outof action, leaving only two men to carryon. Moving an extra gun into position, heplaced it into action, then under continualfire repaired another, and personallymanned it. A little later, with the ammu-nition critically low and the supply linescut off, Basilone at great risk to his life andin the face of continued enemy attack,battled his way through hostile lines withurgently needed shells for his gunners."

The battle continued for hours, withBasilone and his few remaining Marinesholding the Japanese back—at one pointhe used his pistol to repulse enemy whohad reached his trenchline — until rein-forcements could reach them. Basilone'scitation notes that his small force con-tributed in large measure to the destruc-tion of an entire enemy regiment.

ANILA JOHN" subsequent-ly was ordered back to the U.S.

to tour in aid of the War Bond Drive. Dur-ing this period, in 1944, he met and mar-ried a sergeant in the Marine CorpsWomen's Reserve, Lena Reggi. But havingrequested to return to combat duty, he wassent with the 1st Battalion, 27th Marines,5th Marine Division, to Iwo Jima. Therehe single-handedly attacked and destroyedaJapanese blockhouse which was holdingup his unit. He was killed on D-day, 19February 1945, and was posthumouslyawarded the Navy Cross for his actions.

Eli 775L1

The bust, by Philip Orlando, is on displayamong World War II 50th anniversarycommemorative exhibits in the Museum.

Fortitudine, Winter 1994-199 5 5

New Showcase Updates Museum's WWII Remembrance

A NEW LARGE SHOWCASE containing

displays on six World War II cam-paigns was installed in the Special ExhibitsGallery of the Marine Corps Museum inWashington, D.C., on 5 December 1994.The addition of this case and a displayfeaturing the two flags raised over MountSuribachi brought the history of the warup to the Okinawa campaign in this stead-ily growing, major exhibit, which is dedi-cated to the 50th Anniversary of WorldWar II.

Earlier visitors returning to the Muse-um now will find two large multipurposeshowcases, one at either end of the gallery.These are in addition to the recentlymounted four window cases and a specialselection of World War II combat art. Theinstallation of the first large showcase waspart of the second phase of the Museum'sefforts to commemorate World War II (seeFortitudine, Fall 1994). It contains artifactswhich were used or encountered by Ma-rines throughout the entire war in the Pa-cific Theater. The newest large case,

however, is divided into six sections whichcontain exhibits on the campaigns in theMarshall Islands and on Saipan and Tini-an, Guam, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okina-Wa. These were the six battles whichfollowed Cape Gloucester, the featuredcampaign in the last of the four preced-ing window cases.

Each of these famous Marine victories isallotted a distinctive section of this versa-tile case. The design of the showcase al.

by Kenneth L. Smith-ChristmasCurator of Material Histo;'y

lows it to be used for multiple shallow-depth exhibits, such as is being done atthis time, or for large single-theme dis-plays with a potential volume of 900 cubicfeet. As has been done in all of the Muse-um's World War II commemorative ex-hibits, two- and three-dimensional itemsare blended together to tell the story ofthe battle. Facsimile documents and pho-tographs are juxtaposed with artifactswhich are significant to the overall war ef-fort or are specific to that particularcampaign.

IN THE FIRST display on the Marshallscampaign, an Ml carbine, characteris-

tic Japanese split-toed military footwear,and a model of an M3 halftrack are fea-tured, along with a reproduction copy ofthe landing instructions issued to each Ma-rine in the 4th Marine Division. As muchas possible, copies of the original docu-ments in the Marine Corp's historical ar-chives. are being used to minimize anydamage to the originals due to fading dur-ing the long-term exhibit.

The display on Saipan and Tinian hasan M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle(BAR) prominently mounted, since thiswas the first time that the new four-manfire team concept, including a BAR man,was used in the Pacific. This new doctrineincreased the number of BARs from oneto three in each squad, and provided anew flexibility in Marine ground tactics forthe rest of World War II. In addition to

other smaller objects, a Japanese Type 99light machine gun is shown next to it, sothat the visitor can compare the twoweapons. A homemade fighting knifewhich was carried by a Marine sergeantwho was killed on Saipan is also includedin this section. It has a cast aluminumgrip, copied from the familiar M1918"knuckle knife" of World War I, but hasa blade which was fashioned from a cut-down M1840 U.S. cavalry saber. This knifewas transferred to the Museum from theU.S. Army's museum at Fort Sam Houstonin the 1980s.

T HE CASE ON GUAM contains one ofthe two bronze entrance plaques

which were recovered from the ruins of theold U.S. Marine Barracks on Guam's OrotePeninsula, when it was recaptured by the22d Marines in the summer of 1944. Bothof these battle-damaged plaques havebeen in the Museum's reserve collectionsince the war, and the mate to this one wassent to Guam on extended loan for an ex-hibit last summer. This is the first timethat these plaques have been on exhibitsince their use in war bond drives duringthe last few months of World War II. Alsoincluded in this display is a spear madefrom a bamboo pole, with a Japanesebayonet lashed to it. This evocativemakeshift weapon was found after a ban-zai charge on Guam and has not been onexhibit since 1977.

The Peleliu display has three edged-


Consuming all of one wall of the Special Exhibits Gallery, thesecond new showcase is divided into six sections, each honoringa Pacific campaign: Marsha/Is, Saipan and Tinian, Guam, Peleliu,

Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Among items on display — this one inthe Okinawa exhibit — is a rare Marine Corps sniper rifle, madefrom a M1903 Springfield rifle and a target telescopic sight.

Guam Marine Barracks plaque is a feature.

weapons in it which were all donated inrecent years: ajapanese "samurai" sword,a hospital corpsman's bob knife, and thefamiliar "Ka-bar" combat utility knife. Inall of the exhibits, an example of the ap-propriate divisional cloth shoulder insig-nia is displayed, and in this case, it is anearly-war 1st Marine Division patch whichwas worn by long-time museum volunteerGeorge H. MacGillivray.

T HE LAST TWO exhibits are slightlylarger than their predecessors, since

these campaigns involved so many morecombatants. Within the last 10 years, themuseum was fortunate to receive from

different donors two nearly complete setsof "782" gear which were actually wornashore on Iwo Jima. While the knapsackand haversack carried by Cpl TobyRaspilair is being shown in a special ex-hibit at the Pentagon on the last sixmonths of the war, another set, which wasdonated by Eugene Heinzel, is on displayin the Iwo Jima portion of the Museumexhibit, along with an American and aJapanese canteen, also given by Mr. Hem-zel. A Japanese Type 14 M1925 pistol andits holster, which was brought off the is-land by Eugene F. Fredericks, Jr., is con-trasted with an example of theoften-maligned Japanese Type 94 pistol.

One of the highlights of the adjacentOkinawa exhibit is the scarce Marine Corpssniper rifle which was made from a modi-fied M1903 Springfield rifle and a Unertitarget telescopic sight. This rifle, alongwith the Ml carbine in the Marshalls dis-play, was given to the Museum by its form-er director, Col F. Brooke Nihart, shortlyafter he assumed his post in 1974. An in-teresting item which also can be seen inthis case is ajapanese concussion grenade,

made of clay pottery. This example is oneof several which have been given to theMuseum in recent years. In addition to the6th Marine Division embroidered shoul-der insignia is a squadron patch of MarineNight Fighter Squadron 542, a unit whichdowned 18 Japanese planes while flyingGrumman F6F Wildcats during the cam-paign and helped to protect the U.S. fleetoffshore from kamikaze attacks.

National treasures, both of the flagswhich were raised over Mount Suribachion 23 February 1945 have been movedfrom the former Iwo Jima exhibit, in placesince 1977, to the new setting in the Spe-cial Exhibits Gallery.

FILLED OUT BY some of the most sig-nificant and appropriate art of the

period, the entire World War II com-memorative exhibit now takes the viewerthrough the early summer of 1945. Thisspring, additional displays on the end ofthe war, the occupation of Japan andNorth China, and the experiences of Ma-rine prisoners of war are expected to beadded. L1775L1

Readers Always W7rite

Pamphlet Cover Information Puts Japanese Shrine in Wrong PlaceThere is one thing about . . . [Breach-

ing the Marianas: The Battle for Saipan]that may draw some letters. The captionfor the cover photograph reads: "A Marineenters the outskirts of Garapan, Saipan,through the toni gate of a Shinto Shrine."I have had enough experience in publish-ing to know that one must believe whatis said in the captions that accompanyphotographs one intends to use. However,this shrine is not in Garapan. Therein liesan interesting story.

Under Japanese rule there were twopopulation centers. One was Garapan.The other was built around the sugarrefinery at what the records show as Cha-

Gate today is within a Catholic cemetery.

ran Kanoa. This is a phonetic spellingfrom the Japanese pronunciation. The na-tives call it Chalan Kanoa. They managethe Us better than did the Japanese. Thatarea was blown away during the preinva-sion bombardment and the refinery wasleft in ruins. Nearby, U.S. forces soon es-tablished a camp for civilians. When it wassafe to do so, the camp was closed and thenatives were free to resettle. One of thefirst things they did was to build a church.The location they chose was the ruins ofthe sugar refinery. The church was builtentirely by hand labor and Americansjoined in to assist the natives in the ven-ture. Today the church is designated as thecathedral. Alongside the church structureis a Catholic school complex. One of thebuildings is from the old refinery, the onlystructure to survive. Next to the school isa cemetery. That toni gate and shrine canbe seen today—smack dab in the middleof a Catholic cemetery.

There is one other item that could beinterest. Afetna Point was a significant fac-tor in the invasion. Islanders call it SusupePoint. To them, Afetna is further down.

Just above Agingan Point. When the CoastGuard maintained a station on the islandthey had an old Spanish map on the wall.It revealed the place names the same wayislanders have them.

Saipan is one of my favorite places. I ama retired professor from San Jose StateUniversity. My field is history. Over theyears the university has maintained degreeprograms in Micronesia and I have beenout there many times. The last tour on Sai-pan was in March/April/May of this year.

Dr. Damon G. NaltySan Jose, California

Cover note misidentified Marine's locale.


Marine Historian Records 'Uphold Democracy' in Haiti

I N SEPTEMBER with U.S. diplo-matic efforts to oust the regime of

LtGen Raoul Cedras in Haiti at an im-passe, I was afforded an opportunity toserve as a field historian when MarineForces Atlantic requested that one be dis-patched as soon as possible to the Marineforce on station in the Caribbean Sea. Af-ter spending my first eight months at theMarine Corps Historical Center workingon projects related to the 1990-1991 GulfWar, I welcomed the opportunity toreturn — even if only for a short while — tothe fleet. Within days of the request, I hadpacked my sea bag and caught a flight tothe U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay,Cuba, to join what was then still billed asOperation Support Democracy. This en-compassed the U.S. military's activities insupport of the U.N. economic blockade ofHaiti designed to unseat LtGen Cedrasand restore exiled Haitian President JeanBertrand Aristide to office.

Uncertain as to the scope and size of theMarine portion of the projected operation,I joined the amphibious task force locatedjust offshore south of Guantanamo Bay onthe late afternoon of 15 September in timeto attend a complete brief for its officerson board the USS W"asp (LHD 1). As out-lined that evening by the combined staffsof the amphibious task force, the plan forU.S. military intervention — dubbed Oper-ation Uphold Democracy—called forJoint

by Capt John T Quinn II, USMCHistorical Writer

Task Force 180 (JTF 180) under the com-mand of LtGen Henry H. "Hugh" Shel-ton, USA, to take control of key objectivesthroughout Haiti in order to help force theHaitian military from power. The opera-tion would consist of two major actions atthe outset. A large task force (15,000-20,000 troops), consisting of most of the82d Airborne Division from Shelton'sXVIII Airborne Corps, as well as elementsof the U.S. Special Operations Command,would seize Port-au-Prince, the country'scapital and its largest city, as well as keyfacilities in the surrounding area utilizing

both parachute and helicopter-borne as-saults. The latter would be launched fromtwo aircraft carriers of VAdm Jay L. John-son's Task Force 185 offshore.

A SMALL AMPHIBIOUS task force (Task

Force 185.2) fromJohnson's fleet un-der the overall command of RAdm Wil-liam H. Wright IV, would seize Haiti'ssecond largest city, Cap Haitien, on itsnorth coast. Wright, the commander ofthe Mayport, Florida- based Cruiser-Destroyer Group 12, also headed the mar-itime interdiction operations for the U.N.embargo of Haiti. Wright's landing forcewas the 1,900 Marines and sailors of Spe-cial Purpose Marine Air-Ground TaskForce Caribbean (SPMAGTF CARIB) un-der Col Thomas S. Jones.

SPMAGTF CARIB's command elementconsisted of the staff and headquarters ofJones' 2d Marines with augmentationfrom other II Marine Expeditionary Force(II MEF) units. The task force's groundcombat element was a battalion landingteam built around the 2d Battalion, 2dMarines (BLT 2/2), commanded by LtColGeorge S. 'Steve" Hartley. The battalionhad just returned in June from a six-month deployment to the Far East, andvirtually every key billet was held by anofficer new to the job after the normalsummer turnover. LtCol AnthonyJ. Zell'sMarine Medium Helicopter Squadron 264


At H-hour on 20 Septembe air-cushioned landing craft (LCACs) leave the Wasp (LHD1) for Cap Haitien, in the left background The Ashland (LSD 49) is at right in thispicture. The landing was under the command of RAdm W"zWiam H. W/right I USN.

Preintervention planning was carried out on board Wasp among, from left, Maj Her-man C. Broadstone, executive officer BIT 2d Bn, 2d Marines; LtCol George S. Hart-ley, commanding BLT2/2; and Maj Thomas C. Greenwood, 2dMarines/MAGTF 5-3.

(Reinforced) (HMM-264 [Rein]) served asthe MAGTF's aviation combat element.Besides HMM-264's regular lineup of 12Boeing CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters,the squadron included four SikorskyCH-53E Super Stallions from MarineHeavy Helicopter Squadron 464 and fourBell Textron AH-1W Super Cobras andthree UH-1N Hueys from MarineLight/Attack Helicopter Squadron 269.The task force's logistical support wasprovided by Combat Service SupportDetachment 29 (CSSD 29), commandedby Maj Lance R. McBride. This detach-ment of nearly 200 Marines and sailors wasformed from units throughout the 2dForce Service Support Group.

Besides SPMAGTF CARIB and theW"asp, Admiral Wright's command for theoperation also included the Nashville(LPD 13), the Oliver Hazard Perry (FFG7), and, temporarily, the Ashland (LSD49). This force was rounded out by thepatrol craft Monsoon (PC 4) and SEALplatoons from Naval Special WarfareGroup Two. Capt Guy E. Myslivy, USN,the commander of Amphibious SquadronEight, and several of his officers joinedWright's staff to lend it greater amphibi-ous expertise. Operating off the Perry wasa section of Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warriorsfrom 0 Troop, 4th Squadron, 2d ArmoredCavahy Regiment, which provided the taskforce an excellent reconnaissance capabil-ity at night, paired with the ability todesignate targets with lasers and engagethem with Hellfire antiarmor missiles.

Formed on 20 July at Camp Lejeune,North Carolina, the SPMAGTF was dis-patched to the Caribbean Sea in mid-August to maintain the U.S. AtlanticCommand's afloat non-combatant evacu-ation operation (NEO) capability, off Hai-ti. This had been the principal mission of

its immediate predecessor, the 24th Ma-rine Expeditionary Unit (Special Opera-tions Capable) (24th MEU [SOC]), whichitself had been quickly dispatched fromNorth Carolina to the Caribbean in earlyJuly 1994 after only a few weeks rest froma six-month deployment to the Mediter-ranean Sea. As the United Nations andthe administration of President Clintonexhausted efforts to negotiate the returnof President Aristide to power, the missionof the joint task force shifted to prepara-tions for an armed intervention.

C OLJONES and his operations officer,Maj Thomas C. Greenwood, had

been briefed on contingency plans for suchan operation before SPMAGTF CARIBdeparted Camp Lejeune. In the case of themain effort by U.S. forces at Port-au-Prince, a two-track planning for both"hard" and "soft" intervention options wasadopted by General Shelton that involveddifferent force packages. For the "hard" orcombat entry, much of the 82d Airborne

Division, along with Rangers and otherspecial forces, would parachute onto keyobjectives in and around Port-au-Prince.They would be relieved within weeks bythe Army's 10th Mountain Division in therole of occupation force. The "soft" or per-missive entry option skipped the airborneassault and instead envisioned directlyairlanding most of the 10th Mountain Di-vision plus additional special operationsforces into Port-au-Prince. For the am-phibious operation to the north directedat Cap Haitien, either option would be ex-ecuted by SPMAGTF CARIB.

With the potential for widely varyingcircumstances under which a landingcould take place, Adm Wright and ColJones designed a flexible plan for the oper-ation. Wright identified the port and theairfield as the two key objectives in the cityof approximately 65,000 people, with thecontrol of both necessary to sustain theforce ashore and to permit the quick in-troduction of a follow-on Army light in-fantry brigade task force. With the keyobjectives separated by a distance of nearlythree kilometers, Jones divided LtColHartley's battalion landing team into threetask forces for the initial phase of the land-ing. The port and the airfield would eachbe the object of a task force, while thethird would be held in reserve.

To seize the port area, Col Jones formedTask Force Irish, which consisted primari-ly of Company G, 2d Battalion, 2d Ma-rines and Company B, 2d Light ArmoredReconnaissance (LAR) Battalion. It also in-cluded significant portions of the BLT'sHeadquarters and Service Company andits Weapons Company. Under the com-


On 21 September, Marines of Company G, BLT2/2, man an AAV barricade just out-side the entrance to the port of Cap Haitien. Task Force Irish, including CompanyG, was to land near the port, clear, and occupy ii before moving to other objectives,

A light armored vehicle — a LAV-25 from Company B, 2d LAR Battalion — takes upa position adjacent to the headquarters of the Haitian Army's Military Departmentof the North, despite the previously expressed displeasure of its commander

mand of LtCol Hartley, Task Force Irishwould land adjacent to the port withCompany G mounted in amphibious as-sault vehicles (AAVs) and clear and occupyit. The light armored vehicles (LAYs)would immediately follow in both air-cushioned and conventional landing craft.A portion of this force would then quick-ly move to landing force objectives—mostnotably the headquarters and barracks ofthe Military Department of the North, lo-cated a few blocks inland from the port—and demand their immediate surrenderunder the threat of attack.

( ONCURRENTLY, THE airfield just to.i the south of the city would be takenprimarily via air assault by Task ForceHawg under the command oi 2d Battal-ion, 2d Marines' executive officer, MajHerman C. Broadstone. This task force, sonamed in recognition of Maj Broadstone'sfondness for Harley-Davidson motorcycles,consisted of Company F, 2d Battalion, 2dMarines; Battery B, 1st Battalion, 10th Ma-rines; and a combined anti-armor team(CAAT) from BLT 2 / 2's Weapons Compa-ny. In a somewhat unusual move, BatteryB had left its M-198 howitzers back atCamp Lejeune and had organized andtrained as a provisional rifle company fromthe outset of the deployment to the Carib-bean. The third task force—Company E,

2d Battalion, 2d Marines—was designat-ed as the MAGTF reserve and would re-main on board the Wasp until Col Jonesdetermined where best to employ it.

As the deadline for a negotiated settle-ment to the crisis rapidly approached, theMAGTF launched into a final round ofbriefings and preparations. Foremostamong these were instructions by its com-manders on the rules of engagement,which emphasized discipline and restrainton the part of Marines and promoted ColJones' philosophy that, the hearts andminds of the Haitian people were the ob-jectives that ultimately had to be won over.Thus, only military targets that present-ed a direct threat would be taken under

fire by Marines, and all possible effortswould be taken to limit collateral damageto civilian areas.

Reconnaissance missions that identifiedusable landing beaches for the Marineswere undertaken by Navy SEALS in thewaters off Cap Haitien during mid-September. Intelligence sources helped topinpoint critical targets for immediate en-gagement, the most worrisome of whichwere heavy machine gun positions nearthe airfield. With the administration fac-ing strong opposition from many in Con-gress over its threatened intervention inHaiti, the question of the effect of Ameri-can casualties on the operation's successwas carefully considered, especially in lightof the bitter U.S. experience in Somalia inOctober 1993. Marines were aware of theforeign policy disagreements at home con-cerning the wisdom of U.S. armed inter-vention. On average they seemed skepticalof the utility of the mission, given theirunderstanding of Haiti's troubled histo-ry. Despite this, the men and women ofthe SPMAGTF focused their attention onthe "how" of the mission ahead ratherthan the "why."

A N jiTH-HOUR ACCORD, brokered onthe evening of 18 September by a

U.S. delegation to Haiti headed by form-er PresidentJimmy Carter, resulted in theabrupt cancellation of the assault on Port-au-Prince and Cap Haitian just a fewhours short of its scheduled commence-ment. Marines greeted this turn of eventswith a mixture of relief and disappoint-ment; the former because of the naturaluncertainty felt by those on the verge ofpossible combat, and the latter because itmeant being denied the opportunity toparticipate in the Marine Corps' first am-phibious assault in over a decade. As Ma-


Map from Library of Congress, Area Handbook for Dominican Republic and Haiti, second edition, 1991

Looking northwardfrom the vehicle bridge over the Haut-du-Cap River at the southernedge of Cap Haitien gives a partial view of the city, strung out along the western shoreof Cap Haitien Bay andsurroundedby high hills. Villas dot the slopes of the lower hills.

rines settled down and awaited furtherinstructions, reports on the details of thelast-minute settlement captured the in-terest of those on board ship well into theevening. Many expressed surprise when,later that evening, the amphibious taskforce was ordered to stand by well out tosea while U.S. forces were to be introducedinto the Port-au-Prince area the nextmorning. Thus, as Marines and sailorswatched and waited, throughout the dayon 19 September elements of the 10thMountain Division and U.S Special Oper-ations Command helicoptered ashore intoPort-au - Prince from aircraft carrierspressed into service as troop transports. Tomany in the naval service, this method ofintroducing Army troops onto a foreignshore seemed to be an odd reversal oftraditional roles.

Late in the day on the 19th, Gen Shel-ton directed Adm Wright to landSPMAGTF CARIB at Cap Haitien at firstlight on 20 September. Reflecting therather abrupt change from a forcible to asomewhat permissive intervention, Wrightand Col Jones modified the operation soas to drop the planned seizure of Haitianmilitary positions in the city. The JointTask Force commander issued new rules ofengagement that restricted the use ofdeadly force to self-defense. In order tolimit possible misunderstandings, thesemodifications were again personallybriefed by Marine commanders, and hasti-ly printed cards with this new guidancewere distributed to all going ashore.

September 20th dawned clear and

warm, with the ships of the amphibioustask force anchored several miles to thenorth of Cap Haitien off Pointe Picoulet.The city, strung out along the westernshore of Cap Haitien Bay, was over-shadowed by a series of hills, the largestof which, at 718 meters, completely domi-nated the peninsula on which it lay. Southtoward the airport, the terrain flattenedout quickly. Just visible on the horizon be-yond the airport stood the famed Citadel-Henry, said to be built in the 1810s at acost of more than 10,000 lives in order todefend against the feared return of theFrench Army. To one participant, the lo-cal topography was reminiscent of Beirut,Lebanon, in miniature.

R IGHT ON SCHEDULE and without in-cident, the landing force occupied its

initial objectives starting at 0700 thatmorning. The reaction of the local peo-ple was positive but restrained, their moodreflecting the continued fear by many ofthe regime's reach. As Marines strung con-certina wire around their positions and es-tablished hasty roadblocks, small crowdsbegan to form close by. Bolstered by nearlythree dozen interpreters from throughoutthe Department of Defense, Marines onthe ground were able to communicatereadily with the locals, some of whom werequick to point out alleged agents of theregime and its sympathizers.

The town of Cap Haitien, wedged be-tween the bay and the hills, was a littleover three kilometers long and a thousand

meters deep at its widest point, but itsdepth was pinched down to less than halfa kilometer as one travelled from thegovernment and business center southtoward the airfield. The lower hills on thenorthern outskirts of Cap Haitien weredotted with the villas of the area's wealthy.The buildings in its faded town centerwore traditional Caribbean pastels over theFrench colonial flavor in their architecture.Although in this part of town there werehints of a more prosperous era, in generaldowntown Cap Haitien was in an ad-vanced state of decay, presumably in partdue to the effects of the lengthy U.N. em-bargo. As LtCol Hartley's Marines movedsouth through town to link up with theairfield task force, the living conditionsthey confronted quickly deteriorated.Overcrowded and half-finished cinder-block dwellings seemed to be the norm onthe south side of town, with mounds oftrash and sewage piled up haphazardly onthe streets. The sights and smells offeredby the land were often striking. Theyprovided an intriguing backdrop to com-bat artist CWO-2 Charles G. Grow, whojoined the SPMAGTF historical team a fewdays into the operation ashore.

W ITH THE AIRFIELD and port quicklysecured, Col Jones linked up with

Task Force Irish at the port and proceed-ed with a mechanized column to the mili-tary department headquarters located afew blocks away. There he informed thenorthern department commander, a lieu-tenant colonel of the Force Armee d'Hai-ti (FAd'H), of the SPMAGTF's mission andnoted its overwhelming superiority incombat power relative to anything theHaitian Army could muster. The depart-ment commander indicated through atranslator that he understood the situa-tion, but his demeanor clearly signalledto the Marines his displeasure at their in-trusion onto his territory.

After establishing security at landingforce objectives and along the key route inbetween, Col Jones, who had brought hiscommand post ashore at a small pier justsouth of the commercial port, next focusedon a JTF-mandated initial assessment ofcivil needs in the area. This was conduct-ed by his executive officer, LtCol John D.McGuire, along with his logistics officer,Maj Mark C. Dobbs; his engineer, Capt

(Continued on page 13)


Lt Charles H Miller Ifr MC, USN, the 2d Marines medical officer tends to an ailingcivilian. Lt Miller, with other officers, provided an initial assessment for the Joint TaskForce of civil needs in the Cap Haitien area, including one for clean drinking water

Combat Artist Preserves Haiti Service Scenes on Paperby CW/O-2 Charles G. Grow, USMC

A S A COMBAT ARTIST on assignment for the Marine CorpsHistorical Center for Operation Uphold Democracy, my

primary function was to experience and record current eventsthat will become Marine Corps history. My mission was to trans-late the experience of Marines in and around Haiti during theSeptember-October 1994 intervention into drawings and paint-ings. Over the next few months I hope to complete various art-works resulting from my tour with Special Purpose MAGTFCaribbean (SPMAGTF CARIB) in Haiti. Here in a condensedversion are some of the things I saw and hope to convey to othersthrough my pen and brush:

After going ashore on 21 September at the northern city ofCap Haitien, the young Marines of Battalion Landing Team 2dBattalion, 2d Marines (BLT 2/2) and the other elements ofSPMAGTF CARIB began by occupying key positions from whichto operate and then extended security as far as their limitedresources allowed. The individual Marine went ashore with lit-tle more than his pack and his weapon with which to carry outhis task, although the BLT's nearly two dozen light armored ve-hicles and amphibious assault vehicles provided an overwhelm-

ing combat edge if the need arose. Overhead, four AH-1W Cobraattack helicopters from HMM-264 made their presence known,along with several Army OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scouts.

As a fascinated world looked through the eyes of a somewhathawkish press, the U.S. Marines actually lived in an often dullworld of hot days and boring nights. SPMAGTF engineers bull-dozed mounds of garbage and waste from the streets of Cap Hai-tien. Combat Service Support Detachment 29 (CSSD 29)warehousemen organized the MAGTF's small forward supplycache at a concrete plant in the port area. Corpsmen treated theminor injuries of Haitians at points along the Marine perimeter.Reconnaissance teams watched over the city day and night frompositions high on the mountain that dwarfed it and the small"Recon Hill" near the airport. Infantrymen and artillerymenroasted in the sun, suffering the insects and elements.

Curious, jubilant crowds of Haitians drew near the Marine po-sitions to watch. Parents dressed children in their finest clothesand brought them to stare through the concertina. Littlegirls in Sunday dresses held hand-made dolls and smiled at Ma-rines through the wire. Elderly folk led burros by and leisurely


Marines from Company G, BLT 2/2, stand in the ankle-deep them. At the center of the Marine group, holding folded mapswater of a creek, while on the bank a resident of the village of in his right hand, is Col Thomas S. Jones, the MAGTF com-Petit Bord du Borgne discusses possible weapons locations with mander Artist CU70-2 Grow sketchedthe scene in pen and ink.

waved "Bonjour!" Across from the main entrance to the Cap Hai-tien Airport, the locals raised an American flag to "honor Ameri-ca." The Haitiens seemed simultaneously grateful andapprehensive.

The brown Caribbean hills, swaying palms, and blue-greenseas belied the temporary peace. A brief but sharp firefight be-tween a squad from Company E, 2d Battalion, 2d Marines, andHaitian military police erupted on the evening of 24 September.In its aftermath, the populace moved against Haitian Army bar-racks and posts on the morning of the 2 5th, but much to theMarines' relief Haitians filed to the perimeter and turned overmany seized weapons to them. Later, the locals gathered at theentrance to the airfield and burned a mound of police uniforms.

O N i6 SEPTEMBER, the SPMAGTF commander, Col TomJones, and a platoon from Company F of BLT 2/2 flew to

Grand Riviere du Nord to seize weapons at a military police com-pany barracks. The low-level helicopter ride over the country-side was exhilarating. Huge crowds of cheering Haitians deafenedthe Marine platoon as it made its way from the soccer field tothe yellow barracks in the center of town. Thousands of specta-tors watched and waved banners as the Marines emptied thebuilding of weapons. A Toyota pickup truck was piled high withrifles and ammunition and escorted back to the LZ. The cacheincluded many Ml Garands and '03 Springfields, the latter werelikely left over from the 1915-1934 Marine intervention, judgingby their age and condition. The day was a grand success; moremissions would follow.

On 28 September I again accompanied Col Jones and a pla-toon from Company G as they flew to a couple more villagesin search of additional weapons caches. We first landed in a fieldoutside of Petit Bord du Borgne. Marines waded across a widebut shallow creek toward the little village. The far shore was linedwith cheering Haitians. In the background stood a large build-ing with a cross; this scene struck me as appropriate since theMarines were greeted like saviors by the locals. Some of themclutched small posters of ousted President Aristide.

W E NEXT LANDED at Le Borgne on the coast, again wadingacross a shallow stream to enter the town. The locals were

equally friendly in their reception of Marines. We continued onfoot through the village lined with French colonial structures anda sea of clapping hands. At its center stood a "mall" comprisedof poorly fashioned stick and thatch huts. Atop a hill near thebeach stood an abandoned police headquarters. Everything atthis post was either taken or broken. The ground was litteredwith official-looking papers that no longer had any power.

Near the SPMAGTF headquarters, which was located on CapHaitien's small boat pier, in the Cafe du Port, a few Haitiansworked at various tasks, mostly housekeeping. One gentlemanof particular interest was Mr. Jacques Compere. He was a pleasantman of 74 years who easily smiled and conveyed an animatedstory of being a boy during the "last Marine occupation of Hai-ti." I sketched a portrait and had him sign it. He told us thatthe city was now happier, and so it seemed.

The Cap Haitien locals planned and staged a demonstrationearly on 30 September that trailed through the colorful little city.The parade was peaceful and full of frolic. The only injury record-ed was a self-inflicted gunshot wound suffered by a Haitian po-liceman reportedly trying to protect himself from other Haitians.

On 1 October, the SPMAGTF established two food distribu-tion sites in town in order to help alleviate the suffering of someof its people. The first site ran as smoothly as a modern super-market. Marines with fixed bayonets along with sailors and coastguardsmen watched over a very peaceful crowd. The experienceof the second distribution site was quite the opposite. A large,unruly crowd stretched for blocks and swarmed the Marine po-sition. An earnest attempt to gain and maintain order was madeby the mostly Marine force. Ultimately the attempt to pass outfood was scrubbed to prevent the Haitians from inflicting fur-ther hurt on themselves or becoming a bigger danger to theAmericans. I didn't sense any malice in the crowd, simply con-fusion and misdirected curiosity. As a reward for the peacefulfestivities on 30 September, limited electrical power was restoredto the city that evening to the evident joy of all.

(Continued from page 11)RandyJ. Lawson; and his medical officer,Lt Charles H. Miller, IV, MC, USN.Among other things, they noted grosslyinadequate sanitation facilities for thetown, an absence of clean drinking water,a shortage of basic medical supplies, anda lack of electricity for the local hospital.

Although the first day went smoothly,just after sunset on 20 September a crowdthat had gathered to listen to SPMAGTFCARIB's U.S. Army Psychological Opera-tion team in the town center was forciblydispersed by police agents, hazarding theteam in the process and forcing it to breakoff its mission. In the wake of this inci-dent, Col Jones attempted to locate theFAd'H commander at his residence andwarn him against further actions of thistype, but this proved futile as the com-

mander was reported to have travelled toPort-au-Prince for consultations with hissuperiors. At that point, officers on theMAGTF staff began to wonder how muchcontrol the FAd'H commander really ex-erted over his subordinates.

I N RESPONSE 10 THE continued abuse bythe FAd'H of citizens in Port-au-Prince

and Cap Haitien, Joint Task Force 180modified the rules of engagement on the21st to allow soldiers and Marines to usedeadly force to prevent heinous crimes andto detain the perpetrators. BLT 2/2 in-stituted mounted patrols of Cap Haitienon the evening of 21 September in orderto discourage the FAd'H from using thecover of night. Despite these efforts, suchabusive behavior was again reported spo-radically throughout the night. On the

morning of the 22d, LtCol Hartley dis-patched Company E, under the commandof Capt Richard L. Diddams, Jr., on a footpatrol of the southwest section of the cityknown as Bel Air where most of thereported FAd'H activity was centered. Atthe end of its patrol, the company tookup positions for the evening at a primaryschool a few blocks to the west of the towncenter. From there, Diddams dispatchedsquad-sized patrols to frequent the sur-rounding areas, which included the head-quarters of the Haitian military policecompany, the hospital, and the prison.

SPMAGTF CARIB maintained its po-sitions throughout 23 September amidreports of continuing FAd'H violence intown and intelligence warnings of possi-ble strikes against Marines. Mounted anddismounted patrolling of the city con-


tinued as the MAGTF awaited the arrivalof Army follow-on forces. In the mean-time, LtCol McGuire led the effort to pro-vide some humanitarian relief to the city.Under Doctor Miller's direction, MAGTFmedical personnel restocked the hospitalwith basic supplies while preventativemedicine technicians tested the city's wellsfor bacteria and contaminants. The en-gineers began efforts to clear the streets ofdebris and restore limited electrical serv-ice. With little information on effective lo-cal relief agencies through which to work,LtCol McGuire drew up plans to distrib-ute directly rice, beans, and health itemsto the poorer segment of the populace.

At first light on 24 September, the ad-vance element of the 2d Brigade, 10thMountain Division, started to arrive atCap Haitien airfield on board Air Forcetransports. The brigade was commandedby Col James M. Dubick, USA, a 1979graduate of the Amphibious WarfareSchool. With only half of the runway inusable condition and very little aircraftparking area, the flow of the brigade intoCap Haitien was initially limited to the ca-pacity of a single C-130 on the ground atany one time. Fortunately, most of thebrigade's equipment was transported toHaiti on the USNS Cape Ducato, whicharrived at Cap Haitien on 23 Septemberafter the port was cleared of immobilizedmerchantmen and fishing boats.

unacceptable. After they left, Jones dis-cussed with his operations officer, MajGreenwood, the need to strip the FAd'Hof most of its weapons in order to limitits ability to cause mischief in the north.During the afternoon, Adm Wright andCol Jones hosted a visit by Secretary ofDefense WilliamJ. Perry, Chairman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff Gen John M.Shalikashvili, LtGen Shelton, and VAdmJohnson. Secretary Perry and the othersdiscussed the situation in northern Haitiwith Wright and Jones, and the Secretaryvisited the Marines of Company G on theperimeter outside the port.

Shortly after sunset, the day's quiet wasbroken by reports of gunfire heard by aLAV section stationed near the vehiclebridge on the south end of the city.Minutes later, as Marines were still inves-tigating this incident, a volley of rifle and

machine gun fire ripped through the towncenter. As illumination rounds lit up thearea, a quick check of radio nets by theSPMAGTF CARIB combat operationscenter personnel revealed that a squadfrom Company E, on patrol from its baseat the schoolyard on the west side of town,was involved in a fight outside the mili-tary police barracks. A platoon com-mander, accompanying the squad on itspatrol, observed a highly agitated militarypoliceman raise his weapon in the direc-tion of the squad. Responding to this per-ceived threat, he felled the individual withshots from his M-16. As other policemenat the site reached for their weapons inreaction, the Marine squad took them un-der concentrated fire. Within a minute,the situation settled down into a standoff,at a cost of 10 Haitian military policemenkilled and several others who lay wound-ed inside the building. On the part of U.S.forces, one sailor, serving as an interpreterfor the squad, was slightly wounded in theexchange.

With the area quickly surrounded by hisMarines, LtCol Hartley waited until firstlight to clear the police barracks. This taskwas then accomplished without furtherbloodshed. In the wake of the firefight ofthe previous evening, Haitian militaryauthority began to crumble throughoutthe city on 25 September. Even a hastilyorganized visit by Gen Cedras that morn-ing could not staunch the collapse of theFAd'H. Cedras, who accused the Marinesof murder and demanded — to no avail— the immediate relief of Col Jones by

Q N THE MORNING of 24 September,accompanied by two senior officers

from Cedras' staff, the FAd'H commanderreturned to Cap Haitien and met with ColJones. Jones warned them that the conductof their men during the past few days was

14 Fortitudine, Winter 1994-199 5

Near BLT headquarters, LtGen Cedras takes a report from a Haitian captain at mid-morning on 25 September Visible behind him, in helmets and facing the camera,are LtGen Hen,y H. Shelton, USA, left, andMAGTF commander Col Thomas S. Jones.

Secretary of Defense William J. Perry hears the experiences of Marines at the Compa-ny G position outside the port of Cap Haitien on 24 September Secretary Perry wasjoinedfor his visit by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen John M. Shalikashvili,

Gen Shelton, could not even locate thedepartment commander or his deputy, sohe was forced to assign one of his captainsto temporarily command the department.

IN THE MIDST of Cedras' visit, reports ofgunfire and a riot in town outside the

military department headquarters reachedthe SPMAGTF headquarters. Company G,led by CaptJay C. "Cohn" Smith and withCol Jones and LtCol Hartley close behind,moved quickly to secure the departmentheadquarters and detain the few Haitiansoldiers remaining in the vicinity. Witness-es to the earlier events reported that someof the Haitian soldiers, after firing a fewshots to keep the growing antiregimecrowds outside the department headquart-ers at bay, had discarded their uniformsand fled their posts.

Col Jones immediately launched hisearlier planned effort to seize the FAd'Hweapons caches in his area of operationsin Cap Haitien. Although in the wake ofthe FAd'H's dissolution crowds had invad-ed police posts in town and taken someweapons, many were promptly turned overto Marines by jubilant Haitians. On theafternoon of 25 September, Jones dis-patched a platoon from Capt Gregg L.Lyon's Company F via helicopter to recovera large quantity of FAd'H weapons at adepot in the town of Limbe located near-ly 20 kilometers to the southwest of CapHaitien. In the following week, SPMAGTFCARIB forces similarly raided armories inthe surrounding towns of Grand Rivieredu Nord, Le Borgne, Petit Bord duBorgne, Fort Liberte, and Ouanaminthe.In the wake of these seizures, SpecialForces "A" teams were inserted byHMM-264 to spearhead the U.S. effort ofrebuilding a police force that was compat-ible with democratic government.

The arrival of the Army's 2d Battalion,87th Infantry at the Cap Haitien airfieldon the 25th paved the way for it to assumeresponsibility for the airfield's defense thenext day. Additional Army combat serv-ice support units arrived through the endof September, but the final retrograde ofthe Marines was held in abeyance until asecond infantry battalion could be trans-ferred from Port-au-Prince. The movementof this additional battalion — the 1st Bat-talion, 14th Infantry—did not occur un-til after countrywide pro-Aristide demon-strations on 30 September came and went

without serious incident. The MAGTFcontinued its limited humanitarian reliefoperations even as it prepared to turn overCap Haitien to the Army. It distributedthousands of pounds of foodstuffs totownspeople on 30 September and 1 Oc-tober, and its engineers restored partialelectric power service on 29 September.

W ITH THE ARRIVAL of the secondArmy light infantry battalion on 1

October, BLT 2/2, CSSD 29, and theMAGTF command post began to returnto the U2'asp and Nashville. The MAGTF'sreembarkation was completed bymidafternoon on the 2d, and within a fewhours the amphibious task force com-menced steaming for a "gator box" southof Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to assume therole of Joint Task Force 180 reserve. Justbefore nightfall, the force's destination wasswitched to Naval Station Roosevelt Roads,Puerto Rico, where it was to replenish andawait further instructions. After a week inport, the amphibious task force took sta-

tion off northern Haiti in anticipation ofthe scheduled return of President Aristideon 15 October. This done, it was releasedfrom the joint operations area by the U.S.Atlantic Command on 17 October, andtwo days later its men and women werefinally reunited with family and friends inNorth Carolina.

My deployment to Haiti as a fieldhistorian was a highly rewarding profes-sional and personal experience, and onbalance, the men and women ofSPMAGTF CARIB also returned homewith a sense of pride and accomplishmentover their actions in Haiti. The avoidanceof war with the Haitian Army—other thanthe incident of 24 September—was viewedwith relief by commanders at all levels. Butthe overall positive outlook of Marines wastempered somewhat by the realizationthat this small nation, with its tortured po-litical history and stunning poverty, musttravel a long and difficult road of reformbefore its people can enjoy the manybenefits of democracy. Eli 775El


Historical Quiz

Marines in 1945

by Lena Ka/jotReference Historian

Answer the following questions:

1. Which Marine divisions took part in the battle for Iwo Jima?

2. How many Medals of Honor were awarded for actions on Iwo Jima?

3. The youngest Marine ever to receive a Medal of Honor was awarded his medalfor heroism on Iwo Jima. Who was he?

4. D-Day for the assault upon Iwo Jima was set for what date?

5. Who said, "Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor wasa common virtue?"

6. What named operation began with the 1 April landing on Okinawa in 1945?

7. Which Marine general replaced Army LtGen Simon B. Buckner as commanderof the Tenth Army on Okinawa, when Buckner was killed while observing the8th Marines' attack?

8. How many Medals of Honor were awarded for actions on Okinawa?

9. Who was Commandant of the Marine Corps at the end of World War II?

10. Who was the senior Marine on board the USS Missouri on 2 September 1945,

when the Japanese officially surrendered?

(Answers on page 17)

A MARINE CORPS Museum-builtexhibit featuring the World War II-

era campaigns for Iwo Jima and Okinawawas opened in the Pentagon on 2OJanu-ary by the Commandant of the MarineCorps, Gen Carl E. Mundy, Jr.

The exhibit had been installed in the"A" corridor of the Pentagon during thesecond week ofJanuary. One in a continu-ing series of displays sponsored by theDepartment of Defense's World War IICommemorative Committee, this is theseventh exhibit heralding the actions ofAmerica's fighting men and women dur-ing the war to be shown in the 55-footlong case. Since 1991, each branch of theArmed Services has installed one or moreexhibits which focus on the anniversary ofa six-month period. The exhibits empha-size campaigns which have special sig-nificance for the sponsoring branch,within the context of the entire war andwith an emphasis on joint operations.

The Museums Branch began planningfor its second phase of the program sever-al weeks before the U.S. Navy installed itsfinal contributing exhibit in July 1994.The Navy Museum, having prepared thefirst commemorative exhibit in 1991, ad-dressed the campaigns in Europe, thePhilippines, and the Western Pacific in itssecond appearance. Between January andJuly 1993, the Marine Corps Museums

Branch mounted an exhibit featuring theCentral Solomons campaign of 1943. Itearlier had also assisted the U.S. Army'sCenter for Military History by loaninguniforms, accouterments, and weapons forthe exhibits mounted by the Army in 1992and 1994.

T HE TIME PERIOD allotted to the Ma-rine Corps for its final display cor-

responded with the Iwo Jima and Okina-wa campaigns in the spring and summerof 1945. These island campaigns werelaunched to establish new air bases fromwhich the Japanese mainland could be at-

tacked. By the end of 1944, Marines andsoldiers had seen years of hard fightingacross thousands of miles in the Pacificand, having seized island after island fromtheir defenders, were now poised to cap-ture islands where landing zones could beestablished for larger bombers and otheraircraft.

The Museum's assignment to cover thelast six months of the war was a goodchoice. The Marine Corps and the U.S.Army fought side-by-side, in a joint oper-ation, on Okinawa. Iwo Jima was the mostcostly and dramatic battle of the MarineCorps' participation in the Pacific Theat-er, as well as the largest Marine Corpsoperation in history. As Gen Mundy laternoted, "in many ways, for America and herAllies, the final months of the war werethe hardest part of the journey."

M UCH THE SAME AS had been doneduring the Museum's first exhibit in

1993, plans called for the new exhibit tobe broken down into three sections. Thearea in the middle of the case would ad-dress the fall of Nazi Germany, markingthe end of the war in Europe also. Flank-ing this area on the right would be the sec-tion on Iwo Jima, and on the left, thesection on the Okinawa campaign. Whileresearch for photographs and text was be-ing conducted during the summermonths, appropriate artifacts were beingisolated and prepared for exhibit by thecuratorial staff, with the assistance of in-terns and the security guards at the Ma-


Exhibit Made for Pentagon Hails 1945 Joint Operationsby Kenneth L. Smith-Christmas and Char/es A. W/ood

Museums Branch

First section of the Pentagon main corridor display is dedicated to the battle for IwoJima, the largest Marine Corps operation in history and the most costly of the Pacific Wai

The display's midsection relates to the end of the war in Europe. Included are a Nazifla2 which flew over the Dachau concentration cam/,, anda US. 100-pound bomb.

Dr. Alan Kornblum, had a fully restoredexample in his own extensive personal col-lection and loaned it for the duration ofthe exhibit. Over the past several years, Dr.Kornblum has cleaned, preserved, and re-stored some of the foreign flamethrowersin the museum's collection.

rine Corps Air-Ground Museum atQuantico. In the autumn of 1994, the textwas being written while the final designwas formulated. Construction of the ex-hibit took place in November and De-cember.

In the two flanking sections on Iwo Jimaand Okinawa, oversized photographs areused to illustrate the campaigns, while inthe middle section, photographs ofnewspaper headlines announce the Ger-man surrender and President Franklin D.Roosevelt's death. Two rare German rifles,an FG-42 parachutist's rifle and an MP-44Sturmgewehr ("assault rifle"), are featuredin this section to show the technical levelof German industry, despite the effects ofthe Allied bombing campaign. Thebombing of Germany is represented by a100-pound bomb. In addition to a yellowStar of David insignia which was borrowedfrom the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Muse-um, the horrors of the exterminationcamps are illustrated by a large Nazi flagwhich had flown over the camp at Dachau.This flag was loaned for the exhibit by theVirginia War Memorial Museum in New-port News. To recognize efforts on thehome front, a poster depicting a womanwar worker (a WOW., or Woman Ord-nance Worker) was selected from the Ma-rine Corps' art collection, while a Gurkhakukhri knife, borrowed from a young localcollector, represents the capture of Man-dalay by British forces in the China-Burma-India Theater.

A large, bullet-scarred, and shatteredNazi eagle and swastika insignia wascarved from a block of foam by the exhibitdesigner, James A. Fairfax, and was so con-vincingl realistic that it fooled nearlyeveryone who saw it into believing that it

was an actual cast-concrete decoration.Likewise, oversized individual unit insig-nia were sculpted and painted to representthe military formations which took part inall of these campaigns. The insignia rangefrom those worn by the six U.S. armieswhich fought in Europe to the corps anddivisions which took Iwo Jima andOkinawa.

T HE CENTERPIECE of the Iwo Jima sec-tion is ajapanese Type 92 70mm bat-

talion gun. This 468-pound cannon waspartially dismantled, and then manhan-dled into the glass case where it was reas-sembled. The process was reminiscent ofbuilding a sailing ship in a bottle, albeiton a vastly larger scale. Alongside the gun'strail is a captured Japanese national flag,which bears the signatures of some of theMarines who conquered Mount Suribachi,and an artist's rendering of the scene ofthe famous flag-raising. The M1941 knap-sack and haversack worn ashore by EugeneHeinzel, then a rifleman in the 26th Ma-rines, is also included in this exhibit.

One of the most significant and effec-tive man-portable weapons in the Iwo Jimacampaign was the M2 flamethrower. Thisweapon was used by Marines to neutral-ize the Japanese fortified caves, pillboxes,and bunkers constructed over the entire is-land. Unfortunately, not many of theseweapons survived the war, and the Muse-urns Branch has only the one which is al-ready on display in the Air-GroundMuseum.

In spite of repeated inquiries, not oneexample could be found available for loanin any of the other Department of Defensemuseums or state military museums. For-tunately, one of the museum's volunteers,

Q N THE OFHER SIDE of the exhibitcase, the Okinawa campaign is exa-

mined from an Army-Marine Corps per-spective. Army weapons, such as the57mm recoilless rifle, are featured and dis-cussed along with the M1919A4 lightmachine gun, which was used by bothServices. Opposite the latter weapon is aJapanese Type 99 light machine gun whichtook its toll of soldiers and Marines. Thehelmets worn by the opposing forces arealso shown together as a study in contrastsand comparisons.

Several large photographs of theJapanese kamikaze suicide attacks on theU.S. fleet offshore, are balanced by thecloth aviator's helmet and goggles worn byall of the Service airmen flying with the10th Army's Tactical Air Force and a setof Navy pilot's gold wings.

The most significant artifact in this sec-tion, and perhaps in the entire exhibit, isthe tattered American flag which wasraised by LtCol Richard P. Ross over theruins of Shun Castle. This same flag alsohad been raised over Cape Gloucester andPeleliu by the 1st Marine Division, still at-tached to its bullet-riddled steel flagpole.

This exhibit will remain on display un-til July 1995. Ei1775L1

Answers to the Historical Quiz

Marines in 1945(Questions on page 15)

1. The 4th Marine Division (23d, 24th, 25th, and14th Marines), 5th Marine Division (26th, 27th,28th, and 13th Marines), and 3d Marine Division(3d, 9th, 21st, and 12th Marines)2. 27 (22 Marines, 4 Navy corpsmen, and 1 Navylanding craft commander)3. PFC Jacklyn Lucas (age 17)4. 19 February 19455. FAdm Chester W. Nimitz, USN (Pacific Fleetcommunique, 16 March 1945)6. Operation Iceberg7. LtGen Roy S. Geiger became the first Marinegeneral officer to command a field Army.8. 23(10 Marines, 3 Navy corpsmen, 1 Navy land-ing craft commander, and 9 soldiers)9. Gen Alexander A. Vandegrift (1 January1944-31 December 1947)10. LtGen Roy S. Geiger, Commanding General,Fleet Marine Force, Pacific


Third section deals with the Army-Marine Corps joint campaign for Okinawa. Fea-tured are the M1919A4 light machine gun, used by both services, and the JapaneseType 99 machine gun, which took its toll of soldiers and Marines. Included is the US.flag which was raised by Marine LtCol Richard P Ross over the ruins of Shun Castle.

Service, Achievement Honored by Historical Foundation

T wo INDIVIDUALS were recognized forrheir exceptional contributions to the

Marine Corps historical program amongrecipients of special honors at the annualawards ceremony and reception of the Ma-rine Corps Historical Foundation held atthe Marine Corps Research Center on 30October 1994.

BGen Edwin H. Simmons, USMC(Ret), the Director of Marine Corps His-tory and Museums, for "unparalleled andenduring" contributions to Marine Corpshistory and the Corps' historical programwas presented the Foundation's highesthonor, its Distinguished Service Award, bythe Commandant of the Marine Corps,Gen Carl E. Mundy, Jr.

George C. MacGillivray, who is familiarto numerous researchers and all of theauthors of the World War II commemora-tive pamphlet series in his role as a volun-teer in the History and MuseumsDivision's Personal Papers Collection, waspresented the Foundation's HeritageAward.

F OR MORE THAN io YEARS as Directorof Marine Corps History and Muse-

ums, Gen Simmons has served as thepoint man for the Corps' historical pro-

by Charles R. SmithHistorian

gram, as a prodigious author, and as thementor of artists, historians, and museumtechnicians whom he encouraged to docareful research and often dispatchedworldwide to observe, collect, and recordthe Corps' history as it was being made.Among his major initiatives were the con-solidation of the historical offices andmuseum collections into the HistoricalCenter, creation of the quarterly histori-cal bulletin, Fortitudine, and a long listof impressive historical publications,among them the nine-volume series, US.Marines in Vietnam; the ongoing series,Marines in the Persian Gulf 1990-1991;and the current series of 50th anniversarycommemorative pamphlets on Marines inW7orld W/arII. In addition, he encouragedartists to reconstruct significant events inthe Corps' history, resulting in severalhighly acclaimed collections of full-colorlithographs: "Marines in the Revolution";"Marines in the Frigate Navy"; "MarineCorps Uniforms, 1983"; and "HistoricalUniforms of the U.S. Marine Band."

His sponsorship, since 1979, of the Ma-rine Corps Historical Foundation hasresulted in a first-rate awards program andgrants and fellowship program which pro-vides funds to military and civilian scho-

Volunteer George C. MacGillivray acceptsthe Heritage Award from Gen Mundy.

lars and writers, encouraging wider studyand examination of the historic MarineCorps.

M ACGILLIVRAY, IN addition to aidingresearchers in the use of the Personal

Papers Collection, has provided the impe-tus and borne the primary responsibilityfor organizing, conserving, and inventory.ing more than 2,000 maps, charts, andblueprints in the History and MuseumsDivision's collection. He also has used hisextensive knowledge of the collection andhis service with the 7th Marines, 1st Ma-rine Division, during the Guadalcanal andCape Gloucester campaigns, to provide as-sistance to the authors and division staffmembers involved in the World War II50th Anniversary pamphlet series.

In addition to Simmons and MacGil-livray, the Foundation recognized six in-dividuals for their written scholarshippertinent to Marine Corps history andprofessional subjects during the preceding

Due to the number of first-rate worksentered in the competition, two GeneralWallace M. Greene, Jr., Book Awards werepresented. The first recipient was Maj JonT Hoffman, USMCR, for his Once ALegend: Red Mike Edson of the MarineRaiders. The second award was given toDr. Jack Shulimson for his book, The Ma-rine Corps' Search for a Mission,1880-1898.

Maj Hoffman, two-time recipient of the


BGen Edwin H Simmons receives the Historical Foundation's Distinguished ServiceAward, recognizing his accomplishments during more than 20 years as Director ofMarine Corps History and Museums, from Marine Commandant Gen CarlE. Mundy, Jr

year.

Hem! Award, was given a third ColonelRobert D. Hem!, Jr., Award for the bestarticle on Marine Corps history. His seriesof articles, "Legacy and Lessons," appearedin the January, September, and Novem-ber 1993 issues of the Marine CorpsGazette. Col Joseph H. Alexander, USMC(Ret), a prolific author and author of theWorld War II commemorative pamphletson Tarawa and Iwo Jima, was awarded anHonorable Mention for his article, "RedSky in the Morning," published in theNovember 1993 issue of the Naval Insti-tute Proceedings.

The General Roy S. Geiger AviationAward, given to the author of the best avi-ation article published in the Gazette, waspresented to Capt Eric K. Fippinger,USMC, for his article, "Naval Aviation'sExpeditionary Airfield Capability: Power

Projection for the Future," from the Oc-tober 1993 issue. Capt Fippinger, a F/A-18pilot, is stationed at MCAS, Beaufort,South Carolina.

C PL JENNIFER S. NISCHALKE was therecipient of the Sergeant Major Dan

Daly Award for her article, "Women Ma-rines Celebrate 50 Years of Service," whichappeared in the 12 March 1993 issue of theQuantico Senty. The Daly Award is givenannually to the enlisted Marine who writesthe best historical article or series of arti-cles for a Marine Corps post or station peri-odical.

The Foundation also recognized thehighly acclaimed artist, Tom Lea, whosepaintings of Marines in combat duringWorld War II, most notably his depictionsof the Marine assault on Peleliu, earned

him the Foundation's Colonel John W.Thomason, Jr., Award for excellence in thefine or applied arts. In the field of muse-um exhibitry, the Foundation's ColonelJohn H. Magruder III Award was given toCharles R. Bish. The Pennsylvania MilitaryMuseum's special exhibit on Marines inthe Pacific was awarded an HonorableMention, while Battery G, 3d Battalion,14th Marines (Trenton, New Jersey) and1st Battalion, 6th Marines, 2d Marine Di-vision, Camp Lejeune, were recognizedwith Special Mentions.

Lastly, a Marine Corps Historical Foun-dation Special Recognition Award waspresented to Susan K. Lemke for her ef-forts in promoting the history of the Corpsthrough a series of special exhibits at theNational Defense University, Fort LeslieJ.McNair, Washington, D.C. L1J1775L11

Marine Forces Reserve Hosts 28 Wearing Medal of Honor

T WENTY-EIGHT Medal of Honorrecipients from across the country

converged in New Orleans 9-11 November1994, to participate in Veterans Day ac-tivities and to celebrate the 219th anniver-sary of the Marine Corps.

MajGen James E. Livingston, MarineForces Reserve commander, hosted the 23Marines and four sailors in what may bethe largest one-time gathering of Medalof Honor recipients. Gen Livingston is theonly active-duty Medal of Honor recipientin the Marine Corps today.

After six of the recipients were guestpanelists on the locally broadcast "Ange-la" television show, all the recipients start-ed the next morning by attending awreath-laying ceremony at the Garden ofMemories cemetery in Metairie, Louisiana,honoring servicemembers killed and miss-ing in action. Following the ceremony, therecipients were officially welcomed by NewOrleans city officials at a luncheon.

by SSgt Joseph P Jascur USMCPublic Affairs Office, Marine Forces Reserve

War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Inside thefootball-field-sized ballroom, six largehanging TV screens allowed everyone toview the ceremony.

Frederick Y. Pang, Assistant Secretaryof Defense for Reserve Affairs, relayed awarm birthday message to everyone fromthe Commander in Chief. Former MarineCommandant Gen Robert Barrow, and theguest of honor of the evening, former As-sistant Commandant, Gen Raymond G.Davis, as well as community leaders andstate and local government representativeswere present.

Following the traditional Birthday Ballceremony, the Marine Reserve Force wasredesignated as Marine Forces Reserve.

Louisiana Lieutenant Governor MelindaSchwegman assisted Gen Livingston in un-casing the new colors. The evening's fes-tivities ended with fireworks and a

laser-light show.

A FTER A FULL NIGHT of celebratingthe Corps' birthday, the Medal of

Honor recipients participated in a rededi-cation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorialat the Louisiana Superdome, followed bythe first Veterans Day parade held in NewOrleans in seven years. The parade zig-zagged a mile-and-a-half through thedowntown area, with 2,500 participantsfrom all branches of the Armed Forces.

Eli 775L1

T HE HIGHLIGHT of the recipients' staywas on the evening of the 10th, when

they joined more than 2,000 Marines andtheir guests from commands and units ina night filled with historic events.

The evening began by introducing eachMedal of Honor recipient with a highlightof his heroic actions, in battles from World


Six men who wear the Medal of Honor were guests on the 'Angela" TV show in NewOrleans. They were joined in the city shortly thereafter by 22 other Marines and sailorswho received the nation's hzghest militay decoration, as guests of Marine Forces Reserve.

T WO COLT REVOLVERS were added to

the Marine Corps Museum's collec-tion during the autumn of 1994, throughthe generosity of two different donors andby the efforts of other supporters of theMarine Corps' historical program. Both ofthese weapons are variations on the Colt"New Service" large-frame, .45-caliberrevolver; one is the very scarce MarineCorps M1909, while the other is the moreoften encountered Army M1917. Bothrevolvers are in excellent condition and willnot require any conservation work beforethey are needed for an exhibit.

The story of the adoption of the NewService revolver by the United States mili-tary centers on the relatively poor perfor-mance of the .38-caliber Colt revolverduring the Spanish-American War and thesubsequent Philippine Insurrection. The.38-caliber bullet did not stop the fanaticalPhilippine Moro warriors and, by 1905, theArmy was inviting inventors to submitboth .45-caliber revolvers and semi-auto-matic pistols for trials. (At the same timethe Army was considering the adoption ofa semiautomatic pistol in lieu of the six-shot revolver.) Although several designseventually were field tested, none werefound to be sufficiently well engineered.Meanwhile, the situation in the Philip-pines was so desperate that the Army ofOccupation requested that obsolescent.45-caliber revolvers which had been instorage since the early 1890s be reissuedand shipped to Manila as soon as possible.

The Army decided to order appropri-ately marked versions of the popular Colt"New Service" revolver as a stop-gap meas-ure, until a new pistol finally could be ap-proved. This rugged weapon had firstappeared in 1898 and was a favorite ofAmerican outdoorsmen. According to cor-respondence in the Army's Chief of Ord-nance records in the National Archives,although the Army tried to convince theColt company to make some minorchanges to the revolver, Colt demurred.The Army ordered at least 13,000 revolv-ers (some sources state that the total wasmore than 18,000), all of which were deli-

by Kenneth L. Smith-ChristmasCurator of Material History

W7alnutgmps on the M1909 Marine Corpsrevolver donated by Boyd W7orley werereplaced by mother-of pearl grips beforehis father purchased it in the 193 Os.

vered in 1909, while the Navy asked for1,000 identical weapons. The Army ver-sions were marked "U.S. ARMY MODEL1909" with a serial number on the buttof the grip; the Navy arms were marked"USN" with a small anchor.

A T THE SAME TIME as the Army andthe Navy ordered their revolvers, the

Marine Corps contracted for enoughweapons to rearm the Corps, a numberthought to be about 1,300. The exactnumber is in question, because the origi-nal contract is missing from the MarineCorps' Quartermaster records in the Na-tional Archives, as are many of the receiptsfor the delivered weapons. Oddly enough,whereas the Army had been unable to per-sude the Colt company to make alterationsto the thousands of revolvers it ordered,the Marine Corps with its comparativelymodest order was able to have Colt fur-nish revolvers with checkered and var-nished wooden hand grips. Moreimportantly, the Marine Corps insisted ona major change in the shape of the pistol'sgrip. The grip on the Marine Corps' ver-sion of the M1909 revolver is smaller andmore rounded than the standard model,and is similar to the grip of the M1905 Ma-rine Corps .38-caliber Colt revolver. Thisis a major manufacturing alteration, andinvolves a considerable amount of effort.However, a thorough examination of the

pertinent records in the National Archives,even including the Army's Chief of Ord-nance files, failed to shed any light on therequest for this change. Neither the Ma-rine Corps nor the Army records addressthis subject, and both the reason for thisvariation, and the person who requestedit, remain a mystery. Even stranger is thereticence shown by the Commandant ofthe Marine Corps on this subject in his an-nual reports submitted to the Secretary ofthe Navy from 1907 to 1912. Althoughsuch items as the cost (to the penny) ofnew gutters for the Marine Barracks inBoston are dutifully recorded, there is noteven a mention of the requirement, con-tract, alteration, adoption, use, or even-tual disposal of a new service pistol in anyof these reports! Fortitudine readers are in-vited to respond if they have any furtherinformation on the Marine Corps' require-ments for the alterations in this revolver.

The service life of the M1909 militaryColt revolver, and its unique cartridge, wasvery short, since the familiar M1911Browning-designed Colt .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol was adopted only twoyears later. After obtaining the new pistol,the Marine Corps gave some of its obsoles-cent revolvers to the Gendarmerie d'Haitiwhen the Marine Corps established thatunit in 1915. Others appear to have beensold on the domestic surplus market. Therevolver recently donated by Boyd C.Worley, a customs inspector in Skagway,Alaska, was acquired by his father from aTennessee pawnshop in the 1930s. At theurging of fellow customs inspector, lstSgtNorman Sape, USMC (Ret), Mr. Worleygave the weapon to the museum, when herealized its historical significance to theMarine Corps.

At the outbreak of World War I, theUnited States was caught short on all mili-tary material, including handguns.Although contracts were let with othercompanies to produce the M1911 semiau-tomatic pistol, the immediate need forhandguns was so acute that quantities hadto be acquired before these companiescould get new pistols into production.


Acquisitions

Two Colt 'New Service' .45 Revolvers Expand Collection

Again, the military turned to Colt for astopgap firearm. However, even Colt couldnot produce enough New Service revolv-ers to arm the American ExpeditionaryForce, so the well-known Smith & Wessoncompany, Colt's major competitor, wastasked with providing military models oftheir "hand-ejector" large-frame revolverto supplement those made by Colt. Bothweapons were adapted to fire the rimless.45-caliber Colt Automatic Pistol (ACP)cartridge. To accommodate the .45 ACPround, steel "half-moon" clips, each hold-ing three cartridges, were used to keep thecartridges from sliding down into the

cylinder and to facilitate extraction. TheU.S. Government bought 151,700 NewService "M1917" revolvers from Colt and153,311 revolvers from Smith & Wessonduring the war. Although officially notused by Marines, the Colt M1917 is a sig-nificant weapon and the museum was verypleased to receive one from the estate offormer museum specialist, MSgt GeorgeMcGarry, USMC (Ret). Through the kind-ness of another former museum associate,retired Maj John H. Elliott, MSgt McGar-ry's family donated the revolver which hehad owned from the 1940s until his deathtwo years ago.

Both of these weapons have been placedin the museum's reserve collection and willbe available for exhibit when needed.

T HE AUTHOR wishes to thank MajEdward C. Wages, USMC (Ret), for

sharing the information which he hasgathered over the years on the M1909revolver, and Dr. Timothy K. Nenninger,head of the Old Military Records Branchof the National Archives and Records Ad-ministration, for his suggestions and as-sistance in the Army records consultedduring this study. L11775E

New Series TitlesFollow Marines onLong Pacific Drive

(Continued from page 24)

After a period of rest and rehabilitationin Australia following the Guadalcanallanding, the 1st Marine Division came un-der Gen Douglas MacArthur's Sixth Armyfor the landing on 26 December 1943 atCape Gloucester, on the island of NewBritain. Here, the terrain was every bit asmuch of an enemy as the Japanese, as theMarines swept east with a mission of des-troying the major enemy base at Rabaulat the tip of the island. The three-monthoperation resulted in the destruction ofboth enemy forces and their vital supplies.In the end, the division did not have to

capture Rabaul, since it was neutralized byAllied planes flying from airfields quick-ly prepared by Seabees on Bougainville,and by planes rising from the decks of air-craft carriers.

The next pamphlet is Free a Marine toFzght: Women Marines in World War IIwritten by a former member of the Ma-rine Corps Historical Foundation Board ofDirectors, Col Mary V. Stremlow, USMCR(Ret). She is the author of an official Ma-rine Corps history, A History of WomenMarines, 1946-1977, and now serves asDeputy Director, Division of Veterans' Af-fairs for New York State.

The notion of using women to relievemale Marines "for essential combat duty"initially was unpopular. But as womenwere incorporated into the Corps, atti-tudes changed and adjustments weremade, largely owing to the excellent in-dividual reputations of Women Reservistsand top-quality leaders, such as Col RuthCheney Streeter. By war's end, less thanthree years after the formation of the Ma-rine Corps Women's Reserve, 18,460 active-duty women held assignments in morethan 200 occupational fields at Marinebases throughout the United States andin Hawaii. MajGenComdt Thomas Hol-comb, who initially opposed having wom-en in the Corps, paid them a simple butdistinct honor when he said: "Like mostMarines, when the matter first came upI didn't believe women could serve anyuseful purpose in the Marine Corps

Since then I've changed my mind."

who, in addition to being the author ofthe series' "Tarawa" pamphlet, has writ-ten widely on military subjects.

Iwo Jima was the largest all-Marine am-phibious operation of World War II.Seventy-two thousand Marines assaultedthe heavily fortified island in February1945. In 36 days of fighting against a dis-ciplined force of deeply entrenchedJapanese, the Marines achieved total vic-tory, attaining all tactical objectives anddestroying a reinforced enemy division.The victory was not without cost. Thelanding force sustained 26,000 casualties.More than 6,000 died. Twenty-two Ma-rines, four Navy corpsmen, and one land-ing craft skipper were awarded the Medalof Honor — half were posthumous awards.

"Among the Americans who served onIwo Jima," FAdm Chester Nimitz said,"uncommon valor was a common virtue,"words now chiseled into the granite baseof the Marine Corps Memorial at Arling-ton National Cemetery. Eli 775L1

T HE LAThST World War II pamphlet tobe published is Closing In: Marines

in the Seizure of Iwo Jima. It was writtenby Col Joseph H. Alexander, USMC (Ret),


Marine Corps Chronology

October-December 1945by Robert V Aquilina

Assistant Head, Reference Section

Fortitudine's chronology feature continues with historicalentries from October-December 1945, pertaining to post-

war Marine Corps occupation duty in China and Japan.

The Occupation of China

1 Oct—The 1st Battalion, 7th Marines (rein), arrived at Chin-wangtao, where its commanding officer put a stop to fightingbetween Communist regular and guerrilla forces and formerJapanese puppet troops. The Marines replaced the puppet forceson their perimeter defenses. In addition, the 3d Battalion, 7thMarines, arrived in Tientsin from the Tangku docks for occupa-tion duty.6 Oct—MajGen Keller E. Rockey, USMC, commanding the IIIAmphibious Corps, accepted the surrender of the 50,000Japanese troops in the Tientsin-Tangku -Chinwangtao area.6 Oct — Headquarters of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing was es-tablished at the French arsenal near the airfield east of Tientsin.6 Oct — Marine engineers guarded by a rifle platoon, sent to clearroadblocks on the Tientsin-Peiping road, were fired upon by40-50 Chinese troops. This was the first major armed clash be-tween Marines and Chinese Communists in North China.11 Oct—The 6th Marine Division began landing at Tsingtao andsecured Tsangkou airfield, about 10 miles from the city.13 Oct —The 6th Marine Division command post at Tsingtao wasopened.25 Oct—The Japanese surrendered the Tsingtao garrison inShangtung to MajGen Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr., USMC, and toLtGen Chen Pao-Tsang of the Chinese Nationalist Army, actingfor the Chinese Central Government.

Japanese workers observe amused US. Marines of the 2d Divi-sion and sailors operating a crane at Nagasaki harbor to unloadAmerican landing boats in September 1945. The hoist lifts thenet by electricalpower but the crane has to be turned by hand

Residents of Tientsin, China, cheer the arrival in the city of the1st Marine Division on 1 October 1945. The parade marked theend of eight years of Japanese rule and wartime deprivation.

30 Oct—The III Amphibious Corps ordered the 6th Marine Di-vision to provide a reinforced infantry battalion for duty in theChinwangtao area.31 Oct—MajGen Louis E. Woods, USMC, arrived in Tientsinto assume command of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing from BGenClaude A. Larkin.14-15 Nov—Marines guarding a train carrying MajGen DeWittPeck, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, clashedwith Communist forces near Kuyeh.

The Occupation of Japan

2 Oct—The Reconnaissance Company of the 5th Marine Divi-sion pushed north from Sasebo Island and moved onto HiradoIsland.5 Oct—The V Amphibious Corps expanded the 5th Marine Di-vision zone to include Saga Prefecture and the city of Kureme,and the 3d Division zone to include Kumamoto Prefecture,Kyushu. The 2d Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division,moved to Saga City.13 Oct—All units of the 8th Marines, 2d Marine Division, hadestablished themselves in and around Kumamoto.15 Oct —The Oita Occupation Force (Company A of the 5th TankBattalion, operating as infantry) set up in Oita City and con-ducted a reconnaissance of the military installations in the coastalprefecture. The company served as an advance party for troopsof the Army's 32d Infantry Division.19 Oct—The 26th Marines was detached from the 5th MarineDivision and returned to the control of Fleet Marine Force,Pacific.21 Oct—The 26th Marines (less the 2d Battalion, to be disband-


A 1st Division Marine stands alert with ready rifle as Chineselaborers repair a break in the railroad line between Tientsin and

ed) departed Sasebo for the Palau Islands to supervise the repatri-ation of Japanese troops from the Western Carolines.

24 Oct —The Fukuoka Occupation Force was dissolved when the32d Infantry Division, USA, opened its command post in Fukuo-ka. A base command force comprising the service elements thathad been assigned to the occupation force was set up to supportthe operations in northern Kyushu.

14 Nov—By this date, the V Amphibious Corps had establishedeffective control over its entire zone of responsibility.

20 Nov—The 4th Marines was removed from the administrativecontrol of the 6th Marine Division, and now came directly un-der Fleet Marine Force, Pacific. Orders were received directingthat preparations be made for the 3d Battalion, 4th Marines,to relieve the regiment of its duties in Japan, effective 31 De-cember.

23 Nov—The V Amphibious Corps began to relieve the 5th Ma-rine Division of its areas of responsibility, and to assign its per-sonnel to the 2d Marine Division.25 Nov—The base command at Fukuoka, a remnant of the deac-tivated Fukuoka Occupation Force, ceased to function when the32d Infantry Division took over its duties. The 28th Marines andthe 5th Tank Battalion occupation forces at Yamaguchi Prefec-ture and Fukuoka and Oita Prefectures, respectively, were relievedby U.S. Army units.

8 Dec—The V Amphibious Corps received a directive from theU.S. Sixth Army stating that the Corps would be relieved of alloccupation responsibilities on 30 December, and that the Army

Chinwangtao. A train carrying division commander MajGenDeW/itt Peck had been fired upon and Marines had returnedfire.

I Corps was to take over the V Amphibious Corps' area andtroops.19 Dec—The last elements of the 5th Marine Division departedSasebo for the United States.31 Dec—The V Amphibious Corps was relieved of all occupa-tion responsibilities when the U.S. Eighth Army relieved the 6thMarine Division, and assumed command of all Allied occupa-tion troops in Japan. Eli 775El

A Marine occupation force in 1945 heads toward the Japanesecity of Sasebo, north of Nagasaki on the island of Kyushu, andalso a major seaport and naval base on the East China Sea.

Fortitzidine, Winter 1994-1995 23

MARINE CORPS HISTORICAL CENTERBUILDING 58, WASHING1DN NAVY YARD

901 M STREET, SOUTHEASTWASHING1DN, D.C. 20374-5040

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

New Series Entries View WWII Marines' Drive to Japanby Benis M. Frank

Chief Historian

A 1UrAL OF 16 titles now have beenpublished in the History and Muse-

um Division's series of World War II com-memorative pamphlets. The first of fournew histories recently added to the seriesis A Close Encounter: The Marine Land-

ing on Tinian, written by Richard Har-wood, himself a veteran of Tinian, as wellas of Tarawa, Saipan, and Iwo Jima. Theauthor recently retired as deputy manag-ing editor of The W/ashington Post, butcontinues his journalistic career as a syn-dicated columnist.

Adm Raymond A. Spruance, a seniorcommander in the Pacific War, called theshore-to-shore landing of the 2d and 4thMarine Divisions on 24 July 1944 the mostperfect amphibious assault of the war, andcertainly less costly than the Saipan as-sault, which preceded it. After a series ofsuicidal Japanese counterattacks, the Ma-rines rapidly drove south across the island."The fighting:' Marine MajGen Clifton B.Cates reported, "was different from mostany that we had experienced because it wasgood terrain . . . . It was a good cleanoperation and I think the men really en-joyed it."

The next pamphlet, Cape Gloucester:The Green Inferno, was written by Bernard

C. Nalty, a former civilian historian withboth the Marine Corps and the JointChiefs of Staff, who recently retired after20 years as a civilian with the Air Forcehistorical program.

(Continued on page 21)
