FORTITUD INENEWSLETTER OF THE MARINE CORPS HISTORICAL PROGRAM

VOLUME XV SPRING 1986 NUMBER 4

ARTIST DEFIES ARCTIC COLD 1t REcoRD MARINE EXERCISE. . . MAJOR WALLER, HERO OR VILLAIN? ThEMILITARY ORDER OF THE CARABAO DECIDES. . . VETS OF THE 'GREAT WAR' DESCRIBE GRUELING MARINEEXPERIENCE. . . REFURBISHED AIR-GROUND MUSEUM REOPENS. . . FLIGHT LINES: DOUGLAS SKYTRAIN

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

PCN 10401220100

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

Spring 1986

This quarterly newsletter of the Marine Corps historical program is publishedfor the Corps and for friends of Marine Corps history in accordance with Depart-ment of the Navy Publications and Printing Regulations NAVEXOS P-35. Individualsand institutions desiring Fortitudine on a complimentary regular basis are invitedto apply to: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps(HDS-1), Washington, D.C. 20374-0580.

The Secretary of the Navy has determined that this publication is necessary inthe transaction of business required by law of the Department of the Navy. Fundsfor printing of this publication have been approved by the Navy Publications andPrinting Policy Committee.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Director's Page: WaIler at Samar 3

Acquisitions: Samar Marine's Rare Linen Coat Given to Museum 6

Three Sources for Marine Pictures 9

Readers A/ways Ute: How Biggest Ship Was Sunk;O'Day's Lucky Camouflage 10

Historical Quiz: Some Entertaining Marines 12

Visiting Marine Vets Share Memories of World War I 13

New Art for Collection Portrays Marines in the Arctic 15

Remodeled, Expanded Air-Ground Museum Reopens 18

LVT's Direct Ancestor Ready for 'Early Years' Exhibit 20

Soviet Vehicle in Collection Thanks to 2d AAV Bn 21

Language Officers Recall Combat Roles in the Pacific 23

In Memoriam: Island War Planner, Former History Director Dies 25

Memoir Describes Spectacular Okinawa Attack 26

Center Treated to Call by Real Iwo Jima Flag Raiser 27

Reserve Historical Unit Report: Field Historian Providedfor 2d MAB in Exercise 28

New Books: Modern Wars Dominate Offerings to Marine Readers 29

New Publications of the History and Museums Division 30Base Facilities Named to Honor Vietnam War Heroes 31

Flight Lines: Douglas R4D-6/C-47J Skytrain 32

Korean U7ar Chronology: November-December 1950 33Gen Thomas Biography to be Written by Col Millett 36

THE COVERMaj DonnaJ. Neary, USMCR, is a professional artist, the origi-nator of the Marine Corps Uniforms 1983 color plates on dis-play throughout the Corps, and a frequent contributor toFortitudine. The self-portrait sketch at right and the cover forthis issue are products of her participation in a Marine cold-weather exercise in Norway, when a canvas map case served tocarry her sketchbooks, pens, pencils, and camera. The artworkis part of a collection described by the artist in an article be-ginning on page 15. On the cover, a Marine—two days afterthe landing in northern Norway— stands alert for signs of theenemy in an all-white snowscape.

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

Volume XV

HISTORYAND MUSEUMSDIVISION

No.4

Marine Corps Historical CenterBuilding 58, Washington Navy Yard

Washington. D.C. 20374-0580Telephone: (202) 433-3838, 433-3840, 433-3841

DIREC1DRBGen Edwin H. Simmons, USMC (Ret)

HIS1ORICAL BRANCHMr. Henry I. Shaw, Jr.

Acting Deputy Director for History

Mr. Henry I. Shaw, Jr.Assistant,Depury Director for History/Chief Historian

Histories Section: Mr. Jack Shulimson; LtCol Cyril V. Moyher,USMCR;Ma) Frank M. Batha,Jr., USMC; Ma) G. Ross Dunham, USMC; Mr.Charles R. Smith; Dr. V. Keith Fleming, Jr.

Reference Section: Mr. DanoyJ. Crawford; Mr. Robert V. Aquilina;Mrs. Ann A. Ferranre; Miss Lena M. KaIjot; Mrs. Regina Srrorher.

Oral History Section: Mr. Benis M. Frank.

Archioes: Mrs. Joyce E, Bonnert.

MUSEUMS BRANCHCol F. B. Nihari, USMC (Ret)Deputy Director for Museums

Mr. Charles A. WoodChief Curator

Artist-in-ResidenceCol Charles H. Waterhouse, USMCR

Marine Barracks, Special Projects: Mr. Richard A. long. Material His-tory: Mr. Kenneth L. Smith-Christmas. Exhibits: Mr. Carl M. DeVere,Sr.; SSgr Michael V. Gaicher, USMC; Mr. Benny L. Lenox, Sr. Art:Mr. John T. Dyer,Jr. Personal Papera: Mr.J. Michael Miller. Registrar:Mr. John H. McGarry Ill.

Museums Actcvrties, QuanticoLtCol Rudy T. Schwanda, USMC

Officer-in-Charge

Assistant Officer in Charge: Capt David C. Uhley. USMC. Ordnance:Mr. Anthony W. Tommell. Restoraeion: Mr. Joseph E. Payron. Avia-tion: Vacant. Exhibits: Mr. RonaldJ. Perkins. Uniforms: Mrs. NancyF. King. Security: GySgt Starlin W. Andrews, USMC

SUPPORT BRANCHMaj Danny R. Smith, USMC

Head/Division Executive Officer

Administration: CWO2 J. C. Owens, USMC: Sgr Donald Jackson,USMC. Security: GySgt C. W. Viar, USMC. Library: Miss Fvelyn A.Englander.

Publications Production: Mr. Rohert E. Struder. Production: Mrs.Catherine A. Kerns. Graphics: Mr. William S. Hill. Typesetting: CplJames W. Rodriguez II, USMC.

Editor, FortitudineMr. Robert 8. Scruder

Director's Page

Wailer at SamarBGen Simmons

T here are certain things in life that areunchangeable and immutable. One

of those things is that the Wallow of theMilitary Order of the Carabao is held onthe first Saturday evening in February. Soit was that 976 members of the Herd andguests gathered at the 86th Annual Wal-low at the Sheraton Washington Hotel inWashington on 1 February.

The luminaries at the head table weretoo numerous to be listed here and theymight not want to be listed anyway. It isan unabashedly chauvinistic and jingois-tic evening. BGen Charles L. Cogswell,USMC (Ret), as Grand Paramount Cara-bao, presided. Gen Paul X. Kelley, ourCommandant, made the head table butwas well down the list in seniority.

The Marine Drum and Bugle Corps wasdeafeningly present and, as always,brought the audience, mostly grayheads,

The program cover of the annual Wallowtraditionally features a caricature of thecurrent Grand Paramount Carabao by not-edcartoonist Gib Crockett. BGen CharlesL. Cogswell, USMCR (Ret), is the most re-cent Marine to hold the highest office.

to its feet. The Marine Band had an evenlarger role to play. This year, as always,there was a satirical musical revue the ex-act nature of which is best left unreport-ed. The members of the band double asthe chorus and some of the principals ofthe Carabao Players. Baritone MGySgtMichael Ryan is a particular favorite. BandDirector Col John R. Bourgeois is theDirector del Musico. The last time JohnPhilip Sousa directed the Marine Band be-fore his death was at a Carabao Wallow.

T he Marines have always been strongin the Carabao and with good rea-

son. The order was organized in Manilain November 1900 as a parody of the Ord-er of the Dragon, formed in Peking byofficer participants in the Boxer Cam-paign. Membership originally was limit-ed to officers who fought in thePhilippines from 1898 to 1902 and this in-cluded a good number of Marines. Mem-bership criteria have since becomeconsiderably more elastic. To quote a 1939history of the Order: "The 'Days of Em-pire' grow remote as time passes, but thememories of those days of spirit, adven-ture, danger and romance will live foreverthrough the Veteran and Associate Cara-baos, and the Teneros, or Calf-Carabaos,those adult sons of the original Veteranswho are also full members." There are nowalso Amphibious Carabao, CompaneroCarabao, and Honorary Carabao, the lastclassification being reserved for Presidentsof the United States and formerGovernors-General of the Philippines.

Headquarters of the Carabao is tradi-tionally the Army and Navy Club onWashington's Farragut Square. That clubis currently being re-built so the head-quarters is somewhat dispersed. We arestoring some of the records and parapher-nalia at the Marine Corps HistoricalCenter. The winter season's monthlyluncheons are being held at Blackie'sHouse of Beef. I had the honor of speak-

3

ing at one of those luncheons on 21January.

T he subject of my talk was Maj Little-ton W. T. Wailer, USMC. His Vir-

ginia family was so proud of that name"Walier" that they used it twice, combin-ing it with another good Virginia name,"Tazewell," so his full name was LittietonWailer Tazewell Waller. On 29 February1902 he returned with his battalion to Ca-vite. As he testified later:

"Leaving Samar without thefaintest suspicion of anythingwrong we reached Cavite . . . we

expected a warm welcome home.This welcome we received fromthe flagship New York — theship's sides were lined and cheerafter cheer went up for us . .

I went to report to myCommander-in-Chief and wasmet with the charge of murder."

Most of my audience at the luncheonwere retired senior officers. I supposed thatmost of them had sat on a general court-

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TRA$PORTA1IOMAND YOUU.BILLETED A1THg

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martial at one time or another, but Idoubted if many, if any at all, had ever saton a court where the charge was murder.So I suggested that they now had thatchance and that we would re-try a case thatwas now almost 85 years old.

T he case really began in September1901. Company C, 9th U.S. Infantry,

was three months back from China andnow occupying Balangiga in southern Sa-mar. Balangiga was a collection of nipahuts clustered around the only two realbuildings in the town, a city hall andchurch built of coral and plaster. The sold-iers were barracked on the second floor ofthe church and their mess tents were setup close-by.

About a year earlier, Gen Vincente Luc-ban, half-Chinese and half-Tagalog, hadcome to Samar to organize the insurrec-tion. The Americans called the natives"Moros," but they were basically Negritoswith Chinese, Moro, and Spanish bloodmixed in, and they spoke a Visayan di-alect. The Spanish had left them in closeto their aboriginal state. No road went intothe interior and there were few trails.

Lucban's followers had some muzzle-loading muskets, numerous "bamboo"cannon called lantacas, a fearsome repu-tation, and, of course, bob knives. Theyused dead-falls, mantraps, and pits linedwith sharpened bamboo stakes. A nativepolice chief suspected of collaboratingwith the Americans was burned at thestake with a kerosene-soaked Americanflag wrapped around his head.

The commanding officer of CompanyC, 9th Infantry, was Capt Thomas W.Connell, U.S. Military Academy, Class of1894. He was a good man and he thoughtthat with kind words and deeds and im-proved sanitation, he could keep insurrec-tion from coming to Balangiga. Onreturning from patrol on 27 September1901, he learned of President McKinley'sassassination. He ordered his men to wearblack arm bands.

T he next morning was Sunday and thetroops, at their own pace, came wan-

dering into the mess tents for breakfast.Hash, biscuits, and coffee were beingserved. Only three sentries were underarms.

Then, while the church bells rang outin frantic alarm, insurrectos came in at thesoldiers from all sides. Very few of the sold-iers reached their Krag-Jorgenson rifles or.45-caliber revolvers.

Of the three officers and 71 enlistedmen at Balangiga only 26 men survived.Some of these managed to reach Basey,some 30 miles up the western coast. Com-pany G, 9th Infantry, the garrison at Basey,piled into the gunboat Vicksburg andcame charging down on Balangiga. Beforethey landed, the 1,000-ton Vicksburgworked over the town with her six 4-inchguns.

Company G went ashore and found 250native dead as well as the mutilated bod-ies of 36 of their comrades from Compa-ny C. The decapitated body of CaptConnell was found in a latrine. His fingerhad been cut off to get his class ring andhis head had been slow-roasted over a fire.

Lucban continued his insurrection. On16 October, Company D, 9th Infantry, met

4

Bolomen at UYeyler carried Krag riflesprobably taken in the Balangiga attack.

400 bolomen at Lower Gandara, killed 81of them, but lost ten dead and six wound-ed themselves. Next day the garrison atWeyler was attacked by 100 natives, someof them armed with Krag rifles apparent-ly taken at Balangiga.

The U.S. Army commander in thePhilippines was MajGen Adna RomanzaChaffee, a tough, leathery 60-year-old whohad come up through the ranks during theCivil War. He had fought Indians on theplains and more recently, during the Boxertroubles, had commanded the U.S. forcesin China. He was a member of the Orderof the Dragon and would be the GrandParamount Carabao in 1902.

T o put down the insurrection in Sa-mar he activated the Sixth Separate

Brigade to be commanded by BGenJacobH. Smith, USA, a small man with a bigvoice that gave him his nickname "Hell-Roaring Jake." Smith set up his brigadeheadquarters at Tacloban, across the Straitsof San Juanico from Basey. There weren'tenough soldiers to fill out his brigade sohe suggested that the Navy might providea battalion of Marines from the two-regiment brigade at Cavite.

Chaffee telegraphed back to Smith:"Admiral Rodgers offers three hundred

Gen Vicente Lucban 's insurrectos werearmed with muzzle-loading muskets, bobknives, and a fearsome reputation.

'3W

Twenty of Lucban's stragglers wererounded up, put to digging a mass gravefor the American dead, and then turnedover to a firing squad made up of survivorsof Company C. The native dead were piledin a heap, doused with kerosene, and

I

-Durne

Marines. Where is the best place to sendthem?"

Smith replied, "Would recommend Ma-rines be sent Basey and east includingBalangiga.

Q n 21 October, Maj Wailer receivedwritten orders naming him "Com-

manding Officer of the Marine Battaliondestined for service in the Island of Samar

On the following day he receivedan important modification to his orders:he was not to regard himself as detachedfrom the 1st Brigade of Marines.

Wailer was then 45 years old, a short,sturdy man with a strong nose, and an im-pressive mustache. In the Spanish-American War he served in the Indianaand was present at Santiago de Cuba inthe defeat of Adm Cervera's fleet. Afterthe battle he was sent ashore with a land-ing party to take off the wounded andprisoners from three Spanish ships. Forthis he received a special meritorious serv-ice medal.

He commanded a battalion (and attimes the Marine regiment) in the BoxerRebellion and was advanced two numberson the lineal list and brevetted a lieu-tenant colonel for distinguished conductin the Battle of Tientsin. His men invari-ably referred to him as "the Colonel." His

friends called him "Tony." He was knownto like his whiskey.

His battalion, consisting of four com-panies, embarked in the New York on 22October, altogether himself, 13 Marineofficers, two Navy doctors, and 300 Ma-rines in broad-brimmed field hats, blueflannel shins, khaki trousers and leggings,and heavy marching order.

Next morning the New York reachedCatbalogan in the Straits of San Juanico.Gen Smith came on board for a confer-ence with RAdm Fred Rodgers, Com-mander, Southern Squadron. Smithdefined the territory in which Wailer wasto operate and made clear his wishes, af-terwards reported as "I want no prisoners.I wish you to burn and kill. The more youburn and kill, the better it will please me."

Waller then drafted his basic operationorder, dividing his battalion into twoparts; half to go to Balangiga, the re-mainder to stay at Basey with the battal-ion headquaners. Patrol operations, whichWailer called "expeditions," began im-mediately from both Basey and Balangiga.

Smith specifically directed that thecampaign be waged in accordance

with General Order 100 of 1863. This ord-er, issued by Lincoln, was a code of 157articles for the "government of armies inthe field General Order 100 hadserved the Army well in the Civil War andin the Indian Wars. It prohibited wantonviolence under penalty of death but it alsogave commanding officers broad powersunder martial law to punish treachery.

Smith at Tacioban was soon receivingalmost daily reports from Wailer of somany bolomen and carabao killed, somany huts burned, so many boats sunk ordestroyed. Lucban's base, however, was atSojoton where he had a fortified positionin 200-foot-high cliffs that appearedalmost impregnable.

On 17 November, Wailer made a three-pronged attack against Sojoton, cominghimself by way of the Cadacan River, whiletwo other columns under his two seniorcompany commanders, Capt David Port-er and Capt Hiram Bearss, marched byland. The Marines went up bamboo scal-ing ladders to get at the insurrectos andin hand-to-hand fighting killed 30 ofthem. Wailer recommended that Porterand Bearss be given either Medals ofHonor or brevet promotions. Gen Smith,Gen Chaffee, and everyone up to and in-

5

ciuding the Secretary of War, Eiihu Root,congratulated Wailer and his Marines ontheir performance at Sojoton.

p atrolling went on and so did the kill-ing of insurgents, but the assault on

Sojoton seemed to end organizedresistance in southern Samar. Smith nowordered Wailer to run a telegraph wirefrom Basey to Balangiga, then to go onaround to Lanang on the east coast, andfrom there scout a telegraph route over-land across Samar back to Basey.

Wailer marched out of Basey on 8 De-cember. For the next several weeks he oper-ated from Balangiga, getting into severalfirefights and coming back to the coast onChristmas for a holiday menu of roastcarabao with boiled potatoes, onions, andbiscuits, and a reading of Dicken's AChristmas Carol by Wailer himself. Nextday, with fifty men, he started up theshoreline for Lanang. The rest of his com-mand returned to Balangiga.

Wailer arrived at Lanang, which was gar-risoned by Company K, U.S. 1st Infantry,on 27 December. His plan was to go upthe Lanang River as far as possible, thenacross the mountains to Sojoton, and thendown the coast into Basey. The straight-line distance looked to be 35 or 40 miles.Wailer figured it to be a four to six daymarch. An Army lieutenant, who had justreturned from a 12-day patrol, however,warned him that the supposed trail acrossSamar to Sojoton did not exist.

N ext morning, 28 December, theexpedition, consisting of Wailer, five

officers including Captains Porter andBearss, 50 enlisted Marines, some soldiersfrom Company K, 33 native porters or car-gadores, and two native guides namedSmoke and Slim, loaded into boats theFilipinos called bancas and started upriver. They made 17 miles the first day andeight miles the second day. From then onit would have to be overland. The boatswere sent back with the 1st Infantry sold-iers. It rained incessantly and Wailer's menwere already suffering from leeches andbeing constantly wet.

On the 31st they reached the crest of themountain range and next day, New Year'sDay 1902, they started down the slope fol-lowing a compass course of west southwest.This should have brought them to theSojoton River but it did not. The river theyintersected was the Suribao and it flowed

(Continued on page 7)

Maj IValler's battalion on Samar consist-ed of 13 officers, two Navy doctors, and300 Marines in broad-brimmedfield hats.

Acquisitions

Samar Marine's Rare Linen Coat Given to Museumby John H McGariy III, Registrar

W hen Maj Wailer's column reached Basey after theirarduous trek through the mountains, Wailer report-

ed that one sergeant turned to him and said, "I don't thinkwe would show up well at a drawing room." Wailer stated thecondition of his own uniform as rags, and his hat a hat bycourtesy only.

Included with the annual report to the Commandant forthe year 1902 is a description of material issued to the battal-ion of Marines ordered to Samar to quell the insurrection.Among the items provided to Marines for field service thatyear were linen coats.

These uniquely Marine Corps coats traditionally have puz-zled the curatorial staff. None were known to be in existenceand photographs of the period are lacking sufficient detailto see how they were constructed. It was known that the li-nen coats were developed for service in Cuba. In the 1898report to the Commandant, Maj F L. Denny, Quartermasterof the Marine Corps, says the health of the men in this tropi-cal campaign was greatly enhanced by the issue of linen cam-paign suits. These suits are described as light in weight, andof strong texture. They are listed among items procured bythe Quartermaster over the next several years.

T he procurement of clothing at the turn of the century washandled in practically the same way it had been during

the Revolutionary War, more than a century earlier. The Quar-termaster purchased bolts of cloth by contract. When received,the material was cut to a specific pattern by a professionalcutter who was a civilian employee of the Marine Corps. Thecut cloth was issued to "operatives" for assembly. These women(widows and orphans of Marines being given preference)would take the cut cloth to their homes and sew themtogether. After completion, they would be returned to theQuartermaster for inspection, and the operatives would bepaid ona piecemeal basis.

The Marines in the foreground of this photograph of the Pek-ing relief expedition are believed to be wearing the linentropical-weight coats also issued to Marines in the Philippines.

6

By 1900 the linen coats were being issued to Marines sta-tioned in hot climates, including the detachments in thePhilippines. This accounts for the descriptions of the linencoats appearing in the relief columns sent to aid the Lega-tion Guard during the Boxer Rebellion. Not all Marines inthe relief column, nor in the Philippines brigade, would havebeen seen in the linen suits, as the khaki trousers and blueflannel shirts were more widely worn. But the photographicrecord indicates that these lighter-weight garments did in factsee service. Until quite recently, however, there was no hardevidence of the fact.

In November 1984, Charles S. Morgan made a visit to theHistorical Center to conduct research on his father, who hadserved with Maj Wailer in the Philippines and took part inthe march across the mountains. In later correspondence withBGen Simmons, Mr. Morgan asked if the Museum would beinterested in his father's effects from this service. One yearlater, two boxes arrived from Concord, Massachusetts. Theboxes contained an assortment of handmade bob knives andscabbards, a Filipino blow gun, buttons, insignia, and a brownlinen uniform coat!

U pon inspection, the coat appears to be made of a medi-um weight pure linen fabric. It has a rise-and-fall col-

lar, and two slash front breast pockets. It is well made, care-fully cut and machine sewn, exactly as an item supplied bythe Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot should appear. Un-fortunately, it lacks any of the traditional quartermaster in-spection marks, but this is not unusual in uniforms of thetime.

The coat is in excellent condition, and appears never to havebeen worn. The material, while no doubt comfortable in atropical climate, without constant care would have shown wearquickly—perhaps helping us to understand why Maj Wailer'ssergeant would not "show up well at a drawing room."

The donation of his father's brown linen Marine Corps uni-form coat by Charles S. Morgan helped curators fill a knowngap in the Museum collection and provided needed facts.

(Continued from page 5)east not west. Rafts were built but wouldnot float, their maps, bad as they were,were lost. The expedition was soon downto one-third rations.

By 3 January it was obvious to Wailerthat most of his men were no longer

in a physical state to keep up. He decidedto press on to the west coast with one lieu-tenant and 13 of the Marines who werestill in good shape. Capt Porter was leftbehind with the main column. Porter's in-structions were to follow at a slow pacealong a trail which Wailer would mark.

At mid-day on the 3rd, WaIler and hismen reached a clearing. WaIler made a firewith the lens of his field glasses and hispatrol dined on bananas, palm hearts, androasted sweet potatoes.

About this time Capt Bearss and a cor-poral caught up with them with a mes-sage from Porter, apparently askingpermission to return to Lanang. Wailersent off a native runner named Victor witha reply to Porter telling him to come for-ward to the clearing and rest his menthere.

The next day, 4 January, WaIler's party

reached another clearing, this one inhabit-ed. They captured five natives, two ofwhom, a man and a boy, said they knewthe way to Basey. The other captives werereleased and these two were placed underguard to act as guides.

On the 5th they reached the SojotonRiver but found it too rain-swollen tocross. During the day Victor, the runnerwhom Wailer had sent with the messageto Porter, rejoined Wailer's party. He saidthat he had been unable to get throughto Porter. That night, sleeping under ablanket, Wailer felt someone stealthilyremoving his bob from his side. He kickedthe knife out of the intruder's hand andput his pistol to his head. The intruderturned out to be Victor.

Wailer's party reached the CadacanRiver the following day. Here they weremet by a cutter sent up by the garrison atBasey. They tumbled on board and bymid-afternoon were in Basey. Wailer saidof these men: "Cut, torn, bruised, anddilapidated they had marched withoutmurmur for twenty-nine days, and, hav-ing accomplished what no white troopshad done before, they thought not of it

but of each other." Since 8 Decemberwhen they first left Basey, they hadmarched 190 miles.

W ailer changed into a clean uniformand crossed over the Straits of

Tacloban to report to Smith. A relief partyleft that evening to search for the Marineshe had left behind. Wailer himself joinedthe relief party two days later. The partyremained out in the bush for nine daysbut could find no trace of Porter and hisMarines. On 17 January WaIler returnedto Basey and collapsed with fever and ex-haustion.

Capt Porter, failing to receive a reply tothe message he had sent forward with CaptBearss, had decided to return to Lanang.Like Wailer, he also decided to go aheadwith a party of Marines in the best physi-cal shape. In this case he took lstSgt JohnQuick, who already had a Medal of Honorfrom Guantanamo in 1898, six Marines,and six natives. He started back on 3 Janu-ary, leaving behind the rest of the patrolunder lstLt Alexander Williams. Uponreaching the Lanang River, Porter droppedoff four of his seven Marines who were too

Wailer felt someone stealthily removing his bob from his side. to his head It was the native runner Victor (Special iliustra-He kicked the knife out of the intruder's hand andputapisto/ tions for this article are by Maj John T Dyer Jr., USMCR fRetJ,).

7

weak to proceed. He reached Lanang fourdays later, on 11 January.

Because of flood conditions it was notuntil 14 January that Company K, 1st In-fantry, could start a relief party back up-river. A day later they reached the fourmen Porter had left behind and on 16January reached Williams and the re-mainder of his party. Williams had beenstabbed several times by one of the nativeporters. Ten of his Marines had beendropped off along the trail. Five wereknown to be dead. Five simply disap-peared. Those who were left were inwretched condition.

T he gunboat Arayat took the 24surviving Marines and the ten re-

maining cargadores from Lanang to Baseyon 19 January. Waller was still sick witha fever that sometimes went up to 105degrees. He listened to his officers andnon-commissioned officers, all of whomrecommended that the cargadores be shot.

Early afternoon on 20 January a lieu-tenant marched nine of the natives underguard down Basey's main street to thetown plaza. A Marine firing party shot thenine in groups of three. Another Filipinohad been executed the day before and onemore would be executed later in the day.One of those executed was the nativeguide Slim. Another was Victor.

On 22 January Wailer reported the ex-ecutions in a telegram to Smith, saying:"It became necessary to expend elevenprisoners. Ten who were implicated in theattack on Lieutenant Williams and onewho plotted against me."

On 23 January Gen Chaffee arrived atTacloban.

"Smith," he asked, "Have you been hav-ing any promiscuous killing in Samar forfun?"

W ailer heard of this inquiry but wasnot disturbed. On 19 February

welcome orders came ftom Marine Brigadeheadquarters. On the arrival of the trans-port Lawton, his battalion would returnto Cavite.

So it was that Wailer and his battalionarrived at Cavite on 29 February where helearned that Gen Chaffee had preferredcharges against him for the murder of 11natives of the Philippine Islands. Chaffee,it must be said, was reluctant to court-martial Wailer but he had his ordersstraight from the Secretary of War, ElihuRoot.

The general court-martial convened inManila on the morning of 21 March 1902.Presiding was BGen William H. Bisbee,USA, himself a tough old Indian fighter.The remainder of the court consisted ofsix Army and six Marine officers.

8

Wailer's first plea was to challenge thejurisdiction of the court. His counsel, go-ing back to Walker's original orders asmodified, argued that he had not beendetached from the 1st Marine Brigade andthus did not come under the Army's Ar-ticles of War. The court concluded thatthis was indeed the case, but their deci-sion was overruled by Gen Chaffee, theconvening authority. Chaffee was underconsiderable political pressure and was notgoing to have the charges dismissed be-cause of a technicality.

T he trial went on in the stifling Manilaheat. In his defense, Wailer cited Ar-

ticle 82 of General Order 100 which stat-ed that guerrillas, "if captured, are notentitled to the privileges of prisoners ofwar, but shall be treated summarily as rob-bers and pirates."

"Hell-Roaring Jake" Smith, called totestify for the defense, turned out to bean evasive witness. He denied that he hadever told Wailer to "kill and burn." He de-nied that he had ever mentioned GeneralOrder 100 to Wailer. This was an evasionof the worst sort: he had perhaps not dis-cussed the order in conversation but hehad referenced it in his written orders forthe conduct of the campaign.

The trial went on for 18 long days.Then, after less than a half-hour's deliber-ation, the court announced its verdict.

Before telling the assembled Carabaoshow the court voted, I asked them for theirown verdict. There were about a hundredpresent at the luncheon and only onefound Wailer guilty. (Later it turned outhe had misunderstood some of the cir-cumstances.)

The Manila court-martial had voted foracquittal, 11 to two.

Secretary of War Root did not like theresults of the court-martial and said

so. The Judge Advocate General, however,eventually threw out the whole proceed-ings. As Wailer's counsel had first argued,he determined that the court was withoutjurisdiction.

Immediately after Wailer's trial, "Hell-Roaring Jake" Smith was himself court-martialled, found guilty of "conduct to theprejudice of good order and discipline,"and sentenced to be admonished. Themild sentence did not please PresidentTheodore Roosevelt who ordered Smithplaced on the retired list.

Early in the afternoon of2O January a lieutenant marched nine of the natives underguard down Basey 's main street to the town plaza. A Marine firing party shot the ninein groups of three. Among those executed were the native runners Slim and Victor

Three Sources for Marine Picturesby Danny J. Crawford

Head Reference Section

R egular readers of Fortitudine may recall that in the Summer 1981 issue,we reported that the Marine Corps Historical Center was losing its Still

Photo Archives. At that time all Marine Corps still photographs from 1941 tothe present, held at the Center since its opening in 1977, were moved to thenew Defense Audiovisual Agency (DAVA) facility at the Anacostia Naval Stationin Washington, D.C.

The Department of Defense had created DAVA in October 1980 with the goalof providing centralized management and control of all the Armed Forces' stilland motion media facilities, and to provide cost savings by eliminating duplica-tion of personnel and equipment.

The loss of the Center's photo resources, however, created difficulties not onlyfor our visiting researchers who had grown accustomed to doing their "one stop"historical research at the Center, but also for numerous in-house needs such asphoto support for museum displays, historical monographs and articles, and otherprojects produced in the Division. Initially, the Reference Section assigned oneof its historians the additional duty of assisting with in-house and other officialphotographic requests, while serving as a liaison between our Division and thevarious photographic depositories. It soon became apparent, however, that a full-time photo researcher was needed in the Division due to the heavy volume ofphoto requirements.

By the end of 1983, Mrs. Regina Strother, who had worked with Marine Corpsphotographs for nine years, both at the Center and later at DAVA, was hard

at work meeting the diverse photographic needs of the History and MuseumsDivision. Over the past two years, Mrs. Strother has responded to hundreds ofin-house and official Marine Corps photo requests and has established a histori-cal photographic file which now contains more than 1,000 images. Having a full-time photo researcher, and the photographic file, has enhanced the operationsof our publications and exhibits program and improved the service we can pro-vide to Headquarters Marine Corps.

A review early last year of the functions and responsibilities assigned to DAVAconvinced the Secretary of Defense that these functions and responsibilities couldbe more effectively performed by operating on a decentralized basis, and he direct-ed the disestablishment of DAVA effective 30 September 1985. The Navy Depart-ment has been assigned executive agent for all still photo holdings.

T he Marine Corps still photo collection, containing more than 500,000 im-ages, will remain in its present location at the Anacostia Naval Station, ac-

cessible to researchers of Marine Corps photos covering the past 45 years. Thedepository is now called the DOD Central Still Photo Depository.

Photos depicting the Marine Corps prior to World War II have been held atthe National Archives and Records Administration since 1972. Researchers shouldwrite to the proper activity for photographic assistance:

For still photographs taken prior to 1941 and motion pictures taken prior to1960: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Audio-VisualDepartment, Washington, D.C. 20408; telephone (202) 523-3236.

For Marine Corps photographs dating from 1941: DOD Central Still PhotoDepository, Building 168, NDW, Anacostia Naval Station, Washington, D.C.20374; telephone: (202) 433-2166/2168.

For motion pictures dating from 1960: DOD Central Motion Media Deposi-tory, Norton Air Force Base, California 92409; telephone: (714) 382-2513.

Wailer and his battalion were sent homein May 1902. Ahead of Wailer were manyyears of distinguished service. He com-manded Marine brigades in active com-paigning in Panama, in Cuba, at VeraCruz, and in Haiti. He did not, however,became Commandant, as well he mighthave, if it had not been for the businessof Samar.

During World War I he was side-linedin Philadelphia as the commanding gener-al of the Advance Base Force. He retiredin 1920 as a major general and died in1926.

His two senior company commanders,Capt Porter and Capt Bearss, eventuallyreceived Medals of Honor for Sojoton, butnot until 1934 when they got them fromFranklin D. Roosevelt.

A s I told the Carabao luncheon, theyare all gone now, those Marines who

served with Wailer, but while they lived,when a survivor of the march entered theofficers mess, there was a toast: "Stand,gentlemen, he served on Samar."

The gentlemen at the luncheon stoodand repeated that toast once again,perhaps for the last time:

"Stand, gentlemen—they served onSamar." Eli 775L1

USMC GrandParamount Carabaos

The following distinguished Marineshave served as Grand ParamountCarabaos:

MajGen George F. Elliott 1907MajGen Wendell C. Neville. . . 1921

MajGen Ben H. Fuller 1930BGen Hugh Matthews 1935MajGen James G. Breckinridge.1939BGen Charles R. Sanderson.. . 1946

Gen Clifton B. Cates 1950Gen Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr.. . 1956

Col Jean W. Moreau 1960Gen Graves B. Erskine 1964LtGen Alan Shapley 1969Gen Leonard F Chapman 1973LtGen Frederick L. Wieseman. . 1977

LtGen Herman Nickerson, Jr.. . 1981

BGen Charles L. Cogswell 1985

9

Readers Always W/rite

How Biggest Ship Was Sunk; O'Day's Lucky Camouflage

TORPEDOING THE HIEI

I was pleasantly surprised to see the pic-ture of the "Turkey," the TBF Avenger, thetype of aircraft I flew in as a turret gun-ner during World War II [Fortitudine, Fall1985].

I was more surprised when the article"Flight Lines," on page 29, mentioned myold squadron VMTB-131.

I was most pleasantly surprised to seethe mentioning of the first flight of Ma-rine aircraft to torpedo attack the battle-ship Hiei, the largest battleship in theworld.

However, you did not mention by namewho were the pilots and crews .

One of those TBFs was flown by Lt Mar-tin Roush. The radioman was PFC May-nard and the turret gunner was SgtDominick Pace. I do believe Lt Roush wasthe flight leader of that section.

This is how I remember that mission:The pilots assembled in the operations

tent on that morning of 11 November(maybe the 10th) and drew "lots" for theirtargets. Some went after the cruisers, orthe battlewagons, etc.

Roush drew the battleship for ourtarget.

We took off on that morning from Hen-derson Field. We climbed and slowly cir-cled to the right, keeping the scatteredcloud layer between us and the Japanesebattlewagon. Hiei was in the middle oftheir fleet.

When we were east of the battleship,the other planes broke from the formationand it was every plane for themselves.

Lt Roush put us east of the target so wewould be coming in out of the sun, andalso, we would hit them and continuetoward Guadalcanal and home base.

Roush immediately "dropped" thatplane from about seven thousand feet towave-top high. We came in at sea level andI mean sea level. We were attacking themfrom their 10 o'clock position.

I swivelled my turret as far to the leftas I could (normally the turret faces aft.)so that I could see over the .50 caliber(which is on my left side). And it offeredme a little more protection.

The radioman, Maynard, was down in

the "hole" not knowing just what the hellwas going on. I tried to tell him as muchas I could using hand signals.

As Lt Roush bored on in, I could seethat "wagon" getting bigger and bigger.They were throwing everything at us. Wecouldn't miss. I remember praying thatRoush wouldn't get hit. We had no chanceof bailing out. The "red golf balls" keptstreaking past us. Our propeller tips musthave been inches from the wave tops.

When we got close to range, Roush hadto "set-up" for the torpedo launch. Forthat minute or so (seemed like an hour)we were like sitting ducks. Roush had tobe at the right altitude, so, he had toclimb a little; we couldn't be in any kindof a sideslip; and we had to be perfectlylevel. And at the same time figure in thecorrect amount of lead for the torpedo tocourse. All this while under intense anti-aircraft fire.

Roush held that torpedo until absoluteminimum range.

Immediately after the launch, we dovefor wave-top level and continued towardthe Hiei presenting a minimum profile.When we got to just before the bow of thewagon, Roush pulled up and put theplane in a hard starboard turn. We flewclose to the ship (couldn't have been morethan 150-200 feet) and parallel from bowto stern.

Flying parallel to the battlewagon, Icould now use my weapon. I had the per-fect strafing position. And that I did. Iraked that ship from bow to stern. I canstill see those tracers bouncing in the gun"tubs" off the decks and into openhatches. I can also remember the Japanesesailors in the gun tubs firing at us.

Maynard couldn't get an angle to strafe.All he could do was look out the little sideport hole and pray, I guess. He had thehard part.

We flew away from the stern of the ship,climbing slowly, away from all ships andback to Henderson bomber strip.

I do believe Lt Roush was the only onewho scored a direct hit on that first histor-ical flight.

Miraculously, we did not take many hits.I think there were only seven or eight holesin our plane. But there was a large rip,

10

about a foot long through the left elevator.Lt Roush and I flew together from that

first mission until the end of the war, twocombat tours.

GySgt Dominick Pace, USMC (Ret)Pascagoula, Mississippi

W/AR BETW/EEN THE STATES?

my attention was drawn to the listof battle honors inscribed on the MarineMemorial [Fort itudine, Winter198 5-1986]. I note with interest that theMarine Corps, as opposed to other Feder-al agencies, chose as a title for the con-flict of 1861-65, "War Between the States"vice "Civil War." Can those of us fromsouth of the Potomac surmise that this in-scription includes an indirect salute tothose gallant men of the ConfederateStates Marines? I wonder what the storyis behind this point?

David 0. HaleWoodbridge, Virginia

EDITOR'S NOTE: In February 1952 the20th Commandant, Gen Lemuel C.Shepherd, Jr., revieweda proposed list ofwars and campaigns to be inscribed on theMarine Corps War Memorial. GenShepherd, a Virginian and graduate of theVirginia Military Institute, in his ownhand substituted "W"ir Between theStates"for the typed entry "Civil War" onthe list. The term, "Civil War, " had be-come preferred usage only relatively re-cently. In the south the war had beenknown variously as "War of Secession,""War of Northern Aggression, "and "WarBetween the States. "In the north it wasofficially "War of the Rebellion." GenShepherd may have been reacting to thesouthern influences of his youth.

VETERAN REPEATS FLAG RAISE

Many thanks for the excellent articleregarding MajGen James L. Day and thereturn of the 48-star flag to Okinawa forthe 40th anniversary [Fortitudine, Winter1985-1986]. It is important to add to thearticle the fact that on 21 June 1985 thathallowed flag was raised by formermachine gunner Cpl Dan Dereschuk, asurvivor of G-2-22 who raised that same

flag on both the northern and southernends of that bloody battlefield in 1945.Dan was also nearby when Maj Courtney,executive officer of 2-22, was killed on Su-gar Loaf and subsequently awarded theMedal of Honor. Dan now lives in SantaRosa, California and his daughter Jean isa Marine captain stationed on Okinawa.

Charles J. Leonard, Jr.Danville, California

SEARCHING KHE SANH VETS

I am author of Chosin: Heroic Ordealof the Korean War, 76 Hours: The Inva-sion of Tarawa, and The Root: The Ma-rines in Beirut.

I am presently writing a narrative ac-count of the Siege of Khe Sanh (January-April 1968) and need to receive detailedpersonal accounts from participants.

I would appreciate hearing from any-one who served at or in support of the KheSanh Combat Base (including air and ar-tillery) during the siege.

Eric Hammel1149 Grand Teton Dr.

Pacifica, California 94044

THE BRITS W/ORE 'TOP HATS'

A note to say how much I enjoyed read-ing your article "The Battles of Craney Is-land and Hampton" in the Fall 1985 issueof Fortitudine. It is a most interesting ac-count of a little-known incident and sinceit in part concerns my old Corps, the Roy-al Marines, it was naturally of more thanpassing interest to myself. In general Ifound this issue of the magazine to be ofoutstanding quality as to content and con-gratulate all concerned in its production.

I am sure you will not object if I men-tion that apart from the drawing on page7 showing an officer, none of the otherdrawings can depict Royal Marines as theynever at any time wore the head-dressshown—the so-called "Belgian" shako—nor for that matter did they wear itspredecessor the "stove-pipe" shako. Whilstthe British Army was wearing these typesof head-dress the Royal Marines, convert-ed from the centre company tricorn, lightcompany cap and grenadier companybearskin to the famous "top hat" head-dress as worn at Trafalgar and elsewhereduring the Napoleonic wars. I assume

either your artist worked from incorrect in-formation or he was depicting either theBritish Army or Canadian troops involved.Even the Royal Marine Artillery wore the"top hat" with a very large and ornamen-tal plate on the front, specimens of whichmay be seen in our Corps museum andin reference books. The infantry Marineused the plume or tuft which in the caseof the officer illustrated on page 7 shouldbe at the left side and not at the front asshown. The officers' "top hat" came intouse a considerable time after the enlistedmen adopted it, the officers continuing intheir bicorn certainly until well after 1805.

I have been fortunate enough to be sup-plied with Fortitudine for a number ofyears now and I say it is a most excellentspecialist publication and am very grate-ful that through the kindness of your il-lustrious Corps I am able to receive a copy.

With best wishes for the continued suc-cess of the History and Museums Division.

P. G. TilburyHornchurch, EssexUnited Kingdom

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mr Tilbury 's letterlaunched an immediate, intensive searchfor material supporting the illustrations.The search proved Mr Tilbuiy absolutelycorrect and the artist wrote thanking himfor his constructive and accurate criticism.Mr Tilbury responded with a full-colorRoyal Marines Christmas card showing theaccurate uniforms of the periodanda wishthat the artist need not be "keelhauledorwhatever

VMFA- 115 MEMENTOES

I am in the final stages of writing theofficial history of VMFA-115 for the MarineCorps Historical Center. If any of yourreaders have written or photographicmaterial relating to this squadron, I wouldbe most grateful to hear from them.

Capt John C. Chapin, USMCR (Ret)Marine Corps Historical Center

Building 58, Washington Navy YardWashington, D.C. 20374-0580

HARD-TO-FIND BOOKS

I am writing to enlist your help in find-ing some out-of-print books . . . . Ithought that some of your readersmight . . . assist in my search.

11

Historical Division, Headquarters, U.S.Marine Corps, Washington, D.C., pub-lished two multi-volume sets of historiesfollowing WW II and Korea. I have threevolumes of one set and four volumes of theother. I am missing three volumes to com-plete both sets. Since I participated inboth these "wars," I am extremely interest-ed in completing these sets. The volumesI need are: History of US. Marine CorpsOperations in World War II (Vol III, Cen-tral Pacific Drive, and Vol V, Victory andOccupation) and US. Marine Corps Oper-ations in Korea (Vol I, The PusanPerimeter). . . . I have been trying to ob-tain these books for over 10 years.

Billy J. Hill806 Mitchell Road

Jacksonville, North Carolina 28540

FALLEN TREE HID O'DAY

I have read Phil [LtGen James P.] Ber-keley's letter in the fall [1985] issue of &r-titudine with more than passing interest.I too was a recent arrival in Nicaragua atthat time and had just established a oneplatoon garrison at El Sauce. My orders re-quired that I go to Esteli to pick up 27horses and I was in Esteli at the same timeEddie O'Day was there for the same pur-pose. I got my horses first and left toreturn to El Sauce. Our route followed anarrow trail over mountains and it was notlong before our 27 horses were strung outa mile or so from end to end and the ninemen of the partol scattered throughout.As we neared El Sauce the trail split witha well defined branch continuing straightahead and another branch following thetelegraph wire to the left. When I reachedthat point the leading elements were welldown the poorer trail following the wire.An old man begged me to get them backand follow the better trail and warned thatthe one we were taking was only to serv-ice the wire and was almost impassable.He actually dropped to his knees andbegged me. I saw no possibility of reas-sembling the patrol and so when he saidthat the wire led to El Sauce we continuedon down that trail. It was dark when wereached El Sauce and the town was quietand dark with not a light showing. Wefound our small garrison alerted to repela bandit attack. They had informationthat a bandit group had laid an ambushfor us on the better trail. By getting lost

we had eluded them. I think it was twodays later that O'Day was ambushed atBromaderas. (In Fortitudine it is spelledBromadros).

I was not present at the battle atBromaderas so my knowledge of it is

second-hand as told to me by Slim Chap-pell (2dLt Guy D. Chappell who had beenmy roommate at Annapolis). At the timeof the incident I believe he was atPalacaguina. He said that they heard theshooting and he took a patrol to inves-tigate. They reached the scene of the bat-tle just at daybreak and after a shortexchange of fire drove the bandit groupoff. O'Day, who had spent the night hid-ing under a fallen tree crawled out but wasso badly bitten by insects that he was notimmediately recognized. I think Slim saidthat O'Day's hair had turned white but Iam not sure of that. I saw Eddie O'Daylater and his account was much the sameas the above. I believe he told me that ban-dits sat on the fallen tree under which he

was hiding and kicked him with theirheels. He thought they were speculatingon where he was.

A year later while I was at the Battal-ion Headquaraters at Pueblo Nuevo I wasordered to take a patrol to Bromaderas todisinter the bodies and prepare them forreturn to the States. For reasons I no longerremember Lt. Harris replaced me andmade the trip along with Dr. Dickensen.The task proved to be more gruesome thanexpected as the dead had been wrappedin ponchos before burial and were onlypartially decomposed. The patrol had toremove the ponchos and bury the bodiesagain. I was glad to have missed the trip.It is my recollection that there were eightbodies to be recovered.

Slim Chappell was killed in a planecrash in the summer of 1930 when the topwing of a plane he was testing folded overthe cockpit trapping him. I accompaniedhis body to Arkansas for the funeral. His

widow gave me a blood stainedNicaraguan coin with a 30 caliber hole init; a souvenir of the Battle of Bromaderas.

Col Frank M. June, USMC (Ret)Pebble Beach, California

P.S. After writing the above I lookedthrough some old papers to see if I couldfind any reference to the incident in ques-tion. I located some fragments of old in-telligence reports of the period and in onefor March 1928 I find this entry: A native,Francisco Melendez, reported that Sandi-no personally supervised the ambushingof Lt. O'Day's patrol. Melendez was saidto have escaped from bandit captivity andwas interviewed by the CO. at Jicaro onMarch 14. He supplied almost a full pageof information. Elsewhere in the samereport is an item indicating that Darailiis the main message center for Sandino.I presume this may be the Darali referredto in the Berkeley letter. El 775 LI

Historical Quiz

Some Entertaining Marinesby Reference Section, Marine Corps Historical Center

1. This famous comedian saw active duty in the Marine II and Korea, with his civilian career with the Boston Red Sox.Corps during World War II as a sea-going Marine and as alight-antiaircraft gun crewman, and participated in the oc-cupation of Japan.

7. This well-known talk-show co-host served as a Marinefighter pilot in World War II, and was later called back toactive duty during the Korean War, flying over 85 combat

2. This well-known actor, a PFC who fought on Kwajaleinand Eniwetok, and was later wounded in action on Saipan

missions, which earned him six Air Medals. He is now acolonel, USMCR (Ret).

inJune 1944, relived the past by portraying a sergeant in theWorld War II movie epic "The Big Red One."

8. This renowned motion picture star, a former sergeant inthe Marine Corps Reserve, was assigned duty as a motion pic-

3. This 1964 Olympic Gold Medalist in the 10,000-meterrun, a former first lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve,continued competing in track, representing the Corps untilhe left active duty in June 1965.

ture production technician, and later helped in the stagingand broadcasting of the "Halls of Montezuma" radio program

.originating at Marine Corps Base, San Diego, during WorldWar II.

4. This successful humor columnist served with the MarineCorps from 1942-1945, stationed for almost two years onEniwetok in the Pacific where he edited his outfit's newspaper.

9. This popular screen personality, remembered for his roleas the cocky American POW in "The Great Escape," enlistedin the Marine Corps in 1947 and served as a rifleman andan amtrac crewman.

5. Although he eventually attained the rank of "captain,"this favorite children's television personality served as an en-listed Marine during World War

10. This former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion wasa member of the Marine boxing team at Camp Lejeune andhis last fight as a Marine earned him an Olympic Gold Me-

6. This member of the Baseball Hall of Fame alternated hisdal in June 1976.

Marine Corps service as an aviator and jet pilot in World War (Answers on page 30)

12

Visiting Marine Vets Share Memories of World War I

e were at the foot of this hillThis plane came over and

right on its tail was a German .

He [the German] came back. . . . We hadtracer bullets and we got credit for knock-ing this plane down . . . . It must havehad 1500 holes in it . . . . Everybody wasfiring at it. . . . The pilot was living, waswounded, but the fellow with him [therear gunner] was dead."

These reminiscences of the St. Mihieloffensive in 1918 were part of a recent oralhistory interview with John C. Ashworthduring his visit to the Marine CorpsHistorical Center. Another former Marinewho recalls the "Great War" is James H,Draucker. Both Mr. Ashworth and Mr.Draucker were interviewed as part of theMuseum's current effort to collect addi-tional papers and memorabilia of WorldWar I.

M r. Ashworth became a Marine on 7June 1917 when he was sworn in at

the Marine Barracks in Portsmouth, Vir-ginia. Only the top four of his group of34 were selected for the Marines; the re-mainder were sent to the Army and Navy.He received his basic training at the Ports-mouth Naval Base and found time to playbaseball against teams from visiting bat-tleships. His recruit company was sent toQuantico to form a machine gun compa-ny, but the men were given leave until bar-racks and firing ranges were completed.

Following training at Quantico withLewis machine guns, Ashworth and the

by j Michael MillerCurator of Personal Papers

the company shipped to France on boardthe converted German steamer Dekalb.After duty in a quiet sector and trainingon the French Hotchkiss machine gun, hiscompany of the 4th Marine Brigade wentinto action at Belleau Wood to halt theGerman advance.

Ashworth entered the Wood on 11 Juneand came out on 23 June: "We got intoposition . . . looking off to Bouresches

This place stunk to beat hell .

And come to find out there were a cou-ple of dead Germans right at the gun po-sition . . . . [We had] six hours of it. Theirheads would knock about when we fired."

His next combat came at Soissons andin the St. Mihiel offensive. His machinegun crew would follow the main assaultwaves, and Ashworth added, "You werevery good if you could follow at a hundredyards . . . . If they needed help, theywould call. . . . They would look [at you]a little cockeyed because they knew thata machine gun would draw fire."

Q n 19 July 1918, his 77th MachineGun Company was supporting Maj

John "The Hard" Hughes' battalion of the6th Marines. The battalion was to berelieved by the French, but a violent dis-cussion took place between the Americaninterpreter and a relieving French officer.Hughes stepped in, and asked what wasbeing said. The interpreter attempted toexplain the delay, but, according to Ash-worth, Hughes walked up to the Frenchofficer and said, "Look! Germans! La! La!La!", pointing with his finger, and turnedaround and said, "Come on!", and with-drew, leaving the Frenchman behind.

Ashworth ended his combat in theMeuse-Argonne. On 1 November, "A fogsettled in . . . . It was bad . . . . All ofa sudden we heard these things rattling

It was men coming to deliver rations.

Former Marine John C. Ashworth is second from right in this photograph taken out-side Belleau Wood on 2 June 1918, as Cpl Ashworth 's machine gun crew awaited theGerman advance. Retreating French soldiers pause behind the Marines for the picture.

On a tour of the Museum, John C. Ashworth points to the Indian headpatch he woreas a member of the 6th Machine Gun Battalion in France in 1918. Mr Ashworth sawcombat in the battles of Belleau Wood Soissons, St. Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne.

That was the last we saw until November8. We were living on our backs."

Following the end of the war, hereturned to the United States and parad-ed in New York City. Ashworth then wentto Quantico to be reviewed by PresidentWoodrow Wilson, and was dischargedshortly thereafter.

Former Marine James H. Draucker'sservice in World War I was quite

different from Mr. Ashworth's. Mr.

Draucker belonged to the 11th Regimentof the 5th Marine Brigade and arrived inFrance too late to see combat. However,Draucker's service is representative of thethousands of Marines who never reachedthe front, serving in possibly lessglamorous but vital duty during the war.

Draucker was first stationed at theBrooklyn Navy Yard and then went to theWashington Navy Yard. While stationedin Washington he served with GySgt DanDaly. Draucker remembered one morninginspection, when "Daly made a sharp leftturn and walked right up to me withininches. His steel grey eyes met mine likea laser beam. He said, 'What is yourname?' I replied [and] he then said, 'Youruniform freshly pressed?' I answered, 'Nosir, I wore it on liberty last evening for onlytwo hours.' He replied immediately, 'Ser-geant, put this man on the restriction list.

No shore liberty for two weeks.' I

remarked, 'Jeepers! I'm mixed in with 70men and he could spot a little thing likethat!'

He then shipped to France after join-ing the 11th Marines at Quantico. Theregiment was at sea for two weeks beforereaching France, when Draucker and hiscomrades happily put their feet back ondry land. There followed a period of train-ing for combat and orders to go to thefront when the armistice was declared. The11th and 13th Marines were shipped toBrest, France, prior to returning homewhere they were greeted by the com-mander of the 5th Brigade, BGen Smed-Icy D. Butler.

G en Butler formed both regimentsinto a large field and "gave a

20-minute speech and wished us bonvoyage. He said, 'Let's all sing the Marines'Hymn.' With no music, he started it byusing his megaphone. After about aminute and a half, he shouted, 'Stop, stop,stop!' Believe me, there was a sudden si-lence all over the field. Then for fourminutes he just looked at us. He thenraised the megaphone to his mouth andsaid very firmly, 'Men, I know I can't makeyou sing the Marines' Hymn, but I canmake you wish you had. So, let's try itagain.' And he started it again. When itwas completed, he said, 'That was much

14

better. Thank you! Bon voyage!' He thenordered the brigade dismissed."

Before Draucker returned home, he wasassigned as a guard at Camp Pontanezen,which served as a departure point forAmerican units preparing for the returnvoyage. He volunteered for unlimited dutyin the 15th Separate Battalion, the lastcombat unit to leave Europe. Drauckerprotected supply posts from black markethijackers and guarded military prisoners.One of his most interesting assignmentswas at the so-called "brides camp:' official-ly known as the separation camp, whereAmericans and their foreign brides wereprocessed before returning home. Thecamp was divided down the middle by afence and Draucker recalled, "The menwere quartered on one side, the womenon the other. . . . I walked along the fenceseveral times each night to be sure thatregulations were obeyed. My reward fordoing my duty was to be cussed at, plead-ed with, cajoled, etc."

On 10 December 1919, Draucker left forthe United States after serving 15 monthsoverseas and reached Philadelphia at theend of a 16-day journey. His battalion wasdisbanded on 30 December at Quanticobut he continued to serve in the MarineCorps until 12 April 1920 when his dis-charge was approved.

Both Mr. Draucker and Mr. Ashworthare proud of their service in the MarineCorps. Places, names, and events are freshin their memories despite the years thathave gone by. Eli 775EJ

W/orld Var I Marine James H. Drauckercomments on his donation of personaldocuments for curator]. Michael Miller

Men of Company E, 11th Regiment, 5th Marine Brigade, pose together at Montier-chaume, France, in 1918. First on the left is Pvt James H. Draucke Pvt Draucker earlierserved at the Washington Navy Yard under the supervision of GySgt Dan Daly.

New Art for Collection Portrays Marines in the Arctic

by Ma] Donnaj Neary, USMCR

T wo years ago, in March 1984, I wasassigned a period of active duty with

the 4th Marine Amphibious Brigade(MAB) as a combat artist, to record visual-ly the events and people participating inNATO exercise Teamwork 84. This opera-tion was held above the Arctic Circle inthe Troms region of northern Norway.

Since then, I have finished a selectionof watercolors and other pieces for the Ma-rine Corps Art Collection illustrating therigors of a Marine exercise in a landscapeof deep snow and unaccustomed wet cold.

The 4th MAB, commanded by BGenNorman H. Smith, consisted of Regimen-tal Landing Team 2, Marine AircraftGroup 14, and Brigade Service SupportGroup 4, and was joined by Marine Reser-vists of the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines. Al-lied military forces from the UnitedKingdom, the Netherlands, West Germa-ny, Italy, Luxembourg, Canada, and Nor- "Teamwork"for white-clad US. Marines in this recollection is pulling a well packedway also participated. 'polk" through the frozen landscape of the Troms region of northern Norway.

A Norwegian Home Guard soldier from the Refresher Training sturdy horses, native to Norway, can be fitted with round snowCamp at Maukstad Moen near S4old, leads a pack horse from shoes made of iron and bamboo, and employed to pull sledgesthe Horse Transport Company over the snow-covered hills. These loaded with supplies into otherwise inaccessible terrain.

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Aboard an Air Force Cl 41 departing for Norway from Cherry tines Co/John]. Hilgers and lstLt Norma S. Stewart steal somePoint, North Carolina, via Goose Bay, Maj Neary watched Ma- sleep before the long days ahead in the Arctic-weather exercise.

An Italian soldier from a unit assigned to Two warmly dressed German paratroopers proceed towards an assembly area whereact as the opp osing force, acknowledges his they will join allied troops for training jumps over the frigid Norwegian terrain fromcapture by a US. Marine in white parka a German UH-ID helicopter. Marine air was present for the exercise from MAG-14.and snowshoes from 4th MAB's Regimen-tal Landing Team 2, during an actionfought three days after the landing at icyRossfjord Other Marine units participat-ing in the NATO exercise were fromBrigade Service Support Group 4 and theReserve's 1st Battalion, 25th Marines.

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Wishing to be as mobile as possiblethroughout the exercise, I kept my materi-als for sketching and drawing to a mini-mum, depending heavily on my cameraand notebooks. When in the field, I car-ried a canvas map case, which was ideallysuited to hold several sketchbooks and avariety of pens and pencils, and a 35mmcamera with telephoto and wide-anglelenses. After the first few days I also car-ried candy bars and trail mix, as I was mov-ing around considerably and missed manymeals.

T he Allied Press Information Center(APIC) in Bardu, about 15 miles

south of Bardufoss Airfield and 50 milesfrom the landing beaches at Rossfjord andBalsfjord, was my home base. This wasideal for my purposes, as all press represen-tatives reported in and out of the APIC,and their transportation to and from thecamps and exercise area were arrangedthere. Participating NATO nations hadmilitary representatives assigned to the

APIC who were invaluable in assisting mein visiting the various allied camps.

There were times when I found myselfnot well equipped for the task at hand,such as when I had the opportunity onshort notice to visit a Norwegian Armyunit that was camped high in the moun-tains north of Skjold.

In the woods, away from roads, and insnow that was more than waist deep, theunit was engaged in a mock battle. Theymoved about easily, being equipped withsnow shoes. I had none with me, but wasdetermined to do my best to follow theirmovements. Being fairly light in weight,I was able to take two or three steps at atime before falling through the thin,frozen crust into the soft snow below—arather exhausting and inefficient way totravel. The Norwegian soldiers were verymuch "at home" in the snow, and mostindividual tents were cozy and warm, hav-ing "split-level floors" dug into the snow,and reindeer-skin rugs (provided by theoccupants).

T he ground was totally snow-coveredthroughout the exercise, and it con-

tinued to snow periodically, but theweather often was warmer than expected.This, unfortunately, kept the snow on theground fairly wet, exposing troops to a lotof cold moisture. Several times, the vehi-cle in which I was riding was comman-deered by corpsmen in order to transportMarines suffering from hypothermia tofield hospitals or back to ships.

In the days prior to the combined U.S.-U.K.-Netherlands landing, I visited theNorwegian Refresher Training Camp atMaukstad Moen; the Allied CommandEurope Mobile Force (AMF) camps madeup of units from Canada, West Germany,Italy, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom,and the United States; the German fieldhospital; the U.S. Marines' camp near RedBeach; and the landing beaches along theMalengen, Bals, and Ross fjords beforetheir scenic isolation was disrupted by thecacophony of activity that accompaniedwhat was then the largest combined land-ing exercise in Arctic zones. Eli 775L1

A Norwegian Home Guard soldier from Brigade North carriesa machine gun. Both soldier and weapon have snowshoes.

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Having removed his pack and web gear during a rest in the wetsnow, a Marine provides a dry writing surface for a buddy.

Remodeled, Expanded Air-Ground Museum Reopensby Col Brooke Nihart, USMC (Ret)

Deputy Director for Museums

A s this issue of Fortitudine hits thestreets the Marine Corps Air-

Ground Museum at Brown Field, Quan-tico, will open for the season after its 1 De-cember to 30 March winter hibernation.

These pages [Fortitudine, Fall1981-Winter 1982; Fall 1984] have alreadytold of our plans designed to upgrade theformer Aviation Museum to the Air-Ground Museum, presenting the MarineCorps' development of air-ground teamdoctrine, organization, and operations. In-deed, on 1 April 1985, when the muse-um opened for the season, it wasredesignated with the new title. Sufficientground weapons and equipment had beenintegrated into the aircraft exhibits tojustify the change.

The acquisition and restoration of ad-ditional aircraft and major pieces ofground equipment demanded their addi-tion to the exhibit hangars. While the"World War II" hangar with its memora-ble Grummans, Douglas SBD, Corsairs,and others remained open, the "EarlyYears, 1912-1940" hangar was closed inorder that new exhibits incorporating ad-ditional gear might be installed.

F irst, the buildings within a building,familiar to past visitors and contain-

ing exhibits on early Marine aviationheroes and an art gallery, were removed tomake more room for floor exhibits.Changes comprised three elements: an is-land containing the crew-served and ar-tillery weapons of the 1900-1914 period;

a second island with World War I artilleryand vehicles on one side and a 1939 pre-production Amtrac on the other; and anastro-turf section suggesting a grass airstripwith an N2S Stearman "Yellow Peril"training plane and crew-served weapons ofthe 1930s.

Around the periphery of the hangar,false walls provide space for inset cases con-taining mannequins in Marine uniformsand personnel equipment presenting Ma-rines of the 1900-1940 period.

Aside from these major additions, the"Early Years" hangar looks much the sameas before, at first glance. The yellow shel-lacked fabric and bamboo framework ofthe 1912 Curtiss A-2 Pusher is in its oldplace, as are the DH-4 DeHavillandfighter-bomber and Thomas-Morse Scout,all to the right front as the visitor enters.The 1917 Renault-type light tank remainsth same as before and the FB-5 and F4B-3Boeing biplane fighters are still at the han-gar's north end.

But follow me for a quick tour: As weenter from the parking area on the

right of a short hall we see a thematicphoto-montage with the title, "On landand sea and air." The photographs showevery activity of the Marine expeditionaryforces of the early 1900s—machine guns,

Stearman N2S training biplane at north end of "Early Years" hangar was used in thelate 193 Os into W/orld rvar II. M1AJ 75mm pack howitzer is seen under the right wing.

• In the Ai on LandandSea. . . "theme panel at entrance to the "Early Years"hangar at the Marine Corps Air- Ground Museum at Quantico, shows all arms andservices of the Corps at work in the 1912-1940 period Museum opens on 1 April.

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