248th Marine Corps Birthday

Gunfire and loud explosions cause most people to run in the opposite direction — for their safety.  Personal safety is not something Marines spend a lot of time thinking about.  They are more inclined to run toward the danger.  This has been going on now for 248 years — and they do it with a tight focus, unparalleled stamina, and a refusal to quit.  Congress approved the Medal of Honor in 1862.  Since then, 297 Marines have received this prestigious medal for acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty.

Marine Corps stories are inspirational; their valorous conduct is inspirational.  Part of it is that such stories inspire others to consider joining the Marines.

JOURNAL OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
(Philadelphia) Friday, November 10, 1775

Resolved, That two Battalions of marines be raised, consisting of one Colonel, two Lieutenant Colonels, two Majors, and other officers as usual in other regiments; and that they consist of an equal number of privates with other battalions; that particular care be taken, that no persons be appointed to office, or enlisted into said Battalions, but such as are good seamen, or so acquainted with maritime affairs as to be able to serve to advantage by sea when required; that they be enlisted and commissioned to serve for and during the present war between Great Britain and the colonies, unless dismissed by order of Congress: that they be distinguished by the names of the first and second battalions of American Marines, and that they be considered as part of the number which the continental Army before Boston is ordered to consist of.

Ordered, That a copy of the above be transmitted to the General.

This ancient document tells us that a Marine Corps existed before the United States of America.  The officer appointed to command these two battalions was Captain Sam Nicholas.  He quickly established a recruiting station at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Nicholas was looking for a few good men.  That tradition continues today — the search for Americans with what it takes to fight and win our country’s battles.

Not long after Captain Nicholas began his recruiting effort, on 3-4 March 1776, five Marine companies conducted an amphibious raid at Nassau.  The American forces needed munitions and gunpowder, and the British had lots of it.  So, continental naval forces went to the Bahamas to seize British stores.  It wasn’t the most significant operation ever conducted by Marines, but it was a start.

After the American Revolution, Islamists in North Africa brought attention to themselves as pirates by attacking, seizing, capturing, and enslaving American sailors and holding them for ransom.  The situation was partly the fault of Congress for deciding to pay the cutthroats their ransom; it only inspired them to conduct more raids against American shipping.  Such behavior inspired President George Washington (who was never a fan of the Navy) to create the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps to safeguard American interests at sea and on foreign shores.

The Battle of Derna in 1805 was a defensive measure against the Barbary Pirates.  Marines were the first Americans to raise the United States Flag over a foreign nation.  Did the Islamists learn any important lessons from their encounter with U.S. Marines?  No, of course not.  We’re still fighting them today.

A little more than a hundred years later, Marines joined with their Army brothers in fighting the war to end all wars.  To dislodge the Germans from their positions within Belleau Wood in France, Marines launched a remarkable soul-shredding assault, which destroyed the enemy’s will to launch any counter-offensives.  The attack of the Marine Brigade, fighting as part of the US Second Infantry Division of the American Expeditionary Force, was so overwhelming that the Germans nicknamed them “Devil Dogs.” The name has stuck because of their relentless fighting spirit, and America’s Marines are still referred to as Devil Dogs today.

At the end of the Great War, the U.S. government rolled over and went back to sleep – but the Navy and Marine Corps remained wide awake and vigilant.  Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Pete Ellis predicted trouble with the Empire of Japan, urging the Navy and Marine Corps to begin preparations for another “great war.”

Between 1920 and 1940, the Navy-Marine Corps team put together deep-water and amphibious warfare doctrines that would guarantee victory to the Allied Powers in Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian, and Pacific Ocean theaters of operations.  Part of this planning and preparation included innovative tactical strategies, including close air support for Marine ground forces.  Despite the success of such strategies and tactics, America’s land and air forces failed to comprehend the value of close air support until the Korean War (1950-53).

In September 1941, the U.S. Army Air Corps developed plans for war against Germany and Japan, basing the B-29 Superfortress in Egypt for operations against Germany.  Air Corps planning throughout 1942 and early 1943 continued to have the B-29 deployed initially against Germany, transferring to the Pacific only after the end of the war in Europe.

By the end of 1943, however, plans had changed, partly due to production delays, and the B-29 was soon earmarked for service in the Pacific Theater.  The Air Corps’ new plan was implemented by presidential order and dubbed Operation Matterhorn.  The United States would use B-29 aircraft to bomb Japan from forward air bases in Southern China and India, as needed.

American Air Corps and Chinese war planners selected the Chengdu region as suitable for B-29 home base operations.  The XX Bomber Command was initially intended to operate two combat wings of four air groups each, but these numbers were significantly reduced because of a lack of aircraft.

The scheme was costly because India and China had no overland connection.  All supplies required aerial transport over the Himalayan Mountains.  Such operations forced the Air Corps to lighten combat aircraft so that they could fly safely over the world’s highest mountain range.  The first flights took place in April 1944, the first bombing mission directed against Imperial Japanese forces in Bangkok on 5 June.  During this initial mission, the Air Corps lost five out of 77 aircraft due to non-combat issues.

The first bombing mission flown against the Japanese home islands occurred on 15 June – the first air assault on Japan since Doolittle.  Enemy ground anti-aircraft fire destroyed two B-29s; a third “disappeared” over the Himalayas.  Of the total bombing force, only one bomb hit an enemy target.  However, because the raid nearly exhausted the Allied fuel stocks at Chengdu, the Air Corps began to look for airfields closer to the Japanese Islands.  The distances between Chinese/Indian air bases and Japanese targets restricted the effectiveness of B-29 bombing missions.

The solution to the distance problem was to seize the Mariana Islands and use them for advanced air bases, bringing Japan’s northern cities within range of the B-29.  U.S. Marines assaulted Saipan on 15 June 1944, and Navy Seabees began the construction of an airfield even before the fighting ended on the island.  During the seizure of Japan, Marines suffered nearly 13,000 casualties, with between 3,000 and 3,200 killed in action.  Overall, American land forces suffered 16,500 casualties.  The Japanese began to shift its forces to a little-known island closer to home called Iwo Jima.  There were five airfields on Iwo Jima, and the United States wanted them for use by B-29 aircrews as an alternate emergency landing field.

The flag raising on Mount Suribachi on 23 February 1945 was a vital moment at the Battle of Iwo Jima.  After securing the island on 26 March 1945 (one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history), the island’s airfields recovered 2,400 damaged B-29 bombers, saving the lives of 24,750 airmen.  The battle cost the Marines 26,000 casualties – 6,800 of those men killed.  The Iwo Jima flag raising is a permanent reminder of the fighting spirit of the U.S. Marines.  Iwo Jima – where Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue.

In the summer of 1950, the American Eighth Army performed occupation duty in Japan.  Due to underfunding by the Truman administration, American military forces were understaffed, under-equipped, inadequately trained, and poorly led.  When the North Korean Army launched its attack on the Republic of South Korea on 25 June, elements of the U.S. Eighth Army were nearly pushed into the sea from its toehold in Pusan, South Korea.

United States Marines performed three miracles during the Korean War.  The first was the rapid deployment of the 1^st Marine Brigade, dispatched to South Korea to help the Army defend the Pusan perimeter.  There was nothing “light” about this particular brigade.  Included, along with the 5^th Marine Regiment, was Marine Aircraft Group 33 (MAG-33), and they, together, did massive damage to North Korean forces.

The second miracle was the Marine amphibious landing at Inchon – a mission General Omar Bradley said couldn’t be done.  General Bradley, it seems, never tired of being wrong.  According to historian and strategist Bernard Brodie, The amphibious landing of U.S. Marines in September 1950 at Inchon, on the west coast of Korea, was one of the most audacious and spectacularly successful amphibious landings in all naval history. 

The third miracle was the 1^st Marine Division’s destruction of ten Chinese infantry divisions at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir.  Outnumbered 8 to 1 and cut off from logistical support, the 1^st Marine Division battled the enemy in deep snow and minus forty-degree temperatures.  The Commanding General, 1^st Marine Division, Major General Oliver P. Smith, USMC, when questioned about the withdrawal of Marines from the Chosin Reservoir, snapped Retreat hell!  We’re just attacking in another direction.

Not satisfied with Smith’s response to the question of withdrawing Marines, the press challenged Colonel Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller, Commanding Officer of the 1^st Marine Regiment, calmly responded: We’ve been looking for the enemy for several days now.  We’ve finally found him.  We’re surrounded.  That simplifies our problem of getting to these people and killing them.

U.S. Army Major General Frank E. Lowe, President Truman’s emissary in Korea, observed on 26 January 1951 that the safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of Marines.  Lord, how they could fight.  The Reds told us they were afraid to tangle with the Marines and avoided them when possible.

In 1968, four U.S. Marines battalions joined South Vietnamese and U.S. Army units to engage in street fighting during the Battle of Hue in South Vietnam.  The fight, lasting 33 days, was an intense, unrelenting, block-by-block slug-fest that pushed back enemy defensive positions, eventually allowing American and Vietnamese forces to secure the city.  The Military Advisory Command, Vietnam, reported 5,113 enemy killed, 98 captured, and an estimated 3,000 wounded in action.

The legacy of American Marines continues.  According to one of our recent Commandants of the Marine Corps, what the Marine Corps does best is Make Marines and Win Battles.  This is accomplished through maximum focus on combat readiness and the resolve to win battles no matter what the odds.  During the Helmand Province Campaigns in 2009, (then) Brigadier General Lawrence D. Nicholson (now retired) led the 2^nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade’s 8,000 combat Marines into one of Afghanistan’s largest provinces.

BGen Nicholson orchestrated operations dubbed Khanjar, Eastern Resolve, and Cobra Anger from July 2009 into the fall season.  In February 2010, the 2^nd MEB closed in on Marjah during Operation Mostarak.  Marine successes cleared the way for an Afghan government and Coalition presence in previously enemy-held areas.

American Marines also had to contend with vast poppy fields that helped finance the Taliban insurgency.  Nicholson maintained a dynamic vision for COIN operations with non-traditional maneuverings, such as interacting with local mullahs, employing female teams, and establishing the Joint Security Academy, a Marine Corps-led police training facility.

Senior Army officers and State Department officials considered some of General Nicholson’s methods unconventional and pressured him to “get in line” with official Afghan policies.  Nicholson, however, would not be bullied into adopting strategies or tactics that he knew were foolish, wasteful, or an unnecessary risk to his Marines.  He insisted on autonomy; his doctrinal reliance on MAGTF operations prompted his critics to label Helmand Province Marineistan.

These Marines, senior officials claimed, had gone rogue in Helmand Province; they wouldn’t do anything the Army wanted them to do.  Army officials didn’t understand.  U.S. Marines do not need the Army’s help or advice fighting bad guys – they’ve been doing it for 248 years.  As it turned out, the U.S. State Department or U.S. Army had no clue whatsoever about winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.  Click on the link for additional information about Marineistan.

Today, the U.S. Marine Corps offers a reliable force in an uncertain world.  Institutionally, the Marines are the force of choice for the President, Secretary of Defense, and various combatant commanders.  Why?  Because Marines get the job done.

What Separates the Marines From the Other Branches?  First, readers must understand that each of America’s armed forces deserves the utmost respect for the mission they perform for their country.  But what makes the Marines unique is that they are a 9-11 force.  You call — Marines haul.  Marines aren’t a land army; they are one of the smallest military branches.  They are naval infantry.  They project naval power ashore with second-to-none expeditionary warfare capability.  They are armed and organized to get results anywhere in the world.

The Marine Corps is the only independent branch that serves as part of another branch.  In 1775, the Continental Congress established the Marines as a separate branch “for service with” the Navy.  In 1834, President Andrew Jackson wanted to make the Marines part of the Army.  However, the then-Marine Corps Commandant, Colonel Archibald Henderson, had proven the branch’s effectiveness on land and sea.  He persuaded Congress to place the Marine Corps within the Department of the Navy.  The Navy and Marine Corps have been a combat team ever since.

More often than not, U.S. Marines are first on the ground.  They are a quick reaction force with specialized units trained to respond to various crises wherever and wherever necessary.  Many Americans view the Marines as the tip of America’s spear.  Marine combat units are all expeditionary forces.

Another aspect of the Marines that makes them unique is that they guard United States Embassies — a responsibility exclusive to US Marines.  Currently, Marine Security Guards protect 174 Embassies and consulates in 146 countries.

Happy 248^th Birthday, Marines!