FORTITUD INEBULLETIN OF THE MARINE_CORPS HISTORICAL PROGRAM

FALL 1987

AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT ON INCHON 'REPLAYED' IN CENTER EVENT. JAPANESE STRAGGLER'S ILLUSTRATEDDIARY IN MARINE ARCHIVES PIQUES RESEARCHER'S CURIOSITY. FINE COLLECTION OF HISloluc AIRCRAFTMAKES EL TORO OPEN-AIR MUSEUM. NEW ROLES FOR OLD BARRACKS.. FLIGHT LINES: STEARMAN NiS-3

HISTORICAL BULLETIN VOLUME XVII NUMBER 2

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

PCN 10401220100

Marine Corps Historical CenterBuilding 58, Washington Navy Yard

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

DIRECTORBGen Edwin H. Simmons, USMC (Ret)

HISTORICAL BRANCHCol Jasttes R. Williams, USMCDeputy Director for History

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

Chief Historian

Histories Section: Mr. Jack Shulimsoti: LtCoI Gary D. Solis, USMC;Ma) G. Ross Dunham, USMC; Ma) Charles D. Mrlson, USMC; Mr.Charles R. Smith; Dr. V. Keith Fleming, Jr.

Reference Section: Mr. Danny J, Crawford; Mr. Robert V. Aquilina;Mrs. Ann A. Ferranre; Miss Lena M. Kaijor; Mrs. Regina Strother.

Ore/History Section: Mr. Benis M. Frank; Mrs. Meredith P. Hartley.

Archives: Mrs. Joyce E. Bonnetr.

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

Mr. Charles A. WoodChief Curator

Artist-in-ResidenceCvi Charles H. Waterhouse, USMCR

Marine Barracks, Specia/ Projects: Mr. Richard A. Long. Exhibits: Mr.

Carl M. DeVere, Sr.; SSgt Michael V. Gaither, USMC; Mr. Benny L.Lenon, Sr. Art: Mr. John T. Dyer, Jr. Persona/Papers: Mt.J. MichaelMillet. Registrar Miss Jennifer L. Gooding.

Museums Branch Activities, QuanricoLtCol Rudy T Schwanda, USMC

Officer-in-Charge

Assistant Officer in Charge for Branch Activities: Mr. Krnneth L.Smirh-Christmas. Assistant Officer in Charge for Museums Opera-tions: Capt Jerry W. Swepston, USMC.

Ordnance: Mr. John G. Griffiths. Restoration: Mr. Joseph 8. Payron.Aeronautics: Mrs. Jody Y. Ullmann. Exhibits: Mr. RonaldJ. Perkins.Uniforms: Mrs. Nancy F. King. Security: SSgr Paul C. McKenna,USMC.

SUPPORT BRANCHMa) Arthur K Elzy, USMC

Head/Division Executive Officer

Administrative: CWO2 J. C. Owens, USMC; Sgt Ronald E. Henry,Jr., USMC. Security: GySgr C. W. Viar, USMC. Library: Miss EvelynA. Englander.

Pub/rcations Production: Mr. Robert 8. Struder. Production: Mrs.Catherine A. Kerns. Graphics: Mr. William S. Hill. Typesetting: LCpIJavier Castro, USMC.

Editor, FortitudineMr. Roberr E. Struder

FORTITUDINEMotto of the United States Marine Corps in the 1812 era.

Historical Bulletin Volume XVII Fall 1987 No. 2

This quarterly bulletin of the Marine Corps historical program is published toeducate and train Marines in the uses of military and Marine Corps history.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Memorandum from the Director War-Gaming Inchon 3

Acquisitions: Personal Photos, Illustrated Letters Enrich Holdings 7

Tracking Unusual Artifacts: Tin Roadside Sign AttractedInterwar Years Recruits 9

Upright Marines Portrayed in 1880 Artist's Engraving of Norfolk Review . . . . 9

Oral History Report: Lengthy Cushman InterviewComments on Controversy 10

A Guam Diary, Part I: Japanese 'Straggler's' NotesIntrigue Researcher at Center 12

Historical Program Certificates Hail Donation, Shop Volunteer Service 14

New Security Companies Carry On Barracks' Traditions 15

Historical Quiz: Blacks in the Marine Corps 16

Historic Aircraft Make El Toro an Open-Air Museum 17

Flzght Lines: Stearman N2S-3 19

In Memoriam: China Marine, Early Pilot, Ordnance Expert Recalled 20

Answers to Historical Quiz: Blacks in the Marine Corps 21

Korean lVar Chronology: Air War in Korea FosteredMajor Tactical Innovations 22

Historical Uniforms to be Available for 1988 Pageants 24

THE COVER

Possibly the most famous photograph to come out of the Korean War, SSgt WalterW. Frank's print of fellow Marines scaling the sea wall at Inchon on 15 September1950 has been published and used as a reference for artwork frequently in the in-tervening nearly 40 years. Here the photograph has been "posterized" by photostaticcamera to give it the appearance of a pen-and-ink sketch, the traditional cover medi-um for Fortitudine. The operation itself was much studied at the Center this fall,as the famous rapid assault was "relived" by participants of the Inchon War Gamesponsored by the Center for officers of the organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.BGen Simmons describes the suggestion behind and the extensive preparations forthe game, and discusses some of the insights he personally developed in the process,beginning on page 3. Korean War topics are further explored in a report beginningon page 17 on the restored aircraft on display now at MCAS El Toro, and in a re-counting of the air war in this issue's "Chronology," appearing on pages 22 and 23.

Fortitudine 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 bulletin is printed on 70-pound, matte-coated paper by offset lithography.

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HISTORYAND MUSEUMSDIVISION

Memorandum from the Director

War-Gaming InchonBGen Simmons

T he landing at Inchon and the fightfor Seoul were refought this fall at

the Marine Corps Historical Center,almost on the 37th anniversary of theoriginal operation.

It took the form of a war game held onthe afternoons of 22 and 26 October. Forthe first session the conference room at theCenter simulated Gen MacArthur's con-ference room at his headquarters in theDai Ichi building in Tokyo on 23 August1950. For the second session, our confer-ence room became the wardroom of thecommand ship USS Mount McKinley(AGC 7) on 15 September 1950, D-Dayfor Inchon.

The game was played by theJ-7 Direc-torate of the JCS' Joint Staff. TheJ-7, Maj-

Gen Frederick M. Franks, Jr., USA, is theJoint Staffs Director for Operational Plansand Interoperability. He had asked us toprepare a historical study of the Inchon-Seoul operation in the form of a "staffride."

Secretary of the ArmyJohn 0. Marsh,Jr., an avid military historian, has re-

vived the old practice of historical staffrides for senior officers of the Army. Secre-tary Marsh, a Virginian, is particularly par-tial to Virginia battlefields.

MajGen Franks, himself widely read inhistory, has carried the practice over to theJoint Staff. Yorktown was the subject of aprevious staff ride for theJ-7 Directorate.Gen Franks was interested in looking at

Inchon at the command level as a joint orcombined operation.

Conducting a staff ride involves threeessentials: First, there should be a "read-ahead" package so that the participantscan familiarize themselves with the bat-tle or campaign. Second, there should bea visit to the battlefield or campaignarea—a literal "ride," although in theseprosaic days, busses must usually sufficefor horses. Third, there should be a dis-cussion to get at whatever lessons are tobe learned.

There was no possibility that we couldgo, literally, to Inchon or Seoul. I suggest-ed, therefore, that we change the conceptto that of a map exercise and war game.

I was told that I could assume that there

Specially hung for the Inchon War Game in the Center's con- David Douglas Duncan, USMCR (Ret). The room "became,"ference room was an exhibition of Korean War Marine photo- successively, Gen MacArthur's headquarters in the Tokyo Daigraphs, such as this one, by famed combat photographer LtCol Ichi building and the wardroom of the USS Mount McKinley.

"General Stratemeyer" was that found inThe United States Air Force in Korea,195 0-1953 by Robert E Futrell.

The Navy "admirals" got excerpts fromthe Navy's official history, History of Unit-ed States Naval Operations: Korea byJames A. Field.

The Marine players got liberal doses ofthe writings of Marine historians Go!Robert D. Heini, Lynn Montross, Ernest H.Giusti, and Kenneth W. Condit, as wellas LtGen Victor H. Krulak, USMC (Ret),who, as a colonel, accompanied GenShepherd throughout the planning andexecution of the operation.

would be nine players: branch and divi-sion chiefs of theJ-7 Directorate, and, ingrade, lieutenant colonels and com-manders, colonels and captains, of theArmy, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.We tried to pair off the players so that theywould play a commander of their ownservice.

T hus Col James H. Curd, USMC,played LtGen Lemuel C. Shepherd,

Jr., Commanding General, Fleet MarineForce, Pacific, and Go! Fred R. Crowley,USMC, played MajGen Oliver P. Smith,USMC, Commanding General, 1st MarineDivision.

Other roles to be played included:Gen Douglas MacArthur, USA,

Commander-in-Chief, Far EastCommand (CinCFE).

Gen J. Lawton Collins, USA,Chief of Staff, U.S. Army.

VAdm Arthur D. Struble, USN,Commander, Seventh Fleet, andCommander Joint Task Force 7

(CJTF- 7).LtGen George E. Stratemeyer,

USAF, Commanding General, FarEast Air Forces (CG FEAF).

RAdm James H. Doyle, USN,Commander, Amphibious Force, FarEast, and Commander Task Force 90(CTF 90).

MajGen Edward M. Almond,USA, Chief of Staff Far East Com-mand, and Commanding General,X Corps.

MajGen David G. Barr, USA,Commanding General, 7th InfantryDivision.

T wo weeks before the games beganeach player received a highly in-

dividualized notebook. These notebookswere purposely "loaded." The objective wasto have each player bring to the game thebiases, prejudices, and problems of theoriginal participant.

Thus the Army "generals" received U.S.Army accounts of the operation; for exam-ple, excerpts from the Army official his-tories of the Korean War, Policy andDirection: The First Year by LtCol JamesF. Schnabel, USA (who was himselfpresent at the game's second session), andSouth to the Naktong, North to the Yaluby LtCol Roy E. Appleman, USA.

The version of Inchon-Seoul provided

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Q f the nine commanders played inthe game, Gen Shepherd is the only

one who is still alive. The notebooks of theeight other players contained the obitu-aries of their principals. All notebooks hadconsiderable biographical materials.

Better yet were the words of the prin-cipals on the planning and conduct of theInchon-Seoul operation, codename Oper-ation Chromite. In some cases there werepublished memoirs as with Gen MacAr-thur's Reminiscences and Gen Collins' IVarin Peacetime.

Wherever we could, and with thecooperation of the other Service historyoffices, we tried to get at more primarysources, particularly the thoughts of thecommanders as they set them down at thetime. Not only were we able to retrievemessages and reports, but, even more re-vealing, we were able to find personal jour-nals kept by some of the commanders.

We reproduced, for example, LtGenStratemeyer's and MajGen Almond's per-sonal diaries for the period, and MajGenSmith's remarkably detailed "Aide-Memoire." There were also oral history ex-tracts and lectures given by the com-manders, most notably RAdm Doyle atthe Naval War College.

M ost historical studies are analyticalin nature and the analysis is the

work of one omniscient person or group.This Inchon war game of ours attemptedto synthesize an understanding of theoperation from the interplay of the actionsand opinions of the participants.

The first session of the game focussedon the planning phase of the operation.The assumed date, 23 August 1950, andplace, Gen MacArthur's Toyko headquart-ers, were taken because this was the con-

Gen MacArthur is welcomed off the Mount McKinley to Yellow Beach at Inchon byMayGen Oliver P Smith, Commanding General of the 1st Marine Division, on 16 Sep-tember 1950, the day after the Marines' famous "over the sea wall" landing.

ference when the decision supposedly wasto be made as to whether or not there wasto be a landing at Inchon on 15 Sep-rem bet.

For such an important conference it isstrange that memories and records vary sogreatly as to what transpired — or even, forthat matter, who was there. For the game'ssake, we assumed that all nine participantswere ar the conference although we knowthat some were not.

T o help the simularion, the cork wallat the head of the room was filled

with contemporary maps of Korea thatcould have been found in MacArthur'sheadquarters. The two side walls werehung with enlargements of LrCol DavidDouglas Duncan's evocative photographsof Marines in the Pusan Perimeter and in

rhe fight for Seoul. The far wail had per-sonality photographs and biographies ofthe participants.

Each of the participants' notebooks con-tained a list of questions that they couldexpect to be asked. Without exception theplayers prepared themselves well. Evenwhen the discussion heated up, as it hap-pily did, most stayed in character.

MajGen Franks acted as umpire, halt-ing the play whenever he wished to makewhat he termed "teaching points."

I acted as moderator and narratot, andoccasionally entered the play as a 29-year-old major commanding Weapons Compa-ny, 3d Battalion, 1st Marines.

as it was on D-Day, 15 September, coveredthe execution phase. For this session thecork wall was hung with the actual1:50,000 maps used by MajOen 0. RSmith in the campaign. On the far wallwe hung action photos including those ofGen MacArthur's much-publicized visit tothe "frontlines" on 17 September.

Also ptesent at the game were nine al-ternate players (call them "deputies" or"chiefs of staff' of the nine commanders),representatives from the other Service his-tory offices, several Service planners, a fewsenior members of the History and Muse-ums Division, and MajGen John P. Con-don, IJSMC (Ret), president of the MarineCorps Historical Foundation and himselfan air commander in Korea, although notat the time of Inehon. There were 30 peo-ple in the room and that was capacity.T he second session, played on 26 Oc-

tober, and simulating the situation

Garners had the benefit ofa collection of contemporary Korean personal diaries, and the remarkable "Aide-Memoire "preparedWar maps displayed at the head of the room. Other materials by MajGen Oliver P Smith. Of the original commanders, onlymade available to them included leaders 'published works and former Commandant, Gte Lemuel C Shepherd Jr., is still alive.

5

The play really did not get down to thetactics level, but stayed at the higher com-mand level. MajGen Franks was most in-terested, understandably, in the relation-ship of CinCFE to theJCS, and in the in-teroperability (a term not known in 1950)of the diverse Service components.

W hat emerged from all this? Proba-bly each player and observer took

something away from it, but I think therewould be agreement on at least the fol-lowing:

Gen MacArthur was convinced, fromthe time of his first visit to Korea on 29June, four days after the beginning of thewar, that only an amphibious operationagainst the North Korean flank wouldreverse the course of the war and he soonreached the conclusion that the target ofthe landing must be Inchon. He ruled asCommander-in-Chief, Far East, from theOlympian level, not deigning to get intothe technical details and problems.

The operation was a "joint" one at theplanning and command level (there wereno non-Americans, for example, at the 23August conference) and a "combined" oneat the execution level (there were manyKoreans involved, a large number ofJapanese civilian crew members, a signifi-cant number of British ships, and even oneover-age French frigate).

Gen Collins, as Chief of Staff, U.S.Army, and Executive Agent for the JCS,had to balance MacArthur's requests formore troops against the requirement ofkeeping some semblance of a strategicreserve for possible employment elsewherein the world, particularly for the defenseof a weak and troubled Western Europeagainst an aggressive Soviet Union. Col-lins also brought with him some of theskepticism of the JCS Chairman, GenOmar Bradley, who believed that the dayof large-scale amphibious operations hadpassed.

F or Gen Shepherd there was thepivotal meeting with MacArthur on

10 July at which he promised to get hima combat-ready 1st Marine Division by thefirst of September if the JCS would ap-prove the action. There was also the dis-appointment of not being given commandof X Corps, a command for which he waspreeminently qualified.

MayGen Edward M. Almond USA, rightforeground, Commanding General, XCorps, confers with Marine MajGen OliverP Smith in Seoul in September 1950.

MajGen Almond, MacArthur's chief ofstaff, singlemindedly carried out the wish-es of his chief as he saw them. He was re-warded by being given command of XCorps. Aggressive and sometimes abrasive,he regarded the technical details of an am-phibious landing as purely "mechanical"and this brought him into conflict withRAdm Doyle, the Attack Force Com-mander, and MajGen Smith, the LandingForce Commander. Curiously, perhaps be-cause they were both Virginians andgraduates of Virginia Military Institute,Almond and Shepherd, who went alongas an observer, got along very well.

LtGen Stratemeyer, thoroughly im-mersed in Air Force doctrine, labored togain recognition that he was the Far EastCommand's air commander and aspiredto have the same personal relationshipwith MacArthur as Gen George C. Ken-ney had enjoyed in World War II. Heresented the press coverage that comparedthe performance of his Fifth Air Force un-favorably with that of carrier-based Navyand Marine air, regarding it as part of aWashington-based campaign to discreditthe Air Force. (The Air Force had been anindependent service for just three yearsand the scars of the Services' infighting in-cident to the passage of the NationalDefense Act of 1947 were still fresh.)

VAdm Struble, more "joint-minded"than most of his Navy contemporaries, gotalong very well with MacArthur, and,although himself very experienced in am-

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phibious operations, left most of the de-tails of the planning up to RAdm Doyle.

Doyle, the consummate master of am-phibious warfare, had to resolve the myri-ad problems incident to landing atInchon. The best that he could say aboutprospects of success was that the landingwas "not impossible."

M ajGen Smith, given command ofthe 1st Marine Division at Camp

Pendleton in mid-July, had to rebuild thatdivision, which had been stripped downto few more than 3,000 Marines by themount-out of the 1st Provisional MarineBrigade for Korea, to combat strength andreadiness in time to arrive at Inchon on15 September. Thoroughly steeped inWorld War II amphibious operations andQuantico studies, he found in RAdmDoyle a kindred spirit. Together, the twomade the landing.

MajGen Barr, the commanding generalof the follow-on 7th Infantry Division, hadto rebuild that division, stripped to thebone by drafts sent off to the Army divi-sions already in Korea, by taking into hisranks some 8,500 untrained Koreanrecruits.

Above all else the Inchon-Seoul opera-tion was a test of the respective limitationsof the authority of a theater commanderand the Joint Chiefs of Staff as it was thenconstituted.

T hey were all remarkable men andwhat they accomplished was even

more remarkable. Somehow (and "some-how" is a word responsible historians ab-hor, because it means you are skippingover the explanations) it all worked.MacArthur achieved his strategic master-piece. Hopefully the play of the problemgave some insights into how it all cameabout.

For the History and Museums Division,putting together the game was an interest-ing exercise and something new. We arenow looking around at Virginia's andMaryland's conveniently close Civil Warbattlefields and remembering Quantico'spre-World War II staff rides and reenact-ments at those battlefields. In the conceptstage is a combination war game and staffride at Antietam, where, on 17 September1862, Gen Robert E. Lee and the 40,000-man Army of Northern Virginia stoppedGen George B. McClellan and the 87,000-man Army of the Potomac. L111775L11

Acquisitions

Personal Photos, Illustrated Letters Enrich Holdingsby Kenneth L. Smith-Christmas

Assistant Officer-in- Charge,Museums Branch Activities, Quantico

A wide variety of items were donatedto the Marine Corps Museum dur-

ing the summer of 1987, helping to fillgaps in the collection and providing ad-ditional resource materials for the studyof Marine Corps history.

Most of the new incoming items wentto the Personal Papers Collection and, forthe most part, dealt with the World WarII period. Mr. J. Frederick Haley of Oak-land, California, who served with the 2dMarine Division, sent in his memoirswhich centered on the Division's stay inNew Zealand. On the subject of theGuadalcanal campaign, the Museum wasgiven papers from Mr. Harry Horsman andMr. Herbert C. Merillat, two of our long-time contributors. Mrs. Mardi Noyes Roseand Mrs. Marianne Noyes Robinson donat-ed a very interesting series of illuminatedletters their father sent home from the Pa-cific. The sketches and drawings on theseshow a mixture of comedy and poignancywhich is often missing in official accounts.

Our personal papers collection also con-tains private, unofficial photographs, pho-tograph albums, and scrapbooks whith areoften donated as part of a papers collec-tion. A fascinating photograph album was

donated by a former Marine Raider, Mr.Charles Linhart, who learned of our in-terest in it through a research project un-dertaken by a Marine Corps HistoricalFoundation member, Mr. Eric Archer. Anarticle on the use of shotguns by the Ma-rine Corps in World War II was the resultof Mr. Archer's project and was publishedin the 1988 issue of Gun Digest.

A nother contributor to the photo-graphic collection was Mrs. Kather-

ine Burch of Oklahoma City, who sent inher late husband's photographs of the 4thMarines in Shanghai, taken prior to his be-ing made prisoner at Corregidor.

Col John Scharfen and Mr. Dale Rusegave the museum some illuminatingmaterial on China. In an interview withthe editor of Leatherneck, Mr. Tom Bart-lett, Mr. Ruse related some of his reminis-cences of life in Peking before the war. Mr.Ruse gave a rare fur cap from the PekingLegation Guard to the Museum. This isonly the fourth of its kind in our col-lection.

Through the assistance of the U.S. ArmyTransportation Museum at Fort Eustis, Vir-

ginia, the Museum was given a collectionof uniforms and equipment by the widowof former SSgt Amos Pop, a veteran ofboth world wars. Included in this gift wasone of the scarce Marine Corps M1912pistol holsters, as well as a much-neededgrouping of military police items. Anotherrarely encountered item which the Muse-um was given this summer was an exercisesuit, dubbed the "peanut suit," worn byWomen Marines in the late 1940s. This ex-ample was donated by retired SgtMaj He-len H. Gambell.

D uring the summer, gifts came fromstaff members, both former and

present. Retired MGySgt Walter "Fritz"Gemeinhardt sent in several items, amongwhich was a set of M1944 utilities in per-fect condition. These were welcomed intothe collection as we have been "stockpil-ing" them for some time in anticipationof future exhibits at MCRD San Diego andMCB Camp Pendleton. MGySgt Gemein-hardt was instrumental in building modelsand exhibits while serving as aviation cu-rator during the formative years of the Ma-rine Corps Air-Ground Museum atQuantico. A relatively recent newcomer to

Headgear recently donated to the collection include a rare fur and a World W"ar I helmet worn by a 5th Marines member ofcap from the Peking Legation Guard a gift of Mr Dale Ruse, the 2d Division, AEF, given by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kirsopp.

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the staff, historian Maj Charles D. Melson,proffered, among other artifacts, a

Japanese artillery slide rule which hisfather captured on Guadalcanal and thenused throughout the balance of the warwhile he served as a sergeant in the 9thDefense Battalion.

Another captured item, a circa-1847Mexican cavalry saber, was purchased bythe Marine Corps Historical Foundationand then given to the Museum for displayin the new MCRD San Diego Museum. Itwas purportedly captured by the crew ofthe USS Cyane during the conquest of

A nother faithful reader of Fortitudinehas responded, not only with infor-

mation, but also with a treasure. CaptAlfred L. Johnson, USMC (Ret), Presidentof the Flik-Orrick Travel Service, Syracuse,New York, received a gift late in 1986. Itsunusualness prompted him to write to theReference Section for assistance in theidentification of a recruiting sign.

Mrs. Ann Ferrante — knowing that Mr.Charles A. Wood (now Chief Curator) andI had several years before collected a largeand diverse assortment of early MarineCorps recruiting materials from through-out the country and had made a detailedstudy of them — referred it to us for addi-tional information.

In an effort to reply quickly, we ad-judged it to be one of the World War Iwindow signs, from one-third to one-halfthe size of the conventional recruiting A-Sign, designed to be placed inside a win-dow facing outward. Minute printing inthe lower right-hand corner, a portion ofit hidden in the frame, was examined fromthe photograph. The words "New York"were identified, indicating that the signhad probably been manufactured thereprior to 1922, before the Marine CorpsRecruiting Bureau transferred its opera-tions to Philadelphia.

Mrs. Ferrante sent this information toCapt Johnson, requesting him to corre-spond with me and to provide further in-formation on the unintelligible printing.

Captain Johnson replied that the full

California. This is not the only sword witha significant provenance that came to usduring the summer, however. Mr. John L.Green brought in his father's MarineCorps officer's sword which had been leftto him when his father, Capt Kirt Green,was killed at Belleau Wood.

F rom the World War I period, themuseum was given a goldmine of

photographs and insignia by Mr. and Mrs.Philip Sapir. Mrs. Sapir's father was Her-man Peterson, an aviator who served withthe 1st Marine Aviation Force. A former

by Richard A. LongSpecial Projects Curator

citation was "L. D. Nelme Signs NewYork," and that the "window sign" was oftin, with nail holes in each corner.

No longer trusting my recollection ofmaterial already in our collections, I

referred to that most valuable source ofrecruiting information, The Recruiters'Bulletin, of which the Historical CenterLibrary has only two or so very tattered andfrequently-used sets. The Bulletin waspublished monthly by the Bureau, begin-ning in November 1914, and was mailedto each officer and enlisted man onrecruiting duty. Its columns were reserved

Marine who served on the ground inFrance with the 2d Division, AEF, Mr.Charles H. Barnes, also sent in his insig-nia and medals, while Mr. and Mrs. JosephKirsopp of Erie, Pennsylvania, donated theuniforms and equipment of Mrs. Kirsopp'sfather, former Marine Elmer Graff, whofought through the entire war with the 5thMarines. These items have come at an op-portune time, as our reserves of World WarI material are lowered by supplying moreand more on loan to command museumsand historical holdings throughout theMarine Corps. Eli 775 LII

for matters of interest to them and to theservice of recruiting for the Marine Corps.All manner of recruiting ideas and litera-ture were solicited from the field. TheBulletin acted as a clearing house, describ-ing various recruiting materials being de-veloped and released, and additionallyrelaying policy established by the officerin charge of recruiting. None of the othercontemporary armed forces offered such aservice. The Bulletin flourished and sur-vived until November 1921 when, appar-ently the victim of an economy measure,it ceased publication.

Tracking Unusual Artifacts

Tin Roadside Sign Attracted Interwar Years Recruits

One-of a-kind Marine Corps tin recruiting sign probably was manufactured in NewYork around 1919. Blue and white letters on dark blue and yellow backgrounds adver-tise Marines' opportunities for training in land sea, and sky specialties —''3 in 1 Service."

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The first tin sign "for use on buildings,fences, etc." was brought out by theRecruiting Service in February 1917. Itmeasured 10x14 inches, advertising on itsfirst line, in yellow letters on a blue back-ground, '2 in 1 Service." Following was"Join The U.S. Marines," black on yellow,and "Land and Sea," in yellow on blue.

InJune 1917, the officer in charge of theDistrict of Seattle wrote that "because ofits permanent character the metal sign isone of the best publicity agents gotten outby the Bureau." However, he recommend-ed the size of the present sign be increased

by 50 percent, as an aid to visibility"whether posted along highways or, asmost of our signs have been, on vehicles."He also asked that the address of recruit-ing offices be included on the signs.

The tin recruiting sign owned by CaptJohnson incorporated the last two sugges-tions. The Bureau began the distributionof 1,000 tin signs to each recruiting dis-trict in October 1919. They were 14x19½inches in size, with white and blue letter-ing on dark blue and yellow backgrounds,respectively. In acknowledgment of MarineCorps aviation having come of age, the

signs now read "3 in 1 SERVICE ... JoinU.S. MARINES . . . (Emblem pictured)

LAND-SEA-SKY," and on this par-ticular sign, "305 SO. WARREN ST.,SYRACUSE, N.Y."

K flowing that the Marine CorpsMuseum had none of this one-of-a-

kind recruiting sign, I asked CaptJohnsonto consider its donation. A member of theassociation of VMF-214, the Black SheepSquadron, he has also encouraged othermembers of the squadron to donate theirmemorabilia to the Marine Corps Air-Ground Museum at Quantico, Virginia.

Upright Marines Portrayed in 1880 Artist's Engraving of Norfolk Review

M useum curators are always search-ing for specimens within their

specialty of research. There is satisfactionin getting a needed common artifact, butwhen an unusual find occurs, the pleasurein acquiring it is multiplied.

We find some of these gems in dealer'scatalogs, and a case in point occurred re-

cently on the receipt of an Americanaoffering from Richard Fitch of Santa Fe,New Mexico.

For what seemed to us an economicalsum, he offered for sale a black-and-whitewood engraving entitled "After the NavalReview at Hampton Roads — Marinesgathering delinquent sailors in the streets

of Norfolk." He advertised it as "perfectfor the Marine (or navy man) on your list."We found it "perfect," but some of our col-leagues in the Naval Historical Centeracross the street were less than enthusias-tic about it.

It pictures several Marines, each shoul-dering a bayonet-tipped rifle, escort-

Stalwart Marines escort revelling sailors through Norfolk streets'After the Naval Review at Hampton Roads," on 10 November

9

1880. Engraving by Joseph Becker from contemporaly newspaperhas been added to the Marine Corps Museum collection.

ing three obviously inebriated and happysailors to an unknown destination. Hope-fully, they are only bound back to theirships following a "short leave" duringwhich they "exceeded both their time andtheir disciplinary instructions."

So the scene was described by a report-er in Frank Leslie s Illustrated Newspaper,21 November 1880. Its artist was JosephBecker, an illustrator, painter, and artdirector of Leslie's. He had joined the staffas an errand boy in 1859. The staff artiststaught him to sketch, and Leslie himselftook an interest in him. In 1863, he leftNew York to sketch scenes in the UnionArmy's Army of the Potomac. From 1875to 1900 Becker was chief of Leslie's artdepartment. He died in Brooklyn in 1910.

One of Becker's most unusual assign-ments happened in 1869. He was invitedby George Pullman of Chicago as a pas-senger on the first Pullman train to crossthe Rocky Mountains, speeding fromOmaha to San Francisco in 81 hours.

Enroute he made sketches of the west-ern landscape from the rear coach's plat-form. He did studies of Chinese laborersin California and of the Mormons in Utah.About 40 of these sketches, unsigned butassumed to be those of Becker, were pub-lished in Leslie's. He also made many ofthe illustrations of the great Chicago firein 1871.

However, the wood engraving added to

the collection is the only representation heis known to have made of U.S. Marines.

T his trivial incident concluded the dayof 10 November 1880. It was 45 years

before the Major General Commandant,John A. Lejeune, would declare the datethe birthday anniversary of the foundingof the U.S. Marine Corps.

On the day before, the then-ColonelCommandant, Charles G. McCawley, andthe Marine Band had arrived at FortressMonroe, Virginia, on the steamer fromWashington. That evening the Band play-ed in the pavilion of the Hygeia Hotel forthe dancing pleasure of officers and theirladies of the fort and of the U.S. North At-lantic Fleet assembled in the harbor.

O n the following morning, the steam-ers Dispatch and Talapoosa, bearing

President and Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayesand their daughter, Fanny, and membersof the President's Cabinet, arrived to kickoff the second naval review to be held atHampton Roads.

The morning was spent in observing ex-ercises of clearing ship for action, generaland fire quarters, and torpedo exercise,first on board the flagship Tennessee andthen on the training ship Minnesota. Theyalso watched a broad-sword exercise by ex-pert Navy men and accepted a novel sa-

lute of 21 torpedoes fired from a tempo-rary station near the shore.

In the afternoon all 10 ships in the fleetdisgorged their battalions into 60 boats,totaling nearly 1,800 men, to demonstratethe practice of the past six weeks, of land-ing a force in an amphibious attack. TheMarine battalion of 256 men was com-manded by Capt Henry A. Bartlett,USMC, and by lstLt Benjamin R. Russell,USMC, adjutant. A storm signal andrough water created havoc among the linesof boats streaming toward the shore, withseveral swamped and sailors drenched.Once ashore, there was considerabledifficulty in forming the artillery, sappers,trumpeters, and boys in any semblance oforder.

N evertheless, on the advance into thefort, the sailors were reported to

have "far surpassed the expectations ofthose who knew how few opportunitiesthey have had for drill on shore . . . . TheMarines leading the brigade . . . and ledby the Marine band from Washington.sustained their old reputation for superbmarching and excellence of drill." At 4p.m. the President inspected the brigadeinside the fort.

A heavy rain that evening prevented afireworks illumination, but the MarineBand performed for a grand ball at theHygeia Hotel.—RAL LI11775LI

Oral History Report

Lengthy Cushman Interview Comments on Controversyby Benis M. Frank

Head Oral History Section

I n the period since the last oral historyreport appeared in these pages, the

program has continued conducting bothissue-oriented interviews as well as

interviews-in-depth, and has accessionedthe transcripts of both types of interviewsinto the Marine Corps History Collection.

One of the major interviews so acces-sioned recently was the one we conduct-ed with Gen Robert E. Cushman, Jr., thelate 25th Commandant of the MarineCorps, who died in 1985, shortly after his71st birthday. Fortunately for the program,he was able to review and correct his487-page interview transcript before his

death. A native of St. Paul, Minnesota,Gen Cushman was a member of the NavalAcademy Class of 1935, and was commis-sioned in June of that year while yet not21. His Basic School class was the largestone in Marine Corps history to that dateand produced more general officers—including two Commandants — than anyother class. Included in this memoir is notonly a history of his successful and respect-ed Marine Corps career as a combat leader,which began with his first assignment—to the 4th Marines in Shanghai—and end-ed with his commandancy. Also includedis the 94-page transcript of two Vietnam-

10

related interview sessions in which GenCushmari participated with the MarineCorps Historical Center's historians thenengaged in writing a history of MarineCorps operations in Vietnam. Also includ-ed is the transcript of an FMFPac debriefof Gen Cushman in 1969 while he was re-turning to the States to become DeputyDirector of the CIA following his tour ascommander of III MAF in Vietnam.Among the other matters Gen Cushmandiscussed in his memoirs is the controversysurrounding his succession to his comman-dancy. Like other interviews in the MarineCorps Oral History Collection, Gen Cush-

man's will be deposited in BreckinridgeLibrary, Marine Corps Combat Develop-ment Command at Quantico.

A second recent major accession is theoral history memoirs of LtGen Henry W.Buse, Jr. Gen Buse, a Pennsylvania native,like Gen Cushman, is a Naval Academygraduate, but of the class of 1934. Unlikeother Marine Naval Academy graduates,who generally were assigned to the FleetMarine Force following Basic School, GenBuse first went to sea and then joined the1st Brigade at Quantico, returning to it af-ter tours at Marine Barracks, Pearl Harbor,and the Army Infantry School at Fort Ben-fling. He remained with the brigade whichwas redesignated the 1st Marine Divisionin February 1941 until 1944, meanwhileparticipating in the Guadalcanal and CapeGloucester landings. On the 'Canal, hewas Assistant G-3 first to then-Col Ger-ald C. Thomas and then-LtCol Merrill B.Twining. Gen Buse is unique in that heis one of the nine surviving Marines whoappeared in that historic photographtaken of Gen Vandegrift and his staff onGuadalcanal on 11 August 1942, just fourdays after the initial landing. During theKorean War, Gen Buse again served withthe 1st Marine Division, this time as chiefof staff. In 1958, when he was the Chiefof Staff of Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic, hewas selected for promotion to generalofficer rank. He commanded the 3d Ma-rine Division on Okinawa in 1962, wasDeputy Chief of Staff (Plans and Pro-grams) and then Chief of Staff at Head-quarters Marine Corps during the period1963-1968. He assumed command ofFMFPac in 1968, and remained there un-til his retirement in 1970.

A nother recently accessioned inter-view is the one conducted by Camp

Pendleton's Joint Public Affairs Office forthe Oral History Program. It was with ColJames R. Aichele, who, upon his retire-ment in 1981 at Camp Pendleton after a39-year career, was designated "Chief En-gineer of the Marine Corps," by the Com-mandant, Gen Robert H. Barrow, in recog-nition of his many years of enlisted andcommissioned service as a Marine en-gineer. In his early Marine Corps years, ColAichele served in the infantry and was amachine gunner at Guadalcanal. But in1941, before he left for the South Pacificand combat, he was a member of the partywhich surveyed Camp Pendleton. Of his

total Marine Corps time, 11 years werespent on Okinawa, where he played amajor role in Marine Corps military con-struction on the island. He also was veryclosely involved with the planning for andevents surrounding the reversion of Okina-wa to Japanese sovereignty. All of this ischronicled in his interview.

T he Oral History Section recentlycompleted an interview in depth

with retired LtGen William K. Jones, af-fectionately known as "Willie K." A well-decorated combat veteran of three wars,Gen Jones was commissioned in 1939 andjoined the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines inNovember of that year. He remained withthat unit for almost six years, progressingfrom infantry platoon leader to battalioncommander in that time, and participatedin the occupation of Iceland as well as theGuadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, andOkinawa operations during World War II.Included in his interview are Gen Jones'reminiscences of his various tours of duty,including assignments to staff and com-mand billets, a tour as assistant naval at-tache in Stockholm, and commands of the1st Marines in Korea, 3d Marine Divisionin Vietnam, and Fleet Marine Force, Pa-cific, where he ended his 33-year career in1972. A prolific writer, Gen Jones is wellknown for his series of "BaseplateMcGurk" articles in the Marine CorpsGazette. His most recent work is A BriefHistory of the 6th Marines, which has justbeen released by the History and Muse-ums Division.

Among the interviews recently acces-sioned into the Oral History Collection isa body of 23 Korea-related transcribed in-terviews which were undoubtedly conduct-ed in 1950-1951 by members of a uniqueMarine Corps organization, the 1st Provi-sional Historical Platoon (which may, initself, be a good subject for another arti-cle). These transcripts were found in thePersonal Papers Collection holdings ofGen Oliver P. Smith, who commanded the1st Marine Division in Korea. Some of thebetter-known individuals whose interviewsare in this group are MajGen Edward A.Craig; LtCol Charles H. Brush; Capt Fran-cis I. "Ike" Fenton, Jr.; Col Homer L. Lit-zenberg; LtCol Francis Fox Parry; CaptBenjamin S. Read; LtCol Jack Tabor; andMaj MartinJ. Sexton. These interviews arean important addition to the MarineCorps literature of the Korean War.

11

In a way, serendipity has played a partin the Oral History Collection obtainingtwo separate and disparate groups of in-terviews. The subject of the first group isthe late MajGen Gregon A. Williams.These interviews were contributed byCWO-2 Robert T. Donald, USA (Ret), aformer Marine who happened upon GenWilliams' uniforms which had been of-fered for sale at a flea market. Mr. Donaldbought the uniforms and then began re-searching Gen Williams' career. In this en-deavor, he conducted a number of inter-views with individuals who had been as-sociated with Gen Williams at variouspoints in this somewhat controversial Ma-rine's career, and wrote a biography. Oneof the more interesting aspects of the bi-ography deals with Gen Williams' tour asassistant naval attache in Shanghai at thebeginning of World War II and his subse-quent imprisonment and subsequentrelease because of his diplomatic im-munity.

T he second serendipitous addition tothe collection is a number of inter-

views containing the experiences and seastories of Banana Fleet Marines. LCdrRobert W. Blake, USNR (Ret), son of thelate MajGen Robert Blake, whose inter-view is in the Oral History Collection, in-formed us of this group. In 1935, then-LtCol Blake became squadron Marine of-ficer of the Special Service Squadron, bet-ter known as the "Banana Fleet," whichpatrolled the waters of the Panama/Carib-bean area prior to World War II. Severalyears ago, the Marines who manned theships' detachments of the Special ServiceSquadron formed the Banana Fleet Ma-rines, and through LCdr Blake's efforts wewere put in touch with retired MSgt Ber-nard A. "Barney" Daehler, the historianand apparent "chief hancho" of the group,who has conducted several oral history in-terviews for our Oral History Program,thus adding to the lore of Marine Corpsactivities in the prewar period in this partof the world.

W e have been remiss in not previ-ously introducing the Oral His-

tory Section's new assistant. She is Mrs.Meredith P. Hartley, a native of upstateNew York and a graduate of St. LawrenceUniversity. Mrs. Hartley joined the Historyand Museums Division following nearly sixyears of active Marine Corps service.

L111775 LII

A Guam Diary, Pan I

Japanese 'Straggler's' Notes Intrigue Researcher at Center

Q ne of my favorite haunts inWashington, D.C. is the U.S. Ma-

rifle Corps Historical Center. WheneverI'm in Washington on business I try to setaside an extra day to explore the uniquedocuments contained in its files, For thepast several years I've been gathering in-formation on American prisoners of war(POWs) in the Pacific,

It was a particularly bright and cheer-ful day—early spring, Washington at itssparkling best—when I stumbled acrossthe diary. I'd spent most of the day goingthrough boxes of documents and otherreference materials. Among the many filesof yellowed papers I examined was onethat somehow caught my eye. It containeda police report on the slaying of ajapanesestraggler on Guam, many months after thewar had ended. As I read the report, I wassurprised to learn that fighting continuedso long after the war was over.

The report made reference to several di-aries the straggler had kept; it stated thatthese were too weathered to salvage, ex-cept for one. By some quirk of fate, thesingle remaining diary had made the longjourney from Guam to the U.S., and now,40 years later, I opened it.

Then I made another singular discovery.It was written in a notebook that had oncebelonged to an American Marine, whose

by Crag B. Smith

name was in the front. I-low had it comeinto the hands of the Japanese straggler,and what had he written in it?The diary looked interesting; it had neat

drawings in colored pencil of variousAmerican military planes, and severalmaps of Guam. A few excepts of the diaryhad been translated by the military,enough to suggest that it held an interest-ing story. I resolved to arrange to translatethe entire document, and to try to unravelthe story behind the diary'.

T he notebook was known to belongto Lr Philip Pierce, of the V Am-

phibious Corps. From notations in thenotebook it was apparent that Lt Piercehad undergone training at Camp Tarawa(Hawaii) prior to being shipped out to theMarianas. Somehow the Japanese stragglerhad gotten hold of Pierce's notebook andused it for his diary.

Guam was the first American territoryto be captured by the Japanese. It wasbombed the same day as Pearl Harbor.Two days later a force of 5,000Japaneseoverran the island, which was de&nded bya small contingent of sailors, Marines, anda native police force. After being held

1. Smith. Cra4 B., with tr3nslaiions by Yoshiko 1.ock.

wood. The Diary of Sergeani Itoh. li,s AngulusWhirlwind Press, 1986.

prisoner for a month, the American cap-tives were transported to Japan, where theyspent the rest of the war in POW camps.Once the island was secure, the invadingJapanese forces were sent on to the SouthPacific, where they fought in much moreserious battles, and where most eventuallylost their lives. A small administrative forceof about 500 personnel was left behind toadminister Japanese policy and to inte-grate the island into the "Greater East AsiaCo-Prosperity Sphere,"Japan's vision of an"Asia for Asians."

The native Guamanians (Chamorros)did not show much interest in collaborat-ing with the Japanese. For the most part,they retreated to their farms and ranchesin the interior of the island, and kept outof the way of the Japanese. There weresome Japanese settlers on the island priorto the outbreak of the war. They rose instature with the Japanese occupation.

M atters continued more or less in thisvein until early 1944, when the tide

of the war had turned and it became ap-parent that the Americans were drawingcloser and closer rojapan. It was only log-ical that eventually Guam would become atarget, so the Japanese began reinforcingthe island. They brought seasoned troopsfrom China and Manchuria to Guam, bol-

Displayed on a Japanese flag, the World [Var II straggler's diary author of this report, which locates the hideout on Guam of theheld by the Marine Corps Historical Center has neat drawings drury 's writer and owner Japan ese Army Set Masashi Itoh.in colored pencil. One such sketch Lv a map, annotated by the

12

stering the defense with 18000 fightingmen.

With the arrival of the experiencedcombat troops from China, life for theGuamanians became much more difficult.They were recruited to perform forcedlabor, building defensive positions for theJapanese troops. These troops were muchharsher on the Guamanians than the ad-ministrative group had been. Possibly be-cause they were veterans of the fighting inChina, or perhaps because they sensedthat they might never return home fromGuam, they began a brutal repression andcommitted atrocities on the Guamanians.Besides requiring forced labor, priests werekilled, civilians were raped and behead-ed, there were mass executions, and justbefore the American invasion, all of theGuamanians were placed in prison carnps.a

W ith the invasion, the Japaneseforces were gradually driven to the

northern tip of the island. The island wasdeclared secure in August 1944, when thelast high-ranking Japanese officer wasfound dead in his headquarters cave. Yet,following orders to continue the war aslong as possible through guerrilla action,many Japanese soldiers slipped throughthe American lines in small groups andmade their way south, hiding in the jun-gles and living off the land.

When the American forces landed, theywere immediately assisted by the freedGuamanians, who served voluntarily asscouts and guides. Some—perhapsmany—of these scouts were Guamanianswho had themselves suffered at the handsof the Japanese, or who had lost relativesduring the last frantic six months beforethe Americans invaded. Just before theend of the war they were organized intoa para-milirary group called the GuamPolice Combat Patrol. The CombatPatrol's major mission was to locate andcapture, or kill if necessary, the remain-ing Japanese stragglers.

After the Japanese defeat, efforts weremade to induce the remaining Japanesetroops to surrender. Pamphlets were scat-tered over the island, and a boat equippedwith loudspeakers went along the inacces-sible coastal areas, stating that by surren-

2. Farrell, Don A. The Picional Hiuory of Guam.Lzberahon./944. Mcronesian Producrions. 1984

3. Crow!, Philip A. The War in the Pacsfir; Cam-pargninthrMananes, Vol. 9ofaseries. Washing-ton. D.C.; U.S. Army. 1960, 1978.

dering the Japanese could get food andwould be humanely treated. Meanwhile,more and more American troops, betterroads, and constant patrolling harassed theJapanese troops unmercifully. Every daysome were killed outright, others diedfrom illness, or they committed suicide.Few surrendered.

Q ne year later, the war was over, andmany of the American troops went

home. The pressure on the surviving strag-glers was reduced somewhat, althoughthey still had the Guam Police CombatPatrol to worry about. Leaflets were onceagain spread over the island, informing theremaining stragglers that the war was over

and they should come forth and go home.Following the end of hostilities, calm

slowly settled over the island. There wasstill a large military presence. and theAmerican war planes still flew in exercises.Troops, supplemented by the Guam PoliceCombat Patrol, still patrolled the island.The diminishing numbers of Japanesestragglers hid in their caves and deep jun-gle hideouts, and wondered when theJapanese Army would return. Those whohad not died as a result of the fighting andwho then had not killed themselves, lived

13

in a state of suspended animation. Theybelieved that their families would thinkof them as dead, so disgraceful was theirsituation. They believed that if they sur-rendered, they would be killed, and at anyrate they could not face the dishonor ofcapture. Defiant to the last, they electedto take their chances with a third form ofdeath: living on in the jungle.

U.S. military records, which combine ac-tions of Army. Navy and Marine patrolsalong with those of the Guam Police Com-bat Patrol, illustrate the difficulties facedby the stragglers. The Combat Patrol wasdisbanded in 1948. By the early 1950ssightings of stragglers were extremely rare.although a few more turned themselvesin. By 1959 the world had largely forgot-ten about the Japanese soldiers. Indeed,the Governor of Guam. responding to aninquiry from the U.S. ambassador inJapan, was emphatic in stating that it washighly unlikely that there were addition-al stragglers on Guam.5

4. Kahn. P J.Jr The Stragglers. New York Random

House. 1962.

5. Governor of Guam Rtthard Barren (owe hr noMinsier WilILam Leonhan. U S. Embassy. Japan, did

8 April 1959

The Guam Police Combat Patrol, formed after the August 1944 landing by US. forces,was made up of Guamanian native islanders. The major mission of these policemenin 1946 was to locate and capture, or kill if necessary. remains'ng]apanese stragglers.

T he translation of the diary was near-ly complete in the summer of 1986,

and I made arrangements to return toGuam in the fall to interview survivingmembers of the Combat Patrol and resolvesome unanswered questions related to thetranslation. Most of these dealt with un-

scrambling the Japanese place names usedin the diary, and deciphering some ob-scure military terms, so the translationcould be as accurate as possible.

My research efforts were abruptly jarredonto a different path as a result of a casualconversation with Dick Williams in the

Guam Legislature, one sultry afternoon."So you're interested in stragglers:' he said."You might like to know that I was on dutythe day that Itoh and Minagawa surren-dered. When they returned to Japan a fewdays later, they were met by hundreds ofJapanese newsmen and television report-ers

"Itoh?," I thought to myself— that's thename in the diary. But surely it isn't thesame person. Bunzo Minagawa andMasashi Itoh returned to civilization inMay 1960. They were the longest holdoutsthen known, and remained so until 1973,when Shoichi Yokoi was located in the jun-gle near Talofofo.6 If Itoh had survived un-til 1960, he might still be alive, meaningthe police report which claimed he'd beenkilled was in error.

The next morning I rushed to thelibrary and searched through its newspaperfiles for May 1960. There was no doubt,the Masashi Itoh who surrendered in 1960was the author of the diary!

At this point my emotions were on aroller coaster. After nearly a year's involve-ment with the diary I had grown to ap-preciate Sgt Itoh. In spite of his trials andtribulations, he unfailingly kept a positiveoutlook in his writing. He was clever andresourceful. He was obviously the sort ofman—friend or enemy—you would like toknow better. But was he still living? Wouldhe agree to a meeting, or would he insiston not awakening long-dormant war-timememories? L111775L1J

6. The longest holdout I am aware of was Hiroo Ono-da, an intelligence officer who continued guerrillawarfare on the Philippine island of Lubang for 30years, finally surrendering in the spring of 1974.

Dr. Craig B. Smith has for several years beendoing research for a book dealing with WorldWar II prisoners of war in the Pacific. Thisis the first part of a two-part article.

Historical Program Certificates Hail Donation, Shop Volunteer Service

R ecent awards of Certificates of Ap-preciation issued on behalf of the

Commandant of the Marine Corps to per-sons who have made significant contibu-tions to the Marine Corps Historical Pro-gram are as follows:

For his donation of a valuable philatel-ic collection commemorating the historicflagraising on Iwo Jima:

LtCol Robert W. Geary, USMC

For more than ten years of service as aMuseum Shop Volunteer, MargaretGreenwood; for more than five years, RuthHammerbeck, Betty Townsend; for morethan 714 hours, Marge Fallon; for morethan 600 hours, Donald A. Wetherbee; formore than 500 hours, Mr. and Mrs. Gor-don Heim, Fran Read; for more than 450hours, Carol Irons, Col and Mrs. James W.Sperry; for more than 400 hours, EvelynEnglander; for more than 300 hours, Mary

14

King; for more than 200 hours, WynneCummings; for more than 150 hours,Rosemary Coyne, Estelle DeVere; for morethan 136 hours, NancyJ. Bieger; for morethan 100 hours, Missy Meadows, NancySheridan; for more than 83 hours, CathyBenson; for more than 57 hours, NorwoodGrinalds; and for more than 50 hours,LtCol Harry Edwards, USMC (Ret), Mil-lie Went, Anne Wood.

L1J1775L11

Useful items for daily living in the jungle made from war materials and natural sources,including rubber-tire sandals, were created by stragglers and photographed in 1960.

New Security Companies Carry On Barracks' Traditionsby Danny J. Crawford

Head, Reference Section

O ne of the Marine Corps' oldestinstitutions underwent a major

transition during the past year. On 16April 1987, the first of two Marine CorpsSecurity Force (MCSF) Battalions, thefoundation of the newly organized MarineCorps Security Forces, was officially estab-lished in a ceremony at Marine Barracks,Norfolk, Virginia. The colors of MarineBarracks, Norfolk, were retired andreplaced with those of the Marine CorpsSecurity Force Battalion, Atlantic. Threemonths later, on 3lJuly 1987, the MarineCorps Security Force Battalion, Pacific, wasactivated at Mare Island, California, whichwas the site of the first Marine Barracks es-tablished on the West Coast.

The earliest missions assigned to Ma-rines after the Corps was reestablished bythe Act of 1798, were serving on boardNavy ships and forming guard detach-ments at Marine barracks in the five NavyYards, located at Boston, Brooklyn,Philadelphia, Washington, and Norfolk.Marine barracks provided housing formembers of both the ship detachmentsand the yard guards and provided a placeto both groups for drill. Throughout the1800s Marine barracks served as combina-tion recruit depots, training camps, andstaging battalions for all Marines. As the

number of naval stations grew throughoutthe 19th century, the strength of the Ma-rine Corps grew accordingly. The Marinebarracks were increasingly called upon tooutfit the expeditionary forces that weresent to troubled parts of the world suchas Haiti, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Mex-ico, and Cuba.

W ith the creation of the AdvancedBase Force just prior to World War

I, Marine regiments were established andstationed at Marine barracks on the eastand west coasts, at Philadelphia and MareIsland. It soon became apparent, however,that the Marine Corps would need ex-panded facilities in the form of permanentbases to keep pace with the Corps' grow-ing missions in the 20th century. With theperformance of the Corps in World WarI, and the establishment of amphibiousdoctrine and tactics in the interwar years,it was clear that Marine barracks would nolonger be the focal point of Corps expedi-tionary activity as they had been through-out the 19th century.

Over the past 50 years, Marines assignedto duty at Marine barracks around theworld have continued to provide the crit-ical security needs of the naval stations,

shipyards, and depots to which they wereassigned. In recent years, the growingworld-wide terrorist threat has placedgreater demands on the Marines respon-sible for physical security at major navalinstallations.

Last January, John E Lehman, Jr., thenSecretary of the Navy, announced the re-structuring of the service's security forces.The Navy initiative was aimed at improv-ing the ability to detect, defer, and defeatterrorism directed against U.S. interestsand military personnel around the world.With the April redesignation of the Nor-folk Marine Barracks as the Atlantic Fleet'sMarine Corps Security Force Battalion, andthe July activation of the Pacific Fleet'scounterpart at Mare Island, the plan waswell under way.

T he two Marine security forces battal-ions will give security training to

cadres and Marine companies ashore. Eachbattalion will consist of a headquarters,MCSF school, cadres assigned to the secu-rity departments of Navy installations;security force companies ashore (formerlyMarine barracks); Marine detachmentsafloat, and Marine instructors. Addition-ally, each battalion will have a Fleet Anti-

Headquarters of the new Marine Corps Security Force Battalion,Pacific, is located since 31 July 1987 at the former Marine Bar-

racks, Mare Island California, shown here in a photograph takenaround 1935. The MCSF Battalion, Atlantic, is at Norfolk.

15

terrorist Security Team (FAST) which isready to deploy on short notice. The FASTcompanies will provide added securitywherever there is a threat, to include secu-rity for nuclear-ship fueling operations.

The new MCSF battalion concept willrequire changes in the current Marine bar-racks structure, Many barracks will be re-vamped as MCSF companies ashore, whileothers will continue their current missionor will be closed in phases.

The Reference Section of the Historyand Museums Division has been closelymonitoring the recent changes in thedesignation and mission of the Corps

oldest units, the Marine barracks. Throughthe Division's Unit Lineage and HonorsProgram, the history of service of MarineCorps units is recorded. The certificates oflineage and honors issued to the units areprepared by the Reference Section for thesignature of the Commandant of the Ma-rine Corps. They provide a tangiblerepresentation of the proud history andtraditions of Marine units along with thebattle honors and awards earned by thoseunits. Since January 1969, when the line-age and honors program formally began,nearly 800 sets of certificates have been

played by the receiving units, they serveto enhance unit esprit and foswr pride inthe hetitage and traditions of the Corps.

J\ uring 1988, lineage and honorsLI certificates will be prepared for theMCSF battalions tracing them from theirorigins as Marine barracks. These battal-ions. as well as the individual MCSF com-panies, will retain the lineage and honorsof their predecessor Marine barracks. Theywill also continue to display on their unitcolors the streamers earned over many de-cades of service by the barracks from whichthey were redesignated. E177SLII

Marine Barracks have a long hilt/or3 in the Corps. some datingback to 1798. The Charles/own, Massachusetts, installation, plc-

turedin an early engraving, then housed one lieutenant coloneltwo lieutenants, st* sergeants, four corporals, and 75 privates.

Historical Quiz

prepared and issued. Prominently dis-

Blacks in the Marine Corpsby Lena Kaljdt

Reference Historian

Identify the following blacks in the Marine Corps:

1. Who was the Marine Corps' first black aviator, as wellas the first black Marine to attain flag rank?

2. Name the first black Marine astronaut.3. Name the two black former Marines who held world

heavyweight boxing titles.4. Which black general officer had the distinction of be-

ing the first black to reach flag rank in the Marine CorpsReserve?

5. Who was the first black Marine to be awarded the Me-dal of Honor?

6. Name the only major Marine installation named in honorof a black serviceman.7. Who was the first black woman officer?8. Who was the first black Marine to hold the position of

battalion sergeant major in an infantry battalion?9. Who was the former black chief drill instructor at San

Diego who trained Lou Gossett,Jr.. for his role in "An Officerand a Gentleman?"10. Who was the last of the black Marines who received recruittraining in Montford Point during World War II to leave theMarine Corps?

(Answers on page 21)

16

Historic Aircraft Make El Toro an Open-Air Museumby Jody Y U//mann

Aviation Curator

T he main gates of Marine Corps AirStation, El Toro, California, and its

squadron entrances are guarded by eightvintage aircraft, all reminders of the histor-ical past of the station and some of itstenant squadrons.

The process of gathering these aircraftbegan more than two years ago whenBGen William A. Bloomer, then the sta-tion's commanding general, contacted theHistory and Museums Division proposingthat El Toro be the site of a substantialholding of historical aircraft. Such an ef-fort is encouraged under the guidelines ofthe Marine Corps Historical Program(MCO P5750.1F), and a working relation-ship was established between El Toro andthe Marine Corps Air-Ground Museumand Museums Branch Activities located atQuantico, Virginia.

Initially, the Air-Ground Museum'shistorian, Capt David C. Uhley, and theEl Toro project officer, Maj Kenneth Har-mon, accomplished the necessary researchto determine which aircraft were appropri-ate for El Toro. The next step was to lo-cate, secure, and arrange for shipment ofthe aircraft to El Toro. This process hasbeen occurring over the past two years andis ongoing. Since the History and Muse-ums Division is the only Marine Corps or-ganization that legally can own historicalaircraft, all the aircraft are on loan to ElToro from the Air-Ground Museum.

A ccording to lstLt William G. Doyle,the air station's current project

officer, once the aircraft arrives at El Toro,it is assigned, whenever possible, to a squa-dron which flew it when the aircraft wasin service (El Toro's "Adopt an Aircraft Pro-gram"). That squadron then is responsi-ble for maintaining the aircraft and, insome cases, restoring as well as paintingand marking it as it would have beenwhen operated. Help in identifying thecorrect colors and markings is given by theAviation Curator at the Air-GroundMuseum.

A Douglas A4C Skyhawk, for instance,was assigned to VMA-211, the "Wake Is-land Avengers," because 211 was the firstsquadron in the Navy and Marine Corps

to receive that model. The aircraft is paint-ed with the VMA-211 insignia and dis-played near the main gate.

The Douglas R4D-8 (C-117D) Skytrainwas the military version of the SuperDC-3. The Skytrain saw service from 1941to mid-1982 and was used as a passengerand cargo aircraft. Flown initially by thethen VMJ-252, among others, it was thelast of its model to fly. Currently paintedin the colors and markings of MarineCorps Air Station, Iwakuni, Japan, its laststation, it now sits across the street fromthe Officers' Club.

T orpedo attack and bombing was theprimary mission of the General Mo-

tors TBM-3 Avenger flown by VMTB-232,now VMFA-232. Service began for this air-craft in 1942 and ended in 1957. TheAvenger sits temporarily at the main gateawaiting adoption and the building of aprotective pavilion.

The Piasecki HUP-2 Retriever was a sta-tion aircraft used for search and rescue.Used also as a utility and cargo helicop-ter, it served in the Marine Corps from1949-64. The Retriever is now placed nextto the entrance to the passenger terminal.

The Vought F4U-5N Corsair also cur-rently sits at the main gate awaiting adop-tion and final restoration. Thiscarrier-based night fighter was flown by ElToro-based VMF(N)-513 during theKorean War. Corsairs of all models sawservice with the Marines from World WarII to the end of the Korean War.

On display at El Toro 's main gate, a McDonnell F2H-2 Banshee reminds viewers ofKorean War action, when this jet fighter bomber was flown by Marines of VMA-214.

Grumman F9F-2 Panther sits in the VMF-311 hangar at MCAS El Toro waiting for itswings. The F9F was the 1st MAW'S jet fighter-bomber mainstay in the Korean War

17

that are already at El Toro. The fuselageis now being stored by MAG-41 at An-drews Air Force Base awaiting a C-S op-portune airlift. Once this aircraft is

restored, it will be painted up in thebright orange and white colors ofa stationaircraft and put on display next to theR4D-8.

The McDonnell F2H Banshee, whichnow sits at the main gate, served the"Black Sheep" of VMA-214 in the 1950sas a jet fighter-bomber.

The North American FJ Fury wasdeployed with Marine squadrons as a land-based fighter right after the Korean War.The FJ-3 aircraft, painted in VMFA-333'smarkings. sits at the front gate with thejets that are part of El Toro's history.

The Vought FSU-2NE (F-8E/J)Crusader, seen as you enter the main gate.

currently carries the markings of the"Black Knights" of VMFA-323. TheCrusader was the first naval aircraft to ex-ceed L000 mph. In July 1957. then-MajJohn H. Glenn set a speed record by fly-ing from Naval Air Station, Los Alamitos,California, to Floyd Bennett Field, NewYork, in three hours and 23 minutes in aCrusader.

Just recently a North American B25-J(PBJ-tJ) Mitchell was delivered to El Torofrom the Air-Ground Museum. These ver-satile, light bombers were received fromthe Notrh American factory in Kansas Cityand shipped to El Toro for refitting andrepainting before being flown on (0 is.

lands such as Emirau, Green, and thePhilippines, where they were based dur-ing World War II. El Toro is currently seek-ing volunteers from past PBJ squadrons torestore (he airplane and repaint it in the

three-toned camouflage of World War II.

In a few months the fuselage of a Beech-craft C-45 Navigaror. affectionately knownas the "Bug Smasher will be reunitedwith the wings. tail section, and engines

El Toro also has on loan a GrummanF9F-2 Panther. The aircraft is currentlypainted in the colors of VMF-311 and isawaiting the location and delivery of a newset of wings. When the restoration is com-plete this aircraft will join the other histor-ic jets in guarding the main gate.

Plans are underway to move the maingate of El Toro; therefore, additional air-craft are being sought by the station forits new main gate display area,

According to lstLt Doyle. WES-37Headquarters building and adjoininghangar will be vacated sooti. After reno-vation and repair the building will housea small museum with exhibit areas, alibrary, and curator's office. Once the

museum building is complete. the stationwill work with the staff of the MarineCorps History and Museums Division indetermining the type of materials that willbe presented in the exhibit space. Ap-propriate artifacts will be identified andshipped to El Toro from the reserve col-lections at Quantico.

Once this command museum is opento the public, it will afford an opportuni-ty for people on the West Coast to learnnot only about El Toro's past, but alsoabout the history of Marine Corps aviationin general.

A station search-and-rescue. and utility, aircraft from 1949 to 1964. a sturdy Piasecki

HUP-2 Retriever now is exhibited at the entrance to El Thro 's passenger air terminal

Still painted in the colors and markings of MCAS iwakuni, Japan, last model to fly

ofthe R4D-8 (C-117D) Skytrain is exhibzitedacmss the street from El Tom's officers' club.

Familiar Marine aircraft from 1st MA jfserviee in the Vietnam War a McDonnell F-48Phantom It displayed in a take-off attItude at MAG-JI headquarters at El Thro.

18

FIiht Lines

Stearman N2S-3byjody Y U//mann

Aviation Curator

T he Stearman Aircraft Company,formed by Lloyd Stearman in 1926,

designed what was to become one ofAmerica's most familiar biplanes, theNS/N2S. Over 10,000 of these aircraft weremanufactured by the Stearman AircraftCorporation between 1935 and 1945.

The Model 70 began as a private ven-ture to meet the Army's requirement fora new primary trainer. Although this air-craft won the Army Primary Trainer Con-test in 1934, a conflict of funding priorities

allowed the Navy to take the first produc-tion order. This Navy version was designat-ed the NS-1 and was powered by the 225horsepower Wright J-5 engine as a moveto use up existing stocks. The aircraft wasmade of mixed wood and fabric construc-tion and had a welded steel-tube fuselage,fixed main landing gear, and a tail skid.Sixty-one NS-ls were delivered to the Navybetween 1935 and 1936.

Between 1936 and 1939 the Navyreceived 250 N2S-ls with Continental

R-670-14 engines, 125 N2S-2s with Lycom-ing R-680-2 engines, and 1,875 N2S-4sthat were virtually identical to the N2S-3and included 99 diverted Army PT-17swith R-670-5 engines.

Thousands of Marine Corps, Navy, andArmy pilots received their initial instruc-tions in "Stearmans" which were consider-ed ideal for teaching basic flying maneu-vers, aerobatics, and takeoffs. Landing theStearman, however, presented a challengeto inexperienced pilots because of restrict-ed forward visibility, lateral instability dur-ing rollout, and rough touchdowns. Thelatter two problems were solved when thetailskids were replaced by tail wheels inlater models. This aircraft was one amonga number that have been given the nick-name "Yellow Peril" in recognition of itspotentially dangerous landing charac-teristics.

In 1939, Stearman Aircraft Companybecame identified as the Wichita Divisionof Boeing Airplane Company. Three yearslater, full interchangeability between theArmy and Navy aircraft was achieved withthe Model E-75 powered by the LycomingR-680-17 engine. Known as the N2S-5, theNavy received 1,450 of this last major pro-duction variant for U.S. forces. A limitednumber of these had canopies, cockpitheating, full blind-flying instrumentation,and hood for instrument trainingpurposes.

The Stearman was phased out of mili-tary service after World War II and sold tothe public for as little as $700 each. A largenumber were sold to foreign nations, suchas the Philippines, Cuba, and Canada, foruse as trainers. Today, considerable num-bers of these aircraft can still be found inthe civilian community as cropdusters andhobby aircraft.

N2S-3, Bu. No. 07481, which is current-ly on exhibit in the Early Years hangar, wasflown as a trainer for most of its career atNAS Glenview before being sold at auc-tion. This fully restored trainer was flightdelivered to the Marine Corps Air-GroundMuseum in 1985. E11775E1

Example of America's most familiar bijilane, a fully restored N2S-3, Bu. No. 07481,flown as a trainer for most of its career is displayed at the Air- Ground Museum.

Technical Data

Manufacturer: Stearman Aircraft Company.

Type: Primary trainer land biplane.

Accommodation: Instructor and student pilot.

Power Plant: Continental R-670-4/220 h.p.

Dimensions: Length, 25 ft.; Height, 9 ft., 2 in.; Span, 32 ft., 2 in.

Weights: Empty, 1,936 lbs.; gross, 2,717 lbs.

Performance: (For N2S-5) Max speed, 124 mph.; Service ceiling, 11,200 ft.;

Range, 505 miles; Climb, 440 ft/mm.

Armaments: None.

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In Memoriam

China Marine, Early Pilot, Ordnance Expert Recalled

MAJGENJOHN H. MASTERS, USMC (RET),died on 22 October in Mt. Pleasant, SouthCarolina. He was 74. He was born in At-lanta, grew up in Anderson, South Caro-lina, and after attending The Citadel forone year, entered the Naval Academy in1932, and was commissioned in the Ma-rine Corps. He joined his brother, JamesM. Masters, Sr., who had become a Ma-rine officer in 1936, the year he himselfwas graduated from the Naval Academy.

Following normal assignments of seaand shore duty, and a tour as aide to thecommanding general of the Marine Bar-racks, Quantico, MajGen Louis McC. Lit-tle, in 1942 Maj Masters was sent to Chinato join the U.S. Naval Group, China. Thisunit was known as the Sino-AmericanCooperative Organization (SACO), ormore familiarly as "the Rice Paddy Navy,"and was there to train Chinese guerrillas.He returned to Washington in 1944 tobecome aide to the Commandant, GenAlexander A. Vandegrift, but returned toChina the following year to participate inthe occupation of North China, first ascommander of 1st Battalion, 5th Marines,and later as regimental executive officer.

In 1947, LtCol Masters once againreturned to Washington as aide to GenVandegrift and then to Gen Clifton B.Cates, the succeeding Commandant. Inthe interim period, until his promotion tobrigadier general in 1960, he command-

MajGen John H. Masters, USMC, in 1964

by Benis M. FrankHead, Oral History Section

ed the 8th Marines, the 2d Infantry Train-ing Regiment, and the 4th Marines. Healso filled staff billets as G-3 of Camp Pen-dieton; FMFPac Force Inspector; AssistantDirector of Personnel, HQMC; and Legis-lative Assistant to the Commandant.

In 1962, Gen Masters was detached forassignment to Okinawa, where he was As-sistant Division Commander of the 3dMarine Division, which was then com-manded by his brother. Until his retire-ment in 1969, Gen Masters also served asAssistant Quartermaster General of theMarine Corps; CG of the Marine CorpsSupply Center, Barstow; and the DeputyChief of Staff, CinCLant. He was buriedwith full military honors in Beaufort,South Carolina, on 26 October.

BGEN BOEKER C. BATFERTION, USMC(RET), died at the age of 83 on 17 July inSpringfield, Illinois. He was graduatedfrom the Naval Academy in June 1928,when he was commissioned a Marine se-cond lieutenant. He received his wings in1929 following aviation instruction at An-napolis and Hampton Roads, Virginia,and was then assigned to the 1st MarineBrigade in Haiti.

In April 1941, he joined the U.S. NavalAviation Mission to Peru, serving there forthree years before his reassignment to thePacific war and participation in the Okina-wa operation. In the postwar period, ColBatterton was assigned as naval attache forair at the American embassies in Cuba,Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. In theKorean War, he commanded Marine Air-craft Group 12 in combat.

Gen Batterton retired inJuly 1958 andwas advanced to brigadier general for hav-ing been decorated in combat.

COL GEORGE M. CHINN, USMCR (RET),one of the world's leading authorities onautomatic weapons, died at the age of 85in his home in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, on4 September. He wrote several books andnumerous articles on the subject, includ-ing the machine gun section in Encyclope-dia Britannica.

20

His most notable work is a five-volumehistory, The Machine Gun. Initiated as aBureau of Ordnance study, he completedthe fifth and last volume a month beforehis death. He developed the MK 19 40mmautomatic grenade launcher, which is cur-rently in the weapons inventories of thearmed forces. This weapon is an outgrowthof the 20mm aircraft cannon he had de-veloped earlier.

In addition to his work with weapons,he was a recognized historian of Kentuck-iana. Col Chinn was director of the Ken-tucky Historical Society, 1968-1970, andwrote a number of books on Kentucky his-tory, including the 436-page The Historyof Harrodsburg and the Great SettlementArea of Kentucky. He was buried with fullmilitary honors in Harrodsburg on 8 Sep-tember.

COL HENRY S. SABATIER, USMC (RET),died in Madrid, Spain, on 6 October atthe age of 70. He was buried with fullmilitary honors in Arlington NationalCemetery on 13 October. Born in Loui-siana, Col Sabatier was graduated fromLouisiana State University in 1941, follow-ing which he was commissioned in theMarine Corps and, after flight training,was designated a naval aviator.

He was a fighter pilot with VMO-251 inthe Guadalcanal operation, and was the

Col Henry S. Sabatier USMC, in 1961

6th Marine Division air officer in theOkinawa campaign. In 1958, he under-went helicopter transition training andlater was assigned to Marine helicopterunits.

At the time of his retirement in June1967, Go! Sabatier was a member of theTactical Nuclear Branch, J-5, of the JointChiefs of Staff.

DR. K. JACK BAUER, 61, a former MarineCorps historian and prominent militaryhistorian who had published widely, diedin Troy, New York, on 17 September.

Dr. Bauer joined the Headquarters Ma-rine Corps Historical Branch in 1955 andwas assigned to conduct the research forVolume III of US. Marine Operations inKorea. In 1957, he left the historical pro-gram for the Naval Historical Division,where he assisted RAdm Samuel EliotMorison in preparing the last few volumesof the latter's monumental 15-volume his-

tory of U.S. naval operations in World WarII.

Dr. Bauer became a member of the his-tory faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic In-stitute in 1965, where, until his death, hespecialized in American diplomatic historyand the history of technology.

DR. EUGENE P. BOARDMAN, 76, professoremeritus of Asian history at the Universityof Wisconsin at Madison, an acknowl-edged expert on East Asian studies andone of the firstJapanese language officersrecruited in the Marine Corps beforeWorld War II, died on 21 August.

Dr. Boardman received his PhD in EastAsian studies from Harvard University andupon his commissioning inJune 1941, wasassigned with other newly commissionedlanguage officers to the University ofHawaii for further training in Japanese. Ashe related in his oral history interview, LtBoardman landed with the 1st Marine Di-vision on Tulagi on 7 August 1942, and

21

in mid-October was sent to Guadalcanal.Before the war in the Pacific was over, he

had served as a language officer in theTarawa, Saipan, and Tinian operations. Forhis service in the war, Maj Boardman wasdecorated with the Legion of Merit.

Eli 775E1

New Uniform KitsRepresent 10 ErasIn Marine History

(Continued from page 24)

specifications and patterns for the uni-forms and a list of possible suppliers, whilethe contracting staff of Deputy Chief ofStaff for Installations and Logistics wroteand published the request for proposal.The New Columbia Company of Charles-ton, illinois, won the contract on the ba-sis of price and adjudged capability todeliver a satisfactory product.

New Columbia will produce kits of 10uniforms, with appropriate accessories foreach, for the Museums Branch. Historicalperiods represented are: American Revo-lution, Quasi-War with France, War of1812, Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World WarII, Korean War, and Vietnam War. In-dividual uniforms will cost from $230 to$1,105 each, depending upon the period.

A message—161954Z Oct 87, Subj:Period Historical Marine Corps UniformsKits for Historical Presentations andPageants—has been addressed to majorbases and commands so that they maypurchase new kits, should they desire,directly from New Columbia. The kitsheld at Museums Branch Activities, Quan-tico, will be used to service the smallerposts and stations. Major commands withgreater resources in O&MMC and non-appropriated funds are expected to pro-cure their own kits. While the new kits willnot be ready for this year's birthday ob-servances they should be available for anyceremonies after the first of 1988.

A fter several years of a lessening re-sponse to requests for historical uni-

forms, it appears that we will be able toanswer requests once again at the originallevel. Meanwhile, the few remaining oldhistorical uniforms can become the basisfor museum exhibits. [Ill 775E]

Answers to Historical Quiz

Blacks in the Marine Corps(Questions on page 16)

1. LtGen Frank E. Petersen,Jr., was designated a Naval Aviator in October 1952,and on 27 April 1979 he was advanced to the grade of brigadier general.

2. LtCol Charles F. Bolden, Jr., was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASAin May 1980.3. Leon Spinks won the title in 1978 by beating Muhammad Ali. Ken Norton

was awarded the title by the World Boxing Council the same year because theysaid Spinks had reneged on an agreement to fight Norton.4. Obtaining his present rank in May 1984, BGen Jerome G. Cooper also had

been the first black officer in the Marine Corps to lead an infantry companyinto combat.5. PFCJames Anderson, Jr. (one of only five black Marines to win the MOH),

was posthumously awarded the nation's highest award for action in Vietnam inFebruary 1967.6. Camp Johnson, formerly Montford Point, the recruit depot for all black Ma-

rines in the 1940s, was named for SgtMaj Gilbert H. "Hashmark"Johnson, oneof the first black Marines.

7. Annie L. Grimes, the third black Woman Marine, enlisted in Chicago in1950, became a warrant officer in 1968, and was also the first black woman officerto retire after a full 20-year career.8. SgtMaj Edgar R. Huff retired on 28 September 1972, after 17 years as a ser-

geant major.9. Retired MGySgt Bill Dower is a familiar figure in a popular series of televi-

sion beer commercials.10. LtCol Joseph H. Carpenter, USMCR, was honored at a formal retirementceremony on 12 June 1987.

Korean il/ar Chronology

Air War in Korea Fostered Major Tactical Innovationsby Robert V Aquilina

Assictant Head Reference Section

M arine air support, both fixed-wing and helicopter, provedto be a decisive factor in the outcome of the Korean War.

From the first week of August 1950, when eight VMF-214 Cor-sairs catapulted from the deck of the USS Sicily, to the signingof the Korean armistice in July 1953, pilots of the 1st MarineAircraft Wing (MAW) flew 127,496 combat sorties.

Following (he North Korean invasion of South Korea on 25June 1950, stateside Marine air units were alerted for combatduty. Commanded by BGen Thorna.sJ. Cushman, elements ofMarine Aircraft Group (MAG) 33 were quickly deployed toJapanese bases for combat duty.

The first Marine air strikes of the war were launched on 3 Au-gust 1950 by fighters from VMF-214. Three days later, air strikesfrom VMF-322, which operated from the USS Badoeng Strait,provided close air support for the Pusan ground defenders.

The first medevacs from Pusan were conducted that same weekby helicopters from VMO-6. On 10 August, aircraft from VMO-6became the first Marine helicopters to rescue a downed pilot.

T hree MAG-12 fighter squadrons. VMF-212. VMF-312. andVMF (N)-542, joined MAG-33 units during the Inchon-

Seoul operations. Operating from captured Kimpo airfield, they

Test cargo weshzng 800 pounds drops 10 feet on experimental

metal pallet from HMR-161 helicopter at a helicopter forward

base in Korea in January /952. The squadron had condu cted the

assisted in neutralizing enemy fortifications, and provided closeair support for (he allied carnpaign During mid-October, themajority of Marine squadrons deployed to Korea's east coast inpreparation for the Wonsan landing and the subsequent north-ern deployment of Marine infantry regiments. By late October,Marine and allied units were poised for a drive across northwestKorea to the Yalu River.

T he massive intervention of Chinese Communist forces inKorea in late November 1950 tested the aerial abilities of

1st MAW pilots. Contending with the sub-zero temperaturesand freeaing winds of a Korean winter, Marine RD-4s maderepeated airdrops of ammunition and supplies, and evacuatedcasualties during the Chosin Reservoir campaign. Once more,Marine air cover proved decisive as fighter squadrons protectedthe 1st Marine Division's breakout southward from Hagaru-rito Hungnam.

From October 1950 to the end of the war, the 1st MAW sup-ported and participated in numerous Fifth Air Force operations.

Among the operations conducted were massive aerial assaultsagainst enemy supply centers adjacent to the 38th and 39th

first helicopter lift of a combat unit —224 Marines and 17,772pounds of cargo — in September 1951, as the Corps'operational

planners launched the era of vertical envelopment tactics.

Marine P4 U-S Corsair aircraft have blasted the contested areato the front of advancing troops at Hagaru-ri, Korea, in Decem-ber 1950. Close-air support of Marines proved highly effective.

parallels. Marine Corsairs and Panther jets smashed ChineseCommunist and North Korean supply lines north of the bat-tlefront, and continued to support allied positions threatenedby North Korean and Chinese Communist probes.

Newly developed radar-controlled bombing equipment andinnovations in aerial photographic reconnaissance and night-fighter techniques increased the effectiveness of 1st MAW oper-ations, and enhanced the allied mastery of the skies over Korea.

Marine air-ground teamwork was even further developed inKorea with the tactical use of the helicopter. Many lives weresaved on the battlefield, as helicopters dramatically reduced thetime required to evacuate a wounded Marine to a field hospitalor ship. Nearly 10,000 wounded Marines were evacuated byhelicopter throughout the Korean War, and more than 1,000medevac missions were conducted at night.

A s an extension of assault operations in Korea, the Corpsdeveloped the tactics of vertical envelopment. The first

helicopter lift of a combat unit took place on 21 September 1951when HMR-161 transported 224 Marines and 17,772 pounds ofcargo to the front. The HRS-1 transport helicopters launched anew era as farsighted planners glimpsed the unique potentialof vertical envelopment.

The 1st MAW received numerous unit awards and many ofits pilots were highly decorated for action in Korea. Thirty-fiveenemy aircraft were downed by 1st MAW pilots, but air superi-ority was not achieved at a cheap price. The 1st MAW lost 258Marines and 174 were wounded in action. LI11 775L11

23

Marine aviators MajJohn P Bolt, above, and MajJohn H. Glenn,Jr, below, earned distinctions in the Korean War Maj Bolt, whoshot down six enemy aircraft in World War II, became the Corps'first yet ace in missions over Korea, sometimes flying as an ex-change pilot with the Fifth Air Force. Maj Glenn, later to be-come an astronaut anda US. senator remained unhurt in spiteof 375 holes in his Panther jet, including one six inches wide.

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVYHEADQUARTERS U.S. MARINE CORPS

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20380

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

Historical Uniforms to be Available for 1988 Pageants

F or the past 30 years or more histori-cal uniforms have been a traditional

feature of Marine Corps esprit-de-corps-building ceremonies such as flagpageants, Marine Corps birthdays, or-ganization birthdays, and historical ob-servations.

These ceremonies in the smaller postsand stations have been supported by astock of reproduction historical uniformskept by the Museums Branch Activities,

By Col Brooke NihartDeputy Director for Museums

Quantico, and issued to units makingapplication. Many major bases and com-mands purchased their own sets of theseuniforms.

T he Museums Branch's stock of his-torical uniforms has dwindled over

the years from wear and tear and non-return to the point that only Quanticoand Headquarters Marine Corps couldbe supported for the ceremonies sur-

rounding the 10 November birthday.Last year, when the matter was broughtto the Commandant's attention, he ob-served that the historical uniforms hadbecome a desirable tradition which Ma-rines had come to expect. While theuniforms were not inexpensive, moneywas nevertheless found for the project.

Curator of Material History, KennethL. Smith-Christmas developed the

(Continued on page 21)

BULK RA1E

POSTAGE AND FEES PAID

USM C

PERMIT NO (;-63

Among the ceremonial reproduction Marine Corps uniformswhich will become available next year are, from left, "Ser-

geant, 1848;" "Lieutenant, 1861," and "Private, 1917." Kitswill each contain 10 historical uniforms, with accessories.

24