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Issue Date: November 10, 2003
First to fight for right and freedom
228 years of heroic leathernecks
By Bryant Jordan
Times staff writer
Some fought determined and ruthless enemies far from home. Others battled bureaucracy and politics in the hallways of Washington.
In every generation for more than 200 years, the Marine Corps has produced warrior heroes.
Many achieved fame well outside the Corps and broader military circles — Smedley Butler, Dan Daly, John Lejeune, “Chesty” Puller and Joe Foss come to mind — while many served courageously and loyally but in lesser fame.
On this, the Corps’ 228th birthday, Marines celebrating across the Corps will look back on a year marked by combat. In time, the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism are sure to yield their own crop of heroes.
Even now, the first stories of heroic actions and courageous leadership are being told, passed along from Marine to Marine.
As a tribute to this proud warrior tradition, Marine Corps Times consulted five Marine Corps historians with the aim of highlighting a dozen such Marines, some of the finest leaders in Corps history.
Those historians — retired Brig. Gen. Edwin H. Simmons, retired Cols. John W. Ripley, Gary D. Solis, Franklin B. Nihart and former Capt. Benis M. Frank — shared with us their personal favorites.
Some were great combat leaders; some were fierce warriors; some came to shape the Corps through high position; and others influenced it by individual actions and reputation.
But all shared two traits most valued by Marines: loyalty to country and Corps.
Happy birthday, Marines. Semper fi.
1. 1st Lt. Presley N. O’Bannon
“Presley O’Bannon, the guy who went to Tripoli,” Frank said.
O’Bannon was born in 1776 in Virginia. The Marine Corps, having been dissolved in 1781 following the Revolutionary War, had been re-established only three years before O’Bannon received his commission in January 1801.
Four years later, the first lieutenant would lead a small band of Marines — a sergeant and six privates — as part of an Arab mercenary force to take Derna, Tripoli.
The force of as many as 700 warriors crossed 600 miles of desert between Alexandria, Egypt and Derna, finally storming and taking the city by musket and bayonet.
O’Bannon’s contribution to the Corps and U.S. history — he was the first to raise an American flag on foreign soil after a battle — moved into legend with the Marine Corps Hymn’s referencing “the shores of Tripoli.”
It was there, too, that the Mameluke sword became part of Marine Corps history. According to Corps lore, Hamid Karamanli, the brother of the pasha of Tripoli and one of the leaders of the Derna expedition, presented the sword to O’Bannon. A replica of that sword was adopted for use by Marine officers.
At the time, the Corps did not have the depth of battle history and number of larger-than-life figures that would inspire Marines of later generations. Marines such as O’Bannon drew on “character, purpose, mission,” Frank said.
“I guess, even in those early days, the Marine Corps was kind of unique,” he said. “It was a smaller service at the time, but you went more places than anyone except the Navy — you did more things.”
2. Gen. Clifton B. Cates 3. Gen. Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr.
“My heroes were primarily young officers in World War I who went on to distinguish themselves in World War II and Korea,” Simmons said, highlighting Cates and Shepherd as favorites. “Both were heroes in the first World War … and after that, they ran neck-and-neck for most of their careers.”
They were so closely connected, in fact, that President Truman brought the two together in the Oval Office, where he broke the news to Shepherd that Cates would be commandant by virtue of seniority, promising that Shepherd would follow immediately after.
Cates, a Tennessean, was born Aug. 31, 1893. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1917 after attending Missouri Military Academy and the University of Tennessee Law School.
He shipped to France with the 6th Marines after the United States entered World War I, where he fought in five campaigns, according to his official Marine Corps biography. He was gassed once, wounded twice and received the Navy Cross for his heroism at Bouresches on June 6, 1918.
Though wounded in the head by a machine-gun round, the young lieutenant continued to lead his men. After they took the town, he stayed behind to hold it with 21 other Marines until reinforcements arrived.
During World War II, Cates commanded 1st Marines and fought on Guadalcanal. He later would command the 4th Marine Division at Tinian and Iwo Jima. In 1948, he was promoted to general and became the Corps’ 19th commandant.
The Corps’ strength was at a mere 75,000 Marines when the Korean War erupted, but under Cates, the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was underway for South Korea nine days later. Cates helped push through legislation setting the Corps’ active-duty strength at three divisions and three aircraft wings, and brought the Corps into the age of modern warfare through use of helicopters.
Virginia-born Shepherd, Cates’ immediate successor as commandant — President Truman kept his word — was a second lieutenant with the 5th Marines in France during World War I and saw action at Verdun and in the Aisne-Marne offensive, where he twice was wounded at Belleau Wood in June 1918.
He returned to the front two months later, fighting at St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne, where he again was wounded.
Assignments at the White House, Brazil and China followed. He came to command the 5th Marines in 1937, a time when the newly formed Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic, was developing amphibious-warfare techniques and tactics, according to his official Marine biography.
During World War II, Shepherd commanded the 9th Marines in the Pacific, taking part in campaigns for New Britain and Guam. As commander of the 6th Marines, he took part in the Okinawa and China campaigns, accepting the surrender of Japanese forces in Tsingtao, China, on Oct. 25, 1945.
In Korea, he landed at Inchon and helped evacuate U.S. forces at Hungman after their withdrawal from the Chosin Reservoir.
He was the first commandant to become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“They had dash, they had gallantry,” Simmons said of the two. “They fit the mold of the heroes of those days. They were very dashing figures. They’d do things like fish, hunt, ride horses and play polo.
“In France, both were wounded and hospitalized, they’d take ‘French leave,’.” as unauthorized absence was known in those days, but then return to duty.
Today’s Marines typically are “more circumspect” in their actions, he said, and no leatherneck would survive “French leave” unpunished.
4. Gen. Gerald C. Thomas 5. Gen. Merrill B. Twining
The most important battle these two Marines led may have been the one that came after World War II was over.
“They were important in that they saved the Marine Corps during the unification fight,” Frank said. “They were the two most important men.”
At the end of the war, there were some who believed the Marine Corps should be reduced to a near-skeleton force and that all military branches should be merged into a single service.
Thomas, the first Marine mustang to rise to the rank of four-star general, and Twining, who early on considered the need for joint warfare, Marine Air-Ground Task Forces and the importance of staff duty, were critical in the fight to preserve the Corps as a viable fighting force after the war.
“The Marine Corps was not a member of the Joint Chiefs and, as a result, was kept out of the Joint Chiefs meetings,” Frank said.
Then the so-called “1486 series” of papers were leaked to Corps officials. These joint minutes included talk of reducing the Corps to a small force and eliminating its air power.
“They both led the fight” against the plan, Frank said.
6. Gunnery Sgt. T.F. Sweeney
“I first knew him in 1938 and ’39, when I went to platoon leaders class,” recalled Nihart, 84. “He was a platoon sergeant then.”
Sweeney liked sports, and he had the broken nose and broken fingers that went with aggressive play. He had been in China already, and he couldn’t wait to go back to Shanghai to be with his 4th Marines, Nihart remembered.
Sweeney got back to China but ultimately was on Corregidor when World War II broke out. “Marines in those days really hated the Japanese,” Nihart said. “[Sweeney] had seen them in action in Shanghai and in Peking, and he was disgusted with them.”
Sweeney was among a rapidly shrinking number of Corregidor defenders attempting to stymie the Japanese advance. According to Nihart, Sweeney and another Marine disobeyed the order to surrender given by Army Gen. Jonathan Wainwright IV.
“Each of them got a Browning automatic and a sack of grenades,” Nihart said. “They got up on a water tower and picked off [enemy troops] until they were finally shot down themselves.”
The Corregidor Historical Society identified the other Marine as John Haskin. According to eyewitness reports cited by the society, Haskin was killed trying to get more grenades up to Sweeney, who managed to take out a Japanese machine-gun position before being killed.
7. Maj. Gen. James L. Day
Day was “probably one of the best Marines not to become commandant,” Ripley said.
As a young corporal in the bloody battle for Okinawa during World War II, Day led a small group of Marines from 2nd Battalion, 22nd Marines, against Japanese troops on Sugar Loaf Hill. Soon, he was the only Marine capable of fighting, but the 19-year-old corporal held his position for three days and nights.
When other Marines finally reached his position, they counted more than 100 enemy dead around his foxhole.
Officials nominated Day for the Medal of Honor, but the paperwork was lost until 1980. Eighteen years after the nomination papers resurfaced, President Clinton presented Day with the nation’s highest military honor at a White House ceremony.
“It’s the most stupendous story you ever heard in your life,” said Ripley, who heard it from Day during a visit to Sugar Loaf Hill many years later. “He is, and for those of us who spent a considerable amount of time in combat, he is a beacon, an icon, and yet you hear so little about him.”
8. Brig. Gen. Herman Hanneken 9. Sgt. William Button
“At night, in disguise, walking into the heart of an enemy camp — these guys were on their own,” Solis said of these two daring Marines.
Hanneken, a sergeant at the time, and Button, a corporal, earned the Medal of Honor for boldly infiltrating a rebel camp in Haiti in 1919 and killing the leader, Charlemagne Peralte.
The two, who also held officer ranks within the U.S.-backed Haitian gendarmerie, led a small group of local police in disguise as Caco rebels.
They talked their way through a series of sentry posts until they reached the main camp, where they found Peralte.
“They went right up to Peralte, and Hanneken pulls out a .45 and kills him,” Solis said. At that point, Button opened fire on the surrounding rebels with a Browning machine gun, according to Button’s official Marine biography.
Hanneken would go on to earn a commission and, as the commanding officer of 7th Marines during World War II, would earn a Silver Star for actions at Guadalcanal.
Button took a brief leave home after Haiti but returned to the country the next year, when he contracted malaria and died.
“Every time I read [their story], it sends shivers up my spine,” said Solis, who noted that Button often goes overlooked in the tale of Hanneken’s exploits.
“Button is my idea of a real Marine hero, and I like the fact that he was an enlisted guy.”
10. Gen. Raymond G. Davis
“Hands down, he was one of the best,” said Ripley, the director of Marine Corps History and Museums. “Just a magnificent man, a magnificent Marine, a great American.”
Davis served in three wars — World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, where Army Gen. Creighton Abrams, commander of forces there, called Davis’ 3rd Marine Division his “best division,” Ripley said.
Davis earned the Navy Cross for his heroism at Peleliu, and later, received the Medal of Honor for his actions in Korea. There, he led his battalion in an overnight march through snow, fighting along the way, to secure a mountain pass and enable two Marine regiments to escape possible annihilation by Chinese troops.
“He knew his mission, and he knew it well,” Ripley said. “He never faltered.”
Davis, who in post-Marine Corps life was a fierce advocate for Korean War veterans, died Sept. 4. He was 88.
11. Gunnery Sgt. Jimmie Howard
“A Marine everyone admired was Jimmie Howard,” Ripley said. “When the gunfighters all stop and review the bidding and who is among the best, Jimmie Howard’s name surfaces.”
Howard served in Korea, where he earned two Purple Hearts and the Silver Star, and Vietnam, where he earned another Purple Heart and the Medal of Honor for actions in June 1967, with Charlie Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division.
Howard’s platoon was holding an observation post on Hill 488 near Loc San, Vietnam, when a battalion of North Vietnamese troops began an assault on the hill at about 10 p.m.
The platoon drove off two assaults, paying a high price in casualties. Howard spent the rest of the night directing close-air support around the hill. He was wounded by small-arms fire about 3 a.m. but refused morphine so he could continue calling in artillery and airstrikes.
At one point, already low on ammunition, his Marines ran out of grenades. To confuse the enemy, he told them to throw rocks instead. They survived the night and a relief company arrived the next morning.
Six of Howard’s 17 men were killed and the remainder all were wounded. Ricardo Binns, John Adams, Jerrald Thompson and Navy corpsman Billie Don Holmes were awarded the Navy Cross. The other 13 men of the outfit received Silver Stars.
Howard is not as well-known as other Marines, Ripley said, possibly because of the assignments he received during his career.
Often, where you serve determines how high a profile you have and how well-known you become, he said.
“Had circumstances been different, maybe if he would have had different jobs, been put in a higher limelight?” Ripley mused. “But that was not the case. Timing, as we say, is everything.”
12. Col. Henry P. “Jim” Crowe
“He was famous and notorious,” Nihart said of Crowe, whom he eventually would meet.
Crowe uttered one of the great quotations of World War II, as a captain at Guadalcanal in January 1943, when he called to his Marines, “You’ll never get a Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me.”
Ten months later, Crowe was a major in command of 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, on Tarawa, where he earned the Navy Cross.
Crowe and the Marines in his boat hit the beach hard, striking a reef at high speed and being thrown into the surf. He recovered quickly and led his men through the shallows to shore.
Retired Col. Joseph Alexander, in “Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa,” described Crowe as: “Former enlisted man, Marine gunner, distinguished rifleman, star football player — [Crowe] was a tower of strength throughout the battle. His trademark red mustache bristling, a combat shotgun cradled in his arm, he exuded confidence and professionalism.”
Nihart recalled a story Crowe told him, one the colonel later denied.
When told by Maj. Gen. Julian Smith, 2nd Marine Division commander at Tarawa, that he would be recommended for the Medal of Honor, Crowe told the general he wanted something else instead.
“Jim said, ‘Thank you very much, general, but there’s something unique to the Marine Corps that I’d like. You spot-promoted me to lieutenant colonel after the battle and that’s the same as the old brevet rank, and there is a Marine Corps Brevet Medal … I’d rather have that than the Medal of Honor,’ “ Nihart said.
For a time during the 19th century, brevet promotions were awarded for heroism in combat, though there was no medal attached to the action. In 1921, Commandant Gen. John Lejeune successfully lobbied to change that, and the Brevet Medal was created, becoming one of the highest awards a Marine could receive.
The general agreed and submitted the award. But once the nomination reached the Navy Department, Navy officials balked and converted the nomination to one for the Navy Cross, saying they’d never heard of the Brevet Medal.
Crowe went on to serve in Korea and retired as a colonel at the age of 62.
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Name Your Heroes
To highlight 12 of Marine Corps history’s best leaders, we went to the experts at the Marine Corps Historical Center at the Washington Navy Yard. Now, we want to know who’s on your list.
You probably noticed that a few legendary leathernecks — Dan Daly, Smedley Butler, Chesty Puller — weren’t on our list. Would they be on yours? What about Marines who never made it into the history books?
We’ve shown you our list, now show us yours. Send us your top five all-time best Marine Corps combat leaders — include the names and a brief explanation about why they made your cut.
We’ll run your responses in a future issue of Marine Corps Times.
Write to Marine Corps Times, 6883 Commercial Drive, Springfield, VA 22159.
Or send us an e-mail. Write to marinelet@marinecorpstimes.com (and put “Combat leaders” in the subject line). Include your name, rank (if applicable) and a daytime telephone number.
------------------------------------------------------------ Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. ------------------------------------------ 
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