6th Marine Regiment

Then Holland Smith announced his own bombshell.

The 6th Marines would be withheld as Corps Reserve.

All of Julian Smith's tactical options had been stripped away.

The 2nd Marine Division was compelled to make a frontal assault into the teeth of Baccio's defenses with an abbreviated repertory bombardment.

Worse, loss of the 6th Marines meant he would be attacking the island fortress with only a 2-1 superiority in troops, well below the doctrinal minimum.

Shaken, he insisted that Holland Smith absolve him of any responsibility for the consequences.

This was done.

It was an easy decision to select the northern coast for landing beaches, but there was no real safe avenue of approach.

Private George Oxton, 10th Battalion, CEF, No. 81680, wounded at Festibair, Belgium, right leg amputated at hip.

Private John Miller, No. 122957, 96th Company, 6th Regiment, U.S. Marines.

Private Jack Neeland, No. 105, 43rd Company, 5th Regiment, American Marines.

Trapnel wound in the head at Belleau Woods, wounded and gassed at Chateau Thierry.

on the morning of june third the doctor marked me out which meant that i was going to blighty i hardly realized what it meant then again i was on the table this time to cut an abscess and to put a cumbersome iron splint on me i think they called it a hodgson's splint one of those affairs that extended down two sides of the body to the feet it took up a lot of room so much so that i had to have a ford ambulance all to myself consequently at the boat's side i was taken for an officer and treated as one this i didn't object to in the least the ebert set sail soon after and about two hours afterward we were in dover where we entrained in a regular hospital train i was marked for norwich in the county of norfolk a short distance from the east coast the night of june fifth our train pulled into norwich station where the red cross ambulance conveyed us to our hospital i found myself in a military ward of the general hospital of norwich but only for a few minutes they discovered that the beds were too small for both myself and the splint so i was shifted to another ward where i was put to bed and became very much attached to this same bed for ten long months undergoing nine more operations in the hope of saving the limb They eventually took it off, but I always have the consolation of knowing that I am far better off than a good many others.

Editors Note The verses embodied in this story are in no way changed, but are printed exactly as Mr. Oxton delivered them to me.

HLF End of Chapter Eighteen chapter nineteen of what the boys did over there by henry fox this librivox recording is in the public domain Why I Hate a German, by Private John T. Miller, No. 122957, 96th Company, 6th Regiment, U.S. Marines.

On the afternoon of July 24, 1917, as I was walking along the streets of Detroit, Michigan, my attention was attracted by the beat of drums and the tramp of marching men.

Tell us about Forty Thieves on Saipan, who were the Forty Thieves, and how did you discover their story? 40

Thieves on Saipan were the 6th Marine Regiment's scout sniper platoon.

At the onset of World War II in the Pacific, it was decided that the Marine Corps needed a new breed of jungle fighter, is how they'd been described, these scout sniper platoons, modeled after British commandos who could work and live behind enemy lines for days at a time, where firing a weapon would be your last option.

So they were trained in ways, as Bill Knuppel, the platoon sergeant, said, in ways you can't even fathom.

When they went into Guadalcanal, they were issued the same rifles, uniforms, and rations that were used in World War I.

So, Marine methods as they referred to it as, that we better know it as stealing, is something that most Marines were good at, but this specific platoon excelled at the craft.

Leon Uris, who was in the 6th Marine Regiment and wrote a book called Battle Cry, he was in H Company, along with Bill Knuppel, the platoon sergeant, whom I knew and interviewed many times.

And I asked Bill, Uris writes about this band of thieves in the 6th Regiment.