Two Awards, One Semper Fi [Murtha and Justin Sharratt]

I missed two award ceremonies this past week and these two ceremonies make interesting contrasts regarding Marines.

I must admit that I was not invited to the first ceremony nor is there any earthly reason why I should have been. I read about it in a Bing West article, "Distinguished Disservice: In honoring Murtha, the Navy insults its own". Mr. West, a Marine veteran, is the noted author of several books. His latest is an excellent work about the Iraq War entitled, The Strongest Tribe. The Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Donald C. Winter, awarded the Distinguished Public Service Award to Representative John P. Murtha (D-Pennsylvania). Mr. Winter apparently signed off on the award just before he departed with the Bush Administration. This means Mr. Winter’s name appears on the award but he was not present to award it.

Murtha, also a Marine veteran, is famous for his press conference about the Haditha Incident. At that press conference (and others throughout subsequent weeks), Murtha accused a Marine rifle squad, ambushed by terrorist, of “cold blooded murder”. These accusations resulted in legal charges against eight Marines (officer and enlisted). Two of the eight cases are pending (one due to lack of prosecutorial evidence and the other due to unlawful command influence). Five other cases have been dismissed. The eighth Marine was acquitted of all charges in a courts-martial.

Mr. West takes exception to the Murtha award and rightfully so. He makes the point that it was not justice that Murtha was after with his premature accusations but “press hype” for his own personal political gain.

For that reason, I can picture this award presentation in Washington. Probably held in a government room designated for such events with pictures of forgotten bureaucrats on the walls, formal looking carpeting still showing the night maintenance crew vacuum marks and fake wooden GAO furniture pushed to the side to make room for the attendees.

I can see the attendees gathering inside this room wearing their expensive suits and “glad handing” their political acquaintances. These folks are masters at the ten second sound-bit and can equivocate and bombast for hours. They are capable of launching into a political move at the drop of a hat, and usually do. They present smiles to the press cameras while wishing they had a protective mini-cam view of their own self-servicing backs. Not a pretty mental picture but as Mr. West states, “Murtha did a great disservice to the military and the nation, and never apologized. The secretary of the Navy did a disservice in honoring Congressman Murtha.”

The second ceremony took place in a small, old neighborhood in western Pennsylvania. In a neat but weathered brick building displaying the letters providing its title, American Legion Post, a small group of neighbors gathered to honor one of their local sons.

This group, mostly husbands, fathers and grand fathers, with a sprinkling of wives and moms, is very different when compared to the Washington crowd. Much less stylish, more heads of gray hair and paunches that now cover the muscle that provided the long ago high school era athletic achievements.

Despite the extra pounds, grey hair, bent backs, and other creeping signs of aging, these men individually project an element of strength. You can still see it in their forearms when they grasp a tool and you feel it when they look you in the eye and shake hands. They still have the ability to square their shoulders, set their jaws and provide a disapproving glare that would humble Clint Eastwood. They also send a non-verbal message, that they have the character and will to back it up, that comes through no matter how old.

These men are normally reluctant to provide their political beliefs but can and do interrupt a politically extreme discussion. These interruptions usually consist of the most amazing and imaginable stream of cuss words, learned from their drill instructor, that pauses the targeted orator in total confusion. The bewilderment is usually shaken off when a mutual acquaintance leans over and whispers, “He’s a Marine vet”. That phase usually brings the simple exclamation of “oh” from the confused, as silent understanding seeps into their mind that both have a constitutional right to express their opinion. The difference is that a Marine has committed himself, body and soul, to fighting in combat for that right.

I suspect that these are the types of men who gathered last night for the Washington County Marine Corps League meeting in Pennsylvania. Men who serviced their country and returned home to work and raise their families, never expecting anything except the acknowledgement that they did their job.

These men naturally seek each other through the local Marine Corps League because they understand what it means to be a Marine. Much of the that meaning is captured and described simply yet, powerfully in the US Marine Corps motto, Semper Fidelis - Always Faithful.

Last night, in Houston, Pennsylvania, a small group of Marines gathered to honor one of their own, LCpl. Justin Sharratt. They presented him with a Marine Corps league medal, a simple award, nothing as prestigious or as official as a Department of Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, but a medal presented by Marines to a Marine for his bravery and the presence of mind he demonstrated in combat. The significance of this event, well founded in Marine Corps lore, is that the best and highest praise always comes from your fellow Marines, something Mr. Murtha could not and did not obtain with his award.

Congratulations to LCpl Justin Sharrett and to the members of the Washington County Marine Corps League. I offer my praise, admiration and salute.

Thanks so much for posting that, smooth! Here's a little about the military career of Robert J. Weimann (the 90-year-old father of the author of this piece, Bob Weimann)...

Sgt Major Robert J. Weimann entered the Marine Corps in 1937, initially assigned as an artilleryman at Quantico, Virginia. Bob, always the athletic, participated in all Marine sports to include football, basketball, and coaching the Marine Corps boxing team. Bob excelled at marksmanship and was assigned as a Rifle Range Instructor at Quantico after making Corporal. While at the Quantico rifle range, he would participate in the evaluation of the M1 Grand the Johnson Rifle. Both rifles were under consideration by both the Army and the Marines as the next standard issue combat rifle. The Marine Corps would recommend the Johnson Rifle over the M1, however, the Army recommended and got the M1 Grand.

Bob would leave the Marines in early 1941 to begin a law enforcement career. Initially, he was a security guard at Lakehurst Naval Station. While there World War II broke out. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Bob began seeing his “old corps” Marines come through Lakehurst for Marine parachute training. Bob would re-enlist at Lakehurst and join HQ Company, 1st Para-Marine Battalion, 1st Marine Division as the 60mm Mortar Platoon Sergeant.

During the Guadalcanal Campaign, Bob would land with the Para-Marines on the small island of Gavutu. The Guadalcanal airfield landing was unopposed because the 1200 Japanese defenders had fortified themselves on Gavutu and its adjoining island of Tanambogo. As the “Chutes” landed, they were caught in a three way cross fire from Gavutu, Tanambogo and Tulagi. Bob would land with C Company, its landing craft pulling next to the pier to off load their Marines. Bob initially stood on the side of his landing craft, grab a pier piling and hook his feet in the landing craft gunnels in order to keep the craft next to the pier allowing his follow Marines to quickly debark. Bob would move his mortar section to the beach and maintain suppressive fires on Tanambogo for the remainder of the day. The Para-Marines would secure Gavutu by the end of the day with a causality rate of almost 50%.

The 200 remaining Para-Marines were then attached to the Marine Raider Battalion. Bob would scrounge a Johnson automatic rifle and stand with Col Edison on Bloody Ridge the night a reinforced brigade of approximately 6000 Japanese attack the “Chutes” and Raiders. A recent book titled “Battalion of the Damned” by James Christ, captures that incredible story how Marines, outnumbered, starved, sick and short supplied, managed to prevail over a numerically superior enemy. Bob would become a causality that night from a Japanese grenade.

After med-evac and convalescence leave, Bob would be assigned to the heavy cruiser USS Quincy. The Quincy was a Utah Beach fire support ship for the Normandy D-Day landings. Towards the close of the war the Quincy would host the Yalta Conferences between President Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Bob would serve as FRD’s aide while the President was aboard the Quincy.

Bob would serve in another combat tour during the Korean War with 7th Marines.

After the Korean War, Bob would serve on the Martine Corps Pistol Team at Quantico. Bob became a US Marine Distinguished Shooter, the Marines highest marksmanship honor, while on the Team.

Semper Fidelis Detachment Marine Corps League 344 Harry Avenue Wenonah, New Jersey 08090

1 March 2009

From: Detachment Commandant
To: All Detachment Members and Present Guests

Subject: The Bob Weimann Achievement Award for Cpl Justin Sharrett

1. To all those present, greetings. This awarded is presented to Cpl Justin Sharratt for his actions on 19 November 2005, during combat action in the Iraqi city of Haditha. The purpose of this award is to recognize Cpl Sharrett’s exceptional bravery and demonstration of the United States Marine Corps values of Honor, Courage, Commitment and Presence of Mind.

2. On the morning of 5 November 2005, Cpl Sharrett was participating in a squad size motorized patrol providing support to his platoon and Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment in the Iraqi city of Haditha. An enemy IED (Improvised Explosive Device) initiated an ambush on Cpl Sharrett’s squad. Immediately after the explosion, the enemy commenced small arms fire on the squad’s wounded and corpman.

3. As the squad began to respond to enemy fire and treat wounded, they identified enemy fire coming from a house south of the Marine casualties. As the squad leader organized and commenced a counter attack on the house, Cpl Sharrett manned a machine gun delivering suppressive and covering fire while squad members crossed an open kill zone. This action enabled the squad to position itself next to the building without casualties and commence a clearing attack.

4. Cpl Sharrett would then man an OP with two other squad members to secure the ambush area while casualties were evacuated. While in this OP, SSgt Wuterich, the squad leader, Cpl Salinas and Cpl Sharratt observe some Iraqi males looking over an exterior house wall. After observing this activity for a few minutes, Cpl Salines fires a M203 round at the wall and they see the males run into house. A few minutes later the males return to the wall and SSgt Wuterich makes the decision to investigate with Salinas and Sharratt.

5. When they get to the house, the three Marines realize that the house is actually two buildings. They enter the first building and find only women and children. The women communicate to the Marines that the males are in the next house. Salinas is left to maintain security on the Iraqi’s in the first structure. SSgt Wuterich and Cpl Sharratt enter the main hallway of the second building with Sharratt leading. As they move to the house’s center, an enemy combatant suddenly confronts Cpl Sharratt from one of the interior doors with an AK-47.

6. At this point during this engagement, Cpl Sharratt demonstrates those exceptional Marine traits of bravery, presence of mind, aggressiveness and marksmanship. When the enemy Iraqi, with the AK-47 appears in the doorway, Cpl Sharratt’s aims his weapon and it jams. At the same time, the enemy’s weapon has a miss fire. The enemy combatant pops behind the wall and Cpl Sharratt begins to move to cover. As Cpl Sharratt is moving, the enemy pops back into the doorway with a cleared AK-47. Cpl Sharratt releases his jammed weapon, draws his pistol and drops the armed enemy with a headshot. Cpl Sharratt then attacks into the room; sees four more enemy combatants with another AK-47. He commences and continues fire on this group of enemy until his pistol is empty. He then calls to his squad leader that his pistol is empty, steps to the side and while SSgt Wuterich continues to fire until all four enemy are dead.

7. Cpl Sharrett reacted based on his training, teamwork and comaraderie. Both Marines survived because Cpl Sharratt possessed the presence of mind to draw his pistol, when his light machinegun jammed, and aggressively assault into a room full of enemy.

8. Cpl Sharrett’s bravery, marksmanship, commitment, and presence of mind significantly contributed to the success of this combat operation. As a member of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Cpl Sharrett demonstrated the United States Marine Corps' values of Honor, Courage, Commitment and Presence of Mind.

It is with great pride, we present Cpl Justin Sharrett, with the Marine Corps League, Semper Fidelis Detachment, Bob Weimann Achievement Award.

Robert J. Weimann
SgtMaj, USMC Ret.

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