World War II Marine veteran Reese Anderson, 84, with
'The Last Man's Bottle,' a bottle of Scotch belonging to Anderson
and the rest of his comrades from the Marine Sixth Division.
Posted on 04/01/2008 3:40:46 PM PDT by jazusamo
A Gresham veteran wants an historic bottle of Chivas Regal preserved in a Marine museum
A Gresham man who won a piece of U.S. Marine Corps history during a veterans auction is trying to make sure his prize -- a bottle of scotch in a handmade oak display case -- doesn't end up collecting dust in the back of a closet.
Reese "Andy" Anderson, who served three years in the fabled 6th Marine Division during World War II, hopes to get what's called "The Last Man's Bottle" displayed at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia.
The bottle -- a liter of Chivas Regal -- was presented to Gen. Lemuel Shepherd Jr. in 1989 by some 6th Division Marines who served with him on Okinawa. Shepherd returned the bottle to the vets and told them to "give the boys a drink" when division members gathered for their annual reunion. Instead, the group decided to auction off the bottle each year and donate the money to Shepherd's alma mater, the Virginia Military Institute.
At last year's reunion in Las Vegas, Anderson, 84, was high bidder at $500. His daughter-in-law won that much playing poker and told him to use all of it to take the bottle home. It couldn't have ended up in a better place. Anderson still has his old uniform. Marine stickers -- "Semper Fi" and "Marines" -- are plastered on his front door and car bumper.
He moved to Portland from Lincoln, Neb., when he was 18 to work as an apprentice pattern maker at a foundry. A year later, he was drafted and joined the Marines. His battalion became part of the 6th Division, and Anderson served as a forward observer on a small artillery unit.
Since winning the bottle, Anderson has shown it to friends and neighbors, pointing to a plaque on top of the box that explains the history, as well as to another that lists the names of the vets who've won the bidding over the years.
But Anderson recently learned that his name will be the last. The veterans will have only one more reunion.
"We're all getting too old," said Anderson, who three years ago moved to Gresham. "Some of us are crippled or injured. It's too hard to get around. Each year, they blow taps for the men who've passed away. Each newsletter has a mention about one of us dying. That's the sad part about reading those letters."
He gently touched the display case.
"They were my buddies," he said. "Now our time is over."
Anderson didn't want the Last Man's Bottle to end up lost in the shuffle. He plans to bring the bottle to the final reunion, in Oklahoma City in September, so the "boys" can get a last look at it. Then he wants to make sure the bottle and sentiment behind it outlive them all.
The 6th, made up of Marine battalions, at one time had about 10,000 members. Anderson said the number of Marines who remain in the 6th Marine Division Association, the group that holds reunions, has dwindled to 1,700.
"This is the last reunion, and we're trying to make it a good one," said Joan Willauer, a member of the group's auxiliary and one of the Oklahoma City reunion organizers. Her husband, who died a few years ago, was a member of the 6th.
Knowing the end wasn't too far off, Anderson decided to act. Three weeks ago, he brought the bottle to the downtown Portland Marine Corps Recruiting Office to see whether he could get some strings pulled to let the bottle live on.
Federal building security guards, though, didn't buy his story. Anderson insisted he wasn't going to drink the scotch. Nor was he trying to smuggle in something dangerous. Even after carefully examining the display case, guards insisted on personally escorting Anderson to the Marine Corps office.
There he met with Maj. Ladd Shepard, the office's commanding officer. "I'd read some history," Shepard said. "But I didn't know much about the 6th. He filled me in."
Shepard, 35, was touched by Anderson's request for help in getting the bottle back to the Marine museum.
"Ask any Marine what the most important, life-changing event was, and he'll say becoming a Marine," Shepard said. "Tradition is important. We conjure up ghosts of the past to remind new Marines that we will not fail. We owe it to the guys who came before. When the last vet from the 6th dies, that will be the end of the line."
Retired Lt. Col. Bob Sullivan, head of curatorial services at the Marines museum, said a decision on whether the bottle will be accepted for the 6th Division display will be made after Anderson makes a formal request through channels following the September reunion.
"My uncle, who's now dead, was in the 6th," Sullivan said. "This 6th was demobilized. This literally is the end of the line for the 6th."
"These guys made the grade," he said. "They went to war and survived. When they have their final reunion, the book will close on them. That division will literally fade into history."
World War II Marine veteran Reese Anderson, 84, with
'The Last Man's Bottle,' a bottle of Scotch belonging to Anderson
and the rest of his comrades from the Marine Sixth Division.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
The 6th Division captured more than two-thirds of Okinawa, which military history accounts said was a strategic jewel. The Marines captured five enemy airfields, two seaplane bases and three anchorages. Control of the island meant that Allied forces controlled the East China Sea and cut off Japanese shipping routes.
Marines killed more than 18,000 Japanese troops, more than had been killed by any Marine division in any other campaign, and captured 3,254 prisoners, also a record, according to historical accounts.
Were it me, I'd pass it along to a present day outfit so the 6th lives on forever (as do all great Marine memories and traditions)
LOL! That was close.
:)
BUMP for good measure
The people who say we shouldn't have dropped the bombs need to study Okinawa because it was a preview of the horrors that would have happened if we had to invade the home islands.
Beautiful!
Absolutely agree, many more would have perished on both sides had we invaded the homeland.
The human rights activists that use the two A-bombs to advance their activism are nuts.
The bombs saved a lot of lives on both sides.
Agreed, we lose far too many every day.
Yes, sadly they’re disappearing fast. I had two uncles that were WWII Army vets in Europe that are gone. My FIL went to his last reunion about eight years ago and there were only a few there, Army Ordinance in Europe and he passed away four years ago. I still have one uncle that was Navy in the So Pacific that’s living and I believe he’s 86.
Nice. I once had a couple of hits of fifty year old brandy, at a funeral of course. Real gasoline.
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:1. Jesus Christ
2. The American G. I.One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
Wow, How true!
God bless them all. We owe them everything.
Amen to that. Semper Fi.
Your time and that of your buddies will never be over, Andy, sir. I salute you and thank you and your division's heroes from the bottom of my heart.
Damm, I hate when my screen gets all blurry.
Leni
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