Posted on 10/24/2009 9:45:25 AM PDT by Saije
Some of the vets needed canes or wheelchairs to navigate the vast decks of the new Navy amphibious assault ship Makin Island...Legions of military VIPs will attend this morning...None will be held in higher esteem than the World War II Marine Raiders who sacked an enemy-held island in the Western Pacific, boosting American morale during the dark early days of the war, when the enemy seemed unstoppable.
...“Just to be able to sit down and have a beer with these guys — I'm star-struck,” said Lt. Cmdr. Matt Polzin, 39, of Bay City, Mich., who served as a guide for one of the veterans aboard the ship yesterday. “We had (sailors) competing to give these guys rides.”
Marine reserve officer James Roosevelt, President Franklin Roosevelt's son, created the Raider battalions early in the war to carry out stealthy, mobile operations far behind enemy lines...
Roosevelt's close friend Maj. Evans Carlson personally recruited the team members.
He wanted men like John Toon, now 93, who quit his job as a San Francisco cable-car operator after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and enlisted in the Marine Corps three weeks later.
“(Carlson) asked me if I could kill a man,” Toon recalled. “I said, ‘If it's him or me, I'll make sure it's gonna be him.’”
For the Makin Island raid, Toon and his teammates from Carlson's 2nd Raider Battalion climbed aboard two submarines in Hawaii and headed toward the Makin atoll more than 2,000 miles to the southwest. The plan was to sneak ashore in rubber boats, destroy the Japanese garrison, take prisoners and gain intelligence about enemy forces in the area.
...The Marines, aided by sympathetic island natives, annihilated a Japanese force estimated at 80 to 160 men, sank two boats and destroyed two airplanes.
(Excerpt) Read more at 3.signonsandiego.com ...
“Rules are rules!”
Did I violate one?
Yes, “This thread is worthless without pics!”
;-)
/ joking
Not really - the rule is that a post about Anne Coulter has to have a picture of her.
So if you post a story about a ship in our wonderful Navy ... well, it’s the same rule as I see it!
Could not but notice that throughout our history, politician behavior has changed very little
"We were fighting the war on the cheap,” and
Marines are, well, Marines
"...Raider battalions early in the war to carry out stealthy, mobile operations far behind enemy lines. They pioneered the tactics now used by Navy SEALs"
I hope the ship (and crew) has a proud and solid history of of achivement.
Great post. Yet one more reminder of those that served in so many very difficult situations and did not waiver nor fail. To them all the honor earned.
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