GOD BLESS AND PROTECT OUR TROOPS!
Posted on 06/06/2006 6:20:45 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
Much like the retreating Americans probably said to the 101st at Bastogne.
"Dan Daly is perhaps best remembered for a famous battle cry delivered during the desperate fighting in Belleau Wood in June 1918. Marines took a terrific pounding on the outskirts of Lucy le Bocage ("Lucy Birdcage" to the A.E.F.) at the fringe of Belleau Wood. They were outnumbered, outgunned and pinned down. Then Daly made history. He ordered an attack. Leaping forward, he yelled to his tired men, "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?" "
http://www.medalofhonor.com/DanDaly.htm
To be fair, the French had been pouring men into the grinder for FOUR YEARS prior to that...
As had the Brits and the the Germans. They were all on the ropes, materially and spiritually.
What a God awful stupid waste that war was.
Hmmm....
Gunny Daly said what!!!!!
More On Daly
Whatever He Said--It Wasn't OohRah!!! -Dick Gaines
"Come on you sons of bitches--do you want to live forever?" attributed to Gunnery Sergeant Daniel Daly, at Belleau Wood, in June 1918*
*Some accounts have it that Daly said, "Come on you crazy sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?"
Daly himself denied having uttered any such vulgarity.
When asked about the alleged statement, he told a reporter "You know a non-com would never use hard language. I said, For goodness sake, you chaps, let us advance against the foe."
On another occasion, however, Daly said, that his words were, "For Christ's sake, do you want to live forever?" and on yet another occasion claimed he'd said "Gracious, you chaps, do you want to live forever?"
Whatever it was Daly said, the sentiment has certainly been expressed before. Holding the line at the Battle of Malvern Hill (1June 1862), Nelson A. Miles (later a distinguished Indian fighter and Commanding General of the Army during the War with Spain) heard an unknown Confederate colonel lead an attack with the cry, "Come on! Come on! Do you want to live forever?" (Ref Marine Corps Book of Lists, Nofi, Combined Publishing, 1999, page 181)
20 posted on 03/28/2002 6:16:58 PM EST by gunnyg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
Ref
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/568469/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/568469/posts
And, some more interesting facts re Daly...
http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-war&month=9910&week=d&msg=iTmvuu%2bAF2BAsIeoLcsVSA&user=&pw
_________________
R.W. "Dick" GAINES
GnySgt USMC (Ret.)
1952-72
~~~~~~~~~
On a brighter note it did give us bolshevism, existentialism, the Depression, and WWII!!! /sarc
Teufelhunden. O-rah...
All thanks to the Serbian Secret Service lighting the fuse -- though to be fair, there probably would have been a Great War in one version or another had Archduke Franz Ferdinand not been assassinated at Sarajevo. One of these days, maybe now, the Serbs will get the government they deserve.
Matter of fact--it may not be teufelhunden, either...
http://www.furl.net/item.jsp?id=3925984
I was at the Chateau Thierry monument on Veteran's Day/Armistice Day last year. The French had a nice service with a local brass band and about 50 firefighters who lined up to add some ceremony to the occasion. I think these regions of France that were hardest hit by the war have a slightly better understanding about America and who Americans are. After all, the monument is on the top of a hill overlooking Chateau Thierry - a resident there sees a reminder of WWI every day.
I'll believe it when the Commandant puts out a retraction and not a moment before.
Chateau Thierry Monument
Yeah right--that retraction will be right behind the ones re the red stripe for Chapultapec, the actual flag on Suribachi, etc., etc.
;)
Dick
~~~~~
I'm ok with that. ;-)
"To the Last Man" by Jeff Sharra is an excellent book that covers the battle of Belleau Wood and all the other battles of WWI.
Yep.
Obviously, most folks are ok w/things as they are.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.