The Honolulu Star Bulletin (now the Honolulu Star Advertiser) published this editorial salute to the Marines on its 170th anniversary, dated Friday, November 9, 1945.
ALWAYS A MARINE
The 170th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps comes tomorrow at the peak of achievement for what is probably the finest fighting force the world has ever seen.
This is said with no thought of disparagement for the other services of this country. There are certain procedures possible for the Marine Corps which are denied to the army and navy because of their greater size, involving selection of personnel training and more compact organization.
These factors, plus a fighting spirit, which is a living thing in the face of danger, have made the Marine Corps immortal.
The Marines formed the point of the spear that was thrust across the central Pacific to strike at the heart of Japan. They fell by thousands, but they never faltered. Their job was to fight and the recognized it as such –to die, perhaps; perhaps to live- but to fight. And fight they did and each time won.
Many of us are familiar with the role of the Marines in seizing stepping stones across the Pacific, but it is worthwhile on this 170th anniversary to recall the indispensable part they played in the march on Japan.
In August, 1942, the Marines seized a foothold in the Solomon Islands and made it possible through action on land and sea, to halt the Japanese drive southeast, which was aimed at cutting the American supply line to Australia.
In November, 1943, the Marines, in one of the great gambles of the war –a gamble because it was a new departure in amphibious warfare against a reef enclosed, heavily fortified atoll- took the island of Tarawa, thus breaking down the door to Japan’s position in the Marshalls, which lay athwart the projected course westward.
In February, 1944, the Marines, in conjunction with the army, seized Kwajalein Atoll, the Marines capturing the northern point, the army the southern end.
In June the same year the Marines, assisted by the army but taking the major role themselves, finally tore down the door to Japan itself. They captured Saipan, then Tinian, then Guam.
Saipan sealed the fate of Japan but the Marines had still other chores to perform before the enemy could be dispatched.
Peleliu, in the Palau’s –Peleliu, with its Bloody Nose ridge, its heat, its heavy, humid atmosphere- came in September. It was a dreary, heartbreaking task. The Marines went through with it as usual.
There was one last hard rock to be blasted out of the way. Iwo Jima lay between the B-29 base in the Marianas and the target, Japan. The B-29s needed a place to sit down when, shot up and disabled, they headed home.
Okinawa came afterward but that was mainly an army show. The Marines, lacerated and weary but with chins up, helped finish off the enemy on Okinawa. And they were preparing for the landing in Japan itself when the Japanese quit.
The projected unification of the services is frowned upon by many Marines, who see the swallowing up of their proud corps if the plan supported by the army and air forces should win out.
Almost certainly the Corps as a personality would lose something by the change. Its old individuality and independence could not be exactly the same.
Nevertheless, whatever happens, we may be sure that the Marines will remain one of the great fighting organizations of the world.
There is something in Marine Corps history and tradition that no unification can ever remove. The Marine Corps spirit is a living thing that is rooted in the undying courage of the men who have fallen in battle. Whatever he is called, whatever uniform he wears, a Marine will always be a Marine.
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