Marines

“ The United States Marine Corps, the efficient fighting, building, and landing force of the navy, has won imperishable glory in the fulfilment of its latest duties upon the battlefields of France, where the marines, fighting for the time under General Pershing as a part of the victorious American Army, have written a story of valor and sacrifice that will live in the brightest annals of the war. ”

“ I am more than a soldier, for I do all that the soldier does and at the same time I belong to the navy and go to sea." Thus the marine proves to himself that he is "it," as the soldiers and sailors would say.
"The marines get aviation, searchlight, wireless telegraph, heliograph, and other drill. They plant mines, put up telegraph and telephone lines in the field, tear down or build up bridges, sling from a ship and set up or land guns as big as 5-inch for their advance base work.
"It is a belief with marines that the corps can do anything. ”

“ The other criticism was that our marines lead in their intelligent work as soldiers. The accuracy of their shooting is extraordinary, and their ability to step forward, one after the other, on the death or retirement of an officer or non-commissioned officer and take his place is remarkable. They show the greatest aptitude to command, and are in no way disconcerted by the sudden increase of responsibility. ”

“ Outside, on the shore, a second boat’s crew had landed a group of officers and a file of marines. They walked in all the dignity of full dress across the plaza to the flag-pole, and formed in line on the three sides of it, with the marines facing the sea. The officers, [60] from the captain with a prayer book in his hand, to the youngest middy, were as indifferent to the frightened natives about them as the other men had been. The natives, awed and afraid, crouched back among their huts, the marines and the sailors kept their eyes front, and the German captain opened his prayer book. ”

“ We, the Non-Commissioned Officers and Privates, serving as Marines, under your command, on board his Majesty's ship Princess Royal, having heard with pleasure, the gallant conduct of our brother Soldiers on board the Temeraire, and, therefore, beg leave to express alike with them, our determination to oppose, with all our might and power, all unlawful combinations and our readiness to obey our Officers night and day. ”

“ They are sea-soldiers, or soldiers enlisted for service either on shore or on board ships-of-war, and who are [II-362] known as Marines, although all sea-going persons are really marines.
Most powers which possess navies have also marines, France being an exception. They constitute a separate military body from the seamen and other enlisted men of a war-ship, and are trained to fight either as infantry or as artillerists, and especially for participation in naval engagements. ”

“ Stupefied, the Marines bumped and jostled with each other as they crowded in. If they had been anything but Marines, their own heads might have been turned at the discovery of this sudden materialization of a building out of nothingness.
Being Marines, they only grinned sheepishly, and followed along the corridor. [74]
he first human being they saw was one of the guards, in a black tunic. ”

“ These united causes originally suggested the expediency of forming an establishment of marines, who were raised and embodied with the sole view of being a nursery to man our fleets. They were always quartered in the vicinity of our principal sea-ports, where they were regularly trained to the different methods of ship-fighting, and to those various manoeuvres of a vessel, in which numbers were necessary. ”

“ All large ships of war carry soldiers, called marines. In the Neversink there was something less than fifty, two thirds of whom were Irishmen. They were officered by a Lieutenant, an Orderly Sergeant, two Sergeants, and two Corporals, with a drummer and fifer. The custom, generally, is to have a marine to each gun; which rule usually furnishes the scale for distributing the soldiers in vessels of different force.
Our marines had no other than martial duty to perform; excepting that, at sea, they stood watches like the sailors, and now and then lazily assisted in pulling the ropes. ”

“ Allow me to express my warmest thanks for the honor you have done me in accompanying me during the operations, and personally affording your assistance and advice; as also to convey my thanks to the whole of the captains, officers, seamen, and marines landed from the squadron under your command. I trust we have convinced these daring pirates, as well as the enemies of our country in all parts of the world, that his Majesty’s navy and army, when acting together heart and hand, are invincible. ”

“ Indeed, as it is, when witnessing the earnestness and skill with which each command of the drill-masters is executed, you soon fancy to be face to face with a company of marines—veterans in the exercise of arms—although, in fact, they are a company of mere boys, rescued from the streets and recruited from the workhouses. ”

“ CHAP. XLIV. Twenty thousand Marines formed the establishment of 1799.
An event truly brilliant in itself, and most important in its results, claim a merited precedence in my narrative of the transactions of this year. I mean, the noble defence of St. Jean d'Acre, in the land of Palestine. Yielding to the habitual sentiments of my mind, I am always led to exult in any occasion, upon which the energies of the Soldier, but more especially of my corps, have been conducive to the protection, or the aggrandisement of commerce. ”

“ Some of the most gallant acts which have distinguished our own navy have been performed by the marines, who have served without blemish in every quarter of the world, and in all the wars in which we have been engaged. The marines have generally manned some of the broadside guns whenever hard fighting was going on, and have always been relied upon under the most desperate circumstances ”

“ The major is, of course, responsible for the conduct, drill, and military efficiency of his detachment, which may number about 100 men, but he has, in addition, to inspect those of other ships in the squadron or fleet from time to time, and to command and drill the marines of the fleet when landed together for drill or tactical instruction. He or the captain of marines in another ship has charge also of the gunnery of his men, who are told off to man some of the guns in the ship, and may very possibly be himself stationed in one of the control-positions in time of action. ”

“ On board these ships was embarked a powerful reinforcement for the army, consisting of a battalion of seven hundred marines, a hundred negroes lately armed and disciplined, and a division of marine artillery, so that we could now calculate on landing a corps of at least four thousand men. The spectacle was therefore as agreeable and imposing as might be; because we could not help remembering that this magnificent fleet was sailing in an enemy’s bay, and that it was filled with troops for the invasion of that enemy’s country. ”

“ The vice-admirals carry theirs at the fore-top-gallant-mast head, and the rear-admiral carries his at the mizen-top-gallant-mast head.”
“Oh, oh, that is it! Then we know at last what is the meaning of ‘the red flag at the fore.’”
“Yes, that must be now pretty plain to you. The marines are a very efficient part of the British force; they are not to be out-done either in courage or patriotism. For some time in my younger days I belonged to them, and it was then that I picked up what knowledge of nautical tactics I possess. ”

“ They would as soon think of voyaging over the seas to put down an incipient revolution without their armored cars and motor trucks as they would of going to meet the enemy without their rifle.
There used to be an old joke about "Horse Marines." A sailorman on a horse is an incongruous thing—a sight to make you hold your sides. But the marines are not plain sailormen. They are "soldier and sailor, too," and as soldiers they have turned the joke on the old saw about "horse marines." There are "horse marines" these days, and mighty good cavalry they make. ”

“ By this reinforcement, together with the addition of a body of sailors and marines from the fleet, our numbers amounted now to little short of 6000 men; a force which, in almost any other quarter of America, would have been irresistible. ”

“ Naval men have served on nearly 2,000 craft that plied the waters, on submarines, and in aviation, where men of [Pg 310] vision and courage prevent surprise attacks and fight with new-found weapons. On the land, marines and sailors have helped to hold strategic points, regiments of marines have shared with the army their part of the hard-won victory, and a wonderfully trained gun crew of sailors has manned the monster 14-inch guns which marked a new departure in land warfare. ”

“ Marines.—A young man of respectable connections, and of the best morals, is very anxious to be in the service of his King, and Country, in these momentous times, and therefore ardently intreats the patronage of any Lady or Gentleman, who has the interest to procure him, or the power to bestow upon him, a Lieutenancy of Marines. ”

“ When marines are serving ashore in their barracks they come under army rules, so that the proportion of courts martial held on a given number of marines must always be expected to be greater than in the case of a similar number of bluejackets or stokers. ”

“ It is very gratifying in our pride over the achievements of the Marines, to know that that pride is shared by the War Department and your warm approbation of their conduct as a part of the Army will be treasured by the Corps as well as by the individuals. ”

“ Picked men, every one of them chosen with regard to his athletic and probable fighting ability, they could but live up to the standards set for them by their predecessors in the same force, adhering always to the maxims that “the marines never retreat” and that “they hold what they’ve got.” ”

“ Every exertion was immediately made to send a force sufficient for the object; a body of marines from the squadron, a company of infantry from Fort Trumbull, and a part of Captain French’s militia company of artillery, with a field-piece, and a considerable number of volunteers, were soon in motion: a part of the marines and volunteers in carriages, and Captain French, with his detachment and field-piece, arrived at the river at 4 o’clock ”

“ The American marine corps, like the British, is a separate establishment; the true system for a military establishment, would be to have the whole force consist only of horse and foot; and all instructed alike in the uses of small arms and artillery; then a selection of artillerists and marines could always be made by skill and not as now by chance. ”

“ Young Marines are serving on the front lines in the war on terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world. As the Marines celebrate their birthday, we join them in recognizing what their sacrifice and service has meant for our freedom. ”

“ He who is true to domestic ties, will never, by insubordination, dissolve those that unite him to his country.
CHAP. XXII. Fourteen thousand eight hundred and forty-five Marines formed the Establishment of 1759. ”

“ The Marines of a Fleet are organized into a regiment for duty as a landing force, the detachment from each ship forming one of the companies, and the Colonel commanding the regiment serves on the Staff of the Admiral in command of the Fleet. ”

“ To begin with, the sailors in the early days were a mighty tough lot of customers, picked up from nearly every nation under the sun. They were employed to work the ship; whereas the marines were organized to do the fighting and were picked men. Because of the mixed and unruly element in the crew the sailors often became mutinous. In those days all weapons, and firearms particularly, were stored in the after part of the ship where the officers had their quarters and having this advantage, they were able to keep the crews under subjection. ”

“ The marines, three companies of seamen, two field-guns' and two maxim-guns' crews, and a stretcher party of stokers were told off to land. Their leather gear, haversacks, water-bottles, and rolled-up blankets were all got ready, hung over their rifles in the racks, and, morning and evening, we made an evolution of 'falling in' on the quarterdeck and fo'c'stle, and getting on our gear in double quick time. ”

“ CASUALTIES OF NAVAL PERSONNEL.
Of the 60 naval medical officers, 12 naval dental officers, and 500 enlisted men of the Medical Corps of the Navy serving with the Marines in the American Expeditionary Force, 1 commissioned officer, and 12 enlisted men were killed; 8 commissioned officers and 101 enlisted men were wounded or gassed. ”

“ For this service the Vice-Admiral prepared a gunboat, and armed the launches of the fleet with heavy carronades, landed two battalions of seamen, about 1000 strong, in addition to 800 soldiers and marines, and sent ships frequently round the bay, to prevent suspicion of an attack, when any favourable opportunity might offer. ”

“ In every sea fight, great or small, marines have taken part, and on every continent they have served in big and little wars, sometimes as part of the army, sometimes with naval contingents, sometimes alone. ”

“ Previous to the departure of Vice Admiral Griffin, with four ships intended for Europe, the Marines were drafted from them, and added to the battalion, which upon this service consisted of eight hundred and eighty rank and file. The whole amounting to four thousand one hundred and twenty British and Country troops to be afterwards reinforced by two thousand native auxiliaries, and one thousand one [108] hundred sailors, trained to small arms, were to form the besieging army. ”