_Marine raider Pvt Roy Grier examines the Nambu pistol he liberated
from an enemy officer of the_ Special Landing Force _in an encounter on
Bairoko_.]
Finally, there was institutional opposition to the existence of
an elite force within the already elite Corps. The personnel and
equipment priorities given to the first two raider battalions at a time
of general scarcity had further fueled enmity toward these units. Now
that the war was progressing toward victory, there was less interest
on the part of outsiders in meddling in the details of Marine Corps
organization. Just as important, two senior officers who had keenly
felt pain at the birth of the raiders--Vandegrift and Thomas--were now
coming into positions where they could do something about it. On 1
January 1944 Vandegrift became Commandant of the Marine Corps and he
made Thomas the Director of Plans and Policies.
In mid-December 1943 Thomas’ predecessor at HQMC had already set the
wheels in motion to disband the raiders and the parachutists. Among
the reasons cited in his study was that such “handpicked outfits ...
are detrimental to morale of other troops.” A week later, a Marine
officer on the Chief of Naval Operation’s staff forwarded a memorandum
through the Navy chain of command noting that the Corps “feels that
any operation so far carried out by raiders could have been performed
equally well by a standard organization specially trained for that
specific mission.” The CNO concurred in the suggestion to disband
the special units, and Vandegrift gladly promulgated the change on 8
January 1944. This gave Thomas everything he wanted--fresh manpower
from the deleted units and their stateside training establishments, as
well as simplified supply requirements due to increased uniformity.
The raiders did not entirely disappear. On 1 February the 1st Raider
Regiment was redesignated the 4th Marines, thus assuming the lineage
of the regiment that had garrisoned Shanghai in the interwar years and
fought so gallantly on Bataan and Corrigedor. The 1st, 3d, and 4th
Raider Battalions became respectively the 1st, 3d, and 2d Battalions
of the 4th Marines. The 2d Raider Battalion filled out the regimental
weapons company. Personnel in the Raider Training Center transferred
to the newly formed 5th Marine Division. Leavened with new men, the
4th Marines went on to earn additional distinctions in the assaults
on Guam and Okinawa. At the close of the war, the regiment joined the
occupation forces in Japan and participated in the release from POW
compounds of the remaining members of the old 4th Marines.
The commanders in the Pacific Theater may not have properly used the
raiders, but the few thousand men of those elite units bequeathed a
legacy of courage and competence not surpassed by any other Marine
battalion. The spirit of the raiders lives on today in the Marine
Corps’ Special Operations Capable battalions. These infantry units,
specifically trained for many of the same missions as the raiders,
routinely deploy with amphibious ready groups around the globe.
[Illustration: _Seabee Chief Earl J. Cobb and Marine raider Cpl
Charles L. Marshall shake hands at the site of a sign erected near
Bougainville’s travelled “Marine Drive Hi-Way.”_
So when we reach the “Isle of Japan”
With our caps at a Jaunty tilt
We’ll enter the city of Tokyo
On the roads the SEABEES Built.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 73151
]
_Sources_
The best primary documents are the relevant operational and
administrative records of the Marine Corps held by the Washington
National Records Center in Suitland, Maryland. Of particular note
are the files of the Amphibious Force Atlantic Fleet, which detail
the efforts of Edson and Holland Smith to create their version of
the raiders. Another important source is the Edson personal papers
collection at the Library of Congress Manuscript Division. The various
offices of the Marine Corps Historical Center provide additional
useful information. The Reference Section holds biographical data on
most significant individuals. The Oral History Section has a number
of interviews with senior raiders and other Marines, particularly
Brigadier General Charles L. Banks, Brigadier General Fred D. Beans,
Colonel Justice M. Chambers, Brigadier General Samuel B. Griffith II,
Major General Oscar F. Peatross, Lieutenant General Alan Shapley, and
General Gerald C. Thomas. The Personal Papers Section holds numerous
items pertaining to the raiders.
A number of secondary sources deal with the history of the raiders in
some depth. The Marine Corps’ own World War II campaign monographs
were based on interviews and other sources of information in addition
to the service’s archives. Jeter Isely and Philip Crowl’s _The U.S.
Marines and Amphibious War_, James Roosevelt’s _Affectionately,
F.D.R._, Michael Blankfort’s _Big Yankee_, and Samuel Griffith’s
_Battle for Guadalcanal_ are valuable books. _The Marine Corps Gazette_
and _Leatherneck_ contain a number of articles describing the raiders
and their campaigns. Of particular interest is Major General Peatross’
account of the Makin raid in the August and September 1992 issues of
_Leatherneck_. Charles L. Updegraph, Jr.’s _U.S. Marine Corps Special
Units of World War II_ and Lieutenant Colonel R. L. Mattingly’s
_Herringbone Cloak--GI Dagger_ are two monographs specifically
addressing the formation of the raiders. The publications of the two
raider associations, _The Raider Patch_ and _The Dope Sheet_, contain a
number of first-person accounts written by former raiders.
_About the Author_
[Illustration]
Major Jon T. Hoffman, USMCR, has spent more than 12 years on active
duty as an infantry officer, an instructor at the Naval Academy, and
a historian at Headquarters Marine Corps. Presently he is serving as
a reserve field historian for the Marine Corps History and Museums
Division. He has a master’s degree in military history from Ohio State
University and a law degree from Duke University. In 1994 Presidio
Press published his biography of Major General Edson, _Once A Legend_,
which won the Marine Corps Historical Foundation’s Greene Award. He is
the author of numerous articles in the _Marine Corps Gazette_, _Naval
Institute Proceedings_, _Naval History_, _Leatherneck_, and _Vermont
History_. His works have earned several writing prizes, including the
Marine Corps Historical Foundation’s Heinl Awards for 1992, 1993, and
1994.
_ERRATA_
In the pamphlet, _The Right to Fight: African-American Marines in
World War II_, in this series, among “Sources” listed on page 29 is
_Blacks and Whites Together Through Hell: U.S. Marines in World War
II_. The bibliographic listing misspells the name of one author and
assigns a wrong World War II unit to the second. The volume is by
Perry E. Fischer, a veteran of the 8th Marine Ammunition Company,
and Brooks E. Gray, who was a member of the 51st Defense Battalion.
[Illustration]
THIS PAMPHLET HISTORY, one in a series devoted to U.S. Marines in
the World War II era, is published for the education and training of
Marines by the History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine
Corps, Washington, D.C., as a part of the U.S. Department of Defense
observance of the 50th anniversary of victory in that war.