Yesterday I posted a long paragraph from a 1942 yearbook, a yearbook distributed to members of the Marine Corps Reserve Officers’ Class. Today I plan to post another two paragraphs from that some book.
“Out in the misty river the boats roam, waiting for the formation to completely assemble. Instructions have been issues and every minute is accounted for. Finally the boats are loaded and the waves of snub-nosed craft move off in formation toward the rendevous area a few miles toward the sea. There the ships circle again before making the initial stabbing attack. Scout bombers from the Fleet Marine Air Group pepper the hostile shore with four sack bombs to prepare for the advance.
“Then the first wave speeds shoreward, followed by a second and a third. As the boats touch bottom, Marines leap out holding rifles high, out of the waist -deep water. Gaining the shore, they charge against waves of machine gun blank ammunition fire. The enlisted men of the hostile force are pushed back across the railroad tracks and then without more than a moment’s rest the student officers are off for special tasks, to capture a railroad or to take a supply store in a town several miles distant.”
As can be seen from the above paragraphs, Marine training during World War II was very different from Marine training today. The paragraphs that I will post tomorrow will serve to magnify that difference.
Still, one can see that all Marines train hard. They all must strive to demonstrate honor, courage and committment, even as they prectice what they expect to do in the course of a real battle.
