![]() The situation at hand revealed that the die had been cast, the battle lines had been drawn, and a war of survival had to be fought. Such global hot spots may have inspired others to sign up, but certainly the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor brought the matter closer to home. For some young Americans, it was the reports and rumors of Japanese brutality that inspired them to join the Marines and motivated them to fight. If they bothered to keep up with world affairs as reported in the newspapers, magazines, and radio bulletins of the day, the youth of America were likely aware of the Japanese invasions of China, Manchuria, and Korea, beginning in the early 1930s. Fascism.” It was obvious to everyone that the alliance between Germany’s Adolf Hitler, Italy’s Benito Mussolini, and Japan’s Emperor Hirohito was on a brazen march to force the world into a totalitarian order, placing all free men in the service of a brutal oligarchy. To borrow a title from American filmmaker Aaron Russo, “It was Freedom vs. 30-caliber machine gun and 81mm mortars.Īmerica and her soldiers saw the war framed in basic terms. The battalion roster also included two additional rifle companies: L and I, as well as M Company, a heavy weapons unit that was equipped with the Browning water-cooled. Bill “Spike” McKelvy, a colorful yet enigmatic character who came from a long line of Naval Academy graduates. The commander of the 3rd Battalion, of which K Company was an organic unit, was Lt. 30-caliber light machine guns and 60mm mortar squads. Joe Terzi, an All-American football player from Long Island, New York, was given command of K Company’s light weapons platoon, which consisted of. Lieutenants Sager, Wilheit, and Abady were assigned to take command of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Rifle Platoons, respectively. Don Bishop, would later describe him as having a slightly “holier than thou” attitude. Putnam was respected as a hard but competent officer. Sager, Phillip Wilheit, Herman Abady, and Joseph Anthony Terzi-were assigned to the 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Regiment, 3rd Battalion, K Company, commanded by Captain Robert Putnam. In April 1942, a group of young Marines, having recently graduated from Officers Candidate School, arrived at New River, North Carolina, a sprawling tent city that stretched over a vast area and would eventually become known as Camp Lejeune.įour second lieutenants-William H.
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