Happy Birthday U.S. Marine Corps 1775-2008
"There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion."
Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army
An excerpt from an email home from an Air Force ordnance demolition unit team member describing his first night at Kandahar airport: "One of the perimeter positions only a hundred yards or so to our left took some incoming fire and we all went to general quarters, taking defensive fighting positions in our bivouac in case they penetrated to our position. The Marines quickly repelled the attack. It will not bother me should I live my entire life without having to kill a man but I have to say I'm glad to be surrounded by a thousand 19 year-old Marines who can't wait to. They will be leaving in a few weeks and turning over the base to the Army. I will miss them.
"Freedom is not free, but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share."
Ned Dolan
When an Army captain asked him for the direction of the line of retreat, Col Puller called his artillerymen, gave them the Army position, and ordered: "If they start to pull back from that line, even one foot, I want you to open fire on them." Turning to the captain, he replied "Does that answer your question? We're here to fight." At Koto-ri in Korea - Chesty Puller at Koto-ri in Korea. 1951
"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!"
Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States, 1945
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem."
Ronald Reagan, President of the United States; 1985
They told (us) to open up the Embassy, or "we'll blow you away." And then they looked up and saw the Marines on the roof with these really big guns, and they said in Somali, "Igaralli ahow," which means "Excuse me, I didn't mean it, my mistake."
Karen Aquilar, in the U.S. Embassy; Mogadishu, Somalia, 1991
"I have only two men out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold."
1stLt. Clifton B. Cates, USMC
in Belleau Wood, 19 July 1918
"You cannot exaggerate about the Marines. They are convinced to the point of arrogance, that they are the most ferocious fighters on earth- and the amusing thing about it is that they are."
Father Kevin Keaney
1st Marine Division Chaplain
Korean War
"I am convinced that there is no smarter, handier, or more adaptable body of troops in the world."
Prime Minister of Britain, Sir Winston Churchhill
Do not attack the First Marine Division. Leave the yellowlegs alone. Strike the American Army.
Orders given to Communist troops in the Korean War;
shortly afterward, the Marines were ordered
to not wear their khaki leggings.
"If I had one more division like this First Marine Division I could win this war."
General of the Armies Douglas McArthur in Korea, overheard and reported by Marine Staff Sergeant Bill Houghton, Weapons/2/5
