Battle Of Belleau Wood

[orvet]

Battle Of Belleau Wood

IT was thick with Prussian troopers, it was foul with German guns;
Every tree that cast a shadow was a sheltering place for Huns.
Death was guarding every roadway, death was watching every field,
And behind each rise of terrain was a rapid-fire concealed
But Uncle Sam's Marines had orders: "Drive the Boche from where they're hid.
For the honor of Old Glory, take the woods!" and so they did.

I fancy none will tell it as the story should be told--
None will ever do full justice to those Yankee troopers bold.
How they crawled upon their stomachs through the fields of golden wheat
With the bullets spitting at them in that awful battle heat.
It's a tale too big for writing; it's beyond the voice or pen,
But it glows among the splendor of the bravest deeds men.

It's recorded as a battle, but I fancy it will live,
As the brightest gem of courage human struggles have to give.
Inch by inch, they crawled to victory toward the flaming mounts of guns;
Inch by inch, they crawled to grapple with the barricaded Huns

On through fields that death was sweeping with a murderous fire, they went
Till the Teuton line was vanquished and the German strength was spent.

Ebbed and flowed the tides of battle as they've seldom done before;
Slowly, surely, moved the Yankees against all the odds of war.
For the honor of the fallen, for the glory of the dead,
The living line of courage kept the faith and moved ahead.
'They'd been ordered not to falter, and when night came on they stood
With Old Glory proudly flying o'er the trees of Belleau Wood.

By Edgar Allen Guest

I stumbled across this poem today and thought some of you might enjoy it.
Marines will likely know the names of some of the heroes in the battle of Belleau Woods.
It was at the battle of Belleau Woods where the Marines earned the name "Teufelshunde" (Devil Dogs) from the Germans.

[Ridgegrass]

Dale: I really enjoyed the poem. That war is mostly forgotten. My Granddad and Uncle fought in it. Uncle Mike Szczech (Sash) was an aviation mechanic in Le Croissic, France. This is the Navy League poster that hung in his parents' front window while he served. I have a lot of his items: uniforms, engine manuals, souvenirs, etc. In 2017 and 2018 we displayed them at a local library. The Liberty Bond poster is authentic. Thanks again for the poem. J.O.

[Quick Steel]

Dale, I just bumped into the WWI poem by EA Guest. Enjoyed it a lot. Thanks.

[1967redrider]

Very cool, Dale.

[jerryd6818]

Belleau Woods in WWI, Iwo Jima in WWII and the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir during Korea. Just a sampling of the big battles fought by The Corps.

Thanks for posting that Dale.

[orvet]

Belleau Woods in WWI, Iwo Jima in WWII and the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir during Korea. Just a sampling of the big battles fought by The Corps.

Thanks for posting that Dale.

Khe Sanh in Vietnam.

[jerryd6818]

Belleau Woods in WWI, Iwo Jima in WWII and the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir during Korea. Just a sampling of the big battles fought by The Corps.

Thanks for posting that Dale.

Khe Sanh in Vietnam.

Lest we forget. Thank you.

[orvet]

It's hard to remember all of them but there are a few more we should remember:
Mogadishu Somalia.
Falluja Iraq.
Helmand Province Afghanistan.

To all those who fought in far less Infamous places, maybe in unheard-of wars or police actions, Semper Fi!
That includes all of you who serve no matter what branch of service!

[Ridgegrass]

Here's a "forgotten" one. 82nd Airborne and Marine occupation of the Dominican Republic in 1965-66. Twenty seven combat dead of a total of forty four deaths, two hundred eighty three wounded. Not sure if there's a medal/ribbon for the action. Couple of subsequent Vietnam Medal of Honor winners served in this one. US sent 42,000. Seven other OAS countries sent a combined 1,748. (Typical). J.O'.

[jerryd6818]

Here's a "forgotten" one. 82nd Airborne and Marine occupation of the Dominican Republic in 1965-66. Twenty seven combat dead of a total of forty four deaths, two hundred eighty three wounded. Not sure if there's a medal/ribbon for the action. Couple of subsequent Vietnam Medal of Honor winners served in this one. US sent 42,000. Seven other OAS countries sent a combined 1,748. (Typical). J.O'.

When that broke out we were engaged in a firing exercise on Vieques Island and were 200 miles from The Dominican Republic. All kinds of speculation was flying around the battery (Bravo Battery 3rd LAAM Bn) about us going since we were so close. The facts were, they used grunts (Infantry) and didn't need a bunch of HAWK Missile Marines. Our specialty was shooting planes out of the sky, not fighting on the ground. So once again, a brides maid but never a bride. When we finished our exercise, we left our gear there for Charlie Battery, crawled on a C-130 and flew back to Cherry Point with our cherries still intact.

("Not sure if there's a medal/ribbon for the action.") At least for the Marines the Combat Action Ribbon would cover that one.

[Ridgegrass]

Thanks Jerry. Is that a general combat citation? The Domincan flag at the time was a red, white, blue design I would have thought the heraldry guys would incorporate into a dedicated ribbon. I searched "Dominican Republic occupation service medal" and got nothing. ??
I was in basic at Ft. Bragg where the 82nd was headquartered in August of '66. There were a lot of Domincan action vets there and two of them were DI's for our training battalion. It was all the buzz that summer. J.O'.

[jerryd6818]

Yes, general combat action ribbon. It's just the ribbon. No medal.