USMC 240TH BIRTHDAY

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 1770

U.S. MARINE CORPS CELEBRATES 240TH ANNIVERSARY

Philadelphia (JFK+50) The United States Marine Corps celebrates its 240th anniversary today having been created by a resolution passed by the Continental Congress on November 10, 1775.

Captain Samuel Nicholas formed two battalions as naval infantry. Although the resolution, drafted by John Adams of Massachusetts, created the Corps, it was a bill signed by President John Adams in July 1798 that made the USMC a permanent military force.

The Corps, which has served in every major American conflict, is justly proud of its most famous action in the War with the Barbary Pirates in which they captured Tripoli.

In a speech at the Marine Recruiting Department in San Diego on June 6, 1963, President John F. Kennedy said...

"The old Corps may have been a great Corps, but the new Corps is just as good."

Flag of the United States Marine Corps

Image by Mamazur (talk)

www.wikipedia.com/

"From the halls of Montezuma

To the shores of Tripoli

We fight our Nation's battles

On the land and on the sea."

The Marines Hymn

JFK Greets Marine and Family

Cherry Point Marine Air Station

North Carolina (1962)

Photo by R.L. Knudsen

JFK Library Image

'IN THE AIR, ON LAND AND SEA'

70TH ANNIVERSARY OF USMC LANDINGS ON IWO JIMA

Iwo Jima (JFK+50) 70 years ago at 9 o'clock this morning, February 19, 1945, three divisions of the United States Marine Corps landed on the beach here on the Japanese-held island of Iwo Jima*.

The landing forces, representing the 3rd, 4th and 5th USMC Divisions, were met with an uncanny silence.  The Japanese had decided to wait until all U.S. forces were on the beach before responding.

The island was defended by 7 Japanese battalions comprised of 21,000 soldiers who were protected by a network of caves.

As Marines approached the first lines of hidden Japanese soldiers, they encountered heavy machine gun fire and suffered many casualties.  By evening, the Marines had lost 550 dead and 1800 wounded.  

One of the most remembered phases of the battle came only 4 days after the landing, February 23, 1945, when Mount Suribachi was captured and the United States Flag proudly displayed.  Photographer Joe Rosenthal won the Pulitzer Prize for his image which became the basis for the United States Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

The Battle of Iwo Jima lasted until March 26, 1945.  By that time 19,000 of the 21,000 Japanese defenders were dead.  Despite this fact, the battle was the only one fought by the USMC in the Pacific in which they suffered more casualties than the enemy.

*Iwo Jima, a.k.a. Sulfur Island, 8 square miles in size is located 750 miles from Tokyo, Japan.  The island was discovered in 1543 by Spanish explorer Bernardo de la Torre.

Its' highest point, Mount Suribachi, is 528 feet high.  The United States occupied the island from 1945 to 1968 at which time it was returned to Japan.

Marines on Iwo Jima
27th Regiment
USMC Image

"From the halls of Montezuma

To the shores of Tripoli
We fight our Nation's battles
In the air, on land  on sea."

Marine Corps Hymn

BIRTH OF THE MARINE CORPS

November 10, 2013

USMC BORN 238 YEARS AGO TODAY

Philadelphia (JFK+50) The United States Marine Corps celebrates its 238th birthday today having been created by a resolution passed by the Continental Congress on November 10, 1775.

Captain Samuel Nicholas formed the two battalions as naval infantry.

Although the resolution, drafted by John Adams of Massachusetts, created the Corps, it was a bill signed by President John Adams in July 1798 that made the USMC a permanent military force.

The Corps, which has served in every major American conflict, is justly proud of its most famous action in the War with the Barbary Pirates in which they captured Tripoli.

"From the halls of Montezuma
To the shores of Tripoli
We fight our Nation's battles
On the land and on the sea."

The Marines Hymn

In a speech at the Marine Recruiting Department in San Diego on June 6, 1963, President John F. Kennedy said...

"The old Corps may have been a great Corps, but the new Corps is just as good."

JFK Greets Marine and Family

Cherry Point Marine Air Station

North Carolina (1962)

Photo by R.L. Knudsen

JFK Library Image

FIRST LADY OF THE WORLD LAID TO REST 51 YEARS AGO TODAY 

Hyde Park (JFK+50) Eleanor Roosevelt, who died at the age of 78, was laid to rest 51 years ago today, November 10, 1962, in the rose garden of the Roosevelt estate beside her late husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Funeral services, held at St. James Church, were attended by President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy.

Upon receiving news of Mrs. Roosevelt's death, the President issued the following statement:

"One of the great leaders in the history of this country has passed.  Her loss will be deeply felt by all those who admire her tireless idealism.  She has been an inspiration and a friend."

After FDR's death, Mrs. Roosevelt was appointed as a delegate to the United Nations by President Harry S Truman.

She served in that capacity from 1945 to 1952 during which time she chaired a committee which issued "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and earned the title "First Lady of the World".

                     Eleanor Roosevelt
                         FDR Memorial
                     Washington, D.C.
         Photo by John White (2003)

NAVY ENSIGN WHO PROVIDED IWO JIMA FLAG DIES

April 29, 2013

NAVY ENSIGN WHO PROVIDED IWO JIMA FLAG DIES

Sierra Madre, California (JFK+50) Alan Wood, the US Navy Ensign who provided the flag which was raised by Marines on Mount Suribachi during WWII, died last week at the age of 90.

     US Flag Flown on Mt. Suribachi
National Museum of the Marine Corps
    Photo by Mark Pellegrini (2006)

Mr. Wood, who served on LST 779 during the Iwo Jima campaign, lived here in Sierra Madre, California and is survived by son Steven and 3 grandchildren.

Ensign Wood was 22 years old when he, as a Naval communications officer, was approached by a Marine who needed "the biggest flag that he could find."

The Marines had successfully captured MOUNT SURIBACHI after 5 hard days of fighting and wanted to signal the capture of the critical position to US troops continuing the fight below.

Wood located a 37 square foot American flag he had found at the Pearl Harbor Navy Depot.

When 5 Marines raised that flag, AP photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped the image that has been referred to as perhaps the most reproduced photograph ever made.

The photograph won Rosenthal a Pulitzer Prize, turned the Marines who raised the flag into celebrities, and became a model for the Marine Corps War Memorial.*

                  USMC War Memorial
                     Arlington, Virginia
              Photo by Ketone 16 (2008)

Ensign Wood downplayed his contribution in a letter written later in 1945.  

He wrote...

"The fact that there were men among us who were able to face a situation like Iwo, where human life is so cheap, is something to make humble those of us who were so very fortunate not to be called upon to endure such hell."

After the war, Alan Wood was a technical artist and spokesman for the Jet Propulsion Library.  

*The USMC War Memorial is the work of Felix de Wel.  It was dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on November 10, 1954.  JFK signed a proclamation in 1961 requiring the Flag of the United States to fly from the memorial 24 hours a day.

SOURCE

"WWII vet who provided flag on Iwo Jima has died," by the Associated Press, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, April 29, 2013.

Stars and Stripes on Mt. Suribachi
              U.S. Archives Image

                      You Tube Video