"SOME PEOPLE LIVE THEIR ENTIRE LIFE AND WONDER IF THEY EVER MADE A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD. MARINES DON'T HAVE THAT PROBLEM".... ..Ronald Reagan...1995
As stated earlier, I graduated from Boot Training in June, 1943,
and we received our ten-day boot leave -- all of ten days!!
I hardly had time to travel to Dallas by Greyhound Bus when it
was time to return. It was better than nothing, though, and my
bride and I put as much living into those few days as possible.
Too soon, I had to board the bus again, leaving her in tears,
and head back to San Diego.
BACK TO SCHOOL!
I was assigned to Telephone School, Signal Battalion, Marine
Corps Base, San Diego. All the classes were filled at the time,
so guess what? -- I got to go on mess duty for four weeks!
I finally entered Telephone School, starting with a new class at the Signal Battalion. I was cruising along, learning a lot and really enjoying myself. However, reminiscent of my elementary school experience when I was skipped from the second to the fourth grade, I discovered the Marine Corps had the same idea about a student being kept busy. It seems that all the studies relating to field communications were too easy, so they decided I needed to work harder for my grades. They skipped me one full class into a group that was almost a month ahead of me. I was expected to know all the material I had skipped -- which I didn't -- so they were correct. I had to really work to catch up.
I graduated September 3, 1943, with an average of 89.6% (which was 0.4% under what I needed to graduate with corporal's stripes. If they had left me alone, I would have breezed in with 100%.
I didn't know it then, but the Marine Corps had a slot all picked out for me in the new Fourth Marine Division, which was being put together at that very moment.
Formation of the Fourth Division took a little more than a year.
It had its beginning at Camp Lejeune, New River, North Carolina,
where almost all of the lower echelons were formed. It all came
together at Camp Joseph H. Pendleton, Oceanside, California.
Separate battalions were combined to form regiments and
regiments split to form new regiments; specialized units were
welded together to make Special and Service troops. Then a
Division Staff was organized.
[For those of you reading this who may not be familiar with Companies, Battalions, Regiments and Divisions I offer the following as a guide.
These numbers are taken from my memory and may or may not be completely accurate
and I am sure they do not apply in today's military. If I am wrong please feel free to send me an E-mail.
One Squad............12 men
Please remember there are numerous additional units consisting of several thousand men attached to this basic compliment. In World War-ll a reinforced
Ddivision consisted of approximately 18 to 20 thousand men.]
The 23rd Marines was the oldest component unit of the Division.
This regiment was activated in July 1942, and was commanded by
Lt. Colonel William B. Onley as part of the Third Marine
Division. In September 1943, Colonel Louis R. Jones took
command and, on February 15, 1943, it was detached from the
Third Division. A few days later, it was designated part of
the Fourth Division.
In January, 1943, the 23rd trained in amphibious maneuvers on
Chesapeake Bay, which was quite a change from the "boondocks" of
North Carolina. On May 1, 1943, the 23rd was divided into two
segments, one of which became the nucleus of the 25th Marines,
formed under the command of Colonel Richard H. Schubert.
While this was going on, many other units were being formed,
including the 14th Marine Artillery Regiment; the 20th Marines,
consisting of engineers and other units; the Fourth Service
Battalion; the Ordnance Company and, finally, Division
Headquarters Company and the Fourth Signal Company.
Finally, all these units were transferred by ship and train to
Camp Pendleton during July and August of 1943. Before long, the
Division was up to full strength. During March 1943, the 24th
Marines had been formed at Pendleton by combining their separate
reinforced battalions.
Two of these had been created at Camp Lejeune, then sent to Camp
Pendleton, where they were joined by the remaining units. On
August 16, 1943, the Division was formally activated. It was
now ready to start intensive training as a complete unit in
preparation for combat, under the leadership of Major General
Harry Schmidt, Commanding General.
The Fourth Division now consisted of the following:
I had been assigned in early September, 1943. During this same
month, the Division began a very intensive training
program....
Camp Joseph H. Pendleton
In 1769 a Spanish Expedition, led by Portola, named this site after a holy Virgin and martyr, Saint Margaret. Fifty years later two Spanish brothers, Pio and Andres Pico, secured the land through Mexican land grants and named it Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores---Rancho Santa Margarita and the Flowers, which today is known as Camp Joseph H.Pendleton. The original Ranch House, built in 1828 still stands today.
The following images was from a Thanksgiving Day Greeting Card which was given out for the troops to send home to show how well we were being fed, I think.At any rate the food was quite good considering the times.
FORMING THE FOURTH
Three Squads......... 1 Platoon
Three Platoons....... 1 Company
Three Companies...... 1 Battalion
Three Battalions..... 1 Regiment
Three Regiments...... 1 DivisionFourteenth Marines -- Colonel Louis G. DeHaven
Twentieth Marines -- Colonel Lucian W. Burnham
Twenty-Third Marines -- Colonel Louis R. Jones
Twenty-Fourth Marines -- Colonel Franklin A. Hart
Twenty-Fifth Marines -- Colonel Samuel C. Cumming
Division Special Troops -- Colonel Emmett W. Skinner
Division Service Troops -- Colonel Richard H. Schubert
Under this leadership, as of September 30, 1943, the Fourth
Marine Division consisted of 17,831 men and officers, who came
together as a hard-hitting fighting machine.
COMBAT TRAINING WITH THE FOURTH
The camp was named to honor one of the Marine Corp's great leaders,
Major General Joseph H. Pendleton, a pioneer of the Marine Corps in Southern California.
Camp Pendleton covers an area of 132,000 acres, and I would
swear we covered every one of them. The 14th Artillery regiment
moved to Niland, California, in November 1943, for intensive
artillery firing practice.
I was part of the First Joint Assault Signal Company (JASCO), which was one of the detached units assigned to each of the Regimental Combat Teams. We, along with all the other units of the Division, boarded ship again and sailed to San Clemente Island where, with Task Force 53 providing live fire support, we stormed the beaches to "take" the island, then returned to the ships to do it over again and again during the following days.
By the nature of the training we were put through, we knew we were preparing to move into combat, but no one was talking. In some ways, this training was tougher on the human spirit than was the real combat. The experience, for instance, of trying to stay warm at night in Las Pulgas Canyon was something you could never forget. No matter how many blankets you could gather around you, it was always cold after the sun went down.
My unit, Team 3.3 of the 1st JASCO, was attached to the 25th Marines and, by some quirk of fate, we ended up being quartered in a tent camp located miles back in the hills. The conditions there were, even by the standards of the time, very primitive. Whoever said "it never rains in Southern California" had a few screws loose! About all I remember is rain, mud, and more rain. The floor of our tent was mud; each morning when you awoke, your cot had buried so deeply into the mud that your rear was resting in the mud. Before you got outside, you were up to your ankles in that California mud.
There were two tent camps back in those hills. We, in the 25th Marines, had one, and the Tank Battalion lucked out by getting the other.
Thinking back on those days, one remembers many things -- the machine gun range, bayonet practice, forced marches of up to 60 miles, the moving target range, pillbox assaults, night attacks near the Santa Margarita River, rubber boat landings at the Boat Basin, and combat swimming with those hated words of the instructor: "STEP OFF!"
Finally, in January 1944, the Division boarded ship in San Diego. We were combat-loaded and we all knew this was for real. On January 6th and 7th, LSDs and LSTs loaded with the 14th Marine Artillery and the amphibian tractor detachment, sailed out of the harbor. The rest of us departed just after daybreak on January 13, 1944.
"Operation Flintlock" was on its way -- where, we did not know as yet.
ON TO WAR
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