Esprit de Corps

Nine months ago, the editors of the Marine Corps Gazette set their goal. To help mark the Corps' 17 5th anniversary this week, they planned "to produce an accurate, concise and readable history of the Marine Corps that would definitely establish some of the word-of-mouth history and tradition." Last week, in a special, 136-page anniversary issue priced at $1 (regular price: 30-c-), the Gazette published a "readable history" that was also a gusty, colorful explanation of the unique esprit de corps that distinguishes the U.S. Marines from other U.S. armed services.

Like the Corps, the monthly Gazette has earned a solid reputation of its own. Started in 1916 as a semiofficial organ, the magazine's circulation has climbed from 744 in 1932 to its present 18,000, now numbers among its subscribers 28 foreign governments, including the Soviet Union (six copies). A rotating board of editors, all Marine officers, gives its articles on battle tactics, training methods and other aspects of military science an authoritative tone. The Gazette, which is wholly selfsupporting, also plays an important role in the continuous indoctrination of Marines, never lets them forget their blood & glory-starred history. Some of it, as recounted in the anniversary issue:

P: When a Navy officer insulted a Marine, William Ward Burrows, first official commandant of the Marines, wrote to his Marine officer: ". . . Don't let me see you 'till you have wiped away this disgrace. It is my duty to support my officers and I will do it with my life, but they must deserve it." P: In 1836, when Commandant Archibald

Henderson headed for battle with 700 Marines (half the entire Corps), he tacked a laconic sign on his office door: "Gone to Florida to fight the Indians. Will be back when the war is over." When Henderson retired after 38 years as commandant, he was so accustomed to living in the commandant's house that he tried to will it to his heirs.

P: At Belleau Wood, Gunnery Sergeant Dan Daly, twice winner of the Medal of Honor* (Boxer Rebellion and Haiti), was reported to have said: "Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?" But profane old Dan Daly [shaken by reports that the Corps was going to be politer] grimly insisted that what he said was: "For goodness sake, you chaps, let us advance against the foe!" P: Col. Frederic W. Wise (who claimed that during World War I he had originated the phrase: "Retreat, hell--we just got here!") once heard his men had coined a nickname for him. He lined them up and shouted: "I hear you so-and-sos have taken to calling me 'Dopey.' All right; only don't forget that I'm also Wise'." P: The late Major General Smedley D. Butler, made a captain at 19 for bravery during the Boxer Rebellion, once walked alone into a rebel camp during a Nicaraguan revolution, seized the rebel general by his mustache, and ended the revolt. Years later, having retired after an uproar over his burning criticisms of Mussolini, he wrote an article [for Liberty] entitled "To Hell with the Admirals."

* For news of another Medal of Honor winner, see NATIONAL AFFAIRS.

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