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BELLEAU WOOD, France - Marines, civilian Marines and families from Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa gathered along the edge of Belleau Wood, 45 miles east of Paris, France; the scene for one of the most historic battles fought by the Marine Corps.
The 1918 battle of Belleau Wood marked the first major ground battle in Marine Corps history.
Their tour guide was retired Col. Mike Kelly who insists he be called by his nickname, “Kiwi,” and who has, for five years, been volunteering his time to educate this unit and any others who are interested in this battle.
According to Kelly, this was an important battle as it proved to be the deadliest in history up to that point.
“More Marines would die in this battle alone then in all previous battles of the Marine Corps’ 142 year history,” said Kelly.
The 10-stop walking tour of the historic battle grounds would have Marines walking in the same footsteps as Capt. Lloyd W. Williams, Sgt. Maj. Daniel Joseph Daly, and other renowned names from the history books.
The battleground tour started at Les Mares Farms where the Marines of 2nd battalion, 5th Marines were first sent in to reinforce a French unit retreating after being decimated. The French unit had already grown war-weary, and reinforcements were welcomed by the allies.
It was at this place that Capt. Lloyd W. Williams spoke the famous words to a French officer after having been ordered to fall back, “Retreat hell, we just got here!”
To this point, the Marines had been used as garrison working parties and had not experienced combat. This would be the Marines first land-based conflict, and they were determined to get into the fight.
“The best word to describe it would be anticipation; the restless anticipation of men too long out of action,” described CWO3 Donald McCutchen, assistance chief of staff to the G6.
The next stop on the tour was Hill 142, were 1st Battalion, 5th Marines would launch a counterattack against an experienced and determined opposition. When the Germans mounted their counterattack, Gunnery Sgt. Ernest A. Janson would earn the first Medal of Honor of World War I for single handedly repealing the attack of a squad of 12 German soldiers. Janson, who was of German descent, had changed his name to sound less “German.”
It was at the next stop, “The Wheatfield,” that the group got to experience First Sgt. Dan Daly’s historic cry of “Come on, you sons-of-bitches. Do you want to live forever?” as he motivated his Marines to charge across the vast-open field towards an entrenched German position. Although Daly and his Marine were successful in reaching the German lines, this murderous assault by the Marines would prove to be the costliest in casualties in Marine Corps History, and would remain so until the assault on Tarawa in 1943.
For many Marines, it was a class from recruit training coming to life.
“I was honored to be able to walk the battlefield and see the terrain firsthand,” said Gunnery Sgt. Edmund Unger, command center staff noncommissioned officer-in-charge.
“After looking at one [the Wheatfield] from both German and American positions, I can understand why Sgt. Maj. Dan Daly uttered his famous call to the Marines,” added the Oceanside, Calif., native.
The tour continued as the group saw the various fighting positions outside the woods and even within the local towns of Lucy and Bouresches, where many homes and buildings that predated WWI still stand.
The grand finale of the tour was the walk through the woods, seeing the actual fighting holes, the trees still damaged by bullet holes and shrapnel. Feelings of a connection could be seen in their faces as they walked in the footsteps of Marines before them on these hallowed grounds.
“It was a deeply moving and poignant experience to be in the actual woods of Belleau, where so many Marines lost their lives,” said Master Sgt. Greg Korzan, future operations chief and native of Key West, Fl.
The tour brought the historic “baptism by fire” to present-day Marines and their families as a reminder of the true spirit of being a Marine is the commitment they have to their predecessors, the ones that fought through the woods of Belleau almost a century ago.
| Date Taken: | 05.24.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 06.23.2014 07:55 |
| Story ID: | 134006 |
| Location: | BELLEAU WOOD, FR |
| Hometown: | KEY WEST, FLORIDA, US |
| Hometown: | OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 206 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Historic Belleau walk to re-live the legacy, by SSgt Gavriel Fleischman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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