Roy Exum
There was a brief yet formal ceremony at Camp LeJeune last Friday that was most meaningful to a 91-year-old gentleman named Kenneth ‘Mudhole’ Merrill. “Today’s our day! Our legacy can go on now. This is the greatest thing that has ever happened,” he said with tears unashamedly coursing down his cheeks. “I know that all our dead buddies, our companions, are jumping for joy. There’s not many of us left, I know, but this is a great, great moment for each of us.”
Last week the Marine Corps resurrected its “Raiders.” Just as the Army has Rangers and the Navy has SEALS, the Marine Corps now has its special-operations moniker once again.
And Merrrill is one of many who has tried for years to get the Marines to resurrect the Raiders’ legacy -- no wonder he came all the way from Washington state for the ceremony.
A United States Marine in World War II, ‘Mudhole’ earned his nickname and knows he was special. He was – and still is -- a “Raider” who fought under Lt. Col. James Roosevelt, whose father, Franklin Roosevelt, ordered the commando unit to be established in 1942 to conduct amphibious and behind-the-line combat. The Marine commanders studied unconventional warfare, and even consulted with Chinese guerillas on their tactics, which is why the Chinese words, “Gung Ho!” soon became the Raiders’ battle cry.
In late 1944, after the Raiders had performed so gloriously, it was determined they had “outlived the usefulness” and they were disbanded. One big reason was the Marines’ famous “esprit de corps” which holds the belief that every Marine is elite – that each is a part of the whole – and that there should be no “elite of the elite.”
But the fact is the Raiders in World War II really were special. They were expert in fighting most often a larger number of the enemy than they actually were, especially in the intense close-quarter combat in the South Pacific and were renowned for their prowess at such places as Bataan, Corregidor, Guam, Guadalcanal and Bougainville. Yes, Iwo Jima too – yes sir!
As one news outlet reported, “When the Raiders were deactivated after only two years in combat, the 7,710 Marines and 368 sailors who fought under the name had covered themselves in glory. According to data from the Marine Raider Association and Foundation, the Raiders together earned seven Medals of Honor, 141 Navy Crosses and 330 Silver Stars.”
If the truth be told, the Marine Corps has been back in the special-operations business for at least the last 10 years. The Marines’ Special Operations Command, known as MarSOC, has been quite effective in special operations but most people have no idea what MarSOC means. They know about the Army Rangers and Navy SEALS and the hope is Marine Raider “will jump off the page.”
Major General Joseph Osterman, who commands MarSOC, said the rebirth of the “Raiders” is more than a name.
“The importance to all of the Marines here is the fact that we have a legacy associated with the Marines who were Raiders of World War II. There’s that legacy that they really respect about what was done in the past in terms of special operations,” he told reporters.
“Marines always reach back to the history and who they want to emulate for the future in terms of who they are; the professionalism, the tactical acumen, the persona that the Raiders had is something they’d like to have an identity with and obviously the Raiders from World War II would love to have us continue their legacy,” he said, honoring three of the World War II Raiders in attendance at Camp LeJeune.
“It fits nicely together – Marines are who they are, special ops is what they do, and the Raider name really ties those two things together very well,” the General said.
A MarSOC critical-skills operator, who asked the Jacksonville, N.C., newspaper not to use his name because he is still active, said it better. “I think that the World War II Raiders essentially established who we are today. MarSOC exists solely because of the actions of those men and their ability to prove that the concept that the Marine Corps was capable of doing such operations. And they did it well,” he said. “They did so much with so little for so many so often.”
Wow! That should be the Marine Raiders’ new creed: “So much with so little for so many so often.”
That’s what America is about and – glory --the Raiders are back in business.
royexum@aol.com