50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE USMC MARINE CORPS RESERVES

foreign ready ready thank you ready the story of the United States Marine Corps Reserve it's a story which began 50 years ago when the full night of the United States of America was felt on the world scene for the first time 50 years ago when the United States Marine Corps born in the revolution maturing with the nation created a reserve in 1916 there were only three officers and 32 men in that Reserve but a year later when Marines embarked to fight the war to end all wars that number had multiplied to 6500. by the time the transports reached France another great Marine tradition had been established it was impossible to distinguish the reserve from the regular and so it was in training behind the front on Liberty and Paris Calais Bristol and Heath so it was in battle it was in June of 1918 when they first met the enemy Paris at their backs the Marines stopped the Germans at Chateau Trae driving them from Bellow wood a month later they were in Slauson smashing the enemy flank with devastating surprise Moon Block in the face of fnatic enemy resistance they took The High Ground disrupting the Germans defense plans while the Marine moles fought the ground war the Marine Hawks served valiantly in the air they were over the battlefield as the Marines cracked the enemy's final defenses and the viewers are gone when the war ended the Germans had given them a nickname Devil Dogs French had given them great honor while proclaiming that henceforth in all official papers the guad below shall be named wa de la Brigade the Marines the American people had given them 1600 personal decorations eight distinguished service medals and five the Congressional Medals of Art now that it was over over there Americans couldn't forget over there fast enough as the 20s roared on things military mattered least the Marine Corps Reserve dwindled to less than 600. but these dedicated diehards refuse to surrender to the mood of the times they bought their own shoes uniforms and equipment they maintained their own armories they paid their own Camp expenses they bought their own medical supplies and to keep their Armory warm in Washington DC they've borrowed Heat by piping it from the adjacent police headquarters the understanding men in blue looked the other way but the whole country was looking the other way the post-war binge of the 20s had given way to the National hangover of the 30s the depression and yet the country came through and so did the reserves yesterday 1941. a date which will live in Infamous again the reserve was ready fifteen thousand men dedicated Beyond easy comprehension became the advanced Echelon of more than four hundred thousand men and women reservists who were to follow them into the core again reserves and regulars merged into a single fighting team and for the duration neither the saltiest drilling structure nor the most seasoned General could tell one from the other not at Guadalcanal where Marines fought America's first offensive action World War II not in town of only two hours thank you line where side by side with army comrades they broke the altar defenses of the Japanese empire foreign no one could distinguish between reserve and regular whether it was the Marine in the air or the Marine aboard the Navy ships the Navy Marine team fought on through palalu thank you across the Sands of Iwo Jima against the last Japanese Bastion of Okinawa they came home again and again they returned to Main Street into the college campus to New York and Duluth and Atlanta and Saint Paul they married they've Built Homes they had children they started businesses they began to sell stocks and bonds and shoes and groceries they became engineers and accountants movie stars and Pilots teachers and senators and musicians but some things had changed for the country and for its reservists Berlin and Greece in the Iron Curtain and the emergence of red China were deterrence to another post-war binge the United States emerged as the world's greatest power and its citizens knew that with power came responsibility and so with only a five-year respite again the reserves were called today's action by President Truman called for service Army Navy Air Force and Marine back to active duty to meet a Russian in Korea and again Marine reserve was ready came from their offices and stores and factories and once again teamed up with the regulars he sailed from the West Coast and a month and a day later they were climbing the sea wall at Incheon in one of the most spectacularly successful amphibious assaults in military animals they fought through the streets of Sewell night and day for 48 hours taking on Russian tanks and North Korean troops they drove the enemy back into his own territory and in the epic battle from The Chosen Reservoir to the Sea surrounded by five times their number they created a legend matched only by a Thermopylae one-third of the Marine pilots whose aircraft shepherded them through the assaulted weather and the enemy and fifty percent of the men on the ground were reservists but again it was impossible to distinguish between World War II alumni and Korean recruits between reserves and regulars between the old breed and the new when the Marine reserves of 1950 returned they came home to a nation more aware than ever of the compelling need for a strong and ready reserved devoted to Peace and Freedom the United States no longer needed to be reminded that a great nation must have strength to pursue Peace and Freedom to seek freedom reminders were forthcoming anyway with every morning's headlines Lebanon Cuba the Dominican Republic Vietnam alert to the needs of the times the Marine Corps has adopted new weapons developed new tactics and reconstituted its Reserve to back up the three active duty division Wing teams now an additional division the corps has the fourth division Wing team within the Marine reserve while the regular division Wing teams meet their commitments around the world over 40 000 citizen Marines identically equipped spend two days each month two weeks each summer landing on the beaches firing the artillery building the bridges setting up the communications repairing the trucks driving the tanks and amtraks operating the radar teaching the recruits deployed in simulated combat across every kind of terrain and every kind of weather these marines in the tradition of the reserve are ready ready two are the pilots the mechanics the ordinance man the electricians and the meteorologists and communicators maintaining air cover over the ground photographing installations smashing defensive Provisions bringing in supplies and reinforcements they all work together as the reserve division Wing team for the citizen Marine perfecting military skills is only half the job as much citizen as Marine he serves his community in recreational programs or at the blood bank by providing toys for a million needy children through Toys for Tots or by sending boys to summer camp through his efforts hundreds of thousands of dollars have been made available to buy the food clothing shelter material and educational resources which will help Marines in Vietnam win the battle for men's minds and hearts even as they are winning the battle against the enemy and this program in the long run will be a major factor in assuring ultimate victory as a citizen then the reservist is ready and as a marine he is ready