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The battle for the island of Saipan in 1944 was brutal, but the ingenuity and courage of one Marine saved a lot of lives on both sides.

Guy Gabaldon grew up in poverty on the streets of East Los Angeles. Knowing how to live by his wits, he shined shoes at age 10 to help his parents and 6 siblings, and belonged to a street gang where he always took on the biggest kid. One day he got his nose broken in a fight, and went to the hospital to get it fixed. On that same night he got into another fight and got it broken again.

At age 12 Gabaldon met twins Lane and Lyle Nakano, children of Japanese immigrants, and became fascinated by Japanese culture. When the family took Guy in to live with them, he went to their Japanese school and became one of the family. Little did he know that what he learned then would lead him to perform one of the greatest feats of World War II.  

Guy Gabaldon’s dream was to join the Navy, and serve on a submarine where he hoped he would see the most dangerous action.  But his perforated eardrums and height of only 5 feet 3 inches disqualified him from the Navy.

But Gabaldon remembered a Marine Corps ad looking for Japanese speakers. Although his Japanese was limited, he told them he “knew Japanese like a native,” betting that his Japanese was better than any Marine recruiter’s. Because the need for interpreters was so great, the Marines overlooked his size and perforated eardrums and swore 17 year old Guy into the US Marine Corps. at age 17.

Soon Gabaldon found himself engaged in the bloody fighting on Saipan. There he got the idea to use his knowledge to good advantage:

“At night I’d usually go to caves — Saipan is just full of caves — and I’d get to one side of the mouth of the cave and I’d say, ‘You are completely surrounded. I’ve got a bunch of Marines here with me behind the trees. If you don’t surrender, I’ll have to kill you.’ And usually it worked.”

He promised them dignity and to get them back to Japan when the war was over.

The first time he went out, Private Gabaldon managed to get two Japanese prisoners. He was threatened with a court-martial. But he ignored that warning and on his next try, he captured over 50 enemy soldiers. After that, his missions became official:

“I’d [capture] maybe 10 or 15, 20 at a time and one day I got 800.”

There he was, surrounded by more than 800 Japanese, some of them still armed, but they were his prisoners. Guy Gabaldon is credited with single handedly capturing over 1,500 enemy soldiers and civilians.

His citation for the Silver Star states he “daringly entered enemy caves, pillboxes, buildings and jungle brush, frequently in the face of hostile fire.”

He was one tough little Marine – a kid from the streets of East LA and Marine Hero “Pied Piper of Saipan.” Well done private!

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World War II: The 83rd “Thunderbolt” Division of the U. S. Army Infantry crossed the English Channel to Normandy in June 1944. It fought through the Hedgerows, across France and into Germany, including the Battle of the Bulge.

In March 1945, the 83rd received orders to turn east and race toward Berlin.

The 83rd had to move fast, so its commanding general ordered his soldiers to “utilize to the fullest extent” commandeered German vehicles.

The Division was nicknamed “The Rag-Tag Circus” by wartime correspondents because of its resourceful commander, Major General Robert C. Macon, who ordered to add the division’s transport anything that moved; “no questions asked.”

They commandeered anything on wheels––from bicycles to motorcycles to horses from the surrounding German countryside––to make a mad dash across northern Germany.
Lineman Frank Fauver was there:

“…the Germans were already on the run, so we commandeered anything that had an engine and that would run…. They called us the Rag-Tag Circus because when you looked at our convoy you couldn’t tell if it was German or American.”

On motorcycles, cars, buses and Tiger tanks, the Thunderbolts raced. They had a fire engine with a banner reading, “Next Stop: Berlin.”  Those fellows even captured an Me-109 fighter. And found someone to fly it!

At first glance, it really was hard to tell if it was an American or German division. Fauver tells a great story:

“One day when we were moving, we saw a German command car off to our rear. They were really making hay and when they came past us, I hollered ‘Germans!’ Then somebody fired just over their heads instead of shooting at them. Well, that got their attention. They thought that we were Germans but they took a second look at us and realized that the convoy that was moving was not German. So we commandeered their car, disarmed them, put them in the convoy, and took them with us, because we didn’t have time to take prisoners.”

One of Germans was a general.

In fourteen days the 83rd covered 280 miles, freed 75,000 Allied POWs and liberated several concentration camps. The papers called them “crack troops of the 83d,” and “ace shock troops,” but to those watching them it was “The Rag-Tag Circus.”

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Doris Miller, known as “Dorie” to shipmates and friends, was born in Waco, Texas  in October 1919.

He helped his parents and three brothers around the house by cooking meals and doing laundry, as well as working on the family farm. Miller was a good student and a fullback on the football team at Waco’s A.J. Moore High School.  He was 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighed over 200 pounds.

In September 1939, shortly before his 20th birthday, Miller enlisted in the U.S Navy as Mess Attendant, to travel, and earn money for his family. Promoted to cook, he transferred to USS West Virginia  where he became the ship’s heavyweight boxing champion. He was serving on that battleship when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

When Miller heard the “Battle Stations” alarm on that early Sunday morning, he headed for the antiaircraft battery magazine amid-ship. But torpedo damage had wrecked it, so he went on deck. Because of his strong build, he was assigned to carry wounded fellow sailors to safety. Then an officer sent him to the bridge to aid the mortally wounded Captain of the ship.

He took the initiative to man a 50 caliber Browning anti-aircraft machine gun, a weapon he had never been trained to operate:

Miller described firing the machine gun during the battle:

“It wasn’t hard. I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine. I had watched the others with these guns. I guess I fired her for about fifteen minutes. I think I got one of those Jap planes. They were diving pretty close to us.”

He fired until he ran out of ammunition.

The Japanese planes dropped two armor-piercing bombs through the deck of the battleship and five torpedoes into her side. Miller helped move injured sailors through oil and water to the quarterdeck, “unquestionably saving the lives of a number of people who might otherwise have been lost.”

With heavy damage and flooded decks, the crew abandoned ship. The West Virginia slowly settled to the harbor bottom.

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, personally presented the Navy Cross to Miller on May 27, 1942 on board aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.  He was the first African American to be awarded the Navy Cross, at the time the third-highest Navy award for extraordinary courage in battle. The citation reads:

“For distinguished devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and disregard for his own personal safety during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941.”

“While at the side of his Captain on the bridge, Miller, despite enemy strafing and bombing and in the face of a serious fire, assisted in moving his Captain, who had been mortally wounded, to a place of greater safety, and later manned and operated a machine gun directed at enemy Japanese attacking aircraft until ordered to leave the bridge.”Nimitz also remarked:“This marks the first time in this conflict that such high tribute has been made in the Pacific Fleet to a member of his race and I’m sure that the future will see others similarly honored for brave acts.”

In addition to the Navy Cross, Miller, recognized as one of the “first US heroes of World War II,” became entitled to the Purple Heart Medal; the American Defense Service Medal, Fleet Clasp; the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; and the World War II Victory Medal.

CBS radio broadcast an episode of the series “They Live Forever,” which dramatized Miller’s actions.In 1973, a Knox-class frigate, the USS Miller, was named in honor of American war hero, Doris “Dorie” Miller.

Pretty good for a young Waco, Texas farmer and cook.

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In his thirty-seven years of service to the United States Marine Corps, Lewis Puller, nicknamed “Chesty,” would rise through the ranks from Private to General,  and become the most decorated Marine in American history.

How does a guy get a nickname like “Chesty”? It is said that he had perfect posture and his torso resembled a “full-size beer keg full of lead bricks.” There is the myth that his chest had been shot away and he got a new one – a steel plate.

Others say “chesty” was an old Marine expression meaning cocky. Puller himself was not sure of how he came by the name, but he wore it well.

This Southern boy from Virginia fought in Haiti, Nicaragua, WW II and Korea. He wore five Navy Crosses, a Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Cross, Two Legions of Merit, Bronze Star, Purple Heart… well, you get the idea. Thousands of words cannot do the man justice, but here are a few.

On Guadalcanal, two Marine companies were surrounded by a large enemy force. Rescue efforts failed, and the operation commander told Puller it was hopeless. Puller marched out of camp, went down to the beach, and hailed a destroyer off the coast. Boarding the ship, he directed fire on the enemy. The shelling, along with a second landing, cleared a path for the Marines to escape. By the time Puller left Guadalcanal, he had been shot twice and taken shrapnel from a mortar round.

Puller’s men admired him and his enemies feared him. He led from the front, fighting with his men in the trenches. He never flinched even under even the most serious fire.  One time when a grenade landed next to him, the men around him dove for cover. But Puller glanced at it and nonchalantly said, “Oh, that.  It’s a dud.”  Well, I bet it wasn’t a dud until Puller ordered it to be.

In Korea, Puller’s 1st Marines were surrounded by Chinese infantry. There were some journalists with his force and they asked him what he was going to do about it. He is reported to have said: “All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us. They can’t get away this time.”

“Chesty” Puller inspired loyalty and courage in his Marines, treated his men well, insisted on the best equipment and discipline for his troops. He had no fear, and his win at all costs attitude won him those countless medals, citations, and ribbons.  

Puller has been recognized as the “baddest dude” to ever wear the uniform of the United States Marine Corps, and represents the pinnacle of toughness.

To this day, Marines at Parris Island end their day by saying,

“Good night Chesty Puller, wherever you are!”

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