ber 2011 Is june 2020 issue Don Elseroad, Editor 355 Beaverview Drive, Bristol, VA 24201 Phone: 276-645-0482 Email: [email protected]

DETACHMENT OFFICERS 2019 - 2020 Commandant Doug Essinger Sr. Vice Commandant Dave Wolgast Jr. Vice Commandant Leon Cox Judge Advocate Brian Maupin Jr. Past Commandant Tom Pardue Paymaster Larry Larson Adjutant Tom Pardue Sgt-At-Arms Riley “Doc” Newcomb Chaplain Ann Larson Service Officer Vacant Public Relations Michelle Newcomb VAVS Rep Keith A. Thompson Historian Vacant Web Sergeant Larry Bevil 2018 Detachment Marine of the year: Dave Wolgast

Original Charter Date February 13, 1997

MEETING TIME & PLACE Meetings are always held on the second Tuesday of each month. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be on Tuesday, July 14th, 2020 at 1900 (7:00 P.M.) in the Gray Community Center in Gray, TN. (Center is next to the Gray Volunteer Fire Department). However, due to COVID 19 all detachment functions &events have been suspended until further notice.

Upcoming Holidays & Events

July 4 July 25

39th Department of Tennessee Convention July 9 through 12, 2020 Jackson. TN. NOTE the new dates The Capt Jack Holland Detachment 735 is hosting the 39th annual Department Convention July 9th -12th and cordially invites all members of the Marine Corps League and Marine Corps League Auxiliary to Jackson, Tennessee! The Convention will be held at the Double Tree by Hilton 1770 Hwy 45 Bypass Jackson, Tennessee 38305 Check out the following links for more info: Welcome Letter Registration Convention Delegates

Convention ADS

97th National Convention August 9 through 15, 2020 Hosted by Department of Florida Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront 100 N Atlantic Ave, Daytona Beach, FL https://www.daytonahilton.com/ More info will be provided when it becomes available

SICK OR IN DISTRESS

MCL/MCLA members and/or family members Jack LARKEY, Fred McCORKLE, Hugh PRUITT, Bill COLEMAN, John & Sharon HICKS, Alaina MAUPIN, Mike VOGT, Allison DEGGES, Bobby STEWART, Ed GUCKERT, Gary CAMPBELL, Jeanette COUNTS, Wilford MANLEY, Don ELSEROAD and Larry & June BEVIL are having or have recently had various health problems. Please keep all of these folks and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

MEMBERSHIP HAPPENINGS (Please advise the Editor of any errors or omissions) JULY HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULY ANNIVERSARIES 6th Gary JOHNSON 10th Mike VOGT 5th Tonya & Ken LARKEY (22 yrs) 20th June BEVIL 24th Carol SMITH 26th Tom PAULS 30th Sharon HICKS JULY MCL ANNIVERSARIES NEW MEMBERS “WELCOME ABOARD” Kenneth KOTCHEVAR (11 yrs) None reported to your editor MEMBERSHIPS RENEWED None reported to your editor

DON’T LET YOUR MEMBERSHIP LAPSE ALL DETACHMENT MEMBERS THAT ARE NOT “LIFE” MEMBER’S NEED TO RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP NLT AUGUST 31 EACH YEAR

Make your check for $33.00 payable to “MCL Det 969” and send it to our paymaster ASAP Larry LARSON, Paymaster 409 Set Point Private Dr Piney Flats, TN 37686-3660 423-575-2291 [email protected]

DON’T DELAY…DO IT TODAY

Detachment Fundraising: Sam’s Club Fundraisers are June 27, 2020 September 5, 2020 November 7, 2020 December 19, 2020

The 4 biggest myths US Marines keep telling themselves

U.S. Marines love to talk about their history — from battles won to the heritage of uniform items — but sometimes, that history gets a little muddled.

There are some things in Marine lore that are passed on as tradition or legend that have no basis in fact. The truth hurts, Marines, but it's more important to get our history right.

Here are the four biggest fictions that Marines have kept alive over the years:

1. The "blood stripe" on the NCO and officer dress blue uniform pants commemorates the 1847 Battle of Chapultapec.

According to Marine legend, a large number of Marine officers and non-commissioned officers perished while assaulting the castle at Chapultapec, Mexico in 1847. To signify their bravery, the Corps later authorized a red "blood stripe" for NCOs and officers to remember and honor their sacrifice.

It sounds legit, but it's completely made up. Following an Army uniform practice about ten years before this battle, the Corps began putting stripes on its trousers. The color choice of the stripes changed over those years until solid red was adopted in 1849, according to the Marine Corps Museum. The Corps chose red at the time not to commemorate Chapultapec, but to match the red accents of the blues jacket.

As Jeff Schogol wrote at Stars & Stripes:

"While a wonderful story, and one that is taught to incoming recruits, it is only a story," Beth L. Crumley, of the Marine History Division, said in an e-mail.

The Marines first started wearing the scarlet stripe on blue pants in 1840, borrowing the tradition from the Army. Moreover, seven Marines were killed at Chapultepec out of a force of between 400 and 450 Marines.

2. Marines have never surrendered . U.S. Marines are (and should be) proud of their battlefield heroics, from battling Barbary pirates to fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. But with that long battle history comes the claim that Marines have never surrendered. While this claim serves to motivate Marines to always fight just as hard as those who came before, it is not really true.

Just one day after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Marines — under the command of Maj. James Devereux — were under siege on a tiny Pacific atoll called . The Marines of the 1st Defense Battalion put up an incredible 15-day fight, sinking ships, damaging or destroying more than 70 aircraft, and holding off the Japanese despite overwhelming odds.

But the Marines were ultimately unable to hold off the enemy. Though their fight serves as an amazing tale of Marine bravery in the opening days of America's involvement in World War II, they finally surrendered to the Japanese on Dec. 23, 1941.

USNI's Robert J. Cressman wrote a fantastic article explaining how the decision was made (emphasis added):

About an hour after daylight (0630), Commander Keene picked up the telephone in the contractors' headquarters and found Commander Cunningham and Devereux engaged in conversation on the line. The latter reported being hard-pressed at his command post. He did not believe, he said, that the battalion could hold out much longer. Cunningham told Devereux that if he did not feel he was able to continue fighting, he should surrender. A discussion between the two men then ensued. "You know, Wilkes has fallen," Devereux stated. Cunningham answered that he did. Devereux then stated that he did not feel he should make the decision to surrender, that Cunningham, the commander of the island, should decide. Pausing for a moment, Cunningham then told Devereux that he authorized surrender, and to take the necessary steps to carry it out. Uncertain of his ability to contact the Japanese commander, Devereux asked Cunningham to attempt to make contact with the enemy, as well. Cunningham responded: "I'll see what I can do."

At 1015 Kliewer saw men carrying a white flag coming down the beach. Major Devereux was among them, with a group of what appeared to be Japanese officers. They stopped about 50 feet from Kliewer's trench and ordered him to surrender. Kliewer's men counseled against giving up: "Don't surrender, lieutenant. The Marines never surrender. It's a hoax."

"It was a difficult thing to do," Kliewer wrote later, "but we tore down our guns and turned ourselves over."

Some will argue that technically, Marines did not surrender at Wake, because the Navy commander ordered it. A similar argument is made when referencing Guam or the Marine surrender (under the command of an Army general) in the Philippines. But that doesn't explain away Marines attempting to surrender during the little-known Makin Island Raid, although they were unsuccessful after being unable to find any Japanese to surrender to.

Further, there are other occasions where Marines have surrendered throughout the service's history in this

book by historian Albert Nofi, including the 40 Marines of "Task Force Drysdale" who surrendered to the Chinese during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir in Korea.

"We are not surrendering because you beat us," Marine Maj. John McLaughlin told the Chinese, according to HistoryNet. "We are surrendering to get our wounded cared for. If we can't get our wounded evacuated, we will fight on."

3. The birthday of the modern U.S. Marine Corps is on Nov. 10, 1775.

On Nov. 10, 1775, the Continental Congress in , Penn. authorized the raising of two battalions of Marines to serve "for and during the present war between Great Britain and the colonies." Shortly after this resolution, Marines were recruited and served aboard ships, most notably as sharpshooters taking out enemy officers.

What many Marines don't know however, is that the Continental Marine Corps was disbanded after the Revolutionary War in 1783 and ceased to exist for the next 15 years. It wasn't until July 11, 1798 that what we know as the modern U.S. Marine Corps was established through an act of Congress. For the next 123 years, the Corps recognized July 11, 1798 as its official birthday.

The U.S. Marine Corps History Division writes (emphasis added):

Until 1921 the birthday of the Corps had been celebrated on another date. An unidentified newspaper clipping from 1918 refers to the celebration of the 120th birthday of the Marine Corps on 11 July "as usual with no fuss." It is doubtful that there was any real celebration at all. Further inspection of documents and publications prior to 1921 shows no evidence of ceremonies, pageants, or parties. The July date was commemorated between 1798 and 1921 as the birthday of the Corps. During the Revolution, Marines had fought on land and sea, but at the close of the Revolution the Marine Corps and the Navy were all but disbanded. On 11 July 1798, President John Adams approved a bill that recreated the Corps, thereby providing the rationale for this day being commemorated as the birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps.

It wasn't until Nov. 1, 1921 with Gen. John A. Lejeune's issued Marine Corps Order 47 that the birthday changed to the previous date for the Continental Marine Corps that modern Marines still celebrate today. Later this year on Nov. 10, 2015, the Marine Corps will celebrate 240 years of service, but we should really subtract 15 from that number.

4. Germans dubbed the Marines "devil dogs" during The Battle of Belleau Wood in World War I.

But this claim also falls apart under closer scrutiny. Jeff Schogol, again writing in Stars & Stripes, spoke with a member of the Marine Corps History Division and a representative of the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Here's what they said:

"The term very likely was first used by Marines themselves and appeared in print before the Battle for Belleau Wood," Marine Corps History Divison's Bob Aquilina said. "It gained notoriety in the decades following World War I and has since become a part of Marine Corps tradition."

"We have no proof that it came from German troops though tradition says it came from German troops referring to Marines," said museum rep Patrick Mooney. "There is no written document in German that says that the Marines are Devil Dogs or any correct spelling or language component of 'Devil Dog' in German."

Further confusing the matter is the fact that a number of American newspapers ran stories in April 1918 claiming that Germans had nicknamed the Marines "devil dogs." This was prior to the Battle of Belleau Wood, which began on June 1.

While not based in reality, it made for a compelling recruiting drive and the nickname still endures. "The Germans, during the war, had no opprobrious nicknames for their foes … Teufelhunde (devil-dogs), for the American Marines, was invented by an American correspondent; the Germans never used it," wrote famed American author H.L. Mencken in his book on linguistics, "The American Language."

RAO Bulletin

Each month your editor attempted to review all RAO Bulletins and put articles deemed important to veterans

into our newsletters.

However, what may be important to me may not be important to you and I may very possibly overlook something you as a veteran might like to know about, so I am providing a link below that will take you to the current bulletin so that you might look it over. The below bulletin is dated June 1st, 2020. www.nhc-ul.org/Bulletin%20200601%20(PDF%20Edition).pdf

FOOD BANK

The Gray Community Center (where the detachment meets monthly) maintains a food bank for needy families. Please consider donating some non-perishable food items re-stock the Food Bank by bringing them to our next regularly scheduled meeting. This action helps to “pay” the community for allowing the detachment to use the Gray Community Center. The following is a list of foods requested by Tony Barnes for the Gray Community Chest food pantry. Of course anything is accepted, but there is special need for these items. Canned chicken, tuna & other meats, canned pastas, Juices, Peanut Butter, Crackers

EVERY DAY PRAYER REQUEST

"Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen."

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the of America and to the Republic for which it stands, One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

LINKS TO CHECK Many of you if not all skip over these links if there are any below. If you do you are missing out on some good stuff. https://player.vimeo.com/video/198357872 https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/lifestyle/how-the-us-military-came-up-with-its-salute/vi-BB14tAzD https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/memorial-day-2020-live-stream-va-national-cemeteries/

FROM YOUR EDITOR If you are receiving this newsletter via “Snail Mail” and have email capability, please email me at [email protected] so that I can add you to my address book and cut down on the postage. Any comments or suggestion on what should be in our newsletter! Articles/information you need! Let me know! The newsletter will go to press on or about the weekend following each meeting. Don Elseroad, Editor

-- Once a Marine, Always a Marine –

Saepius Exertus, Semper Fidelis, Frater Infinias Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever

Good night "Chesty" wherever you are