BearWorks MSU Graduate Theses Summer 2015 The Elite of the Elites: the U.S. Marine Raider Battalions, 1942-1944: A Case Study in Elite Military Organizations Stephen Mark Houseknecht As with any intellectual project, the content and views expressed in this thesis may be considered objectionable by some readers. However, this student-scholar’s work has been judged to have academic value by the student’s thesis committee members trained in the discipline. The content and views expressed in this thesis are those of the student-scholar and are not endorsed by Missouri State University, its Graduate College, or its employees. Follow this and additional works at: https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Houseknecht, Stephen Mark, "The Elite of the Elites: the U.S. Marine Raider Battalions, 1942-1944: A Case Study in Elite Military Organizations" (2015). MSU Graduate Theses. 1173. https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/1173 This article or document was made available through BearWorks, the institutional repository of Missouri State University. The work contained in it may be protected by copyright and require permission of the copyright holder for reuse or redistribution. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ELITE OF THE ELITES – THE U.S. MARINE RAIDER BATTALIONS, 1942-1944: A CASE STUDY IN ELITE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS A Masters Thesis Presented to The Graduate College of Missouri State University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts, History By Stephen M. Houseknecht July 2015 Copyright 2015 by Stephen M. Houseknecht ii THE ELITE OF THE ELITES – THE U.S. MARINE RAIDER BATTALIONS, 1942-1944: A CASE STUDY IN ELITE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS History Missouri State University, July 2015 Master of Arts Stephen M. Houseknecht ABSTRACT In 1942, the U.S. Marine Corps activated the Marine Raider battalions, the first American special forces units of World War II. However, the introduction of an elite subculture within the ranks of the Marine Corps, which already prided itself on being the nation’s elite fighting force, resulted in conflicting cultures and competing identities. Many Marines felt that the creation of an elite within the ranks of the elite was superfluous and undesirable. The preferential treatment and widespread publicity accorded to the Raiders, combined with the Raiders’ sense of exceptionalism and claims to superiority, garnered resentment among other Marines. Ultimately, the leadership of the Corps concluded that the Raider battalions were a detriment to the morale and esprit of the Marine Corps. Such resentment, in conjunction with the changing realities of the Pacific War in 1944, led to the end of the Raider program in early 1944. As an elite organization operating within the culture of a recognized corps d’elite, the Raiders present a unique case study in the nature of elitism in military cultures. This thesis examines the unique circumstances surrounding the creation of the Raiders, their rise to fame, and sudden fall from grace, concluding that the operational necessities of the late war period converged with the on- going cultural unrest within the elitist culture of the Corps to spell the end of the Raiders. KEYWORDS: U.S. Marine Corps, Raider battalions, Evans F. Carlson, Merritt A. Edson, military elites, military cultures, special operations forces, Pacific War, World War II. This abstract is approved as to form and content _______________________________ William Garrett Piston, Ph.D. Chairperson, Advisory Committee Missouri State University iii THE ELITE OF THE ELITES – THE U.S. MARINE RAIDER BATTALIONS, 1942-1944: A CASE STUDY IN ELITE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS By Stephen M. Houseknecht A Masters Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College Of Missouri State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts, History July 2015 Approved: _______________________________________ William Garrett Piston, Ph.D.: Chairperson _______________________________________ F. Thornton Miller, Ph.D.: Committee Member _______________________________________ Worth Robert Miller, Ph.D.: Committee Member _______________________________________ Julie Masterson, Ph.D.: Dean, Graduate College iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without the support of numerous people along the way. Though I am sure to miss some, I want to give honor and gratitude where it is due. My thesis advisor, Dr. William Garrett Piston, offered unflagging support throughout the research and writing process. He willingly entertained the inkling of an idea I first presented to him, and helped it to grow into the present project. His advice during the writing of this thesis was invaluable. I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to work with him. Dr. Rich DiNardo of the Marine Corps Command and Staff College and his wife Rita graciously hosted me during my research trip to Quantico, Virginia. Without their hospitality, this research might not have been possible. Dr. DiNardo also helped me tremendously with his advice on archival research and suggestions for studying military elites. Many others offered encouragement and guidance along the way. LCDR Russell Evans took the time to give me an impromptu version of his lecture on the APDs and Marine Raiders; I have returned to those notes many times. Dr. Hal Friedman encouraged me to pursue my interest in writing on the Marine Corps and helped me develop a background in the historiography of the Pacific War. Dr. David Ulbrich offered helpful comments on an early version of this project, and pointed me towards the best treatments of Evans F. Carlson. I am indebted to Dr. Laynah Rogers for her constant encouragement and forbearance on the numerous occasions I was preoccupied with graduate school deadlines when I should have been working. I am also grateful to my Missouri State University colleagues Steve Barnett and Jason Rice for many conversations on this and other topics, which always helped me see things from a different perspective. Annette Amerman was supremely helpful on my visit to the Historical Reference Branch, Marine Corps History Division. Martha Robertson and James Ginther of Archives and Special Collections at the Alfred M. Gray Research Center both went “above and beyond” in their efforts to help me locate material. I am also grateful to Shannon Conlon and Deborah Williams at the Meyer Library, Missouri State University, and to Joy Boyer and Deborah Buesking at the Kendrick Library, Evangel University, for their assistance with the many interlibrary-loan items I had to request for this project. I am further indebted to the Graduate College at Missouri State University for its generous award of research funding, which made my trip to the Marine Corps University Archives and the Library of Congress possible. Finally, I am most thankful for my wife, Elisabeth, who has kept me going on the many occasions when it seemed I would never get to this point. Her encouragement has meant more than she knows. Thank you for always believing in me. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: The Raider Marines in History.......................................................................1 Chapter 1: Elites and Military History ...............................................................................14 Defining Military Elites .........................................................................................14 What Is an “Elite”? Vision of Elitism in Social Science .......................................19 Elites and Military Organizations ..........................................................................22 Elite or Special Operations? .................................................................................. 26 Chapter 2: The Raider Experiment ....................................................................................33 Merritt Edson and the 1st Separate Battalion .........................................................33 Evans F. Carlson ....................................................................................................38 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and William Donovan .......................45 Suspicion of Outside Interference ..........................................................................58 Chapter 3: The Raiders as Military Elites ..........................................................................61 The Marine Corps as a Military Elite ....................................................................61 The Raiders as Guardsmen ....................................................................................65 The Raiders as Technicians ...................................................................................73 The Raiders and Internal Conflicts ........................................................................80 Preferential Treatment ...........................................................................................86 Carlson’s Gung Ho Raiders: A Special Case .........................................................92 The Raiders as Special Operations Elites ............................................................105 Chapter 4: The Raiders as Warriors .................................................................................109 The Pacific Theater in 1942 .................................................................................110 Edson’s Raiders on Guadalcanal .........................................................................114