Leatherneck Legends: Conversations With the Marine Corps' Old Breed - Hardcover

Camp, Richard D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0760321574 ISBN 13: 9780760321577

Publisher: Zenith Pr, 2006

Synopsis

Within the Marine Corps the “Old Breed” has a special meaning, referring to the soldiers of the 1st Marine Division and their heroic defense of Guadalcanal in the early days of World War II, as well as to those who have gone before.  This book gives today’s readers a rare chance to hear these old soldiers tell their own stories and to learn firsthand what it was like to be there for some of the twentieth century’s most harrowing battles and powerful triumphs.  From personal interviews and the archives of oral history, the author has collected the reminiscences of the Marine Corps’ top rank of post-World War II officer legends, from early fifties commandant Lemuel Shepherd’s memories of Belleau Wood in World War I to on-the-spot accounts of leading soldiers into battle in Vietnam.  Many of Camp’s subjects were commandant of the Corps, most were four-star generals, and all were heroes whose stories are the stuff of history.

About this title

From the Author

Leatherneck Legends is a kick!!  It is a compilation of "sea stories" that were told to me over many years...often directly from the men I wrote about in the book.  I served as an Aide de Camp to Ray Davis in Vietnam and, for a time, Quantico, Virginia and spent many hours "sitting at the feet" of this great man.  His stories of commanding a battalion on Peleliu inspired me to write Last Man Standing, the 1st Marine Regiment on Peleliu...an account of the horrific fight on that God forsaken island in the southwest Pacific. 

I met Eddie Craig while serving as a battalion commander at the San Diego recruit depot.  Craig became a good friend.  He was one of the most humble Marines I have ever met...when I told him I would like to write his story, he responded with, "I didn't do anything that any other Marine did."  Not every Marine has the opportunity to command a regiment in two major campaigns--Bougainville and Guam--or be the Corps operations officer for Iwo Jima, or command the 1st Marine Brigade in the Pusan Perimeter in Korea. 

 I interviewed Lem Shepherd at his home.  When I asked him what the most memorable thing in his forty-two years of Marine service, he responded, "Machine guns at Belleau Wood!"  My God, his comment raised the hair on my arms...Belleau Wood is the personification of the Corps.  

Roy Geiger, one of the first Marine flyers, joined the Corps in 1907 as an enlisted man and, by virtue of his intelligence and leadership, became the only Marine to command a U.S. Army Field Army on Okinawa.  His exemplary leadership on Guadalcanal as commander of the Cactus Air Force contributed to holding that critical island.

Finally, Bob Barrow brought the Corps through the dark days after the Vietnam War ended.  His firm professional leadership contributed to instilling the Corps' sense of itself and its high standards. 

Leatherneck Legends is fun to read...as well as instructional...and I am proud to be able to share stories of these legendary Marines.  Semper Fi, Dick Camp

From the Inside Flap

The five Marine generals in the book--Lem Shepherd, Roy Geiger, Eddie Craig, Ray Davis, and Bob Barrow are truly legendary in the Marine Corps; they are Leatherneck legends.  They are also members of the "old breed," those who have gone before.  Through personal interviews, oral history archives, and other sources, author Dick Camp--a retired Marine Corps colonel himself--has crafted a multi-person "memoir" of combat experience that spans five wars: World War I, the Banana Wars, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

Whether facing direct combat while commanding a platoon of Marines on the deadly fields of the Western Front in World War I or leading thousands of Northern I Corps Marines engaged in mortal combat in Vietnam as a division commanding general, the stories of the Leatherneck legends are full of physical and moral value.  As a group, they earned a Medal of Honor, six Navy Crosses, and two Distinguished Service Crosses (the U.S. Army decoration equivalent to the Navy Cross); they wore eighteen silver stars of the USMC general officer; they commanded combat forces at every level from infantry platoon to field army; and they include the twenthieth and twenty-seventh Commandants of the Marine Corps.

Froom World War I to Vietnam, these legendary Marine Corps officers have fought their country's battles: Belleau Wood, Haiti, Santo Domingo, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, the Pusan Perimeter, Chosin Reservoir, A Shau Valley, and many, many more.  With alomst two hundred years of Marine Corps service among them, their experiences in America's twentieth-century wars are replete with invaluable lessons for Marines of today and tomorrow, and all other Americans as well.  Their stories, told largely in the legends' own words, make for exciting, inspirational reading.

Edition details

• Publisher: Zenith Pr
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0760321574
• ISBN 13: 9780760321577
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320