For those of you who have been following the Tom Dowlearn Story, I have just updated it this morning with Tom's account of a farewell speech made by Colonel Lewis B. Puller to his Marines just prior to their being sent overseas in 1945.
You will find Tom's story at
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/dickg/dowlearn.html
(Re ...While we were sitting at ease a noise and a shouted "Attention"
brought us
to our feet facing the stage and a podium. Before he came into
my view
there was a roar of "Marines" from a resplendent Chesty. This
was followed
by an immediate "at ease" and we gave him a standing ovation
which lasted
several minutes while he took his position, standing center
stage while our
instructors took seats. Chesty only had 4 Navy Crosses and a
ton of other
medals most of us couldn't recognize and looked great as he was
losing much
of his brown skin discoloration. I was struck again at how huge
his hands
looked. His limp was much improved. He started the talk
on a serious
note and went right to the the task at hand. The next invasion
was probably
the Japanese mainland and was going to be a very costly one. He
commented
on the false rumors of the Japanese being poor shots and
remarked on anyone
saying that hadn't been shot at. Then the talk turned to
the nature of
their fighting spirit and the fanatical enemy we would face
including every
man, every woman and every child being a possible armed enemy.
One of
the most important parts was when he told us that he didn't want
anyone to
die for his country but he expected each of us to do the job we
had been
tought and....)
