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 $32.95
REAL BLOOD! REAL GUTS!
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Filthy, unshaven, wearing tattered camouflaged uniforms with muddy
boots, these men were totally indistinguishable among the previously Top
Secret Marine Raiders as they returned from combat. They were not with
the Raiders to kill the enemy, although they were sometimes forced to
do so.
Who were they? What did they do? They were the Navy Combat Corpsmen,
Doctors and Chaplains of the Fleet Marine force that trained with,
lived with and fought alongside, the famed "Suicide Squads"
of World War II, the U.S. Marine Raiders.
Assigned to each platoon, the Corpsman was called upon to give first
aid to Marines wounded on the battlefield, often sacrificing his own life
to do so. As Raiders they earned an everlasting place in the glorious
history of the Marine Corps, in recognition of their battles against the
Japanese enemy in World War II.
The supposedly invincible warriors of the Japanese Empire suffered
their first defeat in World War II at the hands of this small band of
hush, hush Marines at Tulagi, British Solomon Islands in 1942.
Raiders fought at Guadalcanal, Midway, Makin, Bougainville, and New
Georgia as the 1 st Marine Raider Regiment, and as the 4th Marines at
Guam and Okinawa the last battle of WW II.
Raiders and Former Raiders fought in every major island battle in
the Pacific during the war.
Chosen to spearhead the invasion of the Japanese mainland, they instead
became the first occupying troops to land on the Japanese homeland in
over 400 years.
This small band of intrepid Marine and Navy fighters numbered only
8,054 men. Yet they were awarded 7 Medals of Honor, 137 Navy Crosses,
21 Army Distinguished Service Crosses, 350 Silver Star Medals, 18 Legions
of Merit and had 30 Ships named for them.
THIS IS THEIR STORY!
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James
Gleason
New Zealand 1943
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JAMES GLEASON Served as a Corpsman with the First Marine Raider Regiment,
he is believed to have been the youngest Raider Corpsman to see combat,
at the age of 17. Later in WW II he served on independent duty aboard
a Navy Destroyer and a Navy Mine sweeper in the Pacific Theater of War.
He was recalled to active duty to serve with a Marine Air Group during
the Korean War. He retired in 1992; following a career as Director of
Resort Development for 3 multi-national firms, as an owner of a book store
in Williamsburg, VA and a teacher at the College of William and Mary.
Mr. Gleason is
Director Emeriti of the Friends of the Swem Library, College of William
and Mary, and has served as a Director of the American Resort and Development
Association, Vice President, Secy and Director of the Marine Raider Association
and as a Board Member of 7 other corporations. As a military historian
he has written stories for the Marine Corps League Magazine and the Raider
Patch.
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 JOHN
McCarthy has been a journalist for over 50 years. Editing and publishing
his own automotive, RV sports and travel publications, he took on the
job of doing the USMRA newsletter, the Raider Patch in 1997. He is also
an avid historian, on subjects such as World War II and Marine Raider
operations and history. His professional touch and subject knowledge has
added greatly to the prestige and acceptance of the Raider Patch as one
of the finest of any, World War II unit newsletters. He served in the
2nd Engineers Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, U.S. Army.
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