China Marines guarding Legation Quarter in Peking, China, organized this small detachment, mostly for ceremonies and crowd control and rode small Mongolian Ponies. By early 1929, the 4th Marines had been reinforced to near battalion task force strength and capabilities, including a complete mounted detachment of true Horse Marines. For the next 13 years until the Marines were pulled back, there was a Marine mounted guard.

While Marines were known to use horses in other parts of the world such as South America with success, they were not as noteworthy as the Marines in Peking and Tinsen, China. It should in no way seem as if these other mounted Marines were not as important, it is just that the China Horse Marines are the most widely known. In fact the Horse Marines of Peking Mounted Platoon were the only "constituted Marine Cavalry" unit in the Marine Corps. The Horse Marines stayed in China until 1941 when the 4th Marines left China.

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The career of Reckless, in brief.

from the dust jacket of Reckless, Pride of the Marines, by Andrew Geer:

Foaled by a race horse named Morning Flame, the favorite of track fans in Seoul, Korea, Reckless wins the adoration of Kim Huk Moon, a young Korean boy whose courage and perseverance had made him her mother’s devoted trainer and rider. Kim learns to love Reckless even more than he had loved Flame, and when war envelopes their country the inseparable pair leave the deserted race track and are exposed to many daring and exciting adventures together. Peace comes eventually, but not before Kim, in order to get the money to buy an artificial leg for his wounded sister, bravely makes the greatest sacrifice of his life when he sells Reckless to American Marines for use as an ammunition carrier at the front.

From the first part of the story, which describes in stirring detail the lives of Kim Huk Moon and his family in a small Korean village and Kim’s dedicated affection for the little sorrel mare, we follow Reckless through her war experiences. Bought by a Marine gun crew with their own money and trained to help them carry shells for the Recoilless Rifle which they have nicknamed “Reckless”, she is dubbed with the same name and made their mascot. Her antics, and her insatiable appetite for such surprising tidbits as poker chips, coca cola, shredded wheat, scrambled eggs, vitamin pills, a hat or two, and her specially made blanket of red silk trimmed with gold, bring welcome amusement and relief amid the strains of combat.

Her first real test under battle conditions comes when she is led beside the thunderous rifle to which she has packed ammunition over rugged hilly terrain. There were some who doubted that a horse could withstand the tremendous blast of the Recoilless Rifle and remain calm. Will she hold? Will she bolt? The gun is fired: Wham-whoosh! The hills bellowed and rocketed with the roar. Behind the weapon spurted a flame of dust. Though weighted down with six shells, Reckless left the ground with all four feet ... her eyes went white. ‘Take it easy, Reckless,’ Coleman, a Marine, soothed. Wham-whoosh! Reckless went into the air again, but not quite so far. She snorted and shook her head to stop the ringing in her ears. Wham-whoosh! She shook as the concussive blast of air struck her, but she did not rear. She stood closer to Coleman, trembling slightly, but the white was gone from her eyes.”

She had held, and from that day Reckless was an indispensable member of the gun crew, making trip after trip, often alone, from the ammunition supply point to the gun, laden with heavy shells under the most devastating enemy fire, never faltering, never failing. So completely does Reckless capture the hearts of her Marine comrades with her beguiling shenanigans and her fearlessness that they present her with a special citation for bravery, promote her to the rank of sergeant and personally pay her way to the United States where she will enjoy well-earned retirement pastured in the rolling hills of Camp Pendleton, in California. Retirement, however, does not mean that her exploits are at an end, because the fame of Reckless has spread far and wide, and good Marines, unlike some, do not fade away. Semper fidelis, always faithful, was never a more fitting motto than in the example of this horse.

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Below are just a few of the more notable Marines, but by no means the only Marines, who served with the Horse Marines

General Smedley D. Butler, Commander of the Horse Marines

Smedley Darlington Butler was born at West Chester, PA on July 30, 1881. Over his parent’s objections, at the age of 16 he left home and enlisted as a Marine. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 1898, just 38 days short of his 17th birthday. He was promoted to Brevet Captain for his heroic action during the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900. Thus began a career that lasted 33 years and saw him become one of only two Marines ever to hold double awards of the Navy issue Medal of Honor.

Bearing a tattoo of the Marine Corps emblem which covered his entire chest, April of 1898 saw Butler, a newly promoted First Lieutenant, in the Philippines exchanging "Professional military courtesies" with the insurgent Moros during the Philippine Insurrection.

Less than a year later, serving under Major L.W.T. Waller, Butler was combating the Chinese I Ho Ch'uan, (Virtuous, Harmonious Fists) commonly known as the "Boxers." This group, attacking Chinese Christians and slaughtering missionaries, was embarked upon a pillaging and rioting spree with the plan of ousting Westerners from the Western enclaves. With the tacit approval of the Chinese Imperial Government during the month of June, approximately 140,000 violent Boxers seized the capital city of Peking and laid siege to the foreign Legations.

As part of the multinational relief force sent to break the siege, Butler and his Marines attacked the blocking city of Tientsin. Fighting his way over the wall Butler opened the gates allowing the entrance of the rest of the attacking forces. During this battle the Marine Officer was wounded twice, yet continued to fight and evacuated other wounded Marines while subjected to vicious enemy fire.

It was during this action that Butler was awarded one of the rarest of American decorations for valor, the Marine Corps Brevet Medal. Awarded to Marine Officers who displayed bravery under fire, (At this time officers were not authorized the Medal of Honor.) only twenty two of these medals were ever issued.

A stalwart leader, while commanding a small detachment of Marines aboard the USS Panther in 1903, the now Captain Butler rescued the U.S. Consular agent from rebels in Honduras. Not even malaria could keep this Marine down. Between 1909 and 1912 he was in Nicaragua enforcing American policy. With a fever of 104 degrees he once led his battalion to the relief of a rebel besieged Nicaraguan city of Grenada.

1914, As a result of an international incident involving a party of Americans ashore from the USS Dolphin in the Mexican city of Tampico, President Wilson and the U.S. Congress retaliated by authorizing the use of military force against Mexico, "...to maintain the dignity and authority of the United States,..." And so began the battle of Vera Cruz. On April 21 Admiral F.E. Fletcher sailed into the harbor of Vera Cruz with a squadron of warships and a regiment of U.S. Marines.

Again, Butler was in the thick of it. The Admiral dispatched Butler on a secret reconnaissance of Mexico City, in the event that a rescue mission for American citizens became necessary. Butler, using several disguises, made it in and out with the information which Fletcher required. He also made it back in time to command his Marine battalion in two days of house to house fighting.

It was here that Butler won his first Medal of Honor. Awarded on Dec. 1915, the citation reads, "For distinguished conduct in command of his battalion. He exhibited courage and skill in leading his men through the action of the 22nd and in the final occupation of the city."

Haiti in 1915 was again in a dangerous state of political upheaval, and at 5:50 pm on July 28, two companies of Marines and three sailors landed in Haiti. Thus what would become a long involvement between Haiti and the U.S. Marines began. An involvement which, off and on has continued to the present day. As the occupation of this small Caribbean country began, so too did the events which would bring Butler his second Medal of Honor.

The Marines and sailors under Admiral Caperton rapidly reestablished order and an interim government. Police, customs, schools and hospitals were all placed under the purview of the Marines and Naval personnel assigned to the occupation. Roads were built or improved, cities and towns were refurbished.

The Marines established a law enforcing constabulary, officered by Marine NCOs who were granted Haitian commissions as officers and leaders of native troops. This group, called the Gendarmerie d' Haiti, was tasked with enforcing all laws of the country and provided a quasi military force. They were backed by the Krag-Jorgensen rifles of the 1st Marine Brigade with 88 Officers and 1941 men garrisoning ten towns.

But even all the improvements in the standard of living in this corrupt country did not settle a group of rebels called the Cacos. On the northern end of the country, skirmishing continued in the villages and jungle mountains. (It was during this same period that Gunnery Sergeant Daniel J. Daly, the other Marine to hold two Navy issue Medals of Honor, won his second award of this highest American decoration.)

In the dark of the night on Nov. 17 1915, Butler, leading a strong force of Marines and sailors surrounded the last stronghold of the Cacos. Fort Riviere, on a mountain to the south of Grand Riviere du Nord. At 07:30 am, Butler gave a signal on a whistle and all the Marines attacked. The surprise was total and the Cacos were taken in confusion. Crawling through a tunnel. Butler and his men were involved in bloody hand to hand fighting. In 15 minutes, more than 50 Cacos were killed.

The citation for Butler's second Medal of Honor reads, "As Commanding Officer of detachments from the Fifth, Thirteenth, Twenty-third Companies and Marine and Sailor detachment from USS Connecticut, Major Butler led an attack on Fort Riviere, Haiti 17 November 1915. Following a concentrated drive, several different detachments of Marines gradually closed in on the old French bastion fort in an effort to cut off all avenues of retreat for the Cacos bandits. Reaching the fort on the southern side where there was a small opening in the wall, Major Butler gave the signal to attack and Marines from the Fifteenth Company poured through the breach, engaged the Cacos in hand-to-hand combat, took the bastion and crushed Caco resistance. Throughout this perilous action, Major Butler was conspicuous for his bravery and forceful leadership."

By 1927 Butler was again in China and upon his completion of his tour there he returned to the States in 1929 as a Major General. He was the youngest Marine ever to have been so promoted. However, as a result of a remark made by him which was not flattering about the Italian dictator Mussolini and political maneuvering by civilians unused to Butler's direct method of action, he failed to be selected for the position of Commandant Marine Corps. By October 1931 Butler had retired form the Corps. He died in Philadelphia in 1940.

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Two-time Medal of Honor winner, Marine Corps Sgt Maj Dan Daly Also a China Marine.

Born on Nov. 11, 1873 at Glen Cove, Long Island NY. He enlisted in the Marine Corps on Jan 10, 1899 at the age of 25. His professed reason for enlisting was to participate in the Spanish American War, however soon after completing boot camp; he was transferred to the Asiatic Fleet.

On the evening of Aug. 14, 1900 then Private Daly and Capt. N.H. Hall occupied a barricade in the city of Peking China during the Boxer Rebellion. Set between the Ch'ien Men and Hata Men gate, it was a solid defensive position.

As night fell, the Capt. returned to get reinforcements, and Daly volunteered to stay at the barricade. His position was assaulted by the Chinese all through the night, but the Marine held through attack after attack.

On December 11, 1901 Daly was awarded the Navy issue Medal of Honor. The citation for his first of two awards of the Navy Medal of Honor reads; "In the presence of the enemy during the battle of Peking, China, 14 August 1900, Daly distinguished himself by meritorious conduct."

Daly's next action saw him at Vera Cruze during the Mexican American War in 1914. This was followed smartly by action in Haiti during the first occupation of that Caribbean country. By now a Gunnery Sergeant, Daly was part of a patrol which was pushing the bandit Cacos into an old French fort in an attempt to consolidate and destroy the remaining rebels.

His patrol of 35 Marines was ambushed by an approximate 400 Cacos. While fording a river, the rebels opened fire. All the Marines made it to the bank safely; however, the horse carrying the machine gun was killed and abandoned in mid river, along with many others. During the night, the embattled Marines were again attacked and the patrol leader called for the machine gun. Daly immediately volunteered to return to the river and retrieve the weapon.

Making his way back to the river through enemy patrols, he found the dead horse, cut the gun from it, and strapping it to his back returned to the Marine Position. This action earned him his second Navy issue of the Medal of Honor. A place in Marine Corps history shared by only one other Marine, Smedley D. Butler. Both men earning these second awards during the same action.

Daly's citation reads; "Serving with the Fifteenth Company of Marines on 22 October 1915, Gunnery Sergeant Daly was one of the company to leave Fort Liberte, Haiti, for a six day reconnaissance. After dark on the evening of 24 October, while crossing the river in a deep ravine, the detachment was suddenly fired upon from three sides by about 400 Cacos concealed in bushes about 100 yards from the fort. The Marine detachment fought its way forward to a good position, which it maintained during the night, although subjected to a continuous fire from the Cacos. At daybreak, the Marines in three squads, advanced in three directions, surprising and scattering the Cacos in all directions. Gunnery Sergeant Daly fought with exceptional gallantry against heavy odds throughout this action."

By now, at age 44 Daly was looking to the clouds of war in France and soon he shipped "over the pond" as First Sergeant of the 73rd Machine Gun Company. His many actions during this conflict were to net him his, as he said, "hat full of medals." One of which was wiping out German machine gun nests alone with grenades and a .45 Colt pistol and another time capturing 13 enemy soldiers.

At Lucy li Boucage, on the outskirts of Belleau Wood France, Daly made a comment which still thunders with the Marine spirit today. Outnumbered, outgunned and pinned in a poor position, the Marines were soon to be chopped to pieces by the German Machine gunners. Daly ordered an attack, leaping forward and yelling to his men. He is purported to have said, "Come on you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?" Later Daly told a Marine Historian, "What I really yelled was: For Christ's sake, men-COME ON! Do you want to live forever?"

Regardless of what was said, he and his small group of Marines surged out of the position and captured the town of Lucy li Bocage.

Daly remained single his entire life and retired from the Corps February 6, 1929 as a Sergeant Major. At age 65 on April 28, 1937 Daly died at Glenade L.I, New York.

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Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller of the Horse Marines

Lieutenant General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller was a colorful veteran of the Korean War, four World War II campaigns, and expeditionary service in China, Nicaragua, and Haiti. He was the only Marine to win the Navy Cross five times for heroism and gallantry in combat.

A Marine officer and enlisted man for 37 years, General Puller served at sea or overseas for all but ten of those years, including a hitch as commander of the "Horse Marines" in China. Excluding medals from foreign governments, he won a total of 14 personal decorations in combat, plus a long list of campaign medals, unit citation ribbons and other awards. In addition to the Navy Crosses, the highest honor the Navy can bestow, he holds its Army equivalent, the Distinguished Service Cross.

Born 26 June 1898, at West Point, Virginia, the general attended Virginia Military Institute until enlisting in the Marine Corps in August 1918. He was appointed a Marine Reserve second lieutenant 16 June 1919, but due to force reductions after World War I, was placed on inactive duty ten days later. He rejoined the Marines as an enlisted man to serve with the Gendarmerie D’Haiti, a military force in that country under a treaty with the United States. Most of its officers were U. S. Marines, while its enlisted personnel were Haitians.

After almost five years in Haiti, where he saw frequent action against the Caco rebels, Puller returned in March 1924 to the United States. He was commissioned a Marine second lieutenant that same month, and during the next two years, served at the Marine Barracks, Norfolk, Virginia, completed the Basic School at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and served with the 10th Marine Regiment at Quantico, Virginia.

In July of 1926, Puller embarked for a two-year tour of duty at the Marine Barracks, Pearl Harbor. Returning in June 1928, he served in San Diego, California, until he joined the Nicaraguan National Guard Detachment that December. After winning his first Navy Cross in Nicaragua, he returned to the United States in July 1931 to enter the Company Officers Course at the Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, Georgia. He completed the course in June 1932 and returned to Nicaragua the following month to begin the tour of duty that brought him a second Navy Cross.

In January 1933, Puller left Nicaragua for the United States. A month later he sailed from San Francisco to join the Marine Detachment of the American Legation at Peking, China. There, in addition to other duties, he commanded the famed "Horse Marines." Without coming back to the United States, he began a tour of sea duty in USS AUGUSTA of the Asiatic Fleet. In June 1936 he returned to the United States to become an instructor in the Basic School at Philadelphia. He left there in May 1939 to serve another year as commander of the Augusta’s Marine Detachment, and from that cruiser, joined the 4th Marine Regiment at Shanghai, China, in May 1940.

After serving as a battalion executive and commanding officer with the 4th Marines, Puller sailed for the United States in August 1941. In September, he took command of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, at Camp Lejeune. That Regiment was detached from the 1st Division in March 1942 and the following month, as part of the 3rd Marine Brigade, sailed for the Pacific theater. The 7th Regiment rejoined the 1st Marine Division in September 1942, and Puller, still commanding its 1st Battalion, went on to win his third Navy Cross at Guadalcanal.

The action that brought him that medal occurred on the night of October 24-25 1942. For a desperate three hours his battalion, stretched over a mile-long front, was the only defense between vital Henderson Airfield and a regiment of seasoned Japanese troops. In pouring jungle rain the Japanese smashed repeatedly at his thin line, as General Puller moved up and down its length to encourage his men and direct the defense. After reinforcements arrived, he commanded the augmented force until late the next afternoon. The defending Marines suffered less than 70 casualties in the engagement while 1400 of the enemy were killed and 17 truckloads of Japanese equipment were recovered by the Americans.

After Guadalcanal, Puller became executive officer of the 7th Marines. He was fighting in that capacity when he won his fourth Navy Cross at Cape Gloucester in January 1944. There, when the commanders of the two battalions were wounded, he took over their units and moved through heavy machine-gun and mortar fire to reorganize them for attack, then led them in taking a strongly fortified enemy position.

In February 1944, Puller took command of the 1st Marines at Cape Gloucester. After leading that regiment for the remainder of the campaign, he sailed with it for the Russell Islands in April 1944. He went on to command it at Peleliu in September and October 1944. He returned to the United States in November 1944, named executive officer of the Infantry Training Regiment at Camp Lejeune in January 1945, and took command of that regiment the next month.

In August 1946, Puller became Director of the 8th Marine Corps Reserve District, with headquarters at New Orleans, Louisiana. After that assignment, he commanded the Marine Barracks at Pearl Harbor until August 1950, when he arrived at Camp Pendleton, California, to re-establish and take command of the 1st Marines, the same regiment he had led at Cape Gloucester and Peleliu.

Landing with the 1st Marines at Inchon, Korea, in September 1950, he continued to head that regiment until January 1951, when he was promoted to brigadier general and named Assistant Commander of the 1st Marine Division. That May he returned to Camp Pendleton to command the newly reactivated 3rd Marine Division in January 1952. After that, he was assistant at division commander until he took over the Troop Training Unit, Pacific, at Coronado, California, that June. He was promoted to major general in September 1953, and in July 1954, assumed command of the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune. Despite his illness, he retained that command until February 1955, when he was appointed Deputy Camp Commander. He served in that capacity until August, when he entered the U. S. Naval Hospital at Camp Lejeune prior to retirement.

In 1966, General Puller requested to return to active duty to serve in Vietnam, but was turned down because of his age. He died 11 October 1971 in Hampton, Virginia, after a long illness. He was 73.

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General Evans F. Carlson, famed Marine leader of "Carlson's Raiders," was born 26 February 1896, at Sidney, New York. His father was a Congregationalist minister. His long and colorful military career began in 1912, when at the age of 16 he left high school and enlisted in the U.S. Army. When he finished his four-year enlistment he was a "top sergeant." He had served in the Philippines and in Hawaii. He stayed out of uniform less than one year and returned in time for the Mexican punitive expedition.

During World War I he saw action in France, and was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in action. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in May, 1917, and made Captain of field artillery in December 1917. He served in Germany with the Army of Occupation.

His spectacular career as a Marine started in 1922 when he enlisted as a private. In 1923 he was commissioned a second lieutenant. After duty at Quantico, Virginia, he sailed for Culebra, Puerto Rico, in 1924 and remained there five months before being ordered to the West Coast for duty with the Pacific Fleet. Applying for aviation training in 1925, he went to Pensacola, Florida, for instruction, but subsequently returned to duty with ground units. He served another tour of foreign shore duty from 1927 to 1929 at Shanghai, China.

General Carlson was ordered to Nicaragua in 1930 as an officer in the Guardia Nacional. A first lieutenant at the time, he earned his first Navy Cross for leading 12 Marines against 100 bandits. He also was commended for his actions following the earthquake at Managua in 1931, and for performance of duties as Chief of Police in 1932 and 1933.

Returning to the United States in 1933, he was sent almost immediately to Shanghai. Shortly afterward he was transferred to the Marine Detachment, American Legation, and Peking, China, where he served as Adjutant and studied the Chinese language. In 1936 he returned to the United States via Japan. At home he served at Quantico while attending Marine Corps Schools, and studying International Law and Politics at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

He went back to China for the third time, in 1937, as an official student of the Chinese language and as a military observer with Chinese forces. There he was afforded the opportunity to learn the tactics of the Japanese soldier.

Traveling thousands of miles through the interior of China, often on foot and horseback over the most hazardous terrain, he lived under the primitive conditions of native troops. When he left China in 1938, he was commended by the Commander in Chief of the Asiatic Fleet for his services.

He was so impressed with the danger of Japanese aggression in the Far East that in 1939 he resigned his commission as a captain in order to be free to write and lecture on that subject. When the danger he foresaw neared reality in 1941, he applied to be recommissioned in the Marine Corps and was accepted with the rank of major. A year later he was placed in command of the Second Marine Raider Battalion with the rank of lieutenant colonel. His leadership of that unit in the raid on Makin Island, 17 August 1942, earned him a Gold Star in lieu of a second Navy Cross. A second Gold Star was awarded him for heroism and distinguished leadership on Guadalcanal in November and December of that year.

Colonel Carlson was ordered back to the United States for medical treatment in the Spring of 1943, and subsequently returned to Tarawa as an observer. In that engagement he was cited for volunteering to carry vital information through enemy fire from an advanced post to division headquarters.

He was wounded during the Saipan operation while attempting to rescue a wounded enlisted man from a front line observation post, and was awarded a Gold Star in lieu of a second Purple Heart. Physical disability resulting from the wounds received on Saipan caused the General's retirement on 1 July 1946.He was advanced to the rank of brigadier general on the retired list at that time for having been specially commended for the performance of duty in actual combat.

On 27 May 1947, the 51-year-old veteran succumbed to a heart illness at Emmanuel Hospital, Portland, Oregon. He had been living in Brightwood, Oregon, since his retirement. He was survived by his wife, Mrs. Peggy Tatum Carlson, and a son by a previous marriage, Evans C. Carlson.

In addition to the Navy Cross with two Gold Stars in lieu of a second and third award, and the Purple Heart with a Gold Star in lieu of a second award, Brigadier General Carlson was awarded the Legion of Merit; Presidential Unit Citation with three Stars; World War I Victory Medal with France Clasp; World War II Victory Medal; China Service Medal; Yangtze Service Medal; Expeditionary Medal; Italian Croix de Guerre; Nicaragua Presidential Order of Merit; Nicaraguan Medal of Distinction; Second Nicaraguan Campaign Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three Bronze Stars; American Campaign Medal; and the American Defense Service Medal.

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Master Gunnery Sergeant Leland "Lou" Diamond,

who was on many occasions decorated for bravery and offered a commission, lives in memory as one of the most famous of all "Old Breed" fighting Leathernecks. Diamond, who died in 1951, represents a legend, which inscribed a colorful chapter in Marine Corps tradition and history. "Lou" Diamond's face, sun-bronzed and accentuated by a neatly trimmed gray goatee, was well known at posts and stations throughout the world. His comrades called him "Lou," but he was thought of, often, as "Mr. Marine" and "Mr. Leatherneck."

Diamond was born 30 May 1890, at Bedford, Ohio. Although he first enlisted at the age of 27, somewhat older than most recruits, the difference never was noticeable. His salty, hard-driving personality soon expressed itself in both word and deed, and no Marine ever showed more devotion to the Corps.

Because of the incredible voice, which matched his 5-foot, 11-inch, 200-pound frame, "Lou" was once dubbed "The Honker." Though cool in training and battle, he was rarely quiet. According to his World War I buddies, "The tougher the action, the louder "Lou" would yell." Many of his comrades at Guadalcanal considered him "a human air-raid warning system."

Though in the military service, Diamond lived informally, going hatless and wearing dungarees practically everywhere. He even accepted one of his decorations in dungarees. When receiving the citation awarded him in Australia by General A.A. Vandergrift, "Lou" looked the general in the eye and said, "I made my landing in dungarees-guess they're good enough to get my commendation in."

Diamond's informal language occasionally drew frowns from Chaplains within earshot. His earthy manner of speech, however, never appeared to detract from his role as a morale-booster for his unit, nor from his ability as an instructor and leader, as amply attested to by recruits who trained under his wing.

Self-confidence, even cockiness, was one of the sergeant's outstanding characteristics. He considered anybody with less than ten years in the Corps a "boot." While he bawled out recruits who sometimes instinctively saluted him, he frequently failed, himself, to salute less than a field grade officer. Despite his peculiarities and, in many ways, because of them, he was a "Marine's Marine."

Opportunities to apply for a commission were rejected by the grizzled campaigner, who explained that "nobody can make a gentleman out of me." Though not a "spit-and-polish" Marine, Diamond prove himself an expert with both 60- and 81mm mortars, his accurate fire being credited as the turning point of many an engagement in the Pacific during World War II.

Diamond enlisted in the Marine Corps at Detroit, Michigan, 25 July 1917, listing as his former occupation "railroad switchman." As a corporal in January 1918, he shipped out from Philadelphia aboard the USS Von Stuben bound for Brest, France. He saw action with the famous 6th Marines in the battles at Chateau Thierry, Belleau Wood, the Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel and the Meuse Argonne. Promoted to the grade of sergeant, he marched to the Rhine with the Army of Occupation. At war's end, "Mr. Leatherneck" returned to America, disembarked at Hoboken, N.J., and 13 August 1919, received an honorable discharge from the Corps.

But railroading and civilian life in general did not suit his fancy, and on 23 September 1921, "Lou" again walked into a Marine recruiting office. Promotions were rapid for him and while serving as Assistant Armourer at Parris Island, South Carolina, in February, 1925, he regained his sergeant's stripes.

"Mr. Marine" itched for more action and he soon got it-in Shanghai with Company M, 3d Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment. But the Sino-Japanese controversy, in "Lou's" opinion, was "not much of a war," and on 10 June 1933, he returned to the United States, disembarking from the USS Henderson at Mare Island, California. By then he was a gunnery sergeant.

Diamond returned to Shanghai with his old outfit, the 4th Marines, ten months later; was transferred to the 2d Marines in December, 1934; and returned to the States February, 1937. Two years after his promotion to Master Gunnery Sergeant, 10 July 1939, he was assigned to the Depot of Supplies at Philadelphia to help design a new infantry pack.

Following the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, "Lou" shipped out to Guadalcanal with Company H, 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, arriving at the beaches 7 August 1942. He was 52 years old. Among the many fables concerning his "Canal" service is the tale that he lobbed a mortar shell down the smoke stack of an off-shore Japanese cruiser. It is considered a fact, however, that he drove the cruiser from the bay with his harassing "near-misses."

An indication of Sergeant Diamond's value to the Corps is found in a letter of commendation for "outstanding performance of duty on Tulagi and Guadalcanal," from General A.A. Vandergrift, Commander of the 1st Marine Division, and later Commandant of the Marine Corps. The letter states in part:

"To every man in your company you were a counselor, an arbiter of disputes, and an ideal Marine.”Your matchless loyalty and love of the Marine Corps and all it stands for, are known to hundreds of officers and men of this Division, and will serve as an inspiration to them on all the battlefields on which this Division may in the future be engaged."

After two months on Guadalcanal, physical disabilities dictated "Mr. Leatherneck's" evacuation by air against his wishes. He was moved to the New Hebrides and later to a hospital in New Zealand, where he proved to be a somewhat obstreperous patient. Somehow, he acquired orders to board a supply ship for New Caledonia, where a friend ordered him back to Guadalcanal-the supposed location of his old outfit. Upon his arrival, however, Diamond discovered that the 1st Marine Division had shipped out to Australia, a distance of over 1,500 miles. "Lou" made the trip, without orders, by bumming rides on planes, ships and trains.

But "Mr. Marine" was destined to see no more combat. On 1 July 1943, he disembarked from the USS Hermitage at San Pedro, California, and twelve days later was made an instructor at the Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina. He was transferred to Camp Lejeune on 15 June 1945, and joined the 5th Training Battalion with the same duties.

Familiar sights in the early morning on the company street thereafter was “Old Lou,” standing with watch in hand and whistle in mouth, awaiting the first note of reveille to break the men out.

Master Gunnery Sergeant Leland Diamond retired on 23 November 1945, and returned to his home in Toledo, Ohio. His death at the Great Lakes, Illinois, Naval Training Center Hospital, 20 September 1951, was followed by a funeral, with full military honors, at Sylvania, Ohio.

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