Re: Charles T McCoy WWI Marines
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In reply to:
Charles T McCoy WWI Marines
GLORIA POSTGATE 7/25/03
Hi Gloria,
You ought to be able to learn quite a bit about your grandfather.There were only two Marine regiments which saw combat in France.Together, they made up a brigade, one of two brigades in the US Second Infantry Division.This is the only time I know of when Army and Marine regiments were part of the same infantry division.General LeJeune commanded the brigade and the division eventually.There were two other Marine regiments which got to France, but they never got into combat - if they had, they could have formed another brigade, and then a Marine Division would have been possible.Some say Army jealousy was the reason these additional regiments didnt see action.Part of this was due to the inordinate amount of publicity given to this single brigade of Marines, in the view of many doughboys."The Doughboys", by Laurence Stallings, is still one of the best books on the AEF, and Stallings himself served in the Marine Brigade and lost a leg in Bellau Wood (now the "bois de Brigade de Marines") when the correspondent was wounded.It was headlines (mistakenly passed by the censor) trumpeting this vicious battle and identifying the Marine Brigade as the Americans involved which started all the publicity for the Marines.In actuality, the Marines were sent into this woods, honeycombed with machine gun nests with interlocking fields of fire, without adequate weapons to deal with these emplacements, and suffered accordingly for several weeks for this small patch of woodland.The Mont Blanc operation was quite a successful and notable feat of arms as well, and anyone who earned a Distinguished Service Cross during WWI had to do something pretty outstanding to get one - the only higher award is the Medal of Honor.God Bless your granddad.