Carroll County Marine Corps League holds annual birthday event

The former mayor of Westminster, Kevin Dayhoff was the keynote speaker at the 243rd anniversary of the United States Marine Corps 1775-2018, Saturday, November 10. 2018 at the 4th District of the Department of Maryland, Marine Corps League annual birthday ball at the American Legion Carroll Post 31 in Westminster.

Dayhoff was asked to share a bit of the distinguished history of the USMC and the 100th anniversary of World War I – especially the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Belleau Wood.

Joining Dayhoff the podium was Joe Gogol who gave a presentation about his recent visit to Belleau Wood in France.

Marc Fisher, the chaplain of the Carroll County Detachment Marine Corps League was the key organizer of the event and served as the master of ceremonies.

Among the many distinguished guest were former Mount Airy councilmember Billy Wagner and Barbara Wagner, the parents of Maryland Planning Secretary Wendi Peters.

Much of Dayhoff’s research into the history of the Marines dated back to the classes he took in the summer of 1972 in Quantico Virginia. “I still prize my tattered, torn, and worn 1970 ‘Concise History of the Unites States Marine Corps 1775-1969,’ by Captain William D. Parker, USMCR,” said Dayhoff

For those of you who have served or are currently serving: thank you. Your dedication and service to our country is deeply appreciated. Indeed, that appreciation is the purpose of having a Marine Corps Ball – in addition to the not so minor detail of following Gen. John A. Lejeune’s Nov. 1, 1921, Marine Corps Order No. 47 to have a yearly birthday celebration.

The word “Marines” was perhaps used for the first time in recorded American history on October 5, 1775 in a meeting in Philadelphia of the 2nd Continental Congress. At that time Congress used the word ‘Marines’ when it directed General George Washington to secure two vessels … and to give orders for the ‘proper encouragement to the Marines and seamen’ to serve on the two armed ships.

Today we recognize the birthday of the United States Marine Corps to have occurred on Nov. 10, 1775 when the Continental Congress commissioned Samuel Nicholas to raise several Battalions of Marines. Nicholas established a recruiting station at "Tun Tavern" in Philadelphia.

And yes, Carroll County does have a place in Marine Corps history.

According to a July 7, 1996, article by historian Jay Graybeal in the Carroll County Times, on June 11, 1898, the first Marine killed in the Spanish-American War was from Carroll County.

Sgt. Charles H. Smith was killed during the capture of Guantanamo Bay and "buried with full military honors in Deer Park Methodist Cemetery near his parent's home in Smallwood. ... More than 2,000 people attended the funeral," reported Graybeal.

Any discussion of the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI must include the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Belleau Wood; which raged for nearly a month, June 1 through June 26, 1918.

Many historians consider the battle of Belleau Wood to be the beginning of the end of WWI. The introduction of the Marines in the war effort had a direct impact on the successful conclusion of the hostilities.

The Marine nickname of ‘devil dog’ can be traced back to the Battle of Belleau Wood. The German officers referred to the Marines as the “Teufel Hunden,” which is German for “Devil Dogs,” in their field reports. Exhausted, outnumbered, and outgunned, the Marines refused to yield.

By May of 1918, the Americans had been in the war for about a year with little to show for it except getting organized, getting ‘over there,’ and playing a supporting role.

The Battle of Belleau Wood occurred during the German Spring Offensive near the Marne River in France. It was the third German offensive of the year with well-seasoned troops. Belleau Wood was the scene of a massive German offensive that threatened to overrun Paris – if it were not for the Unites States Marines.

“At Belleau Wood, [the Marines] went up against a professional German army equipped with machine guns and heavy artillery, at the flood tide of a breakthrough near Paris that seemed about to end the war. The Marines’ opening assault through the fields, at a walk, began like a scene from the Civil War a half century before… But the fighting would soon degenerate into a free-for-all in the tangled forest that forecast similar combat in the Pacific jungles of World War II,” reports the Washington Post in a May 31, 2018 article by Michael E. Ruane, “The Battle of Belleau Wood was brutal, deadly and forgotten. But it forged a new Marine Corps.”

At the beginning of the battle, keep in mind the context of one of the famous quotes from Belleau Wood. When the Marines arrived the French troops had already decided to not fight the overwhelming German forces and had decided to retreat – and ordered the Americans to also retreat. At this point, Marine Captain Lloyd W. Williams said, “Retreat? Hell, we just got here!” The Marines immediately dug in on June 4th and held the initial German attack at bay with excellent marksmanship and well directed fire.

The Marines then went on the attack and subsequently suffered the highest casualties in the history of the Marines – until the Battle of Tarawa in 1943. The progress of the battle was chaotic, confused, and painfully slow. It was a scene unmatched until perhaps, some of the engagements of the Vietnam War.

According to various media accounts, “The enthusiasm of the Americans [was] met by equal determination from the defending Germans. The fighting was relentless, much of it at close quarters and involving bayonets, knives, and even fists. The Americans launched six attacks before the Germans were finally expelled from Belleau Wood on 26 June…”

“United States Marines were the key component in stopping the Germans from reaching Paris during the Battle of Belleau Wood. When the battle was over, there were 10,000 American casualties, including more than 1,800 killed. The U.S. Marine Corps suffered more casualties in Belleau Wood than it had in its entire history to that point,” according to historian Judge Joe Getty in a presentation to the Marine Corps League in 2017.

“Belleau Wood was significant in that it established the Marines as a major force capable of sustained ground operations. The stories of this battle boosted morale back home and men lined up at Marine recruiting stations across the country…,” explained Judge Getty

On November 11, 2018, we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. The United States entered the war on April 6, 1917.

Approximately 62,000 Marylanders served, 2,000 died, including 31 from Carroll County. According to Judge Getty, at the time of the war, Carroll County had a “population of only 34,000; 1,200 men and women served with the armed forces. Of those, 14 were killed in action or died of their wounds, twenty died of disease or accidents and two committed suicide.”

The Battle of Belleau Wood was followed by the 47-day Meuse-Argonne Offensive – which was part of an even larger initiative, the “Hundred Days Offensive,” which lasted from August 8, 1918 – Nov. 11, 1918.

Specifically, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive brought an end to the war. It was “the largest military campaign in American history, involving more than one million troops. This was the bulk of the final Allied offensive of the war and it lasted from September 26, 1918 until the Armistice of November 11, 1918. In six weeks the American Expeditionary Force lost 26,277 killed and 95,786 wounded,” according to several media accounts.

“The US Department of Defense documented 116,516 soldiers died during World War I. Of that total 2,851 were in the Marine Corps. 9,520 Marines were wounded. Eight Marines earned the Medal of Honor,” according to Judge Getty.….

These young men gave their lives and their future in two military operations that changed the world.

Happy Birthday Marines. For Corps and Country, Semper Fidelis.