John McCain: Wright's Oafish Slur of 3rd Marines & Calvary at Guam - for real.

But Mr. McCain took a different approach at a news conference here when he criticized Mr. Wright for, as the senator paraphrased him, “comparing the United States Marine Corps with Roman legionnaires who were responsible for the death of our Savior, I mean being involved in that” and for “saying that Al Qaeda and the American flag were the same flags.” …
Mr. McCain said that he did not believe that Mr. Obama, Democrat of Illinois, shared those views and that he was still against the advertisement in North Carolina. But he suggested that Mr. Obama had made the subject fair play by declaring in an interview shown over the weekend on “Fox News Sunday” that questions about Mr. Wright were “a legitimate political issue.”

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/the-early-word-mccain-takes-up-wright-issue/


McCain and other Americans should be concerned about Wright's words - here's the real context: 3rd Marines at Guam reported by Cyril O'Brien, later White House Correspondent for the Baltimore Sun and a combat correspondent with the 3rd Marines:


The Taking of Chonito Ridge*
The following is a dispatch written by Marine Combat Correspondent Private First Class Cyril J. O'Brien in the field after the combat action he describes in his story. It was released for publication in the United States sometime after the event (always after families were notified of the wounding or death of the Marines mentioned.) This story is reprinted from the carbon copy of the file which he retained of the stories he filed from the Pacific.

Guam July 24 (Delayed)—The first frontal attack on steep Chonito Ridge was made one hour after the Marine landing.

An infantry squad, led by Second Lieutenant James A. Gallo, 24, 172 Broadway, Haverstraw, NY., approached to within ten yards of the tip. The crest bloomed with machine gun fire. In the face of it the Marine company tried its first assault. The company was thrown back before it had advanced forty yards.

For fifty hours the company remained on the naked slope, trying again and again to storm the Jap entrenchments hardly one hundred yards away. Battered almost to annihilation, the tenacious Marines finally saw another company take the ridge from the rear.

Failing in the first rush the company had formed a flimsy defense line not fifty yards from the enemy. Cover was scant. Some Marines had only tufts of grass to shield them. The Japs were rolling grenades down the crest, and blasting the Marines with knee mortars from over the summit.


Under the cover of dusk the company commander led a second attack. As the Marines rose machine gun fire swept into them. The commander, and three Marines reached the crest. The last fifty feet were almost vertical. The attackers grasped roots and dug their feet into the soft earth to keep from falling down the incline.

The commander went over the ridge. He never came back. The remaining three Marines were ripped by cross fire. One saved himself by jumping into an enemy fox hole.

Beaten again, the company retired to a small ravine, and remained there all night. One Marine, shot through both legs, was asking for morphine. Another's thigh was ripped by shell fragments. A PFC, his dry tongue swollen, tried to whisper the range of an enemy sniper.

At eleven in the morning of the 22d, with little more a third of their original number, the company rushed hillside again.

Lieutenant Gallo led an assault on the left flank of the hill, but was thrown back. Sergeant Charles V. Bomar, 33, 4002 Gulf St., Houston, Tex., with nine Marines attempted to take the right ground of the slope. Five were killed as they left the ravine. The sergeant and three others reached the top of the slope.

The Japs again rolled grenades down the incline. One exploded under the chest of a Marine nearby, blowing off his head. Another grenade bounced off the helmet of the sergeant. It was a dud.

The Marines charged into the Jap entrenchment. The sergeant killed a Jap machine gunner with the butt of his carbine. The assistant gunner exploded a grenade against his body. The blast threw the Marines out of the hole. They jumped into vacated enemy foxholes. A lieutenant who had come to join them was shot between the eyes by a sniper. The sergeant killed the sniper with his carbine.

Unable to hold their positions, the sergeant and his companies returned to the shelter of the ravine. With the shattered remnants of the company they waited for nearly another 24 hours, until darting Marines on the top of the ridge showed Chonito had been taken from the rear.

Field commanders soon came to appreciate the effect these so-called "Joe Blow" stories had on the morale of their men. The stories were printed in hometown newspapers and were clipped and sent to the troops in the Pacific who could then see that their efforts were being publicized and appreciated at home.

* 'Chonito' was misnamed on dated American Naval Maps in 1944 - The Chamorros of Guam called it Chorito Cliff

For more context- click my post title

John McCain: Wright Slurred 3rd Marines and Italians

Pastor Wright's litany of hate extended beyond Italian Americans to the battle honored Third Marine Regiment - the 3rd Marines.

Full Disclosure - the focus of my recent novel The Chorito Hog Leg: A Novel of Guam in Time of War was the 3rd Marines and their magnificent assault of the cliffs over-looking the Asan Landing Beaches on Guam in July, 1944.

Pastor Wright retired to a mansion in Tinley park, IL and lecturing the NAACP yesterday and the National Press Club this morning was a Marine.

National Review's Jim Geraghty reported Wright's 'Crucifixion comments' that also offered an Unchristian slam on Italian Americans, but to sully the 3rd Marines who have won American battle honors at Bougainville, Guam, Iwo Jima, Vietnam, and Iraq is bizarre to say the least:
Wright describes Roman soldiers who mistreated Jesus as "Commandos.. trained in urban command and trained to kill on command... the Third Marine Regiment of Rome," and that Jesus was mistreated "as a prisoner of war."

He describes the Roman presence in Jerusalem as "Operation Israeli Freedom." (So in this America-as-Rome metaphor, is Abu Zarqawi Jesus?)

"It was the Italian Army that led Jesus to Calvary Friday morning."

Here is an all too brief battle history of America's Third Marine Regiment - 3rd Marines:

The 3d Marine Regiment first came into existence during the period of international unrest in the early twentieth century. The regiment was formed 20 December 1916, by consolidating Marine detachments from the various ships in the Atlantic Fleet then at anchor in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The early days of the regiment were highlighted by campaigns in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

During World War I, the regiment was heavily involved in the occupation and pacification of the Dominican Republic. As the Dominican crises subsided, the regiment’s role in the Republic also lessened.

Between wars, 3d Marines became a reserve unit stationed in San Francisco, eventually being disbanded in 1937.

The 3d Marine Regiment was reactivated on 16 June 1942, in North Carolina, as part of the World War II military expansion. The regiment fought and bled at Bougainville and Guam. Four medals of Honor were awarded to members of 3d Marines for actions during this period.



Following World War II, the regiment was ordered to China to aid in the disarming of Japanese units and to assist the Nationalist government in the occupation of Northern China in an effort to deny land to the communists.

The regiment did not participate in the United Nations defense of South Korea, but continued to actively train in Hawaii and Japan to remain combat ready.

3d Marines was quick to respond to the call for forces in Vietnam, providing security for the Da Nang Air Base in early 1965. The regiment’s experience level and ability to adapt led to many innovations including the Combined Action Company and the Civic Action Program. Ultimately, 3d Marines was to participate in 48 major operations in the Republic of Vietnam.

Following the retrograde of forces from Vietnam, the regiment was initially relocated to Camp Pendleton and assigned to the 5th Marine Amphibious Brigade. During April of 1971, the regiment became part of the 1st Marine Division. Two months later, the regiment was moved to Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, to assume the role of the ground combat component of the 1st Marine Brigade.

The 3d Marine Regiment was one of the first combat forces to deploy to Saudi Arabia in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990. The regiment, which became known as task Force Taro in honor of the state and people of Hawaii, became the first American unit to be engaged by Iraqi artillery, rocket and missile fire on 18 January 1991. Task Force Taro countered the Iraqi supporting attacks by conducting artillery raids into Kuwait as the first ground offensive actions of the war. Task force Taro was instrumental in the recapture of Khafji, was the first unit to advance into Kuwait, conducted the only helicopter borne assault of the war and secured the Marine Corp’s final objective of the war, Kuwait International Airport.

Following the cease-fire on 28 February 1991, the regiment redeployed to Saudi Arabia and subsequently completed its strategic redeployment to Hawaii two months later.

Effective 1 October 1994, the 1st Marine Brigade was deactivated and 3d Marine Division became the regiment’s higher headquarters.

http://www.mcbh.usmc.mil/3mar/History.htm

Senator John McCain slammed Wrights insults of this elite regiment.

Pastor Wright sure seems certifiable - well, maybe not to Bill Moyers

Click my post title for Geraghty's article in National Review.

The Chorito Hog Leg, Book One -Brings this Era To Life

The above page of the Leo High School Oriole 1944 presents some of the real sources for the fictional characters in my novel . Click this page on and get trip back in history.

This Review of my novel by History Channel Guest and consultant Cyril J. O'Brien appeared in Pacific Daily News:

Book depicts Chamorros going above and beyond
By Cyril J. O'Brien

There's an interesting novel with a different scenario on the liberation of Guam by Chicago, Ill., school teacher Pat Hickey. It depicts the often underwritten action on Chonito Ridge, and describes the Chamorro people as going above and beyond. It relates the battle story through fictional as well as actual leaders as a way of demonstrating the caliber of the people who fought that war on Guam.

A student of the battle, Hickey is well into Able Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, led by Capt. Gary Bundshu in its impossible, day-and-a-half assault straight up to the crest of Chonito Ridge, a cliff overlooking the Asan beaches on Guam. The top was taken late in the second day after Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, secured the rear and flank to let Able finish its ascent and hold it.

Using the Marines' nickname for the ridge, Hickey, in "The Chorito Hog Leg" (AuthorHouse 2007, Bloomington, Ind.) intersperses the story with surprising incidents, heroic actions, including the gratuitous cruelty of Japanese captors on the Guamanian people. The book is also punctuated with bits of holiness of sisters, mothers and girlfriends back in Chicago with rosaries and novenas.

Hickey spices it with some seasoned ribald troop vernacular and surprises you with incidents and anecdotes that could make you lose the course of what is going on.
Hickey also brings in the colorful gangster days that represented the Windy City at its zenith because it is from where the young Marines he describes are from.


Action started at sea
And you may have forgotten how the first combat action of Guam was at sea. Pat describes it: the Japanese Kate spinning a torpedo toward the troop-jammed tank landing ship. (I was on the starboard side where the torpedo beaded).
But a little LCI (landing craft infantry) ship in our assault convey, there to protect the troopship, nosed her bow into the torpedo bound for our ship. It blew off the LCI's bow and killed all on station there. We watched the next morning as a destroyer sunk the remains of the heroic little LCI.

Within the carnage of battle is a conflict arrayed in the book pitting a young man named Tim Cullen against his battalion commander over the possession of an 1860 Army Cold .45 Hog Leg revolver, which can be traced back to a captain who was with Custer. It brings in diversion and other interests, and continues the novel, but makes no "neverminds" to history.

Hickey, well anointed as an author, is a career educator, graduate of Loyola University, Chicago and now with St. Leo's High School in the city.


Cyril J. O'Brien was a combat correspondent with the 3rd Marine Division in World War II, which helped liberate Guam. He lives in Silver Spring, Md.

From The Chorito Hog-Leg: Work Detail at Tulagi

Here is an early passage from The Chorito Hog Leg, Book One: A Novel of Guam in Time of War The protagonist, Tim Cullen, is assigned to a punishment detail on Guadalcanal after being caught drinking moonshine - raisin jack- on field problem by his platoon commander, Lt. John A. Buck. Cullen meets the legendary Gunny Higgins who already aware of Cullen's talents and personal integrity:

7. Shitbirds of Tulagi
His eyes burned in front and throbbed in back, his tongue and throat never seemed satisfied with cool water and every nerve in his frame bugged up to perspiration, sensation, and irritation of every sort. In short, Tim had a hangover going on its second day without let-up and activity was what he needed most which worked out nicely with his place in the punishment detail forming up in front of 1st Battalion ‘First Shirt’ Gunny Higgins.

Gunny Higgins had no ears to speak of –rather, lumps of muscle that seemed to have been pegged aft of his temples. Wearing a pith helmet, impeccably pressed khakis, leggings and boondockers, Gunnery Sergeant Billy Wheat Higgins appeared to be standing on a platform above the two rows of ten green utility clad Marines wearing green fiber helmet liners as covers. He was standing on the same soil as the boys before him, but he was so much above each and every one of them in the eyes of men and boys.

‘Side-Straddle –Hops until I am well pleased and I am never well pleased!’ Throwing Arms to a point geometrically above his head and casting his legs out like colossus to His ‘OW –un! And reversing the limbs at ‘HOO!’

‘Move MotherFuckers! I’m not doin this for my health!

‘Ow-Un; HOO; OW-unHOO! & etc for fifteen minutes without let up.

‘Fall out –You Box Me.’ Fall out - Men Die. Fall out - Boys Might. Fall-out –Don’t Try!’

After the full fifteen minutes Gunny Higgins’ body snapped shut like an expensive switchblade to signal the end of calisthenics.

In the tropical heat with all of the physical snap and strain not a drop of sweat spotted his arm-pits or blemished the cleanliness of his khakis. Strapless his pith helmet never went askew, nor fell from his square muscled head. Gunny Higgins was Gorgon and Apollo wrapping the soul of Voltaire and the balls of Rabelais.

‘I have served the flag in uniform from the time that you mewling tit-suckers tore out the snatches of some fine women. I do not ask who is my enemy or what his thoughts might be or if we had supped at the same table last night. I do not give a shit that the Pope locks up! Major Opley and men up the chain from him have determined who my enemy will be – Today –tomorrow- and until Jesus takes back the Aggies I stole from that Jew wood-butcher. ‘

Without looking into any man’s face, Gunny Higgins pointed down from his majestic height and moved his long thick broken right fore-finger –slowly and judicially.

‘Each and every swinging man-log on parade before my tired eyes is my enemy, because the very men up the august chain from whence all truth calls down have told me that you are. I have butchered greasers on the Coco River and Niggers in Haiti and Japs wherever I find them and traitors to the flag without so much as a thought because I was ordered to fight and kill them. But each and every one of you have made my enmity boil because you have pained your elders and betters up that august chain – You have soiled Duty and Honor as Fuck Ups! I will amend that before my next hard-on! LCM at the beach step lively – Now! ’

And the twenty in green double-timed it to the awaiting landing craft. The coxswain ordered each of the twenty green fatigued men in the work detail to put on life-belts and made the port perch aft available to Gunny Higgins.

. . . . ( In the Landing Craft Mechanized -LCM)


‘Tulagi beach master and step on it, Coxman! I might kill a handful of these pearls, before the task gets ripe, You a Louisiana Man Coxman?’

‘Born and raised in Cribstone. . St Laurence parish . . .,’ the warmed sailor began.

‘Well, Fuck You then! Sail this craft without incident and I’ll get beer call for you and your three sisters. Honor Bright!’ and Gunny was as good as his word. He stepped down three of the steel rungs into the cockpit next to Cullen and put his steel portside arm around the boy’s shoulders. ‘I saw you on Boogan . . . in the aid station and later on the line. You handled that .30 like a salt with four hash marks; must be a gift, son. Stare ahead and don’t eye-ball me son or I’ll carve off your head and shit down your neck. Now, listen here, Major Opley remembers you from that scrap and saw your name down for my detail that is why I called you out. He liked your sand in taking that four-eyed Navy saw-bones by the stacking-swivel. Yes, Sir, that pleased him. He wants me to baptize you in the blood of lamb before our next walk on the beach. You need to step up into the shoes of the dead.’

The LCM beached at the Transport Cove on Tulagi and the twenty-one Marines disembarked and formed up. Gunny Higgins exchanged more obscenity laced compliments to the boat crew and informed them where they might pick up the cases of Drewery’s beer in possession of 1st Battalion Gunnery Sergeant William Wheat Higgins.

The twenty man punishment detail stood at ease but alert to the coming commands of their overseer. Gunny Higgins had gone from the LCM to pick up the manifest from the Tulagi Beach Master’s shack that would process the possession of 10 tons of .30 caliber ammunition for 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines.

All of the ammunition needed to be clipped and belted by the squads and gun crews in their company areas, but it would be the task of this detail to transport the ammunition back to Tetere Beach on Guadalcanal, check and clean the rounds before clipping and belting.

Gunny Higgins burst the propriety of the efficient beach master’s shack with a hurricane of filthy language and imprecations against the Commander of the South Pacific Area, General Douglas Macarthur, whose domain included the ammunition stockpiles on Tulagi.

The designated stockpile had been bulldozed – ‘to keep it safe from fire. Bullshit!'

Wacky Mac had decided to throw a screw into Gunny’s Marines and that was the long and the short of it. His boys needed to bail through the mud and dig out their ammunition crates and could be assured that their tasks would be longer and more demeaning. Bougainville had been Admiral Halsey’s show and Mrs. Roosevelt had come to the Canal to praise General Turnage’s fine men who took that island from the Japs so handily. At this very moment dog-faces under Generalissimo MacArthur were slugging it out with the Japs and losing hundreds of men as well as real estate on Bougainville. The Third Division had handed the campaign over to General Patch on Christmas Day 1943 and now the U.S. Army was having a tough time sealing the deal. Macarthur hated the Marine Corps.

Standing legs spread and four-square before his detail, tall, tanned, khakied and commanding Gunny Higgins pointed over his port shoulder to the bull-dozed stock pile – his pith helmet squared.

‘I have pissed rainbows of beer over taller mountains than God can lay bricks on full breakfast! From the rocky coast of Maine to sunny Frisco Bay, I have fucked them all – countesses, millionaires and movie stars! The sight of me makes proud men blush and maidens as wet as a New Orleans hooker shop in August. I have bested men and boys at cards, games and quick draw. I can eat the crotch out of a running Grizzly bear and ask for seconds on servings of mule shit, but I am four-eyed and fucked over this one, Girl Scouts!’

‘El Supremo has determined that the men who snatched Boogan from Tojo need more work and so the Supreme Commander of South Pacific Forces ordered the Quartermaster Corps to have the .30 caliber ammunition earmarked for the 1st of the 3rd Marines covered with Tulagi. Nothing to it, girls, but sweat and suet! Cullen get ammo carts from the beach master take four men - the other half of you get to digging, and relay passing all ammo to my feet. Move!’

Five peeled off in the direction of the Beach master’s shack where he had already assembled ten ammunition carts and each man pulled two carts back to Gunny Higgins.

‘That Yankee Momma’s Boy has not seen the day where Men of the one True Corps can be set back a-heel by a candy-sucking cavalryman! Assholes and Elbows!’

With pride and anger, the punishment detail hefted and clawed and pulled and carted the heavy mud-caked and soaked ammunition crates. They loaded the ten ammunition carts and two man teams horsed them back to the beached LCM that would take these angry boys and their soiled ammo back Tetere Beach on Guadalcanal. For three hours this detail dug the prized rounds out of Tulagi soil and mud, gave the crates a perfunctory cleaning and stacked them on the carts and hauled them to LCM and restacked them.

As the job disintegrated like the caked soil on the crates, a knot of Army brass and journalists and photographers assembled on the knoll above the work detail. Centered in the group was the unmistakable Roman profile in crushed overseas cap with scrambled eggs, the foot long corn-cob pipe, the casually tailored khakis and slow sure gait of a Man of Destiny in his late sixties.

Gunny Higgins had his back to his enemy and like he had been in the jungle these last twenty years- well aware of his enemy’s presence, their strength, and their deployment. His electric gaze targeting only the twenty individuals awed by Macarthur’s apparition and enraged by his arrogance in slighting those beneath him. Tim Cullen pushed his loaded ammo cart with all the determination that he had legged on the football field for Leo High School and not unlike his playing days he was bested by a better man.

Gunny Higgins understood Cullen’s intentions to howl, vent, threaten and assault the Supreme Commander of the South Pacific and with one casual step to his right, blocking any view of his subsequent actions from the gawkers and the patrician above and behind, Gunny Higgins telescoped his left arm to Cullen’s throat, catching the boy’s Adam’s apple between his sandpaper thumb and his thick deadly forefinger with whispered, ‘I love frying Papist Porgies for a Po’Boy but only in my own oil. Do not give that Army cunt one scintilla of reason to laugh at a Marine’ and released the boy to cart the ammo to the LCM.

I love that boy, thought Gunny Higgins, Hell; I’d fuck all his sisters and the Pope’s mule for that little display. That boy will do fine.

The work continued for another hour and without comment, the Marines took their contaminated ammunition away for cleaning. This incident spoke mountains for the small man on the hill and the giant hearts of those he thought he would abuse.

The LCM took proud and happy men back to Tetere Beach and none happier or more filled with pride than Gunny Sergeant William Wheat Higgins. Upon return, to 1st Battalion headquarters tent, Billy bubbled like a school-girl with new crush – he was dreamy in love with Tim Cullen! Major Opley was delighted as he had always been a great judge of character and this red-headed runt who had stayed on the line as sick as he was and found the strength to tear at the Battalion surgeon’s throat for calling him a malingerer and now wanted to single-handedly assault a hill full of Army brass and reporters for fouling the Marines, no wonder Billy was in love.

For the next two weeks every man in the 1st Battalion had heard about Tim Cullen from 1st Platoon Able Company and how he tried to kill Douglas MacArthur and was saved by Gunny Higgins, while they cleaned and re-greased every round that they would fire during the up-coming Guam Campaign

From -The Chorito Hog-Leg - The Old Corps: Fictional Marines in Nicaragua

Two central characters in my new novel, The Chorito Hog Leg, Book One: A Novel of Guam in Time of War, Lucas Opley and Billy Higgins represent "the Old Corps" - pre-WWII professionals - blooded in the banana/sugar wars of Haiti and Nicaragua in 1920's and '30s. Hard men like Opley and Higgins linked the hundreds of thousands of boys, who would join the Marine Corps in America's war with Japan after Pearl Harbor, to the skills, outlooks and traditions of jungle fighters from America's early experiments with colonialism. Their experiences made the Marine Corps of WWII Legend.

10. The Old Corps
1st Battalion, 3rd Marines was commanded by Major Lucas Opley after appointment by General Barrett on New Caledonia in April of 1943. Lucas Opley was given the Battalion after his transfer to the newly formed 3rd Marine Division from the 1st Raider Battalion on the recommendation of Col. Merritt ‘Red Mike’ Edson.

Major Opley had been awarded the Navy Cross along with Gunnery Sergeant William W. Higgins for their two-man counter attack on the left flank of the Japanese at Bloody Ridge. Both armed with B.A.Rs, the then Capt. Opley and Sgt. Higgins swept the left flank of the Japanese attackers and helped save Henderson Field and thus the delicate American hold on Guadalcanal. Lucas Opley 38 years old was featured in photos with Edson in Life Magazine and mentioned in the after action report that passed from General Vandergrift to Admiral Nimitz. This veteran Marine adventurer had the rugged good looks of Saturday Western Serial Star and the polish of a public relations man. Within that wrapping beat the heart of a killer who massacred the extended family of General Sandino in Nicaragua in 1931 on the Coco River Patrol.

Sergeant Lucas Opley and PFC. William Higgins led an eight man patrol west on the Coco river in two shallow draft motor boats after several mines in the Mosquito Coast had been raided by Camacho Ruiz the cousin of General Sandino, the Jeb Stuart of Nicaragua. Ruiz hated the Yanqui mine owners who had come down to exploit the wealth of his country’s natural resources. Ruiz and Sandino had clerked for American Mine Owners in Honduras and in Mexico and knew the patterns of their payroll operations in Latin America. Ruiz robbed the offices of Canfield Zinc Operations in Tecaquita and killed four hired American guards Ruiz and his band of twenty men and four women burned the supply shed, warehouses, and closed the shafts with dynamite – in short Ruiz put Canfield out of business for four months.

In that time, intelligence had it that Camacho and his troop had cut northwest through the jungle and through the hills toward the Sandinista strong hold on the Coco River near Merizo in the North.

Capt. Edson sent a runner for Opley and Higgins in Cabo De Grazias de Diaz on the East Coast. ‘ Sergeant, I want you and Corporal, that’s correct Private, you are now purple. Do not lose the stripes on liberty. Take ten men in two boats with supplies and ammo for three weeks. Take the Coco west to Nell Island off the village of Tuskru Tara about 60 miles west of Cabo. Leave two men with the boats. Leave the newer meat. Cross at the shallows and sandbar here on the southwest of Nell and cut trail to set an ambush for Camacho Ruiz, we figure that he will try to make Buena Vista and you should intercept his column to the east & west flowing creek between Keri, Tore Cinco and Campiamento Omega. He is taking mule and trail up from the Mosquito Coast and you should intercept him - about here.’ Edson pointed to map with his letter opener – mother of pearl handle with photo in-lay cameo – his wife. ‘Gives you about eight square miles of patrol space to set up your ambush.’

‘Do we need to worry about prisoners, Captain? Punitive expedition?’

‘Purely.’ Edson looked at Higgins and understood his eagerness to get started as he loved violence and exercise.

‘Corporal, the United States of America is balancing the effectiveness of the Marine Corps in supporting Democratic Elections and not in creating an international incident. Prudent and effective termination of outlaw activity is paramount to that end. Exercise judgment. Lieutenant Murphy will want a complete report on your activities and you will maintain company records for this expedition as Sgt. Opley will have more than enough to do. I want an exact accounting for each round fired by whom and to what effect.’

With those orders, Lucas Opley and the skilled Corporal led the ten men into the boats – Opley and Higgins in the lead boat and PFC. Gunty with three men – the 60mm mortar and the Lewis Gun ands supplies. Two of the three would stay on at Nell Island to watch the boats and man the Lewis. Opley laid out the plan.

‘Privates Sater and Dupuis, you will be charged with protecting the boats and ammo stockpile until the patrol returns. Gunty you will have charge of the .60 -mm. bring twenty rounds and take ten rounds on the trail and leave the rest with Sater and Dupuis. Pick your mortar team.’

Gunty pointed –‘Essenhouse and Krieg. Draw shotguns and pistols. Geisser, Loew - Thompsons, Durkin, Flatt, and Pall take ‘03s and draw pistols all of you. Cpl. Higgins will take the Browning and Flatt –you will assist him. Each man will carry ten grenades and a hundred rounds. No mules so it will be all ‘cut trail’ about fifteen miles south of the Coco but all down hill. The bandits are coming to us. Each morning, Higgins or I will take one man with light pack and pistols for a look see. I expect to do three miles a day and no more. We want to stay fresh and sharp. When we spot the bandits we will have already staked out a solid ambush point and fleshed out any escape paths. We will not talk to natives on this one. We want to appear to be a standard patrol on the river. Equipment check in three hours – Corporal Higgins get the gear.’

Fourteen days later, after cutting trail and scouting the slopes south of the Coco, Sgt. Opley spotted the line of march of Ruiz and his Sandinistas. Half of the twenty four rode and the half guided the mules and traded every four hours. It was an arduous task moving the men and supplies up and out of contact with the Coalition Police patrols that only half-heartedly wanted to catch Ruiz. The Yanquis were another story, because they wanted to stay close to the cantinas y putas in Cabo.

How wrong they were. Opley set his ambush about sixteen miles south of the Coco River – midway between the towns of Torre Cinco to the east and Campamiento Omega to the west. Jungle country just west of the Wawa River where a shallow creek running southwest from the Coco curved away from the flow of the Wawa and the tired and confident Camacho column waded against its gently running waters between two sets of hills. No sounds but what God had placed there to give voice and echo – but that whistle?

Gunty’s five nicely patterned .60 mm. mortar rounds wildly drove Camacho’s column to meet the enfilading fire from Thompsons and Springfields and into the teeth of the powerful Browning automatic rifle in the hands of Billy Wheat Higgins. Every man and woman in the column was knocked hors de combat by the Yanqui lead and tried to fire back in panic and futility. Half of Ruiz’s column was killed outright by mortar and the cross-fire. Camacho himself lay face up in mid- stream coughing up bits of lung and pints of blood while gulping in fresh cool water from the Coco River tributaries – purified through its course and now toxic with Nicaraguan blood.

Opley and Higgins emerged from their cover and signaled the other Marines to do likewise. They fired into the bodies of wounded and dead. One woman with her right knee shattered by a round from a Thompson found the strength to fire her revolver at Pvt. Flatt and hitting him square between the eyes before having her body shredded by Higgins. Billy picked up the woman’s revolver - it was an Army Colt .45 but now useless as one of the rounds from the BAR had impacted on its cylinder. Billy tossed the gun. ‘Meskita snatch out of business! Flatt‘s seen the end of days, Sergeant. ‘Hollowed out the back of his melon for fair. The rest of you pollywogs make some holes in these greasers before one of ‘em sends you on to the beyond.’

The firing continued tightly and efficiently. When every soul had been set free, Lucas Opley took a Kodak Rainbow Hawk-Eye No. 2A, Model C camera from his haversack and photographed every body where it lay including Private Lester Flatt, USMC age 17. He then took a picture of the seven survivors and Billy Higgins and then posed with Billy and handed the camera off to Gunty for his turn. The photographs would be developed and sent by Major Utley in Cabo to Gen. Augusto Cesar Sandino through his channels in Honduras. Copies of the photos would stay with the American charge d’affaires in Cabo. Opley kept duplicates for himself and his liberty mate Billy.

August 10, 1944 - From My Novel The Chorito Hog Leg, Book One: A Novel of Guam in Time of War

August 10th marks the day in 1944, when American Territory Guam was declared 'secure' after more than two years of Japanese Occupation. My historical novel, The Chorito Hog Leg, Book One: A Novel of Guam in Time of War tells the story of a teenager from Chicago, Tim Cullen, who maintains his vow to an officer he respects. Cullen's platoon commander, John A. Buck of Giddings Texas, asks Cullen to return an antique Colt Revolver to his family, in the event of his death. Lt. Buck trusts the young combat veteran to hold on to an return the Colt, knowing that their battalion commander desires the gun.

Book One of my novel is a fictional treatment of the events covering the time from April 1944 when the 3rd Marine Division trained for the Guam Campaign on Guadalcanal to the day, August 10, 1944, when Corps Commander General Roy Geiger declared Guam 'secure.' The irony is that more than 10,000 Japanese continued to fight the Chamorros of Guam, the U.S. Army and especially the men of the 3rd Marines (regt.) ofthe 3rd Marine Division. Here is the conclusion of Book One - from The Chorito Hog Leg, Book One: A Novel of Guam in Time of War:

Col. Stuart’s 3rd Marines with the Doggies of the 307th
on their right were gaining about four miles of Guam a day.
Now shifted to the Division’s left flank with elements of the 1st
Provisional Marine Brigade taking the east coast roads north
shattered the Japanese at Finegayan and finally liberated a town
– huts, pigs a chapel and gas station and plenty of desperate Japs.
Guys from the 21st Marines discovered about 30 Chamorros
mostly teenagers and old men, beheaded with their arms tied
behind their backs. Everywhere the Marines found abused and
terrified people – real boon dock dwellers and as unfamiliar
with English as they were with Japanese. The Marines and
G.I.s showered the people with boxes of rations and in turn the
liberators were kissed and housemaided! Many people tried to
follow the Marines up to the combat and needed to be gently but
sternly kept back. At night Marines heard howling through the
jungle and thought that some small animals were signaling their
final stages of starvation.

Lt. Ames - over Sgt. Mike Joyce’s strident ‘Are you fuckin’
nuts? Table of Organization, Sir! ‘- demanded to take point two
miles past Finegayan and was decorated with a sniper round
that made a clean hole through his forehead – he walked three
paces before he fell over. Pat Collins killed the sniper.
Stanley Paul and little Onarga Roberts were killed at the
road block defended by twenty Japanese soldiers and a light
tank. Henry Clay killed the crew of the tank when he noticed
that one of the hatches was opened slightly; tossed a white
phosphorous grenade down into the turret. Henry was still
talking to himself and his act of valor might have been an
attempted suicide, but he was awarded the Bronze Star (V) and
picked up a Purple Heart to boot because he had not closed
the hatch and a white hot smoking fragment went into his left
cheekbone. Never uttered a squeak. Maybe he was nuts.

Tim Cullen made great use of the Browning in this fire
fight and damaged the barrel so badly that he needed to have
the weapon surveyed with Sgt. Masterson and drew a new
Browning when they were pulled off the line.

On August 10th, the 3rd Marines reached the northern shore
of Guam and the 4th Marines of the 1st Brigade made Ritidian
Point. General Bruce’s 77th (MARINE) Division had conquered
Mount Santa Rosa and Yiga in the northwest of the island and
organized Japanese Operations ceased.
General Roy Geiger declared Guam secured. That was
nice, true and all, but more than 10,000 armed Japanese needed
to be flushed from the jungles of America’s most important
forward Base of Operations in the Pacific. A Company of 1st
Battalion, 3rd Marines was relieved of duties and marched back
to Agana. Chorito Cliff had been worth the sacrifice and now
Tim Cullen could honor his debt. He needed to stay as public
as possible. Though he genuinely liked Pat Collins now, Tim
Cullen would use his nearness; not so much for companionship
but to have some witness to whatever Major Opley planned in
the way of getting the Chorito Hog Leg. Tim could not wait
to have Regiment clerks prepare shipping manifests and Col.
Stuart’s signature and get rid of this fucking Colt!

He marched south carrying the Browning now out of action and
LieutenantJohn A. Buck’s Colt Revolver buttoned up under his
utilities.

The long line of the A Company men passed their two brother
Companies and the Headquarters Company of 1st Battalion and
Major Lucas Opley. The Major caught Pfc. Cullen’s stare and
returned it in kind and but snapped a twitch when the BAR
man patted the covered shoulder holster and Colt in an open
act of defiance. 1st Battalion had work to do in the north and
would be back in Agana and Third Division Camp in a day or
two. This contest was far from over. Guam was secured but
Lieutenant Buck’s Colt was still on Guam. Opley would have it.
Cullen would return it to Buck’s family. Guam was secured, but
10,000 Japanese disagreed and would until 1972. That is war.

http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~44494.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/Chorito-Hog-Leg-Book-Novel/dp/1434302024/ref=sr_1_1/002-2385967-3823240?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179924455&sr=8-1

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781434302021&itm=1

July 21st Marks the 63rd Anniversary of Guam's Liberation - Hafa Adai!

Two Part Historical Novel Fuses Guam and Chicago History by Pat Hickey

My novel The Chorito Hog Leg, Book One: A Novel Guam in Time of War concerns the liberation of Guam in World War II and fuses Chicago and Guam history.The title comes from a place where hundreds of American teenagers died in July 1944 and an antique revolver. The revolver is not that important, but Chorito Cliff was and is to a generation of men and women who are disappearing at too great a rate.Chorito is the name of a cliff overlooking the Asan beaches on Guam. In 1944, the 3rd Marines assaulted Chorito Cliff and Bundeschu Ridge. A Hog Leg is the nickname for an 1860 Colt .45 Revolver.

While working on the Every Heart and Hand: A Leo High School Story, I was struck by how many members of the Leo Class of 1943 served in the Marine Corps and also in the Guam Campaign. Likewise, it struck me that almost nowhere in popular culture has room enough been made for the most loyal Americans - the People of Guam - The Chamorros.

I started doing some homework and the result is a historical novel in two parts. Part One covers the time of April 1944 to August 10, 1944 and introduces some of the fictional and historical characters who figure in this work. Within the carnage of battle is a war pitting a young man, Tim Cullen Leo High School '43, against his battalion commander over the possession of an 1860 Army Colt .45 Hog leg revolver which can be traced back to Capt. Myles Keogh who died with Custer. The last owner is the doomed Lt. Jack Buck of Giddings, TX.

Buck will be killed in the taking of Bundeschu Ridge, but Jack Buck had exacted a promise from Pvt. Tim Cullen of his platoon to keep it from the hands of Major Lucas Opley, an up from the ranks Marine of legend, and return the Colt to his family in Texas.

This story also brings in life in Chicago's south side, in particular the people who lived along 79th Street in the 1940's. Historical personages like some of the great men of Leo High School ( Whitey Cronin, Briother Finch, Jimmy Arneberg, Bob Hanlon, Bob Kelly, Dick Prendergast & etc.), Lyndon Johnson, General Roy Geiger, Col. 'Red Mike' Edson, Father Jesus Duenas, Radioman Paul Newman, Ensign Johnny Carson, Edward J. 'Spike' O'Donnell, Mayor Ed Kelly and Brother Francis Finch mingle with fictional characters Tim Cullen, Gunny Billy Higgins, Lucas Opley, Dr. Ted Tanaka and Betty Cruz. Life in St. Sabina's Parish and along 79th Street in Chicago is recreated to the best of my powers.

My narrative uses the intrusive narrator that offers commentary on the action and infuses a moral tone. At the outset, I wish to apologize for any typos that sneaked past my tired old eyes - placing an 'and' where I mean to place ad 'an' - writers are not the best editors. ( 'best hell- Hickey; not even close to H.S.')

The story is about a young man who developed a sharp moral sense in his neighborhood and a devotion to his word to others - fashioned in the pews of St. Sabina Church, the halls of Leo High School, the playing surface of Shewbridge Field and along 79th Street. Cullen's values and sense of honor is tested by circumstances and the hidden agenda of an otherwise good man, Maj. Lucas Opley.Parallel to Cullen’s ordeals with the 3rd Marines and suffering on Japanese occupied Guam are movie house operator Juan Cruz and his family, as well as an exiled Japanese American Dentist and his movie star wife. Exacting the cruelty is the oafish Boson Otayama and the American educated Lt. Kato. Awaiting liberation are also such historical figures of Guam’s history as Father Duenas and Pastor Sablan who heroically protected American George Tweed from the Japanese for two years.The touchstone Hog-leg revolver, in its shoulder holster, will be taken from Lt. John A. Buck’s body by Cullen at an aid station on Guam’s Red Beach 2 and cause Cullen no end of problems. The Battalion commander wants the Colt Hog-leg.

Cullen hangs on to the weapon but never uses it and is repeatedly ordered by Maj. Opley to hand it over. Opley wants it for himself. This through-the ranks career officer will undo himself through his own devices and be sent home under a cloud after years of service to the Corps after the Guam Campaign.In the Fall of 2007, the second book of The Chorito Hog Leg story will follow the adventures of Tim Cullen through the mopping-up actions on Guam, the Iwo Jima Campaign, the sinking of U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Atomic Bombings of Japan, the beginning of the War Crimes Trials on Guam and return Cullen, through the great Pacific Typhoon of 1945, to Chicago. Again, the author will employ the ‘intrusive narrator’ technique used by William Makepeace Thackeray in his 19th Century historical fictions.I hope that I do some justice to the generation who served in World War II and to the great people of Guam.

The book is available through the Web at these links:

http://www.amazon.com/Chorito-Hog-Leg-Book-Novel/dp/1434302024/ref=sr_1_3/103-6224312-8382221?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177098999&sr=1-3

http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~44494.aspx

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781434302021&itm=1

I hope that I do some small justice to the story.

Two Part Historical Novel Fuses Guam and Chicago History

My novel The Chorito Hog Leg, Book One: A Novel Guam in Time of War concerns the liberation of Guam in World War II and fuses Chicago and Guam history.
The title comes from a place where hundreds of American teenagers died in July 1944 and an antique revolver. The revolver is not that important, but Chorito Cliff was and is to a generation of men and women who are disappearing at too great a rate.

Chorito is the name of a cliff overlooking the Asan beaches on Guam. In 1944, the 3rd Marines assaulted Chorito Cliff and Bundeschu Ridge. A Hog Leg is the nickname for an 1860 Colt .45 Revolver.

While working on the Every Heart and Hand: A Leo High School Story, I was struck by how many members of the Leo Class of 1943 served in the Marine Corps and also in the Guam Campaign. Likewise, it struck me that almost nowhere in popular culture has room enough been made for the most loyal Americans - the People of Guam - The Chamorros. I started doing some homework and the result is a historical novel in two parts. Part One covers the time of April 1944 to August 10, 1944 and introduces some of the fictional and historical characters who figure in this work.


Within the carnage of battle is a war pitting a young man, Tim Cullen Leo High School '43, against his battalion commander over the possession of an 1860 Army Colt .45 Hog leg revolver which can be traced back to Capt. Myles Keogh who died with Custer. The last owner is the doomed Lt. Jack Buck of Giddings, TX. Buck will be killed in the taking of Bundeschu Ridge, but Jack Buck had exacted a promise from Pvt. Tim Cullen of his platoon to keep it from the hands of Major Lucas Opley, an up from the ranks Marine of legend, and return the Colt to his family in Texas.This story also brings in life in Chicago's south side, in particular the people who lived along 79th Street in the 1940's.

Historical personages like some of the great men of Leo High School,Lyndon Johnson, General Roy Geiger, Col. Red Mike Edson, Father Jesus Duenas, Radioman Paul Newman, Ensign Johnny Carson, Edward J. 'Spike' O'Donnell, Mayor Ed Kelly and Brother Francis Finch mingle with fictional characters Tim Cullen, Billy Higgins, Lucas Opley, Dr. Ted Tanaka and Betty Cruz. Life in St. Sabina's Parish and along 79th Street in Chicago is recreated to the best of my powers. My narrative is the intrusive narrator that was used to offer commentary on the action and infuse a moral tone. At the outset, I wish to apologize for any typos that sneaked past my tired old eyes - placing an 'and' where I mean to place ad 'an' - writers are not the best editors.

The story is about a young man who developed a sharp moral sense in his neighborhood and a devotion to his word to others - fashioned in the pews of St. Sabina Church, the halls of Leo High School, the playing surface of Shewbridge Field and along 79th Street. Cullen's values and sense of honor is tested by circumstances and the hidden agenda of an otherwise good man, Maj. Lucas Opley.



Parallel to Cullen’s ordeals with the 3rd Marines and suffering on Japanese occupied Guam are movie house operator Juan Cruz and his family, as well as an exiled Japanese American Dentist and his movie star wife. Exacting the cruelty is the oafish Boson Otayama and the American educated Lt. Kato. Awaiting liberation are also such historical figures of Guam’s history as Father Duenas and Pastor Sablan who heroically protected American George Tweed from the Japanese for two years.


The touchstone Hog-leg revolver, in its shoulder holster, will be taken from Lt. John A. Buck’s body by Cullen at an aid station on Guam’s Red Beach 2 and cause Cullen no end of problems. The Battalion commander wants the Colt Hog-leg. Cullen hangs on to the weapon but never uses it and is repeatedly ordered by Maj. Opley to hand it over. Opley wants it for himself. This through-the ranks career officer will undo himself through his own devices and be sent home under a cloud after years of service to the Corps after the Guam Campaign.

In the Fall of 2007, the second book of The Chorito Hog Leg story will follow the adventures of Tim Cullen through the mopping-up actions on Guam, the Iwo Jima Campaign, the sinking of U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Atomic Bombings of Japan, the beginning of the War Crimes Trials on Guam and return Cullen, through the great Pacific Typhoon of 1945, to Chicago. Again, the author will employ the ‘intrusive narrator’ technique used by William Makepeace Thackeray in his 19th Century historical fictions.

I hope that I do some justice to the generation who served in World War II and to the great people of Guam.

http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~44494.aspx