US Marine Corps Recruit Depot - Yearbook (Parris Island, SC)

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V?T?,'l:4g 5 1: THE MAIN GATE Parris Island, South Carolina Boulevard De France r . '51 1 , PARRIS ISLAND wi-lens rr ALL BEGINS fig

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OP NN T THE MENTAL AND MORAL QUALITIES of the United States Marine have been tested constantly since the birth of the nation. All through the long history of the Marine Corps there are examples, both in war and peace, of his versatility, trustworthiness, singleness and tenacity of purpose, courage, faithfulness and self-sacrifice. The rich tradition of the Corps dates back to November 10, 1775, when it was established by the Contintental Congress. In the Revolutionary War, the Marines fought against the British Fleet on the ships of John Paul Jones, and made their first amphibious landing on the beaches of the Bahamas in 1776. Marines ended their war with the Mediterranean pirates when they planted the Stars and Stripes over the pirate stronghold of Derne, in Tripoli, after a six-hundred-mile march across the desert of North Africa. In the War of 1812, they fought on Lake Champlain and Lake Erie, and were with General Jackson behind the barricades at New Orleans. They defeated the Seminole Indians in the dense swamps of Florida in 1836, and fought under General Scott in the Mexican War of 1846-48. Their first visit to Japan came in 1854 as guard detaclunents from the ships of Commodore Perry's fleet. Under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee, U.S.A., Marines captured John Brown at Harper's Ferry in 1859. They fought savages in Formosa in 1867, and stormed the barrier forts of Korea in 1871. During the Spanish- American War, a single battalion of Marines held the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, against 6,000 Spaniards, while other Leathernecks distinguished themselves at the Battle of Santiago and with Dewey at Manila. They helped quell the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900, and from then on until World War I, men of the Corps campaigned in the Philippines, Cuba, Mexico, Haiti, and Santo Domingo to protect American lives and property. On the battlefields of France, Marines were called Devil Dogs by the Germans because of their courage and tenacity of attack. In the first World War, the Fourth Brigade of Marines took part in five operations as part of the famed Second Division of the A.E.F. - Belleau Wood, Soissons, St. Mihiel, Champagne, and the Meuse-Argonne, Marine units were decorated six times by the French during these campaigns. The interim between world wars found the Marines engaged in developing the technique of amphibious warfare and in their traditional pursuits around the globe, from guarding the U.S. mails to fighting bandits in Nicaragua. World War I I saw the men who wear the eagle, globe, and an anchor valiantly defend Wake Island and Bataan and then spearhead the amphibious landings across the Pacific in the Solomons, at Tarawa, Saipan, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, to name a few. Following the war, Marines continued to serve the nation, by having duty in Korea, Lebenon, Vietnam, Lebenon again and Grenada. The United States Marine Corps, rich in tradition and world-famed for its battle record and esprit de corps, plays an important role as the nation's force-in-readiness to help keep the peace throughout the world today.

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-1, ,,,, Y f 3 525,34 A x ug 31 1 --Mn-1. ,. ,wwf if , . K Z A! Y k W V NJ xl' in .1 'mmbwfmmi ,A-f Iwo Jima Monument , .- ,L , g A M111 if ' :wL..J-vw.12flWrr vii wsfwfilfi ' ' ,k,a,jinu'1Iv'ff:t1 ' ' 1 T -.:L,,..H', HISTCRY UF Parris Island Parris Island, located in Port Royal Sound, has a long and colorful history. Although the first Marines did not arrive on the island until June, 1891, the story of its occupancy by Europeans reaches back more than three centuries. The first to come to the area were Spanish explorers, who arrived in the harbor in 1520. They named the area Santa Elena and claimed it for the King of Spain. In 1562, a French expedition of Huguenots Cprotestantsl arrived in Port Royal. Under the command of Jean Ribaut, the French explored the harbor, landed on Parris Island, and somewhere in the region, established a small outpost called Charlesfort. Ribaut returned to France, with plans of expanding his foothold at Port Royal, however, before he could return the garrison of Charlesfort mutinied and returned to France. VVhen word of the French incursions reached Spanish authorities, an expedition was out-fitted under Pedro Menendez to destroy the French and place colonies along the southeast coast. Menendez established St. Augustine, defeated French expeditions, and in 1566, he came to Parris Island where he built his capital city of Santa Elena. For the next ten years, Parris Island i 'YQ- Depot Headquarters