US Marine Corps Base - Yearbook (Quantico, VA)

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EEE MEET E EEEEE EESEEEE EEEIEEEE' EEEES Graduafes of The Marine Corps Candidafes' Class aT Ouanfico, Va., are immediafely senT To Reserve Officer's School where They sfudy and work for anofher Ten weeks. Upon successful complefion of The ROC The sTudenT officers are senf To The field where They complefe Their educafion on acfive dufy wifh Troops in The field. This educaTion confinues as long as They remain in The Corps. Life as an officer isn'T as Tough as Candidafes' Class, buf men sTill are graded consTanTly on milifary bearing and command presence. The ROC is more like a graduafe school. ln Ten weeks, officers' receive The emergency equivalenf of a nine-monfh course once given Naval Academy graduafes af Philadelphia Basic School. Classes are held in a modern school building wifh a large audiforium suifable for showing Training films. Tacfics are sfudied from an officer's viewpoinf, The individual and squad maneuvers give way To movemenfs of plafoons and companies. Baffalion, company and plafoon officers are changed each day among The sTudenT officers who acfually com- mand Their own groups for all formafions. Alfhough s+iII yelled aT, The prefix genTlemen, accompanies The verbal reproach. Whaf a far cry from The hey, you days! Trucks are used for Travel, and Table linen and personal waifers make The mess more aTTracTive. Some of The men geT married shorfly afTer being commissioned. ln spare momenfs There are bowling and pisfol Tournamenfs, class elecfions and hours on The golf course, aT The swimming pool or The sfable. Off dufy, life resembles a counfry club scene. Sfudenfw officers are sired To deafh by The enlisfed men and salufed so much Thaf They ofTen duck down an alley rafher Than risk The main drag, Two blocks long. Formal and informal dances af The club brings ouT The besf in Soufhern womanhood, especially during summer monfhs when senior officers' daughfers are home from college, Maior General l-l. M. Smifh, commanding general, gives a recepfion for each class. Men work iusf as hard as before, buf in a differenf manner and sfudy a good deal more. Buf The pressure isn'T as greaf and milifary self- assurance has been gained. The liTTle chapel is The scene of a few weddings. IT has Two wings, a small and a large, and a revolving alfar. During week days The small chapel is used for The Cafholic alfar, and on Sunday bofh Cafholic and ProTesTanT services are held in The larger wing. There is no more peaceful place in The world Than The dimly-liT chapel wifh The vigil lighf flickering soffly as The sound of Taps echoes across The camp proclaiming Thaf all is well. ln The ROC, men sfudy naval law, Topography, camouflage, combaf infelligence, aviafion, arfillery, communicafions, anfiaircraff defense and combaf principles of Tanks, infanfry weapons, rifle company, plaToon and squad. They learn abouf mess managemenf, posf exchange work, company adminisfrafion, Terrain appreciafion, aerial phofographs and landing operafions. ln all These and ofher subiecfs, class work precedes field problems and work on The acfual Terrain. The ground on selecfed siTes is sfudied for The bes+ infanfry locafions, for machine gun emplacemenfs or morfar holes, for locaTing anfi-mechanized defenses and guarding bivouacs againsf air affack, Each solufion is poinfed ouf in The field wifh Tesfs in every subiecf sfudied. The baffalion Travels an hour's ride for one week To Manassas To view hisforic Civil War Terrain and To relive some of The problems ThaT confronfed Lee and Sfonewall Jackson and The affacking Union generals. IT is a sobering Thrill To see old Trench rows running Through grassy hill counfry where nafure has nof yef erased The scars of The Civil War, The landing operafions complefe The formal ROC Training, The baTTalion arises af 0200 some morn in silenf blackness pierced only by The sfabbing barracks lighf. Affer a hasfy breakfasf, wiTh sand- E411 wiches sfuffed in pockefs, men march down To The Pofomac, carrying The regular equipmenf of an infanfry baffalion minus packs. Morfars, machine guns, aufo-rifles and regular arms are carried. Down af The dock, The Higgins landing boafs mill around, creafing a sfrange sighT in The murky fog, Their lighfs dimly visible from shore. Men climb from cargo nefs info boafs as They come Equipmenf is lowered down wiTh ropes and hand over hand, rifles slung over backs, dangling. alongside The plafform. The men climb The neTs canfeens and bayonefs OuT on The misfy river The boafs roam, waifing for The formafion To complefely assemble. lnsfrucfions have been issued and every minufe is accounfed for. Finally The boafs are loaded and The waves of snub- nosed craff move off in formafion Toward The rendezvous area a few miles Toward The sea. There The ships circle again before making The inifial sfabbing aTTack. Scouf bombers from The Fleef Marine Air Group pepper The hosfile shore wifh flour sack bombs in preparafion for The advance. Then The firsT wave speeds shoreward, followed by a second and a Third. As The boafs Touch boTTom, Marines leap ouf, holding rifles high ouf of The waisf-deep wafer. Gaining The shore, They charge againsf waves of machine gun blank ammunifion fire. The enlisfed men of The hosfile force are pushed back across The railroad Tracks and Then, wifhouf more Than a momenT's resf, The sfudenf officers are off for special Tasks, To capfure a railhead or To Take a supply sfore in a Town several miles disfanf. All morning men Tramp and fighf againsf zooming planes and hosfile scouf cars spiTTing blanks and raking The roads wifh imaginary bulleTs. The sand bag grenades soon are expended as baseball pifches land Them in open scouf cars for direcf hiTs, Some sfudenf officers even leT fly wifh oranges and dirf clods, A grinning machine gunner is hiT wiTh a soggy sandwich. A road barricade almosT Tips one of The scouf cars as The driver skids and plunges To one side To avoid a heap of logs and Tree sfumps placed in The road. Then The dusfy and firing hike back To The boafs in a rear guard acfion, fighfing all The way againsf aviafion and scouf cars Thaf have been blown off The road a hundred Times. Wading info The wafer and ouf To The boafs, The men refurn To The barracks and The knowledge ThaT Their Ten weeks as sfudenf officers is over and Thaf in weeks, monfhs and years To come They will have an opporfunify To work furfher problems where a wrong answer will bring a swifT deafh and The correcf solufion will send The hellions of l-lirohifo To Their doom and Turn back The l-liflerian legions of The damned. The sfudenf graduafes don'T say much, buf They are serving Today in Midway and Johnsfon Islands, in Hawaii and ashore and afloaf wiTh The Fleef Marine Force of The U. S. Marines, and They haven'T for- goffen Wake lsland or whaf Semper Fidelis means. . . -,k.-,, . xi V I . ,. . .se .fg,f:E. 5 K Ti .I U fl r F ?:I,2:E-V: r 4 I S A .-... 1 T .. if T i l ' -i' sy.. 'ki

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Taking posifions. OVER THE TOP! Leuthernecks Hit the Deck Rifleman covers 'Phe morfar squad. Simula+ed fire.