Merrill's Marauders and Burma
In February 1944, under command of brigadier general Frank Merrill, 2,503 men and 360 mules began a 1,000 mile march - out of India, over the Patkai region of the Himalayas and deep into the Burmese jungle.
But on March 29, General Merrill suffered his first heart attack and command returned to then executive officer, Colonel Hunter.
Following months of forced marches through monsoon season, weakened by hunger and malnutrition, suffering from amoebic dysentery, malaria, various fevers, snake bite, scrub typhus, and fungal skin diseases they were reaching the end of their ability to continue. Captain Fred O. Lyons said the last thing keeping him going had been not letting Colonel Hunter down:
- " By now my dysentery was so violent I was draining blood. Every one of the men was sick from one cause or another. My shoulders were worn raw from the pack straps, and I left the pack behind...The boys with me weren't in much better shape...A scout moving ahead suddenly held his rifle high in the air. That meant Enemy sighted...Then at last we saw them, coming down the railroad four abreast...The gunner crouched low over his tommy-gun and tightened down. Then the gun spoke. Down flopped a half-dozen Japs, then another half dozen. The column spewed from their marching formation into the bush. We grabbed up the gun and slid back into the jungle. Sometimes staggering, sometimes running, sometimes dragging, I made it back to camp. I was so sick I didn't care whether the Japs broke through or not; so sick I didn't worry any more about letting the colonel down. All I wanted was unconsciousness."
August 3, 1944, following the last battle, Myitkyina was declared secure and on that day Col. Hunter was sent back to the United States.
After five major battles and seventeen minor engagements only two men survived without being hospitalized or killed. One was a lieutenant Phil Weld, who later became famous for his single-handed ocean racing of small sailboats. The other was Colonel Charles N. Hunter.
Read more about this topic: Charles N. Hunter
Famous quotes containing the words merrill, marauders and/or burma:
“God of justice, save the people
From the clash of race and creed,
From the strife of class and faction,
Make our nation free indeed;”
—William Pierson Merrill (1867–1954)
“When all this is over, you know what I’m going to do? I’m gonna get married, gonna have about six kids. I’ll line ‘em up against the wall and tell them what it was like here in Burma. If they don’t cry, I’ll beat the hell out of ‘em.”
—Samuel Fuller, U.S. screenwriter, and Milton Sperling. Samuel Fuller. Barney, Merrill’s Marauders (1962)
“If the Third World War is fought with nuclear weapons, the fourth will be fought with bows and arrows.”
—Louis, 1st Earl Mountbatten Of Burma Mountbatten (1900–1979)