Infantry Weapons Officer - History

History

Gunners were the first warrant officers in the Marine Corps when Henry Lewis Hulbert became the first Marine to pin on the Bursting Bombs on 24 March, 1917. Since that time the Gunner designation has undergone many changes including periods where no new Gunners were made from 1943-1956, 1959-1964, and 1974-1988. These usually being the result of Gunners being promoted to Temporary Commissioned officer status or changes in the laws governing the rank structure of the military.

Throughout this time few Marines have been able to rightly call themselves "Gunner" but though the list is short it is filled with legends of the Old Corps such as;

Henry Hulbert; hero of Samoa, Belleau Wood, and Blanc Mont. A trophy bearing his name and image is presented to a Marine Gunner for Outstanding Leadership every year by the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

Henry Pierson Crowe who talked General Julian C. Smith out of putting him in for a Medal of Honor after the Battle of Tarawa (he received the Navy Cross instead).

William Lee, the first Marine to receive three Navy Crosses but would spend World War II as a Japanese POW in China.

Lee's father-in-law Calvin C. Lloyd for whom the rifle ranges in Quantico are named; Though Lloyd retired a Major he always answered the telephone as "Gunner Lloyd".

There are other less well known, but important Gunners such as;

Ira Davidson, the "Daniel Boone of Iwo Jima", who received a Navy Cross for taking out multiple Japanese pill boxes with uncanny accuracy while under withering fire.

Gilbert Bolton who was himself decorated for valor with a Silver Star in Viet Nam for defending his platoon's position against a vastly larger NVA force by calling in six artillery missions on his own position and provided a link for the new breed of Gunners to the past.