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Many of you history mavens recall the name Merrill’s Marauders of WWII Burma fame.\u00a0 Russell Hamler, the last surviving member of the Marauders, died near Pittsburgh at age 99 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Marauders inspired a 1962 movie called \u201cMerrill\u2019s Marauders,\u201d and dozens of Marauders were awarded individual decorations after the war, from the Distinguished Service Cross to the Silver Star. The Army also awarded the Bronze Star to every soldier in the unit.<\/p>\n
The soldiers spent months behind enemy lines, marching hundreds of miles through the tangled jungles and steep mountains of Burma to capture a Japanese-held airfield and open an Allied supply route between India and China.<\/p>\n
They battled hunger and disease between firefights with Japanese forces during their secret mission, a grueling journey of roughly 1,000 miles (1,610 kilometers) on foot that killed almost all of them.<\/p>\n
In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed to have the Army assemble a ground unit, the 5307th Composite Unit Provisional, for a long-range mission behind enemy lines into Japanese-occupied Burma, now Myanmar. Seasoned infantrymen and newly enlisted soldiers alike volunteered for the mission, deemed so secret they weren\u2019t told where they were going.<\/p>\n
Merrill\u2019s Marauders \u2014 nicknamed for the unit\u2019s commander, Brig. Gen. Frank Merrill \u2014 were tasked with cutting off Japanese communications and supply lines along their long march to the airfield at the occupied town of Myitkyina. Often outnumbered, they successfully fought Japanese troops in five major engagements, plus 30 minor ones, between February and August 1944, according to the department.<\/p>\n
Starting with 3,000 soldiers, the Marauders completed their mission five months later with barely 200 men still in the fight.* Military Times<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
*per Wikipedia, that was actually 130 combat effectives. It says the Army also awarded them Ranger tabs \u00a0\u00a0 Wikipedia<\/a><\/p>\n
My poor math says that is at least a 94% casualty rate. Hamler was one of the wounded and had to hide, wounded, in a foxhole for 10 days until he could be evacuated. “Greatest generation” indeed.<\/p>\n
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