How well do you know your Corps?

[beddoe]

By Patricia Kime
Marine Corps Times staff writer
==

How well do you know your Corps? Let’s find out. Grab a pen, a few fellow Marines and take our trivia challenge. There’s 50 questions in all — some easy, some tougher than your senior drill instructor. When you’re finished, check your answers below.
Home is …

1. Which Marine Corps base is nearly the size of Rhode Island?

2. Which former Marine Corps base housed some of the world’s largest wooden structures?

3. Which base had the first training center for black Marines and what was its name?

4. What briny name is sometimes used in reference to the Mountain Warfare Training Center in California?

5. Which area was once home to priests and then cowboys for hundreds of years before the land was acquired for a Marine base in 1942?

Units

1. Six flag-raisers were captured in a photo taken on Iwo Jima by photographer Joe Rosenthal during World War II. To what unit did those Marines belong?

2. Which unit is nicknamed “Suicide Charley” and how did it earn that moniker?

3. Which Marine battalion occupied the barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, when it was attacked by suicide bombers Oct. 23, 1983?

4. Thirteen members of which unit were interred in Arlington National Cemetery this year?

5. What was the nickname given to VMF-214 in World War II?

The commandants

1. There is no official portrait, likeness or sketch of one Marine Corps commandant. Who is it?

2. Which commandant left a note on his door: “Gone to fight the Indians — will be back when war is over”?

3. After which war was the office of the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps created?

4. Name the commandants who have earned the Medal of Honor.

5. Who was the first commandant to wear four stars?

History and tradition

1. What is the nickname of the Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps?

2. What alcoholic beverage is served to Marine Corps Band members on New Year’s Day?

3. When is the only time a Marine salutes indoors?

4. When was the term “gung-ho” first used?

5. On what Royal Marines emblem is the U.S. Marine Corps’ eagle, globe and anchor based?

6. What year was the Marine Corps Reserve created?

7. What is the name given to the shots fired at a military burial?

8. What oft-repeated quotation is attributed to two-time Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Maj. Dan Daly?

9. What is the symbol on an officer’s dress cover and why is it there?

10. What year were enlisted personnel first allowed to wear the eagle, globe and anchor emblem on their collars?

11. How many Marines died in the invasion of Grenada?

12. What foreign award is worn by members of the 5th and 6th Marines?

13 What president helped choose the site of Marine Barracks Washington, D.C.?

14. What Marine motto was adopted in 1883?

15. What type of cover did Marines wear during the Banana Wars?

History-making Marines

Match the clue with the Marine:

1. The first Marine Corps aviator.

2. The only Marine to surrender a regiment.

3. The only female Marine to serve in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II

4. The first female enlisted Marine

5. Medal of Honor recipient who participated in the invasions of Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Normandy


A. Samuel Howard

B. Lucille McClarren

C. John Basilone

D. Alfred Cunningham

E. Charlotte Day Gower

Weapons and warfare

1. What Marine aircraft was nicknamed the Bronco?

2. What does SMEAC stand for?

3. What was the first revolver manufactured specifically for the Marine Corps?

4. What year was the first automatic machine gun introduced in the Marine Corps?

5. What was the first helicopter to serve in combat?

6. What size gun was manned by Marine detachments serving aboard Navy battleships?

7. What is the MK155?

8. Which aircraft was nicknamed the Hellcat?

9. What vessel was called a “Mike” boat?

10. In what year was the M-16 introduced?

Alphabet soup

Name the term for each acronym:

1. TRAP

2. MCCDC

3. ACE

4. POA

5. FEBA


===============
Answers in part two below

[beddoe]

Answers

Home is…

1. Marine Air-Ground Task Force Training Command, Twentynine Palms, Calif.

2. Marine Corps Air Station Tustin, Calif.

3. Camp Lejeune, N.C. The training center, Montford Point, is now part of Camp Johnson, an education and training area of Camp Lejeune.

4. Pickel (“Pickle”) Meadows. The Corps’ Mountain Warfare Training Center is so remote many Marines say it’s in Bridgeport, Calif., which is 21 miles away.

5. Camp Pendleton, Calif. The area was settled by Franciscan priests in the late 1700s and taken over by ranchers following Mexico’s liberation from Spain in 1821.

Units

1. Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division. Pharmacist’s Mate 2nd Class John Bradley was assigned to the regiment.

2. Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, was nicknamed “Suicide Charley” because it bore the brunt of an overwhelming attack by three Japanese regiments on Guadalcanal on Oct. 24, 1942. The company, signaling that some of its members were still alive after the offensive, raised a white flag painted with a skull and crossbones and the nickname. The company is the only one in the Corps authorized to fly a second guidon — the skull-and-crossbones flag — at ceremonies.

3. 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, from Camp Lejeune, N.C.

4. The 2nd Raider Battalion. The Marines were killed during an assault on Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands in 1942.

5. The Black Sheep squadron, led by flying ace Maj. Gregory “Pappy” Boyington.

Commandants

1. Lt. Col. Anthony Gale, the fourth Marine Corps commandant. Gale, who served in the post during 1819-20, is one of two commandants to be court-martialed.

2. Col. Archibald Henderson, the Corps’ fifth commandant, who was in office for 39 years, starting in 1820.

3. World War II. The first official assistant commandant was Maj. Gen. Lemuel Shepherd

4. Four commandants wore the Medal of Honor: Maj. Gen. Wendell Neville, Gen. Alexander Vandegrift, Gen. David Shoup and Gen. Louis Wilson.

5. Gen. Alexander Vandegrift, who was commandant of the Corps from 1944 to 1947.

History and tradition

1. The Commandant’s Own.

2. Hot buttered rum — the last ration of an alcoholic beverage in the Marine Corps.

3. When he’s covered. And a Marine only goes covered indoors while under arms.

4. The origin of this term as a Marine Corps motivational tool can be traced to the China Marines, who served in Shanghai in the 1920s and ’30s. Brig. Gen. Evans Carlson, founder of the 2nd Raider Battalion, is credited for instilling the motto’s meaning, “work together,” into his unit.

5. The Globe and Laurel.

6. The Reserve was created in 1916, starting with three officers and 33 enlisted men.

7. The shots fired at a military burial are called a funeral volley. Quite often, they are mistakenly termed a “21-gun salute” by the general public and the press. A 21-gun salute is reserved for the president of the United States.

8. “Come on, you sons of bitches — do you want to live forever?” He posed the question to fellow Marines at the battle of Belleau Wood before assaulting a larger, better-equipped German unit.

9. The symbol is called a quatrefoil, and Corps lore says that the embroidered design was meant to inform fellow Marine sharpshooters in a ship’s riggings that the person wearing the cover was an officer. Many historians, however, believe that the design was added because it was popular on military uniforms of the period.

10. 1918. Then Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt presented it to them in honor of their courage at Belleau Wood.

11. None. Twelve Army personnel and two sailors died in Operation Urgent Fury in 1983.

12. The French fourragere was awarded to the regiments following Belleau Wood. Marines serving with those regiments today are still entitled to wear the decorative cord on their uniforms.

13. President Thomas Jefferson rode to the site with Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Col. William Ward Burrows.

14. Semper Fidelis — always faithful.

15. Originally called a “field hat,” the uniform item is now called a “campaign cover.” It was worn by all Marines from 1912 to 1942.

History-making Marines

1. D. Lt. Col. Alfred Cunningham became the Corps’ first naval aviator in 1912, widely regarded as the year Marine Corps aviation was born.

2. A. As Japanese forces overwhelmed the Marine forces on Corregidor in the Philippines in early 1942, Col. Samuel Howard ordered that the 4th Marines colors be burned, surrendering the unit May 6, 1942.

3. E. Capt. Charlotte Day Gower, who served in Washington, D.C. Formerly the dean of women at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, Gower was taken prisoner when the Japanese attacked and was held for five months before being repatriated. She went on to join the Marine Corps Reserve and later became its director of training.

4. B. Pvt. Lucille McClarren, of Nemahcolin, Pa., was among the first class of 722 women to report for training in March 1943.

5. C. Gunnery Sgt. “Manila” John Basilone, who received the Medal of Honor for his heroics on Guadalcanal. He declined an offer to stay stateside after earning the military’s highest honor and returned to the Pacific, where he died during the fierce fighting on Iwo Jima.

Weapons and warfare

1. The OV-10, a multi-mission aircraft used by the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The Corps’ observation squadrons used the Bronco for visual reconnaissance missions.

2. The five paragraphs of an operations order: situation, mission, execution, administration and logistics, and command and control.

3. The .38 caliber Colt revolver M1905 used in the Philippines and the Caribbean.

4. The Colt Machine Gun was introduced in 1895 and was first employed by a Marine battalion at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 1898.

5. The Sikorsky HO3S-1 was introduced to combat on Aug. 2, 1950. It was used as an observation platform by members of Marine Observation Squadron 6.

6. A Marine detachment serving aboard a battleship always manned one of the 12 5-inch guns. The battleships also had nine 16-inch guns.

7. A mine clearance launcher. It carries a linear demolition charge that can clear an area 100 meters long and 16 meters wide.

8. The Grumman F-6F, used by the Marine Corps and Navy from 1922 to 1962.

9. A mechanized landing craft.

10. The M-16 service rifle was introduced in 1967. The first-generation weapon was not met with enthusiasm by many Marines, however, many of whom complained of the weapon breaking down during combat.

Alphabet Soup

1. Tactical Recovery of Aircraft or Personnel.

2. Marine Corps Combat Development Command.

3. Air (or Aviation) Combat Element.

4. Power of attorney.

5. Base Realignment and Closure.

[beddoe]

How did you score?

Give yourself one point for every correct answer. Now, let’s see how your smarts match up:


45-50 — A Chesty Puller

40-45 — Drill instructor

35-40 — Hard-core Marine

30-35 — Marine green

25-30 — Back to boot camp

Under 25 — Poolee

[Bob Quinter]

Wally:
One correction. Jeb Segal, Jeff Scharver, and Pat Guerrero (sp) were all Cobra pilots killed in Grenada during Urgent Fury.
Semper Fi
Bob

[hma1369]

More corrections

Units #5
Prior to Boyington taking command, VMF-214 made its first two combat tours as the "Swashbucklers".

History making Marines #5
GySgt John Basilone was not at Normandy. He was at Camp Pendleton with the 27th Marines.

[Ryan]

Alphabet Soup
Questions
4. POA Position of attention
5. FEBA forward edge of the battle area

Answers
5. Base Realignment and Closure is BRAC

[Larry Zok]

Sounds like the staff writer did not do her research!!!Someone should forward all the corrections to them and see what they say.

Semper Fi

LZ

[Walt]

I think you are right Larry. The F6F Hellcat starting coming to the fleet in 1942 . It accounted for nearly 75% of the all the U S Navy 's air victories in WW2 . I'm sure it was out of service way before 1962 . I don't remember seeing any around in the mid fifties. Semper Fi Walt

[hma1369]

The first squadron delivery was 16 Jan 1943 to VF-9. The last report of Hellcats in service was 31 Aug 1953 with VC-4. F6F trainers were withdrawn from advanced training units in 1956. F6F-5D drone directors and F6F-5K drones remained in operation until May 1961

The F-6F designation used by the writer didn't exist. The USAAF had the F-6 photo version of the P-51 Mustang, but there wasn't an F model.

The Douglas F4D Skyray was redesignated F-6A in 1962, but no further versions produced.

[Ernie Needham]

I just wanted to say that a F6F that took pictures was a F6F-5P. I was a plane captain on a F6F-5P in the early 1950s. I sure wouldn't want to run with those wings today. Spreading and folding was real work even back then. From F6Fs I went to F9Fs,
some change!

S/F

Ernie Needham

[IGOR]

The last F6F date may not be correct. I believe they were still in use as training aircraft and as drones well after 1953.

For example The US Naval Aviation 1910-1980 book indicates that the last F11F reported in Squadron inventory was 4/30/61. I flew them at Kingsville in Nov 1963 and the Blues flew them through the 1968 airshow season.

Sempr Fi
IGOR

[GEORGE CURTIS]

Bob is correct on the Grenada KIAS see my post at



http://www.popasmoke.com/visions/image.php?source=953