EXTRA

In honour of the 234th birthday of the USMC, we have some extra items of note for your mortal meditation:

'The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!'

~ First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt ~

'We have two companies of Marines running rampant all over the northern half of this island, and three Army regiments pinned down in the southwestern corner, doing nothing. What the Hell is going on?'

~ General John W. Vessey, Jr, USA in regard to Operation Urgent Fury (Grenada, 1983) ~

'In the Army, shock troops are a small minority supported by a vast group of artisans, laborers, clerks and organizers. In the Marines there are practically nothing but shock troops."

~ John Lardner, combat correspondent in a report on the battle of Iwo Jima (1945) ~

'Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world, but the Marines don't have that problem.'

~ President Ronald Reagan ~

'The United States Marine Corps with its fiercely proud tradition of excellence in combat, its hallowed, and its unbending code of honor, is part of the fabric of American myth.'

~ Thomas E. Ricks, author - Making the Corps ~

'We are the United States Marines, and for two and a quarter centuries we have defined the standards of courage, esprit, and military prowess.'

~ General James L. Jones, Jr, USMC (32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps) ~

'The future success of the Marine Corps depends on two factors: first, an efficient performance of all duties to which its officers and men may be assigned; second, promptly bringing this efficiency to the attention of the proper officials of the government and the American people.'

~ Lieutenant General John A. Lejeune, USMC (13th Commandant of the Marine Corps) ~

'I selected an enormous Marine Corps emblem to be tattooed across my chest. It required several sittings and hurt me like the Devil, but the finished product was worth the pain. I blazed triumphantly forth, a Marine from throat to waist. The emblem is still with me. Nothing on earth but skinning will remove it.'

~ Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC on his time as a lieutenant in Asia ~

'Come on you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?'

~ Sergeant Major Daniel Daly, USMC at the Battle of Belleau Wood (France, 1918) ~

'Remember, you are the 1st Marines! Not all the Communists in Hell can overrun you!'

~ Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell 'Chesty' Puller, USMC at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir (Korea, 1950) ~