Chesty Puller Essays

Chesty Puller Essays Chesty Puller Essay Chesty Puller Essay Lewis B. â€Å"Chesty† Puller By: Jeffrey Edinger militarywisdom. net/page7. html http://articles. dailypress. com/keyword/chesty-puller http://militarytimes. com/citations-medals-awards/recipient. php? recipientid=5665 http://militarytimes. com/citations-medals-awards/recipient. php? recipientid=5665 http://militaryhistory. about. com/od/WorldWarIILeaders/p/World-War-Ii-Korean-War-Lieutenant-General-Lewis-Chesty-Puller. htm tricitymarines. com/puller. htm military. com/Content/MoreContent? file=ML_puller_bkp ampuslibertyalliance. com/blog/21-american-hero-and-us-marine-chesty-puller semperfidelisnoah. com/TheFewTheProud. htm [pic] Lewis Burwell Puller was born on June 26th, 1898. He was born in West Point, Virginia, to his mother Martha and his father Matthew Puller. Lewis grew up listening to old Civil War Veterans talk about the military because his father died when he was only ten years old. He soon wanted to join the United States Army in 1916 , but could not because he was too young and his mother would not sign him off. A year later he began to attend Virginia Military Institute, but left a year after enlisting in the institute. Lewis left because he went to enlist in the United States Marine Corps in Paris Islands, South Carolina. Although, Lewis joined the Marines towards the end of World War I, he did not attend in any battle. Soon after graduating boot camp he soon attended Officer Candidates School (OCS), in Quantico, Virginia. After, graduating OCS on June 16th, 1919, Lewis was given the ranking of Second Lieutenant in the Reserves. The amount of soldiers in the force reduced from 73,000 men to 1,100 men. After being inactive for ten days, every soldier that was inactive was given the ranking of Corporal. When Lewis was a Corporal he was ordered to serve in the Gendarmerie dHaiti as a lieutenant. He was involved in forty encounters in Haiti. He tried to regain his office rank twice, but in 1922 he was appointed to the helper of Major Alexander Vandegrift . Lewis Puller soon returned home, to the United States and was appointed the ranking of Second Lieutenant. In these first years of the marines Lewis was acquired his nick name Chesty because of his perfect body structure. This means he had a iron chest and that he was a extremely strong man. He was assigned some jobs to do in Norfolk, Virginia, at the Marine Barracks and at the Basic school, and the 10th Marine Artillery Regiment in Quantico, Virginia. Then in July of 1926 Chesty, was assigned to the Marine barracks in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Two years later Chesty was assigned to the Marine Barracks in San Diego, California. In that year Puller was assigned to the Nicaraguan National card. This is were he received his first Navy Cross Award, for his actions between February and August of 1930. First Lieutenant Puller, successfully led his forces into five successful battles against superior numbers of armed bandit forces. They killed nine men and wounded a great amount of them. Despite the danger of losing his life he dished out these five successful attacks on the bandit forces. That’s how Lewis Burwell Puller received his first Navy Cross. He returned home to the United States in July 1931 and completed a year-long Company Officers Course at Fort Benning, Georgia. Soon after returning to Nicaragua in September of 1932, Chesty received yet another Navy Cross. Chesty and his men penetrated the isolated mountains of bandit territory for a distance of eighty to one hundred miles north of Jinotega, his nearest base. They were ambushed on the 26th of September, 1932. This happened at Mount Kilambe by a rebel force of one hundred fifty men in a well-prepared position armed with more than seven automatic weapons and various classes of small arms and extra ammunition. Early in the combat, Gunnery Sergeant Lee, the Second in Command was seriously wounded and reported as dead. The patrol behind Puller was shot down in a flash. Puller ordered his men to shoot at the direction where the gun fire was coming from. They branched off to higher ground and killed many rebel soldiers and the battle was a victory for Puller and his men. Therefore by his courageous and determined actions, Lewis Burwell Puller obtained his second Navy Cross. Lewis Puller once again, returned home to the United States in August of 1941. After being on short leave he was stationed in New River, North Carolina. Chesty was give command of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines of the 1st Marine Division. This means they are the first group of marines out of seven, in the First Marine Division. Early in the Pacific theater, the 7th Marines formed the strongest and smartest people of the newly created 3rd Marine Brigade and arrived to defend Samoa on May 8, 1942. Later, they were redeployed from the brigade and on September 4, 1942, they left Samoa and rejoined the 1st Division at Guadalcanal on September 18, 1942. Early after arriving in Guadalcanal Major Puller led his battalion into heavy action, this was not a wise choice for who ever made the order. Pullers swift thinking saved three of his companies from total devastation. In the action, these companies were surrounded and cut off by a larger Japanese force. Puller ran to the shore, signaled the USS Monssen, a US navy destroyer, and then directed the destroyer to provide fire support while landing crew rescued his Marines from their dangerous position. For his actions, he was awarded the Bronze Star. The Bronze Star is a United States Armed Forces individual military medal that may be awarded for bravery, and acts of merit. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the V for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the U. S. Armed Forces and the ninth highest military award (including both combat and non-combat awards) in the order of precedence of the United States military decorations. Officers from the other federal uniformed services are also eligible to receive the award if they are or detailed to serve with a service branch of the armed forces. Later on Guadalcanal, Puller was awarded his third Navy Cross, in what was later known as the Battle for Henderson Field. Lewis Puller, commanded 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, which was the only American unit defending the airfield against a strong Japanese force. In this fight we only suffered around 70 casualties, and the strong Japanese force had over 1,400 killed. Major Lewis B. Puller and his small battalion held their own against a humongous Japanese force. Major Lewis Puller was then made executive officer of the 7th Marine Regiment. While serving at Cape Gloucester, Puller was awarded his fourth Navy Cross for overall performance of duty between December 26, 1943 and January 19, 1944. While, under heavy machine gun and mortar fire, Puller cleverly organized the battalion and a successful attack against a heavily armed Japanese defensive positions. He was promoted to colonel on February 1, 1944, and by the end of the month had been made commander of the 1st Marine Regiment. Colonel Puller, would lead the 1st Marines into the protracted battle on Peleliu, one of the bloodiest battles in Marine history during October 1944, action where he was awarded his first Legion of Merit. After the war, he was made Director of the 8th Reserve District at New Orleans. During the beginning of the Korean War, Puller was once again assigned as commander of the 1st Marine Regiment, with which he made a landing at Inchon on September 15, 1950, earning his Silver Star. For leadership from September 15 to November 2, he was awarded his second Legion of Merit. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross from the Army for action from November 29 to December 5, 1950 and his fifth Navy Cross for action during December 5–10 at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. In January 1951, Puller was promoted to brigadier general and was assigned duty as assistant division commander of the 1st Marine Division. On February 24, however, his superior, Major General O. P. Smith, was transferred to command X Corps when its Army commander. Smith’s temporary transfer left Puller in command of his beloved 1st Marine Division. He would serve as ADC until he completed his tour of duty and left for the United States on May 20, 1951. General Puller received promotions to major general and lieutenant general, and served in various commands until he suffered a stroke from high blood pressure and retired in 1955.