Thomas F. (hardtack) -
Every organization, town, city, state and nation has its legends. And sometimes those legends are based mostly, or partly, on myths. Earl "Pete" Ellis is a Marine Corps legend. Mostly due to his being a proponent of amphibious warfare in the early 20th century, when the Marine Corps was desperately searching for a new mission to justify its existence, as both the Navy and Army worked together in an attempt to eliminate it. Not that this was the only time that happened. Anyway, the USMC School for Amphibious Warfare is housed in Ellis Hall on the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia.
But a lot of what I learned about Ellis while I was an officer in the Marine Corps was based on myth, or whitewashed legend. For starters, Ellis was a bigot. If you weren't white, you weren't human. And, even before World War I he became an alcoholic, and was hospitalized repeatedly for this cause. In fact, the authors surmise that if he hadn't died in the Pacific, due to his alcoholism, he would probably have been forced to submit his resignation.
As a spy in Post-World War I Japanese territory, he was pretty much useless. Even before he left the U.S., he told several military and civilian acquaintances---with "no need to know"---that he was on a spy mission. He also told the same to people in Japan and on Japanese occupied islands. Go figure.
His mission was to see if the Japanese were fortifying islands the Japanese seized from the Germans in World War I. He failed to accomplish this mission, as the Japanese were aware that he was spying. It also didn't help, as one female missionary once related, that he was drinking 300 bottles of beer a week.
The legend is that the Japanese killed him to conceal their building fortifications on islands which the Marines would eventually assault in World War II. This isn't true. Researchers have since determined the Japanese military---due to their arrogance of not even contemplating defeat---didn't begin fortifying those islands until after their initial defeats in mid-World War II. What the Japanese wanted to conceal---while Ellis was 'spying'---was that these islands weren't being fortified and could be easily taken.
What exactly happened on the Japanese-occupied island where Ellis died may never be known. The U.S. Navy corpsman sent to retrieve his body returned in a catatonic state to the U.S. Navy hospital in Japan. Why? We will never know, as he died soon afterward in a Japanese earthquake.
Two points I'd like to make. First, one of the book authors retired as a Marine Corps colonel. I think this gives the book some real authenticity. Obviously, he wasn't anti-Marine.
Second, even as late as the early 70s. when I was still in the Marines, heavy drinking was considered normal. In fact, my battalion commander in Viet Nam was a drunk. And I remember two times I also over indulged while on active duty. Yet, soon after that, and before I left active duty in 1973, if you spent too much time in the Officer's Club drinking, you were pulled aside and informally counseled about your drinking. Repeated occurrences resulted in a bad fitness report.
But a lot of what I learned about Ellis while I was an officer in the Marine Corps was based on myth, or whitewashed legend. For starters, Ellis was a bigot. If you weren't white, you weren't human. And, even before World War I he became an alcoholic, and was hospitalized repeatedly for this cause. In fact, the authors surmise that if he hadn't died in the Pacific, due to his alcoholism, he would probably have been forced to submit his resignation.
As a spy in Post-World War I Japanese territory, he was pretty much useless. Even before he left the U.S., he told several military and civilian acquaintances---with "no need to know"---that he was on a spy mission. He also told the same to people in Japan and on Japanese occupied islands. Go figure.
His mission was to see if the Japanese were fortifying islands the Japanese seized from the Germans in World War I. He failed to accomplish this mission, as the Japanese were aware that he was spying. It also didn't help, as one female missionary once related, that he was drinking 300 bottles of beer a week.
The legend is that the Japanese killed him to conceal their building fortifications on islands which the Marines would eventually assault in World War II. This isn't true. Researchers have since determined the Japanese military---due to their arrogance of not even contemplating defeat---didn't begin fortifying those islands until after their initial defeats in mid-World War II. What the Japanese wanted to conceal---while Ellis was 'spying'---was that these islands weren't being fortified and could be easily taken.
What exactly happened on the Japanese-occupied island where Ellis died may never be known. The U.S. Navy corpsman sent to retrieve his body returned in a catatonic state to the U.S. Navy hospital in Japan. Why? We will never know, as he died soon afterward in a Japanese earthquake.
Two points I'd like to make. First, one of the book authors retired as a Marine Corps colonel. I think this gives the book some real authenticity. Obviously, he wasn't anti-Marine.
Second, even as late as the early 70s. when I was still in the Marines, heavy drinking was considered normal. In fact, my battalion commander in Viet Nam was a drunk. And I remember two times I also over indulged while on active duty. Yet, soon after that, and before I left active duty in 1973, if you spent too much time in the Officer's Club drinking, you were pulled aside and informally counseled about your drinking. Repeated occurrences resulted in a bad fitness report.
