History and Fandom

This isn't my typical blog posting, but bare with me.

So I have a cat named "Moose" and he is the current cat in my life in a long string of cats in my life.  I've had dogs and don't dislike them, but cats are just easier.  To be quite honest, they aren't as needy as dogs.  That says more about me than I'd like.  I digress. 

Moose showing me how to write

Because I enjoy cats, I enjoy people posting photos on social media of their cats (and dogs).  On twitter, somehow I came across an actor who has Maine Coon kitties, and enjoys posting their photos.  They are awesome and I was reminded how much I enjoy this actor.  First enjoyed watching him as Ritchie Valens, and most recently as Henry on "Longmire."  Yes, Lou Diamond Phillips.

Lou Diamond Phillips and kitties (from his Twitter)

I've liked his posts, and enjoyed seeing photos of his kitties and hearing about his latest projects (directing and acting). While I haven't started watching his latest show "Prodigal Son" (soon, I promise), the kitty photos keep me coming back.  I asked a question one day and his wife answered me AND he liked the tweets.  I was floored, and thrilled.  

I knew from my years as a Marine Corps historian that there was a tie between my work and this actor in the form of Master Gunnery Sergeant Leland "Lou" Diamond.  I don't know if the story is true about Mr. Phillips' dad knowing the Master Gunns, but I thought this would make a great way to talk about MGySgt Diamond and the character he was.

Have a few hashmarks!

Leland Diamond was born in Bedford, Ohio on 30 May 1890.  When the US joined the fight against Germany in April 1917, Leland soon left his job as a railroad switchman to enlist in the Marine Corps on 1August 1917.  Like many Marines, he went through bootcame at Paris (as it was spelled) Island in South Carolina.  In February 1918, he was a Corporal, embarked upon the USS Von Steuben bound for Brest, France.

On 11 June 1918, Diamond joined the 83d Company, 6th Regiment as a replacement.  The regiment was in the midst of the battle of Belleau Wood and needed the manpower. 

June 1918 Muster Roll 83d Company, 6th Regiment Extract

Diamond saw combat in every battle the Corps fought in during WWI: Chateau Thierry, Belleau Wood, Soissons, St. Mihiel and the Meuse Argonne.  He marched across the Rhine to occupy Germany after the armistice, and was promoted to Sergeant on 8 January 1919.

After occupation duty, he returned home to the US and was discharged at Quantico with excellent character with the rank of Sergeant.  

August 1919 Muster Roll 83d Company, 6th Regiment Extract

He returned to civilian life for two years, but apparently did not find the same satisfaction, so in September 1921, he reenlisted in the Marine Corps at Detroit, and was sent to Pensacola as a Private once again.

Promotions were rapid for him and while serving as Assistant Armorer at Parris Island in February 1925, he regained his sergeant's stripes.  In the summer of 1930, Diamond was sent to Shanghai to serve with 3d Battalion 4th Marines.  In September 1932, he was promoted to Gunnery Sergeant, and the next year he returned to the US proclaiming that China duty "wasn't much of a war."  Less than a year later, he returned to China with the same company, in the same battalion.

Diamond returned to the US again in January 1937, and eventually to duty with the 5th Marines as a platoon sergeant in the howitzer platoon.  On 10 July 1939, Diamond was with 2d Battalion 5th Marines at Quantico when he was promoted to Master Gunnery Sergeant.  

July 1939 Muster Roll 2d Battalion, 5th Marines Extract

Before America's entry into the Second World War, Diamond found himself and his battalion at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for duty until early 1941 when it returned to New River, North Carolina (today's Camp Lejeune) until all hell broke loose at Pearl Harbor.  America joined the war and the 5th Marines found themselves headed across the Pacific to New Zealand to get ready for combat.  He had to fight for the chance to go to combat against those who thought he was too old.

 When the 1st Marine Division landed on Guadalcanal on 6 August 1942, Diamond was with them and his fellow 5th Marines comrades.  He was 52 years old.  Think about that for a moment.  He hadn't seen true combat since 1918 and here he was landing on the beaches of the south Pacific at 52 years old.  

His fame takes off from here.  Among the many fables concerning his "'Canal" service is the tale that he lobbed a mortar shell down the smoke stack of an off-shore Japanese cruiser.  It is considered a fact,
however, that he drove the cruiser from the bay with his harassing
near-misses.

Diamond did his duty and was commended for it by the Commanding General of the 1st Marine Division, who soon became Commandant.  LtGen Alexander A. Vandegrift wrote:

The 'Canal was Diamond's last combat.  He contracted malaria, and had kidney trouble in addition to two broken ribs.  He was sent back to New Zealand to regain his health.  He returned to his Marines in Australia, but did not see combat again.  

While combat wasn't in his future, it was in his past and he could use that knowledge to teach the newest Marines before they would go to the Pacific.  Diamond was transferred to recruit depot at Parris Island, where he started as a Marine, to instruct recruits.  He continued through the end of the war to train recruits, but his time had come.  Diamond was retired in November 1945.

Just six years later, Diamond was gone.  His legend lives on.  He may not be as recognizable as Chesty or Ole Gimlet Eye, but Lou Diamond was loved by his fellow Marines.  Usually sporting his goatee, he was easy to spot. 

Leland "Lou" Diamond beardless

His Marines knew he would teach them how to fight, keeping them in line and when not fighting, how to remain ready. 

Leland "Lou" Diamond, you're remembered once again thanks to my love of cats, and a certain movie star.  Go figure.  As I've said so many times, if they are remembered, they live on!

Passing it Down

While trying to get an outline together for my book (maybe one day it will be a book) Devil Dogs in Any Clime and Place: Marines in Polar Exploration 1840-1956, I had to decide which Marines, and which expeditions/operation to include/exclude, particularly those of the 20th century.  Some were too limited (in scope or participation) and yet they seemed to beg to be included.  Should I just do the Byrd expeditions to the South Pole? Should I include every single one? I decided to step back and look at it from afar for a bit to help me decide.

As a Marine historian for 19 years, I learned quickly that one of the hallmarks of the Corps is the tradition and practice of "passing it down."

Maj Jack Elliott USMC (Ret) (93 y.o.) handed cake to 1stLt Dupree (24 y.o.) during History Division's 2017 USMC birthday cake ceremony

Whether it be a piece of birthday cake from the oldest Marine to the youngest, or traditions from the Sergeant Major to the Private, it is a fine example of passing on what you've learned.

With this in mind, I realized (as I looked from afar), there was a pattern that could guide me to deciding what expeditions/operations/Marines to include/exclude.  It was there, all the time, repeating itself.  The Marines themselves!

The chart above demonstrates that from Byrd's expedition to fly over the North Pole in 1926, to Operation DEEP FREEZE I in 1956, there was at least one Marine connecting each operation/expedition in between the two.  As you can see, there is a clear connection between these two operations, 30 years apart.  The "repeat customer" award goes to Boyd, who participated in at least 6 expeditions to both poles, followed by Green with three trips. 

 

I'm still digging, still doing research and know that several of the Marines of the earlier Byrd expeditions remained in touch with one another and with Byrd until his death.  However, I have yet to find any documents demonstrating that they passed their experiences on to their fellow Marines; time will tell.  I'm sure there were stories told as they floated their way south to Antarctica in 1928, or north during Operation NANOOK. But, alas, no smoking gun in the form of a letter or diary entry--yet.

What I am finding out about the Marines who participated in these operations is something that I found out about the earliest Marine aviators that I researched years ago.  It's something that makes them great Marines.  They each have the willingness to go into dangerous situations, often they are adventure seekers--today we might even call them adrenaline junkies.  Some are rascals, scamps, mischievous.  The overwhelming majority of them are career Marines who retire.  There is only one who, so far, seems to have received the "Big Chicken Dinner" and told (using Jack Elliott's phrasing) "out bum!"

I plan to compile statistical information on the entire list and include it in my concluding chapter.  Officers? Enlisted? Mustangs? Retirees? MOS? and the like.  It is already proving quite interesting and I'm not done going through the records--there are more than 150 Marines thus far, and going through the muster rolls one by one is slow.  But in COVID times, it's not like I can go to NARA.

Back to my point about passing it down...

Since 1798, one Marine has always passed down what they've learned to the next.  Often is it is valuable and sage advice, sometimes it is bad habits and poor examples of 'leadership.'  However, there is no refuting that it is in the fabric of the Marine Corps to do this and even with the faults, one that I (as a historian) am quite fond of and like the most.

Research during COVID

In May 2019, I started down the road of looking into five Marines who served in two of Richard E Byrd's Antarctic expeditions (1928-1930 and 1933-1935).  In the summer of that year, I ceased work on it for reasons unimportant to this discussion. 

But earlier this year, I decided those reasons that stopped me were no longer valid and I picked up where I left off and it has exploded, just in time for COVID-19 to really kick us all in the "jimmies" and bring things to a halt--or so I thought.  Research in COVID-times... 

Since I've had plenty of time on my hands in my off-hours, I've been doing research--99.5% of the research was done online or remotely via email.  Ancestry.com, Fold3.com, Proquest, random blogs and websites, newspapers.com, and online memorials have all been a treasure trove of information on individual Marines.  Online book sellers have made a killing off me these past 6 months, but in the end I will have a nice collection to donate to a repository one day.  Some of the books are signed first editions, others are signed by actual participants.

Ohio State's Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program is my "go-to" online resource.  Every time a new name was found, I cross checked it against their online database.  While they don't have everything online, there is plenty there to keep me coming back for more, and to get me excited to visit when life comes back to some semblance of normalcy.  

The major hold up on research is the closure of the National Archives (College Park and St Louis) and the less than stellar search engine of digitized materials--however, I will give them kudos for getting more out there.  They simply have so much that they won't be getting to the goodies I want any time soon. 

Marines at South Pole (Pitman Papers USMC HD)

A note on a couple useful online tools, if you'll indulge me.  First is Google.  Google's drive function, online office products and email has allowed me to put these materials in a safe place and to use an email that isn't tied to my personal stuff.  Oh I know there are plenty of similar tools out there, but I already knew how to use google and all it's gadgets and it has been a Godsend.  I have it already on my phone, and just put the app on my tablet, so now I don't have to drag my laptop everywhere.

Rocketbook is the next--anyone who is like me and loves to keep notes in notebooks, knows that they stack up after a while and you run the risk of losing them and unless you want to carry them everywhere (all of them) you're kind of stuck when you travel.  Rocketbook is basically a dry-erase notebook (with multiple pages) you write in, then using their app, digitize your notes.  I save mine back to the aforementioned Google drive and boom, wipe the book and move on.

Pocket is a feature that I didn't realize was in my Firefox browser--but it is! One click and I've saved a website to Pocket.  Why not just bookmark it? Well, again, if I don't have my laptop with me, I can just pull up the app on what ever device I'm using and there are all my bookmarks.  And frankly, not digging through bookmarks (open your app and search) is really nice.

Yes, there are plenty of other tools out there to keep you organized, but these are a few that I'm using that are making my life a little bit better and helping me keep my research organized.  

I'm game to hear what others have been able to do while in COVID-times--what tools are you using? What resources have you found online (surprisingly or not so surprisingly) and what are some of the difficulties you've overcome? Tell me! I want to hear!

The result of my research so far? No longer is it just five Marines and Byrd in two Antarctic expeditions, today it is over 120 Marines (another found just today) over in 10 expeditions to both poles!  There are some interesting finds in amongst this story of Marines involved in polar exploration, but guess you'll have to wait for me to write the bloody book!