Pershing and the Marines

Valued reader and Marine Corps veteran Donald Harris asks about Pershing and the United States Marines.

Legend has it that Pershing loathed the Marines.

Now during the war the Marines were brigaded and combined with an army brigade to form the Second Division. Marine Corps Legend John Lejeune eventually commanded.

In our research on Pershing we never found anything to indicate Pershing didn't like the Marines and as mentioned above Lejeune would command the 2nd Division. This is important becuase Pershing had absolute control over the American Expeditionary Force and only Pershing men commanded divisions, corps and armies. He knew a stunning proportion of those commanders from West Point Days.

The only statements we've found from Pershing about the Marines are complimentary, at least according to the marines, heh.

The Great War made the Marine Corps what is today. One of their most famous battles came at Belleau Wood. Here the last great German offensive of 1918 slammed into the marine brigade. As he formed the AEF Pershing insisted upon marksmanship, something the British and French had moved away from. Here it paid off as the Marines made mincemeat of the attacking Germans. Soon after the Marines went on the offensive and cleared the wood. As they were a group distinct from the army, the press played up the Marine angle in their accounts of the battle. Thus a legend was born.