Quotations about U.S. Marines:
Submitted by Charlie Payne
The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of Marines. Lord, how they could fight!
MGen. Frank E. Lowe, USA; Korea, 26 January 1952
Marines know how to use their bayonets. Army bayonets may as well be paper-weights.
Navy Times; November 1994
Why in hell can't the Army do it if the Marines can. They are the same kind of men; why can't they be like Marines.
Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, USA; 12 February 1918
The United States Marine Corps, with its fiercely proud tradition of excellence in combat, its hallowed rituals, and its unbending code of honor, is part of the fabric of American legend.
Thomas E. Ricks; Making the Corps, 1997
The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years.
James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy; 23 February 1945 referencing the flag-raising on Iwo Jima had been immortalized in a photograph by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal
Marines I see as two breeds, Rottweilers or Dobermans, because Marines come in two varieties, big and mean, or skinny and mean. They're aggressive on the attack and tenacious on defense. They've got really short hair and they always go for the throat.
RAdm. "Jay" R. Stark, USN; 10 November 1995
I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world!
Gen. Douglas MacArthur, USA; Korea, 21 September 1950
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?
Gen. John W. Vessey Jr., USA, Chairman of the the Joint Chiefs of Staff; during the assault on Grenada, 1983
Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem.
Ronald Reagan, U.S. President; 1985
They told (us) to open up the Embassy, or "we'll blow you away." And then they looked up and saw the Marines on the roof with these really big guns, and they said in Somali, "Igaralli ahow," which means "Excuse me, I didn't mean it, my mistake."
Karen Aquilar, in the U.S. Embassy; Mogadishu, Somalia, 1991
Do not attack the First Marine Division. Leave the yellowlegs alone. Strike the American Army.
Orders given to Communist troops in the Korean War;
shortly afterward, the Marines were ordered to not wear their khaki leggings.
Quotations by U.S. Marines:
For over 221 years our Corps has done two things for this great Nation. We make Marines, and we win battles.
Gen. Charles C. Krulak, USMC (CMC); 5 May 1997
Come on, you sons-of-bitches! Do you want to live forever?
GySgt. Daniel J. "Dan" Daly, USMC; near Lucy-`le-Bocage as he led the 5th Marines attack into Belleau Wood, 6 June 1918
Gone to Florida to fight the Indians. Will be back when the war is over.
Col. Archibald Henderson, USMC (CMC); in a note pinned to his office door, 1836
Don't you forget that you're First Marines! Not all the communists in Hell can overrun you!
Col. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC; rallying his First Marine Regiment near Chosin Reservoir, Korea, December 1950
Marines die, that's what we're here for. But the Marine Corps lives forever. And that means YOU live forever.
The mythical GySgt. Hartman, USMC; portrayed by SSgt. R. Lee Ermey, a Marine Corps Drill Instructor using his own choice of words from the movie "Full Metal Jacket", 1987
You'll never get a Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!
Capt. Henry P. Crowe, USMC; Guadalcanal, 13 January 1943
I have only two men out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold.
1stLt. Clifton B. Cates, USMC; in Belleau Wood, 19 July 1918
love the Corps for those intangible possessions that cannot be issued: pride, honor, integrity, and being able to carry on the traditions for generations of warriors past.
Cpl. Jeff Sornig, USMC; in Navy Times, November 1994
The US Air Force Chief-of-Staff would never be called -- Airman
The Chief-of-Naval Operations would never be called -- Sailor
The Commanding General of The US Army would never be called -- Soldier BUT the Commandant of the Marine Corps would be proud to be called – Marine
