His description of the German aviator reads as propaganda, not journalism, and his other works were probably embellished as well. There is no proof that his writings created the mythology of the Marine Corps, but we do know he wrote a biography of Baron von Richthofen, more popularly known as the Red Baron. No mention was made of the thousands of Army soldiers who were fighting and dying with equal valor.įloyd Gibbons made no secret of his “friendship and admiration for the U.S. The result was a storm of press coverage in the US claiming that the Huns were being defeated with “the Help of God and a few Marines”. Gibbons was severely wounded at the battle of Belleau Wood, the press corps passed on his dispatches without the approval of Army censors. But one reporter circumvented the order, a war correspondent for the Chicago Tribune named Floyd Gibbons.Īfter Mr. The purpose of the order was obvious to prevent German intelligence from learning about American troop movements. Forces in France, had ordered a news blackout that prevented reporters from mentioning specific units in their dispatches. General Pershing, the Commander of all U.S. Despite being a tiny fraction of the American forces fighting in WW I, the Marines managed to make a name for themselves at the U.S. Army soldiers were deployed to France along with one brigade of marines, about ten thousand strong. When the United states entered the war in 1917, over two million U.S. The myth of the Marine Corps as a second army began in WW I. The fact is, for most of their history the United States Marine Corps was little more than a security force for the Navy. During the Civil War, Congress authorized less than 3,200 men for the Marine Corps, this while the Union Armies totaled nearly one million men. There were no Marines in the Continental Army that won the Revolutionary War. Today we take this for granted, and don’t question the reasons for funding both the United States Army, and the United states Marine Corps.
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