(Originally published August 23. 2023.

I hope you won’t mind if I begin with a quick(ish) intro.

See, I'm working on a longer-form project, about a Revolutionary War hero, who, while I’ll mention him below, just hasn't gotten anywhere near the attention he really deserves.

Anyway, in the course of my research, I’ve been really gratified by all of the things that I've learned along the way, including information not directly related to my subject.

I've discovered facts of which I was ignorant, and have disabused myself of incorrect notions that I had every reason to believe were true. One of those was the idea that, on the night of August 23, 1775, American patriots in New York City stole British cannons from the Battery, at the southern tip of Manhattan.

As you read this, many of you —most especially those who've seen the musical Hamilton— might be thinking, "Yeah, but that's what happened, isn't it?"

Well, no, it's not. And it's not just the wildly popular musical that might’ve led us all to believe that version of the story. I've done a lot of reading about this event, and many other revolutionary episodes leading up to the war, and the war itself, and —even though I'm new at this— have been disturbed by how many purveyors of purported non-fiction have gotten so many facts just plain wrong.

The truth of the matter is that, on the date in question, there simply weren’t any British cannons in New York City. So, how this story has survived for so long is beyond me.

Now, while Lin-Manuel Miranda can certainly be excused for exercising a degree of artistic license in drafting a script for a Broadway musical, I don't believe the same can be said for authors of historical non-fiction.

I won't name names, of course, but I've been disappointed to learn that several highly respected —and bestselling— writers whom I've held in high esteem were just sorta lazy about substantive information.

And that bugs me.

Anyway, now that I'm done venting my spleen, let me tell you a really good, really true story. And I promise I’ll do my utmost in getting the facts straight.

When news of the battles of Lexington and Concord reached New York by dispatch rider on the morning of April 23, 1775, the city quickly descended into a state of turmoil.

That very evening, the Sons of Liberty (also known as the “Liberty Boys”), following Isaac Sears' lead, went to City Hall and demanded the keys to the building’s armory. Their request denied, “King Sears,” as he was known, decided on a more expedient course of action, and the Liberty Boys simply broke in, coming away with hundreds of weapons and cases of ammunition which they distributed to the city’s militia volunteers.

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On January 9, 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state in the Union, and the first of the New England states, to ratify the US Constitution.

Massachusetts—which then included Maine—followed suit within a month, and New Hampshire adopted the nation’s founding charter that June.

On October 15, at about 9 am, George Washington departed the Presidential Mansion on Cherry Street in lower Manhattan and proceeded north, commencing what would become known as his New England Tour.

He had several reasons for making the trip, at least one of which was fairly pragmatic.

Having taken office less than six months earlier, the President believed that, in order to effectively shape national policy, he’d need to gain firsthand knowledge regarding matters such as regional industries, agriculture, harbors, and infrastructure. He took notes on subjects such as manufacturing capacity, shipping potential, and road quality.

Additionally, Washington understood that most Americans’ experience with government was generally limited to state or local figures, and he hoped to personally present the notion of federalism as tangible and legitimate.

He wanted to engender public support for the new federal government and Constitution, particularly among those citizens who’d been wary or divided over it.

As the nation’s first President, he hoped to make the office visible and respected, believing that it was important for the people to see and connect with their new leader.

Finally, Washington genuinely wanted to thank and congratulate the states for having ratified the Constitution.

It’s also worth noting that, to avoid the pomp of a royal entourage and rather frame his tour in a non-partisan tone intended to promote the general welfare and strengthen the bonds between people and the federal government, he undertook the journey without any political retinue, accompanied only by his presidential secretary, Major William Jackson.

Over the course of the next month, the President attended a variety of celebrations and public meals and events throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

On his way back to New York, he stopped only briefly in Newport, Rhode Island.

However, as the state had yet to ratify the Constitution, the stop there didn’t include any of the hoopla that had attended the other New England receptions. Instead, Washington’s visit to Rhode Island that June was limited to a quick meeting with local officials.

In October 1635, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony ordered Roger Williams to be banished from the Puritan colony and deported to England.

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I’m not sure if you have to be of a certain age to recognize where I stole the title for this piece. If you don’t know it, it’s from the original Karate Kid, when Sensei (coach) Kreese orders his star student, Johnny, to finish off his underdog opponent, Daniel, who’s nursing a badly injured left wheel.

You see, Johnny has been the undisputed baddest ass in town for as long as anyone can remember, but this pesky Daniel kid just won’t go quietly.

When Johnny hesitates at Kreese’s order that he “Sweep the leg,” the sensei barks, “No mercy!”

Of course, that’s a pretty ugly doctrine for a high school karate tournament. On the other hand, it’s entirely appropriate when the opponent in question is the Islamic Republic of Iran, a regime that has spent months treating ceasefires as opportunities to rearm, shipping lanes as ransom notes and negotiations as some bizarre sort of prank.

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On the afternoon of July 17, 1863, Archbishop John Hughes stepped onto the balcony of his New York City residence to address an audience of 4,000, mostly men and boys, gathered along Madison Avenue. Though he appeared precisely on schedule, at two o’clock, he may yet have been a few days late.

Over the previous four days, in the sweltering mid-July heat, the city was consumed by what remains, aside from the Civil War itself, the largest domestic insurrection in American history.

From July 13th to the 16th, mobs numbering in the tens of thousands looted businesses, burned buildings and assaulted police and soldiers. They then turned on the city’s Black residents, hunting them down and murdering them in the streets. By the time troops recalled from the Gettysburg campaign arrived to help restore order, the city had suffered roughly 120 deaths and property damage running into the millions.

The Lead-Up

As Southern States began leaving the Union in December 1860 —seven before the guns opened on Fort Sumter, and four more after— trade with the North began to unravel. Lincoln’s naval blockade of the Southern coast, part of the larger “Anaconda Plan,” was meant to strangle the Confederacy by cutting off its agricultural exports, as well as its imports of manufactured goods and war supplies. That July, Congress passed the Nonintercourse Act, interdicting all commercial trade with the rebellious states.

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(Originally published July 9, 2023.)

On July 9, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read aloud for the first time in New York, a week after the Continental Congress voted to declare independence, on July 2.

The document was signed on July 4th, and 200 copies were printed.

John Hancock, the President of Congress, had a copy sent by courier to General Washington in New York, instructing him to have it read to his troops in whatever manner he saw appropriate.

On the very same day, the first of what would eventually be 32,000 British troops began landing on Staten Island, which was home to a great number of loyalists.

Upon receiving the document, on July 9, Washington dispatched orders to his officers in New York to assemble their troops at 6 pm that evening, on their parade grounds on The Common, which today is City Hall Park. In addition to the troops, many citizens came out to hear the reading, as well, and the civilian portion of the crowd included many members of New York's rebellious Sons of Liberty.

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After reading this, I think that most of you who believe that yesterday marked the anniversary of a memorable moment in our Nation's history will probably agree that today is a date that the proud patriots among you would rather forget.

The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence includes the sentence, "Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government."

Just a year earlier, it would seem, they were more disposed to suffer, while evils were sufferable.

That was despite a long train of abuses and usurpations, beginning with the Sugar Act in 1764. The following year, it was the Stamp Act and the Quartering Act.

Due to boycotts and difficulties in enforcing the Stamp Act, it was repealed less than a year later. However, on the day it was repealed, Parliament passed the Declaratory Act, asserting its "full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America, subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever."

In 1767, the Townsend Acts imposed taxes on imports such as paper, glass and tea. They also reduced taxes on tea imported to Britain by the British East India Company, effectively giving it a monopoly in the colonies, and suspended the New York Assembly until it complied with the Quartering Act.

On March 5, 1770, British soldiers fired into an unruly crowd on King Street in Boston, killing five colonists. The Boston Massacre significantly amplified the anti-British sentiment that had previously been kept to a relative simmer.

The 1773 Tea Act, of course, led Boston's Sons of Liberty to famously dump 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company, into the city's harbor.

In response to that act of rebellion, Parliament instituted the Coercive Acts, a series of laws meant to punish the people of Massachusetts. The acts closed the Port of Boston, revoked the colony's charter and expanded the requirements to house British officers pursuant to the Quartering Act.

When you reflect on all of this, you have to wonder what took the colonies so long to rebel.

It wasn't until April 19, 1775, that the shot heard 'round the world was fired. American casualties at the battles of Lexington and Concord totaled 49 killed, 39 wounded, and five missing.

Two months later, at Bunker Hill, 115 Americans were killed, more than 300 wounded, and 30 captured.

And yet…

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I originally posted this piece last January, but since the Supreme Court is going to issue its decision on the matter tomorrow, I thought it appropriate to throw it out there again.

Just to remind you, I’m not an attorney. That said, I think this is pretty solid.

Many of you are likely under the impression that, somewhere in the US Constitution, appears the phrase “separation of Church and State.”

If that’s the case, you’ve probably also been led to believe that the language is enshrined in the First Amendment to our Nation’s founding charter.

And, if you believe either of those ideas, you are, regrettably, mistaken.

But don’t panic. It’s not your fault. You’ve been fed those inaccuracies for quite some time, particularly of late.

What the opening clause of that amendment does say is that:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

Now, when you read that actual language, it takes on an entirely different meaning. Doesn’t it?

It doesn’t mandate the construction of some official wall between the government and the expression of faith. Instead, it pretty plainly expresses that Congress isn’t allowed to write laws about religion or to prevent any of us from practicing our chosen variety of our respective faiths.

But, you see, those of a certain ideological ilk, who simply aren’t fans either of religion or of faith, would rather convince you that government must be statutorily cordoned off from any mention of or reference to all that creepy God stuff.

If they had their way, “In God We Trust” would be purged from our capital and Capitol. "Under God" would be stricken from the Pledge of Allegiance. And, oaths of office would no longer contain the phrase "So help me, God."

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(Originally published on 26 Jun 2024. Updated Jun 2026.)

There's a movie that my brother and I watched on HBO as kids that I'm pretty sure had at least a little bit to do with why we both became Marines later in life.

The 1978 film The Boys in Company C follows a platoon of Marines from their first day of training at Recruit Depot San Diego, CA, in 1967, through their service in Vietnam.

(With the benefit of informed hindsight, I can now advise you that it was kind of a silly movie, about as true to the military world as Stripes.)

Anyway, the scene that's relevant to what I'm going to write about takes place on the recruits' first night of basic training, when their Senior Drill Instructor leads them in what he refers to as "your Marine Corps prayers."

Once he's done with what passes for a "prayer" (a profanity-infused play on Psalm 23:4), he orders the recruits to mount their racks (Marine for bunks).

He then instructs them, "You will repeat after me: Gung-ho."

"Gung-ho," they reply.

"Louder!"

"Gung-ho!"

"Goodnight, Chesty, wherever you are."

"Goodnight, Chesty, wherever you are," they respond.

"Reveille at 0430. You varmints go to sleep," he says before turning out the lights and closing the hatch (door) behind him.

Once the DI is out of earshot, one of the recruits barks from his bed, "Who the f**k is Chesty?"

Lieutenant General Lewis "Chesty" B. Puller was a legendary Marine Corps leader and veteran of the Banana Wars in Haiti and Nicaragua. He commanded the Horse Marines in China, participated in four campaigns in World War II, and commanded an infantry regiment in Korea.

In the 21st century, when unaccompanied deployments are typically limited to a year, it's hard to fathom that, of the 37 years he served, both as an officer and an enlisted Marine, Puller was deployed for all but 10.

To this day, he is the most decorated Marine in history, having earned the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, two Legions of Merit, and five Navy Crosses (more than any other member of any service, ever).

Chesty Puller is a name that every Marine learns on his first day of recruit training or Officer Candidates School.

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Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller was born on June 26, 1898, in West Point, VA, a second cousin of General George Patton and the grandson of Confederate Civil War veteran, Major John W. Puller.

His father, Matthew, was a grocer who passed away when Lewis was 10, so the boy was raised by his mother, Martha, with the assistance of his older sister, Margaret.

His childhood idols were fellow Virginians Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee.

In 1916, at the age of 17, Lewis asked for his mother's consent to enlist in the Army so he could fight in the Border War against Mexico. She refused.

Puller began attending the Virginia Military Institute in the fall of 1917. Soon after returning home the following spring, he started hearing of the battlefield exploits of the US Marines in the fields and forests of France.

The June 1918 Battle of Belleau Wood was a pivotal moment in Marine Corps history and would catapult the Corps into worldwide prominence. Prior to Iwo Jima, Belleau Wood was the Corps' most epic and iconic combat action.

The reality is that, before Belleau Wood, the Marine Corps was something of a stepchild that nobody knew what to do with, which is why the 4th Marine Brigade would be absorbed into the Army's 2nd Infantry Division for the fight.

Back in Virginia, young Lewis heard the story of Marine Captain Lloyd Williams replying to a higher-ranking French officer, ordering him to join the retreat from the front lines at Belleau Wood.

"Retreat? Hell! We just got here," Williams scoffed.

And then there was First Sergeant Dan Daly, who had already been awarded the Medal of Honor twice and was once described by a general officer as "the fightingest Marine I ever knew."

In desperate fighting on the outskirts of Lucy le Bocage ("Lucy Birdcage" to the Americans), Daly ordered his outnumbered and outgunned Marines to charge, yelling, "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?"

Following the Allied victory in the 26-day battle, the French renamed the place Bois de la Brigade de Marine or "Wood of the Marine Brigade."

The defeated Germans had some re-naming to do as well, referring to their Marine foes as ‘Teufel Hunden’ - Devil Dogs.

When Lewis Puller heard the accounts of the Marines' actions at Belleau Wood, he was sold and, that August, he enlisted. When he was later asked why he'd dropped out of college, he replied, "I want to go where the guns are."

While he was disappointed not to have seen action in WWI, he was quickly selected to attend Officer Candidates School and was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in June 1919. Unfortunately, post-war troop reductions resulted in his being placed on inactive status.

Anxious to get back in a fight somewhere, and not caring a hell of a lot about his rank, just two weeks later, Puller re-enlisted as a corporal.

He soon received orders to deploy to Haiti, with a detachment of Marines, to serve as an officer in the newly formed Gendarmerie d'Haiti, a constabulary force that consisted of Haitian enlisted personnel led by US Marine officers.

Since 1915, the Gendarmerie had been battling the Caco rebels, a group of rural insurgents opposed to the U.S. military occupation of the island.

Puller served in Haiti for nearly five years, participating in more than 40 engagements with the rebels and gaining valuable experience in small-unit and counterinsurgency tactics, as well as nighttime operations.

He returned to the States in March 1924 and was once again commissioned a Marine 2nd lieutenant. Over the course of the next two years, he was stationed at Marine Barracks, Norfolk, completed the Basic School in Philadelphia, and served as an artillery officer with the 10th Marine Regiment in Quantico, VA.

While home on leave in 1925, he attended a cotillion dance in his hometown of West Point and met a young lady named Virginia Montague Evans, with whom he was immediately smitten. Some say that he proposed to her that evening. However, in spite of his repeated requests, it would take her 12 years before she'd say, "yes."

In February 1926, Chesty received the assignment he'd been asking for, a seat at flight school in Pensacola. However, he soon discovered that he wasn't exactly cut out to be a pilot. His instructors agreed, writing that he was not "suitable aviator material."

So, in July of that year, 2nd Lieutenant Puller accepted a two-year assignment to Marine Barracks, Pearl Harbor. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant the following March.

In December 1928, he deployed to Nicaragua with the 5th Marine Regiment, as part of an effort by the Coolidge administration to support the government of President Adolfo Diaz against the Sandinista rebels. He was assigned to the Nicaraguan National Guard detachment and played a significant role in fighting Augusto Sandino's insurgents, earning himself the nickname, el Tigre.

From February to August of 1930, Puller led five separate engagements against vastly superior numbers of rebels, each time overwhelming the enemy, and earning the first of his five Navy Crosses.

His award citation reads, in part, “By his intelligent and forceful leadership without thought of his own personal safety, by great physical exertion and by suffering many hardships, Lieutenant Puller surmounted all obstacles and dealt five successive and severe blows against organized banditry in the Republic of Nicaragua.”

Though nobody knows exactly how, when, or from whom Puller earned the moniker, "Chesty", most believe that it was sometime during that first stint in Nicaragua.

But Chesty was just getting warmed up.

After completing the Company Officers Course at Fort Benning, he returned to Nicaragua in June 1932.

On September 26, Puller was leading a patrol of 40 Nicaraguan soldiers out of their base in Jinotega when they were ambushed by an enemy force of about 150. He hastily coordinated an effective counterattack and sent the enemy scurrying. Chesty's men pursued the insurgents, successfully penetrating the enemy's encampment and killing 16.

On the return trip to Jinotega, the patrol was twice again ambushed, but suffered no casualties. Instead, they managed to kill another eight rebels.

The citation for his second Navy Cross, awarded for his actions that day, reads:

"[His] patrol was ambushed by an insurgent force of 150, in a well-prepared position armed with no less than seven automatic weapons and various classes of small arms and well-supplied with ammunition…Lieutenant Puller, with great courage, coolness and display of military judgment, so directed the fire and movement of his men that the enemy were driven first from the high ground on the right of his position, and then by a flanking movement forced from the high ground to the left and finally were scattered in confusion with a loss of ten killed and many wounded by the persistent and well-directed attack of the patrol…This signal victory in jungle country, with no lines of communication and a hundred miles from any supporting force, was largely due to the indomitable courage and persistence of Lieutenant Puller."

He left Nicaragua in January 1933, returning to the West Coast of the US and, just a month later, sailed to China to take command of the legendary "Horse Marines" protecting American settlements in and around Peking (Beijing).

Without returning to the States, in September 1934, he assumed command of the Marine Detachment aboard the USS Augusta, assigned to the Asiatic Fleet.

Beginning in 1936, he served as an instructor at The Basic School at the Philadelphia Naval Yard, teaching tactics to 2nd lieutenants.

When one of his students asked his permission to get married, Chesty told the young officer, "Son, when the Marine Corps wants you to have a wife, you'll be issued one."

That may be the one time he could be accused of hypocrisy, because on November 13, 1937, Chesty and Virginia Montague Evans were married in Christchurch, VA.

He finished his tour at The Basic School in May 1939 and returned to the Augusta.

In May 1940, he was back in China as the executive officer of 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines in Shanghai. Virginia accompanied him, working as a secretary at the U.S. Legation in Peking.

At the outbreak of World War II, Puller was the commanding officer of 1st Battalion, 7th Marines (1/7) at New River, NC (now Camp Lejeune). In the summer of 1942, 1/7 sailed for Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Islands, where they arrived on September 18.

On the afternoon of October 24, in a torrential rainstorm, Puller's understrength battalion was occupying a mile-and-a-half-long defensive position in a dense jungle, along Edson’s Ridge, protecting the vital Henderson Airfield.

As he walked the 2,500 sector, he checked each position and directed improvements.

But, while the rain still hadn’t abated, Chesty sensed that things were too quiet. The Japanese were out there and would most certainly attack after dark.

Before sundown, he instructed his Marines to string barbed wire between the trees and to hang tin cans full of stones and grenades with their pins half-pulled from the wire. That would provide advance warning of the enemy’s approach.

After dusk, the rainfall grew even more intense.

Puller, chomping on his cigar, turned to Sergeant Major Tom Sheperd and said, “Shep, we’ll probably get mixed up in a scrap tonight. The weather is right, and the moon won’t be much. It’ll rain like hell, and the Nips are out there.”

At about 9:30, the Japanese launched a massive assault against the Marines.

The defending Marines suffered fewer than 70 casualties in the engagement, while killing 1,400 enemy soldiers, and recovering 17 truckloads of Japanese equipment.

Navy Cross citation #3 reads:

“Courageously withstanding the enemy’s desperate and determined attacks, Lieutenant Colonel Puller not only held his battalion to its position until reinforcements arrived three hours later, but also effectively commanded the augmented force until late in the afternoon of the next day,” his third Navy Cross citation reads. “By his tireless devotion to duty and cool judgment under fire, he prevented a hostile penetration of our lines and was largely responsible for the successful defense of the sector assigned to his troops.”

Of course, Chesty would insist that it was Marines like Sgt John Basilone who really deserved the credit. In fact, Puller proved instrumental in having the machine gunner awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on that night.

At one point during the war, when Puller was being shown how to use the newly fielded M1 flamethrower for the first time, he asked, "Where the hell do you put the bayonet?"

Following the Battle of Guadalcanal, which ended in February 1943, Puller became 7th Marines’ executive officer and was serving in that capacity when the regiment conducted the amphibious assault of Cape Glouster, on the island of New Britain, in Papua, New Guinea, on the morning after Christmas.

When two battalion commanders were wounded early in the fighting, Puller took charge, moving through heavy machine gun and mortar fire as he reorganized the units for a counterattack, inspiring his men and directing their fires.

His quick thinking and courageous leadership were instrumental in repelling the Japanese forces and overtaking a strongly fortified enemy position. Chesty's actions throughout the campaign on Cape Gloucester earned him his fourth Navy Cross, making him one of just two individuals to receive the award that many times.

That citation reads:

Assigned temporary command of the Third Battalion, Seventh Marines, from 4 to 9 January, Lieutenant Colonel Puller quickly reorganized and advanced his unit, effecting the seizure of the objective without delay. Assuming additional duty in command of the Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, from 7 to 8 January, after the commanding officer and executive officer had been wounded, Lieutenant Colonel Puller unhesitatingly exposed himself to rifle, machine-gun and mortar fire from strongly entrenched Japanese positions to move from company to company in his front lines, reorganizing and maintaining a critical position along a fire-swept ridge.

He was promoted to colonel on February 1, 1944, and given command of the 1st Marine Regiment, which he led in the Battle of Peleliu in September and October.

In early August of that year, Chesty received word that his kid brother, LtCol Samuel Puller, the executive officer of the 4th Marine Regiment, had been killed by sniper fire on the island of Guam.

In November, he returned to the States to train recruits at Camp Lejeune, where he remained for the remainder of the war.

At the outset of the Korean War, in the summer of 1950, Puller once again took command of 1st Marines and led them during the daring and complex amphibious landing at Inchon on September 15.

His strategic insight ensured the rapid and effective coordination of naval, air, and ground forces, and, of course, his ability to inspire and direct his men under fire facilitated the rapid capture of the vital port city.

Sun Tzu used the term “desperate ground” to describe a situation in which an army can only save itself from destruction by fighting without delay.

That's precisely where the First Marine Division found itself at the Chosin Reservoir on the morning of December 5, 1950, after surviving a massive assault by the Chinese 9th Army, which surrounded the Marines and cut them off from United Nations forces on the coastline.

While there have been several popular versions of the words Chesty used to describe the situation, it went something like, "All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, and they're behind us. They won't get away this time."

Another famous Chesty-ism was his defense of his decision to scuttle ammunition in order to free up space in supply trucks for stoves and tents, to keep his Marines from freezing to death.

"I'll take care of my men first," he explained. "Frozen troops can't fight. If we run out of ammunition, we'll go to the bayonet."

Regardless of his rank, Chesty Puller was a Marine’s Marine, a servant leader who always put the welfare of his troops ahead of his own. The tradition of Marine Corps officers eating last when in the field is generally attributed to his leadership philosophy.

Operating in temperatures so brutally cold that the area would come to be known as the "Frozen Chosin," and surrounded by a vastly superior Chinese force, Puller maintained his composure and effectively directed his troops, moving among them to ensure proper tactical deployment and reinforcing positions as needed.

Under his direction, the Marines established a robust defensive perimeter, repelling continuous assaults by the enemy. And, once again, Chesty's ability to inspire his men amid the adversity was extraordinary.

He moved between fighting positions, often under heavy fire, directing his Marines and boosting their morale.

His skillful employment and coordination of artillery and close air support were integral in disrupting Chinese advances and inflicting a massive number of enemy casualties.

Under his leadership, Chesty's Marines, as well as the rest of the 1st Division, fought a series of battles to break out of the 10-division Chinese encirclement around the reservoir, finally reaching the port of Hungnam, after covering a distance of about 78 miles of treacherous, mountainous terrain in freezing conditions.

For his actions at Chosin, Puller was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and his fifth Navy Cross, making him the recipient of the most Navy Crosses ever awarded to a single individual.

Fighting continuously in sub-zero weather against a vastly outnumbering hostile force, Colonel Puller drove off repeated and fanatical enemy attacks upon his Regimental defense sector and supply points. Although the area was frequently covered by grazing machine-gun fire and intense artillery and mortar fire, he coolly moved along his troops to ensure their correct tactical employment, reinforced the lines as the situation demanded, and successfully defended the perimeter, keeping open the main supply routes for the movement of the Division.

His performance in Korea earned him promotion to brigadier general in 1951 and to major general in 1953.

He assumed command of the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune in 1954. However, during a long inspection of an infantry battalion on a particularly hot day, he suffered a stroke that landed him in the base hospital.

Though he fought to remain in the Corps, a Navy medical board deemed him physically unfit to serve, and he was forced to retire the following year. The Marine Corps promoted him to lieutenant general at his retirement ceremony.

In 1957, the Marine Corps named its official bulldog mascot "Chesty," and his canine successors have borne that moniker ever since.

Believe it or not, in 1966, at the age of 68, the indomitable warrior requested a return to service so he could fight in Vietnam. Given his age, his request was, unsurprisingly, denied.

He and Virginia lived out a quiet retirement in her hometown of Saluda, VA, until Chesty passed away on October 11, 1971, following a series of strokes.

In April 1982, the US Navy commissioned the frigate USS Lewis B. Puller (FFG-23). It was decommissioned in 1998. However, in 2017, another ship was christened in his honor. USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB-3) is the first purpose-built expeditionary mobile base vessel for the United States Navy.

In 2018, Chesty’s daughter, Martha Puller Downs, shot the following video, wishing Chesty a happy Father's Day.

Today, I’d like to say, Happy Birthday, Chesty, wherever you are.

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Brian O'Leary is a retired Marine Corps colonel who served for 30 years, including combat deployments to Somalia and Iraq, and command of an infantry battalion in Afghanistan. Additionally, he has spent 25 years in the financial services industry. Brian earned his BA in English from Penn State University and his MA in National Security Studies from the US Army War College.

IG - @brian_oleary34 X - @brianoleary34

First, it was has-been musical acts pulling out of the America250 Great American State Fair festivities.

Performers, including Bret Michaels, The Commodores, Morris Day, C+C Music Factory, and Martina McBride —whose “Independence Day” used to be Sean Hannity’s AM radio theme song— all removed themselves from the lineup, claiming that the event had become too partisan.

Now we’re left with one-hit wonders Lee Greenwood and Vanilla Ice.

Last Thursday, President Trump announced on Truth Social, “We will have the fabulous Lee Greenwood introducing me with what has turned out to be one of the Greatest Hits of all time, GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.”

Now, don’t take this the wrong way, but if I never hear that painfully overplayed, 42-year-old song again…

Even Bill Maher called out the deserters, saying that their decision makes it look like Democrats “don’t really love America.”

On Friday’s episode of HBO’s “Real Time,” Maher said, “This is a question about what looks best for the Democrats, because I don’t think that looks good.”

“It looks like you are just what people say about you, you don’t really love America,” he continued. “It looks [like] you think Trump is more important than the country itself.”

And if the underwhelming and eroding concert roster weren’t bad enough, now we’ve got two retirees with too much time on their hands suing to stop the June 14 MMA fights from being held on the South Lawn.

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Originally published June 14, 2024

As you read this, Normandy, France, is in a state of festive pandemonium (yeah, still), as residents, visitors, veterans, and tourists celebrate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, which marked the beginning of the liberation of Europe from Nazi occupation.

You see…

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Though he wasn’t part of the 1970 motion picture M*A*S*H, Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger was an essential character in the TV series that premiered two years later.

As I’m sure you recall, Klinger, played by Jamie Farr, was famously known for his zany cross-dressing, and his reason for doing so was that he was trying to get himself a Section 8 discharge.

At the time, that referred to Section VIII of Army Regulation 615-360.

A soldier could be discharged under Section 8 if he were found to have a mental condition that made him unable to serve effectively. That’s what Klinger was constantly angling for — by wearing women’s clothing and engaging in other outlandish behavior, he was trying to convince the Army he was nuts so they’d send him home.

The regulation was phased out in the 1950s and replaced by other discharge categories and procedures, but the term “Section 8” lived on in popular culture, largely thanks to M*A*S*H, and it became colloquial shorthand for being crazy or otherwise mentally unfit.

So, Klinger was pretending to identify as a woman in order to convince the Army that he was unfit for military service.

Right?

Now, M*A*S*H was set during the Korean War, long before anyone had become familiar with the word “trans.” “Tranny,” maybe, but that was generally meant as a sorta comical pejorative directed mostly at cross-dressers, and you don’t hear it anymore because “trans” is now a real thing.

And, remember, Klinger wasn’t really “trans” in the way we think of that word today. He was just innocently cross-dressing, but he figured that’d be enough to get him discharged for being a kook.

Prior to 1986, while there was no Pentagon-wide accession bar to trans individuals, each of the services had its own policy on the matter.

Army Regulation 40-501 classified “transvestism” under disqualifying “behavioral disorders.” In the Navy and Marine Corps, MANMED, the Manual of the Medical Department, listed “current or history of psychosexual conditions,” including “transsexualism” and “transvestism,” as exclusionary criteria. The Air Force’s AFI 48-123, Medical Examinations and Standards, likewise categorized “transsexualism and other gender identity disorders” as eligibility barriers.

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White House Communications Director Steven Cheung is one of the President’s long-time pet staffers. He has served Team Trump in various capacities since 2016 and is fiercely loyal to his boss.

He’s also a horribly foul-mouthed, ill-mannered goon who needs to learn a little respect.

While Karoline Leavitt plays the congenial good cop in the West Wing, Cheu…

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Forgive me for posting yet another old speech that I recently came across, but I thought this one would be appropriate to share today.

Quick background: Each year, I, along with many Marines and cops, attend the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation (MC-LEF) golf outing. What follows is about the 2007 installment of that event.

The day before that year’…

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The following is the text of a speech I gave as the Grand Marshall of the 2004 Memorial Day parade in Lynbrook, NY.

I stumbled across it this time last year and thought I’d share it (again).

Memorial Day Address – Lynbrook, NY - 2004

Good morning.

I am humbled and honored to speak to you today, as we remember those who have made the supreme sacrifice in the name of liberty.

This observance began after the Civil War, and was originally known as Decoration Day, a time set aside to honor the nation's Civil War dead by decorating their graves.

Since then, Memorial Day has evolved into something that, in many cases, no longer quite resembles the original intent of General John Logan, who proclaimed that the day should be one for fitting services and testimonials of respect.

It has become a day away from the office, a day for barbeques and softball games, and this is great because it’s uniquely American. In fact, in some way, perhaps it is a most fitting manner in which to honor the fallen, as long as we remember that our lives of liberty, and leisure, and security are permitted to continue because of their sacrifice.

Before we were married, my wife and I visited the D-Day beaches and the American Cemetery in Normandy. I had just seen “Saving Private Ryan,” and of course, had the images of machine gun bunkers, barbed wire obstacles, and artillery batteries fresh in my head. When I arrived at Omaha Beach, I expected to see at least some remnant of these on the bluffs that overlook the beach.

However, with the exception of perhaps two intentionally maintained bunkers, I found the beach to be pristine. It was simply a beach; a place where one might do the things one does on the beach —enjoy the sand and the ocean, and the fresh salt air of the English Channel.

I considered then that there really could be no greater memorial, no better way of thanking the brave Americans and Allies who fell there than to restore life in Northern France to what it had been before the war. After all, what other reason did we have for entering the war and ultimately launching that invasion?

But, of course, we, the living, must also remember. As we go about our lives, we cannot forget the young men and women who, throughout our great nation’s history, so believed in the American Ideal that they gave their last full measure of devotion to protect it.

This is a day for honoring our fallen, and also, I believe, all those who have served.

I don’t believe that the police officers, firefighters, and emergency workers who died on 9/11 are heroes because they died, but rather because, on that day, like the days before, they went to work to perform their service to their fellow citizens.

So too, the brave men and women who have died in America’s defense are heroes, not for having died, but for having answered their nation’s call. And with American troops —as I speak— in harm’s way, away from our friendly shores, I believe it is altogether fitting and proper that we should take the time to remember them today, as well.

Moreover, let us, as a nation, dedicate ourselves to the task which is at hand – to defeating terror and destroying those who would commit it. Let us not allow that those who have fallen in this conflict will have died in vain.

Some have “forgotten” that we are at war. Some have managed to convince themselves that the world did not change on September 11^th. Some of them have managed to get on with their lives and have had no difficulty in turning a blind eye to the ongoing sacrifice that hundreds of thousands of Americans make daily in an effort to protect us and perpetuate our nation’s freedoms.

There’s a phrase that I heard quite a bit right after September 11^th: If we don’t get on with our lives, the terrorists will have won.

This is nonsense. My fellow Americans, we are at war. Success in war requires sacrifice. Success in this war will require resolve –not only on the part of the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere, but on the part of the entire nation.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe we’ve achieved that level of collective resolve yet, and I fear that nothing short of another catastrophe will be enough to jog the short attention span that infects so much of our nation. The enemy we face today wants us to get on with the lives that they so detest. Have we not yet learned that this is how our enemy operates?

What we should be saying to one another is: If we don’t dedicate ourselves to defeating this aggression against us, the terrorists will win.

Unfortunately, for some, it is easier to be weak than to be strong —easier to rationalize a way out of commitment and sacrifice.

The Greatest Generation did not earn that title by getting on with their lives after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

We will win this war on terror only if we, as a nation, have the resolve, the patience, the collective will to do so.

If we lack that commitment, I cannot say what may happen.

This conflict will surely take more time than we are accustomed to calculating. It will certainly require more sacrifice than we have already made. It may —I’m sorry to say— bring another attack on American soil against our fellow citizens.

Getting on with our lives will not win this war. Getting committed and getting serious about winning is the only way to achieve victory in this conflict

We must remember that America’s cause is just. Don’t allow others to convince you otherwise. Our objective is quite simply to rid the world of a strain of evil whose followers are intent on destroying us and our way of life.

I am confident that our great nation will overcome this threat.

How do we face an enemy who believes in his very soul that he is executing the will of his god? If our enemy is raised from childhood to believe that martyrdom will earn him countless rewards in the afterlife, how can he be defeated?

Somehow, for some 230 years, this land has produced generation after generation that has been up to such a task. I don’t believe this generation will be any different.

American colonists withstood the aggression of imperialist Britain. Our soldiers and Marines defeated the German shock troops of World War I and the Japanese banzai charges of World War II.

These and other adversaries we have faced have been bred and trained to fight. While our current adversary clearly employs tactics that are, to speak objectively, escalated from those we have faced in the past, I have no doubt that our forces and our nation will prevail in destroying them.

During the Peloponnesian War, the Athenian military leader, Pericles, spoke to his troops about the prospect of facing the Spartans in battle. The Spartans, after all, had been trained, even from childhood, in military arts and courage.

Pericles conveyed to his men that, “Others are brave out of ignorance, but the man who can most truly be accounted brave is he who best knows the meaning of what is sweet in life and of what is terrible, and then goes out undeterred to meet what is to come.”

How has our country continually found, within herself, the truly brave men and women necessary to protect the ideals of freedom and liberty? Why is it that our valorous men and women find it within themselves to go out undeterred? Why, in this land of comfort and prosperity, do those few rather choose lives of deprivation, discomfort, and danger, and possibly death?

I believe —though this belief is somehow less fashionable than it once was— that these Americans truly love their country and what it represents to the world. These men and women have faith in the virtue of this great experiment in democracy, liberty, and freedom.

And they have concluded that this nation is —still, today— worth their sacrifice. They believe that the defense of our noble nation is a cause worthy of their time and talent.

They are willing to leave behind families, jobs, and homes because our nation must be defended.

They realize that the phrase, Freedom isn’t Free isn’t an idle slogan. It is a call to service and a call to arms. These Americans realize that freedom has a price, and it is often a terrible price — but one they have willingly paid on our behalf.

They share the sentiment of Thomas Paine, who long ago prayed, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may know peace.”

We must remember that our country is not only great, but also good. I’m afraid that too many have lost sight of that fact. There are those who have convinced themselves, despite America’s history of virtue, charity, and sacrifice, that our nation is somehow at fault for what has transpired over the past three years.

Our great country is indeed good, and that is why our enemies hate us and wish to destroy us — because ours is a good country, and our enemies are evil. We are discouraged nowadays from thinking in this way. Our children are taught that Western and American civilization is in no way superior to any other civilization. Well, that notion is false.

We must not be afraid to say that ours is the greatest, freest, most tolerant, most charitable nation that this world has ever known. We must also take care to remember that America did not achieve this position by chance, but by the grace of Almighty God and the sacrifice of those who have dedicated some portion of their lives to protecting this precious gift.

Remember that we are at war. Remember why we are at war. Our President —my Commander in Chief— has chosen not to ignore the aggression against us, but rather to confront it and defeat it.

Don’t allow yourselves to forget, as many have, that Freedom isn’t free.

Before I let you get on with your holiday, I’d like to share with you the words of a great American, far more eloquent than I, who said:

We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies. In defense of the freedom that is our birthright, for the protection of our property, and against violence committed against us, we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed has been removed, and not before.

Those are the words of our third President, Thomas Jefferson, in 1775.

It is my sincere prayer that, when another two-hundred-plus years have come and gone, another American Marine, Soldier, Sailor or Airman will have the privilege of addressing the patriotic citizens of Lynbrook, and that he or she may do so in a time of peace, reflecting gratefully on the words of our 43^rd President, George W. Bush who said:

“We will not waiver, we will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail. Peace and Freedom will prevail.”

May God bless you all, and may He continue to bless the United States of America.

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Brian O’Leary is a retired Marine Corps colonel who served for 30 years, including combat deployments to Somalia and Iraq, and command of an infantry battalion in Afghanistan. Additionally, he has spent 25 years in the financial services industry. Brian earned his BA in English from Penn State University and his MA in National Security Studies from the US Army War College.

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