WEBVTT 00:05.131 --> 00:08.524 (slow horn and drum music) 00:33.371 --> 00:36.689 - [Narrator] "There is nothing particularly glorious about sweaty fellows 00:36.689 --> 00:40.736 "laden with killing tools going along to fight. 00:40.736 --> 00:43.624 "And yet, such a column represents 00:43.624 --> 00:45.190 "a great deal more 00:45.416 --> 00:48.547 "than the individuals mustered into a division. 00:48.547 --> 00:50.720 "All that is behind those men 00:50.720 --> 00:52.729 "is in this column, too, 00:52.729 --> 00:55.324 "the old battles, long forgotten, 00:55.324 --> 00:57.186 "that secured our nation. 00:57.186 --> 01:00.022 "Scores of skirmishes far off, 01:00.022 --> 01:02.965 "such as Marines have nearly every year. 01:02.965 --> 01:06.289 "Traditions of things endured and things accomplished, 01:06.289 --> 01:09.073 "such as regiments hand down forever. 01:09.073 --> 01:11.991 "All of this passes into the forward zone, 01:11.991 --> 01:14.077 "to the point of contact, 01:14.077 --> 01:16.560 "where war is girt with horrors. 01:16.788 --> 01:19.391 "And common men endure these horrors 01:19.391 --> 01:21.883 "and overcome them, 01:23.818 --> 01:26.502 "along with the insistent yearnings of the belly 01:26.502 --> 01:29.035 "and the reasonable providence of fear. 01:29.035 --> 01:32.118 "And in this, I think, 01:32.118 --> 01:33.928 "is glory." 01:33.928 --> 01:37.273 (solemn music) 01:38.338 --> 01:41.019 - [General James T. Conway] Captain John Thomason wrote these words in 1918, 01:41.019 --> 01:44.322 describing the Marines that fought here in Belleau Wood. 01:44.322 --> 01:46.669 Marines who shouldered the faith of a nation while 01:46.669 --> 01:49.058 the world watched hopefully. 01:49.058 --> 01:52.266 In June 1918, the allies were pinned down along 01:52.266 --> 01:54.739 a line of defense in France that had not changed 01:54.739 --> 01:57.405 much in three years of desperate trench warfare. 01:57.483 --> 02:00.108 Barraged with noxious gas and chemical weapons and 02:00.108 --> 02:02.210 unrelenting artillery and mortar fire, 02:02.210 --> 02:04.401 the Germans had decided that this was the year to 02:04.401 --> 02:06.660 break through the allied defenses. 02:06.660 --> 02:10.781 That June, 29 German divisions attacked along the line 02:10.781 --> 02:13.829 and were within artillery range of the French capital of Paris. 02:13.829 --> 02:16.966 Most of the world viewed the prospect of victory as dim. 02:16.966 --> 02:19.836 US Marines, who had just recently arrived from the States, 02:19.836 --> 02:22.817 were ordered to march to the sound of the guns. 02:25.318 --> 02:27.443 Along the way, a major from a depleted French unit, 02:27.443 --> 02:29.309 falling back to Paris, 02:29.309 --> 02:31.511 told the advancing Marines to retreat 02:31.511 --> 02:33.682 as the Germans could not be stopped. 02:33.682 --> 02:37.136 Captain Lloyd Williams, a company commander in the 4th Marine Brigade, 02:37.136 --> 02:40.430 snapped back, "Retreat, hell! We just got here!" 02:40.579 --> 02:42.625 (birds chirping) 02:43.287 --> 02:45.406 Here is where the Germans massed their forces for 02:45.406 --> 02:47.813 a breakthrough to the French capital. 02:47.813 --> 02:49.670 The American reinforcements counterattacked 02:49.670 --> 02:52.948 and a brigade of U.S. Marines valiantly waded into the battle 02:52.948 --> 02:56.724 across this wheat field and into these dark, entangled woods. 02:56.724 --> 03:00.095 They fought a determined battle that would change the fate of a nation, 03:00.095 --> 03:03.080 of a continent, and of the Marine Corps itself. 03:03.080 --> 03:05.280 - In the late afternoon of June 6th, 03:05.280 --> 03:08.215 the sun was low enough to shine under the edge of their helmets. 03:08.215 --> 03:11.961 The shells ripped overhead, the woods were on fire, 03:11.961 --> 03:14.944 and the smell of cordite filled their nostrils. 03:14.944 --> 03:17.732 The Marines marched forward in determined strides, 03:17.732 --> 03:19.669 their shoulders hunched over, 03:19.669 --> 03:22.449 their eyes pinned to the edge of the woods ahead, 03:22.536 --> 03:25.098 where shrapnel was shredding the trees. 03:25.098 --> 03:27.603 Some of them, veterans of combat, 03:27.603 --> 03:30.130 displayed a determined look of resolve. 03:30.130 --> 03:33.665 Others were replacements, a (inaudible) from basic training. 03:33.665 --> 03:35.613 They intended to do the right thing, 03:35.613 --> 03:38.510 and they intently watched their corporals, sergeants, 03:38.510 --> 03:40.344 and lieutenants who led the way. 03:41.657 --> 03:44.601 - During the battle, the Germans, with a vicious onslaught of artillery fire, 03:44.601 --> 03:48.230 attacked 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines with poisonous gas. 03:48.230 --> 03:50.605 In an act of unselfish heroism, 03:50.605 --> 03:53.711 Gunnery Sergeant Fred Stockham stripped off his own gas mask 03:53.711 --> 03:56.051 and put it on one of his Marines. 03:56.051 --> 03:58.684 Heedless of his own wounds, he persevered, 03:58.684 --> 04:01.985 and continued to save his fellow Marines until he succumbed to his wounds. 04:01.985 --> 04:05.838 For his sacrifice, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. 04:05.838 --> 04:08.985 Events like these further inspired the Marines. 04:08.985 --> 04:11.318 They fought through the enemy gas attacks, 04:11.318 --> 04:15.191 against the overwhelming odds, and in hand-to-hand combat with fixed bayonets. 04:15.191 --> 04:18.048 The German line broke 26 days later. 04:18.048 --> 04:22.904 The cost to the Marines was high; over a thousand devil dogs fell in these woods and fields. 04:22.904 --> 04:26.035 But the message they sent to the world was that victory was possible 04:26.035 --> 04:28.472 and that Marines, like Gunnery Sergeant Stockham, 04:28.472 --> 04:31.440 would hold the line in the name of freedom. 04:31.440 --> 04:35.687 Belleau Wood was the Marine Corps' first major involvement in land battle. 04:35.687 --> 04:38.750 The courage of the Marines here proved that Marine regiments could 04:38.750 --> 04:42.014 take the fight to the enemy in any clime and place. 04:42.014 --> 04:46.142 After Belleau Wood, the world knew that whenever and wherever Marines were called, 04:46.142 --> 04:48.585 victory, regardless of the odds, 04:48.585 --> 04:50.749 was the only acceptable outcome. 04:51.153 --> 04:55.045 It is this legacy that Marines carry into battle every day. 04:55.045 --> 04:57.893 Just as Captain Thomason said in 1918, 04:57.893 --> 04:59.874 "there is much more to those columns 04:59.874 --> 05:01.969 "than sweaty fellows going along to fight." 05:02.137 --> 05:05.155 Whole battles that secured our nation. 05:05.155 --> 05:08.170 Tripoli, Chapultepec, 05:08.170 --> 05:12.051 Guadalcanal, Chosin, 05:12.051 --> 05:15.295 Hue City, and now An Nasiriyah, 05:15.295 --> 05:18.255 Najaf, and Fallujah. 05:19.914 --> 05:21.924 The words of President John F. Kennedy, 05:21.924 --> 05:23.876 "In the long history of the world, 05:23.876 --> 05:27.612 "only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom 05:27.612 --> 05:30.120 "in its hour of maximum danger." 05:30.120 --> 05:33.338 I don't believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people 05:33.338 --> 05:35.665 or any other generation. 05:35.665 --> 05:38.245 Just like the Marines at Belleau Wood, 05:38.245 --> 05:41.617 we are once again engaged in a sustained operation ashore, 05:41.617 --> 05:44.054 alongside our brothers in the United States Army. 05:44.054 --> 05:47.721 Just like at Belleau Wood, the Marines have been given the toughest sector. 05:47.721 --> 05:50.423 And just like at Belleau Wood, Marines have prevailed over a 05:50.423 --> 05:52.855 resilient and determined enemy, 05:52.855 --> 05:56.670 who has made us pay for our gains with blood and sacrifice. 05:56.670 --> 06:00.969 Once again, and in any struggle, the road ahead is far from certain. 06:00.969 --> 06:04.428 But as Marines, we're not dissuaded by the challenges of war 06:04.428 --> 06:07.575 or the tough conditions of a warrior's life. 06:07.575 --> 06:11.172 And in the end, we don't just accept our destiny, 06:11.172 --> 06:12.891 we shape it. 06:13.875 --> 06:16.277 We are America's force in readiness, 06:16.277 --> 06:18.975 an expeditionary air ground team, 06:18.975 --> 06:20.912 able to project the nation's might 06:20.912 --> 06:24.546 beyond the littorals and win, regardless of the odds. 06:24.546 --> 06:27.374 - [Sergeant Major Carlton W. Kent] Since 1775, the Marines have fought 06:27.374 --> 06:30.167 across the globe in the name of freedom. 06:30.167 --> 06:33.538 Today, we do so with the support of our families at home. 06:33.538 --> 06:37.943 They have sacrificed so much, they are part of our Marine Corps legacy, 06:37.943 --> 06:40.467 and they deserve our greatest appreciation. 06:41.857 --> 06:43.620 - The men and women of today's Corps 06:43.620 --> 06:46.947 stand shoulder to shoulder with those who have gone before 06:46.947 --> 06:48.980 with a proud and deserved reputation of 06:48.980 --> 06:51.589 honorable and selfless service to our nation. 06:51.796 --> 06:54.919 Sometimes in history, a generation is called on to defend 06:54.919 --> 06:56.305 what is most important to us. 06:56.305 --> 06:58.718 You are that generation. 06:58.718 --> 07:01.330 Be proud of who you are and what you do. 07:01.330 --> 07:03.093 I am certainly proud of you. 07:03.786 --> 07:06.874 - Happy birthday, Marines. - And semper fidelis. 07:09.196 --> 07:11.760 (dramatic music)