The Quotable Warrior by Lamar Underwood

Author:Lamar Underwood
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2015-12-18T16:39:49+00:00

It Doesn’t Take a Hero (1992)

127

the quotable warrior

There is always inequity in life. Some men are

killed in a war, and some men are wounded, and

some men are stationed in the Antarctic and

some are stationed in San Francisco. It’s very hard in military or personal life to assure complete

equality. Life is unfair.

President John F. Kennedy

Press conference, speaking of calling up

reservists for the “Berlin Wall Crisis” (1962)

q

There was an afternoon for one Marine, and

he spent it carefully learning to light and keep

alive the warmth of a peasant’s charcoal brazier,

upon which he heated a single can of beans and

a canteen cup of coffee. And that was victory.

The freedom to sprawl loosely upon a city street,

heat his coffee and eat a can of beans . . . with no enemy bullets forcing him to toss the can aside

while diving behind another wall for momentary

survival.

David Douglas Duncan

This is War (1951)

Describing the war in Korea during the winter

of 1950–51

128

soldiering through

I was so glad when Guadalcanal came along.

Because then the old- timers would have to stop

talking about “how it was in Nicaragua.” Then we

got so sick of hearing about the “Canal.” Then it

was Iwo and Okinawa. I was glad last year when

the Yalu came along and now I’m fed up with the

Yalu and how cold it was and the chinks on their

Mongol ponies blowing bugles in the damned

night. I wish we’d have another decent scrap so

we could put the Yalu back where it belongs.

With Iwo and the “Canal” and Nicaragua. In the

history books.

Marine Col. Gregory (1952)

quoted in James Brady, The Coldest War:

A Memoir of Korea (1990)

In conversation with a group of his new

officers, in Korea

q

Uxbridge: “By God, sir, I’ve lost my leg!”

Wel ington: “By God, sir, so you have!”

Earl of Uxbridge and Duke of

Wellington

At the Battle of Waterloo, June 1815

129

the quotable warrior

Never volunteer for anything.

Anonymous

Old Army Saying

q

Stay with me, God. The night is dark,

The night is cold: my little spark

Of courage dies. The night is long;

Be with me, God, and make me strong.

“A Soldier—His Prayer,” Poems from the

Desert (1944)

British soldier’s poem found on a scrap of

paper in a trench in Tunisia during the Battle

of El Agheila by members of the British Eighth

Army during the African campaigns in WWII

q

Gung Ho!

Marine Col. Evans Fordyce Carlson

Motto of “Carlson’s Raiders,” 2nd Raider Bat-

talion (1942)

130

soldiering through

At the core, the American citizen soldiers knew

the difference between right and wrong, and they

didn’t want to live in a world in which wrong

prevailed. So they fought, and won, and we all of

us, living and yet to be born, must be forever pro-

foundly grateful.

Stephen E. Ambrose

Citizen Soldiers (1997)

Discussing American GIs in WWII

q

A man who is good enough to give his blood for

his country is good enough to be given a square

deal afterwards.

Theodore Roosevelt, Speech (1903)

131

8

’Nam

Words from Beyond the Wall

They faced the most horrific crossfire ever endured by U.S.

fighting forces in the field. Ahead of them was the enemy—

motivated, accustomed to fighting in the jungle, supported by guerril as, supplied and reinforced from sanctuaries that could not be attacked. Behind them was an apathetic nation—at best apathetic, sometimes

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.