25) "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" -- William Prescott at the Battle Of Bunker Hill Posted on 05/28/2012 9:43:05 PM PDT by Kaslin
25) "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" -- William Prescott at the Battle Of Bunker Hill
24) "To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace." -- George Washington
23) "When this war is over, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell!" -- Admiral Bill Halsey on December 7, 1941
22) "Nuts." -- The response of General Anthony MacAuliffe, when asked to surrender during the Battle of the Bulge, 1944
21) "I tremble for my country when I hear of confidence expressed in me. I know too well my weakness, that our only hope is in God." -- Robert E. Lee
20) "War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over." -- Gen William T. Sherman
19) "Of the Marines on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue." -- Chester W. Nimitz
18) "They've got us surrounded again, the poor b@stards." -- Creighton W. Abrams, Battle of the Bulge
17) "Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here" -- Captain John Parker, 1775
16) "We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we’ve done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home to seek our own lives in peace." -- Colin Powell
15) "We have met the enemy and they are ours!" -- Oliver Hazard Perry
14) "It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag." -- Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC
13) "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way." -- John Paul Jones
12) "Damn the torpedoes, Full speed ahead!" -- Admiral David Glasgow Farragut
11) "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." -- Clifton B. Cates, Belleau Wood, July 1918
10) "Yonder are the Hessians. They were bought for seven pounds and tenpence a man. Are you worth more? Prove it. Tonight the American flag floats from yonder hill or Molly Stark sleeps a widow!" -- John Stark at the Battle of Bennington in 1777
9) "Godd@m it, you'll never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!" -- Henry P. Crowe
8) "Victory was never in doubt. Its cost was...What was in doubt, in all our minds, was whether there would be any of us left to dedicate our cemetery at the end, or whether the last Marine would die knocking out the last Japanese gun and gunner." -- Major General Graves B. Erskin in reference to the Battle Of Iwo Jima
7) "Come on, you sons of b!tches! Do you want to live forever?" -- Dan Daly, WWI
6) "Don't you forget that you're First Marines! Not all the communists in Hell can overrun you!" -- Lieutenant General Lewis "Chesty" Puller when surrounded by eight enemy divisions
5) "Get there first with the most." -- Nathan Bedford Forrest
4) "It is fatal to enter a war without the will to win it." -- Douglas MacArthur
3) "I am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continued bombardment for twenty-four hours and have not lost a man. The enemy have demanded a surrender... otherwise the garrison is to be put to the sword if the place is taken. I have answered the summons with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat." -- William B. Travis, Alamo
2) “If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting.” -- Curtis LeMay
1) "No b@stard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb b@stard die for his country." -- George Patton
# 11........
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2505081926071475613
Oh, the snowflakes fell in silence
Over Belleau Wood that night
For a Christmas truce had been declared
By both sides of the fight
As we lay there in our trenches
The silence broke in two
By a German soldier singing
A song that we all knew
Though I did not know the language
The song was “Silent Night”
Then I heard my buddy whisper,
“All is calm and all is bright”
Then the fear and doubt surrounded me
‘Cause I’d die if I was wrong
But I stood up in my trench
And I began to sing along
Then across the frozen battlefield
Another’s voice joined in
Until one by one each man became
A singer of the hymn
Then I thought that I was dreaming
For right there in my sight
Stood the German soldier
‘Neath the falling flakes of white
And he raised his hand and smiled at me
As if he seemed to say
Here’s hoping we both live
To see us find a better way
Then the devil’s clock struck midnight
And the skies lit up again
And the battlefield where heaven stood
Was blown to hell again
But for just one fleeting moment
The answer seemed so clear
Heaven’s not beyond the clouds
It’s just beyond the fear
No, heaven’s not beyond the clouds
It’s for us to find it here
I love the list.Beautiful words have not been spoken in to long. Colin Powells is the closest, but nothing compared to the others. Patton’s and McAuliffes are my favorite.
22) “Nuts.” — The response of General Anthony MacAuliffe, when asked to surrender during the Battle of the Bulge, 1944
That’s the censored movie version.
He actually wrote “EFF You”. But he didn’t write “EFF”.
These words are beautiful! They soak right down into the innermost fiber of my heartwood and ignite it. I love these men; yes, Joe, even Sherman.
14) "It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag." -- Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC
I don’t think that is true. I have seen an alleged copy of the typed response. It said NUTS. It was in a military museum.
From Sun Tzu to “Stormin’ Norman” Schwarzkopf, the goal of every military commander has always been pretty simple: to kill people and break things.
“He actually wrote “EFF You”. But he didn’t write “EFF”.”
I was wondering if I am the only one on FR who is aware of that. Thank you.
bookmark
That can’t be correct. The German didn’t understand the message and asked what it (”Nuts”) meant. The reply that what sent was “Go to Hell!” They certainly would have understood the meaning of F-U, and “Go to Hell!” is pretty tame for a follow-up to F-U.
#22 reminds me of a book I read about Fritz Bayerlein, who commanded the Panzer Lehr division in 1944. The general to whom the “nuts” comment was directed was interred after the war with Bayerlein who teased him unmercifully about it, saying “nuts”, “nuts” whenever he spoke about tactics.
#22 reminds me of a book I read about Fritz Bayerlein, who commanded the Panzer Lehr division in 1944. The general to whom the “nuts” comment was directed was interred after the war with Bayerlein who teased him unmercifully about it, saying “nuts”, “nuts” whenever he spoke about tactics.
Letter from Major Sullivan Ballou U.S. Army to his wife.
July the 14th, 1861
Camp Clark
Washington DC
My very dear Sarah:
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days - perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more.
Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure - and it may be one of severe conflict and death to me. Not my will, but thine 0 God, be done. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing - perfectly willing - to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt.
But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows - when, after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children - is it weak or dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country?
I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps, before that of death — and I, suspicious that Death is creeping behind me with his fatal dart, am communing with God, my country, and thee.
I have sought most closely and diligently, and often in my breast, for a wrong motive in thus hazarding the happiness of those I loved and I could not find one. A pure love of my country and of the principles have often advocated before the people and “the name of honor that I love more than I fear death” have called upon me, and I have obeyed.
Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.
The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me - perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar — that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.
Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have oftentimes been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the misfortune of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot. I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we meet to part no more.
But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in the darkest night — amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours - always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.
Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again.
As for my little boys, they will grow as I have done, and never know a father’s love and care. Little Willie is too young to remember me long, and my blue eyed Edgar will keep my frolics with him among the dimmest memories of his childhood. Sarah, I have unlimited confidence in your maternal care and your development of their characters. Tell my two mothers his and hers I call God’s blessing upon them. O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither my children.
Sullivan
(Sullivan Ballou was killed a week later at the 1st Battle of Bull Run.)
7) “Come on, you sons of b!tches! Do you want to live forever?” — Dan Daly, WWI <<
That is Sgt. Major Dan Daly, one of two Marines to receive the Medal of Honor twice - for different actions. Major General Smedley Butler was the other.
A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living. --John F. Kennedy
"You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once." — Robert A. Heinlein from The Notebooks of Lazarus Long
Not exactly quotes, but in a similar vein, I like the following:
DeGaulleIn 1966 upon being told that President Charles DeGaulle had taken France out of NATO and that all U.S. Troops must be evacuated off of French soil President Lyndon Johnson mentioned to Secretary of State Dean Rusk that he should ask DeGaulle about the Americans buried in France. Dean implied in his answer that that DeGaulle should not really be asked that in the meeting at which point President Johnson then told Secretary of State Dean Rusk:
"Ask him about the cemeteries Dean!"
That made it into a Presidential Order so he had to ask President DeGaulle.
So at end of the meeting Dean did ask DeGaulle if his order to remove all U.S. troops from French soil also included the 60,000+ soldier buried in France from World War I and World War II.
DeGaulle, embarrassed, got up and left and never answered.
////////////////////////////
When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire-building by George Bush.
He answered by saying that ..."Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return."
It became very quiet in the room.
— As reported by By Bill Wundram in the QC Times newspaper March 24, 2003.(Quad City Times)
bfl
“I aim to misbehave” - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds
With all respect to the general, I don't think he'd really want them in front of him, either .... they might make a mess of his formations when their "cheese-eating surrendair meunkeys" run through them, waving their hands in the air and dropping weapons all over the place.
I hope to hell we aren't burying any of our heroes in a sh*thole country like Trashkanistan.
Yea, it is PBS, but it is the memory of someone who was there.
“Retreat, Hell! We just got here!” One of my favorites, although the author slips my mind...
“Retreat, hell! We’re not retreating, we’re just advancing in a different direction” General Oliver P. Smith at the Chosin Reservoir.
“We’re surrounded. That simplifies things.” Chesty Puller in the same battle.
There are also too many great quotes to list here by Willie and Joe.
As a Pfc in the US Army, the quote from my sergeants that stands out in my memory is: “Don’t let me catch you doing that again”.
Loved Num 18, the poor bastards got us surrounded again!
Audie Murphy one is great
...
"I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world."
(General Douglas MacArthur, USA, outskirts of Seoul, 21 September 1950.)"Casualties many; Percentage of dead not known; Combat efficiency; we are winning."
(Colonel David M. Shoup, USMC, Tarawa, 21 November 1943.)"The deadliest weapon in the world is a MARINE and his rifle!"
GEN. PERSHING, US.ARMY"Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking!"
FERDINAND FOCH"We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem!"
CHESTY PULLER, USMC"The more MARINES I have around the better I like it!"
GEN. MARK CLARK, U.S. ARMY"I want you boys to hurry up and whip these Germans so we can get out to the Pacific to kick the s**t out of the purple-pissing Japanese, before the Godda**ed MARINES get all the credit!"
Lt General George Patton, US Army 1945"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
GEORGE ORWELL"Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to kill a fly with a sledge-hammer!"
MAJ. HOLDREDGE"A ship without MARINES is like a garment without buttons."
ADM. DAVID PORTER, USN"The MARINES have landed and have the situation well in hand!"
RICHARD HARDING DAVIS"Casualties many; Percentage of dead not known; Combat efficiency: we are winning!"
COL. DAVID M. SHOUP, USMC"I can never again see a UNITED STATES MARINE without experiencing a feeling of reverence."
GEN. JOHNSON, U.S. ARMY"The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a MARINE CORPS for the next 500 years."
JAMES FORRESTAL, SECRETARY OF THE NAVY"Come on, you sons of b*****! Do you want to live forever?"
GySgt. DANIEL DALY, USMC"We're not retreating, Hell! We're just attacking in a different direction!"
GEN. OLIVER SMITH, USMC"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, U.S. ARMY"Teufelhunde! (Devil Dogs)"
GERMAN SOLDIERS, WW1 at BELLEAU WOOD"So they've got us surrounded, good! Now we can fire in any direction, those b*****ds won't get away this time!"
CHESTY PULLER, USMC"We have two companies of MARINES running all over this island and thousands of ARMY troops doing nothing!"
GEN. JOHN VESSEY, CHAIRMAN OF JOINT CHIEFS"Retreat hell! We just got here!"
CAPT. LLOYD WILLIAMS, USMC"The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of MARINES. LORD, how they could fight!"
MAJ. GEN. FRANK LOWE, U.S. ARMY"Panic sweeps my men when they are facing the AMERICAN MARINES."
CAPTURED NORTH KOREAN MAJOR"Our Country won't go on forever, if we stay soft as we are now. There won't be any AMERICA because some foreign soldier will invade us and take our women and breed a hardier race!"
LT. GEN. LEWIS "CHESTY" PULLER, USMC"There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and those who have met them in battle. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion."
UnknownWE STOLE THE EAGLE FROM THE AIR FORCE, THE ANCHOR FROM THE NAVY AND THE ROPE FROM THE ARMY.
ON THE SEVENTH DAY WHILE GOD RESTED, WE OVERRAN HIS PERIMETER, STOLE THE GLOBE AND WE'VE BEEN RUNNING THE WHOLE SHOW EVER SINCE.WE LIVE LIKE SOLDIERS, TALK LIKE SAILORS, AND SLAP THE HELL OUT OF BOTH OF THEM.
WARRIORS BY DAY, LOVERS BY NIGHT, PROFESSIONALS BY CHOICE, AND MARINES BY THE GRACE OF GOD.
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem."
PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN, 1985
Lloyd W. Williams (June 5, 1887 - June 12, 1918) was an officer in the United States Marine Corps who served and died in World War I.
A famous saying is attributed to Captain Williams, who was serving as a company commander in the 5th Marines. When advised to withdraw by a French officer at the defensive line just north of the village of Lucy-le-Bocage on June 1, 1918, he is said to have replied: “Retreat? Hell, we just got here!” Captain Williams would not survive the ensuing battle, and was posthumously promoted to major and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
A member of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute class of 1907, he was a member of Alpha Company in the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. Major Williams Hall was named in his memory in 1957. He is also considered to be the first known person from Virginia to die in the First World War.
Favorite Drill Instructor quotes, which I am sure most Marines heard at one time or another, whether at Parris Island or San Diego:
1. “If I want any sh!t out of you, I’ll chop the top of your head off and scoop it out.”
2. “Get over here, maggot”.
3. “My grandmother (does whatever) better than you, and she’s been dead for five years.”
4. “”The best part of you ran down your father’s leg.” and the all-time best, the introduction to the Marine Corps:
5. “I have 12 weeks to undo everything your mother did to you for eighteen years.”
Feel free to add your “remembrances”.
5. “
I have a bad feeling that, if an “allied” unit in front of one of Patton divisions, tried surrendering or retreating, Patton’s troops would attack straight through, without differentiating between “allies” and enemy. The only thing Patton would regret would be the additional expenditure of ammunition.
I loved every single quote.....except for #16, by that RAT bastard affirmative action POS Colin Powell. He is a racist, pro-homo, pro-same sex marriage, pro 0dumb0BAT, posing as a military leader. Strike his quote and replace it with another true, patriotic, pro-American quote from someone else!
““He actually wrote “EFF You”. But he didn’t write “EFF”.”
The way I heard this story was there was no way to translate “Nuts” into German, so the reply was sent as “Go to hell”
And Afghanistan, and possibly Iraq too.
And Afghanistan, and possibly Iraq too.
Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army
Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army
Placemarker
“We have discovered the enemy and he is us.” pogo
“They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance”
Last words of Gen. John Sedgwick just before a sniper shot him.
In my opinion, this is the best Marine Corps quote ever. It came from a Marine facing the enemy in what was arguably, as any, as grim and desperate fight of the war. They all knew survival was unlikely but they ran at the enemy anyway. Nothing defines leading from the front any better.
Sergeant Jim “Mush” Burdick, one of 12 of 22 surviving sergeants in his 2nd Joint Assault Signal Company, V Amphibious Corps, 2nd Marine Division, Saipan, June, 1944, orders to his remaining Marines as they prepared to counterattack the largest “banzai” attack of WWII:
“Don’t get in front of me.”
Thanks for posting the full version of the Sullivan Ballou letter. Ken Burns had an abridged version in his mini-series on the Civil War, and left out some of the best lines.
Sadly that statement has become the reality. :(
Wiz, those were different times. No general would ever use such vulgar language in public that he really used. The word “Nuts” was only symbolic. No one would have expected to hear the general in that audio to say, “EFF You”.
I don’t know how old you are. Vulgarities like that would never be used by a general for public consumption. Even Patton’s vulgarities were never publicized to any great extent until after his death.
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