Originally Posted August 30, 2024
In 1813, Marines aboard the USS President helped capture the HMS brig Shannon.
In 1820, Lieutenant Colonel Commandant Gale is arrested for trial by court-martial, and Brevet Major Samuel Miller becomes acting Commandant.
More about our 4th Commandant is found below.
In 1911, the Navy establishes a disciplinary barracks at Port Royal, South Carolina.
To make room for it, the Marine Officers School is moved to Norfolk, Virginia, while the recruit training function is split between Norfolk and Charleston, South Carolina.
In 1912, Marines and sailors from the Denver land at San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, to guard the cable station.
In 1915, a Marine artillery battalion joins the forces in Haiti.
The brigade now has a strength of 88 officers and 1,941 enlisted.
In 1942, Captain John Smith shoots down four Zeros, temporarily making him the leading Marine Ace, with nine kills.
VMF-224 and VMSB-231 arrive on Henderson Field.
The Kawaguchi Brigade begins landing on Guadalcanal.
In 1943, Lieutenant Ken Walsh shoots down four Zeros while escorting bombers over Rabaul, bringing his total kills to 20.
Although forced to crash land his plane in the water due to damage, he survives and becomes the first Corsair pilot to receive The Medal of Honor.
In 1945, the 4th Marines, the Fleet Marine Landing Force (a three-battalion regiment composed of the 2,000 men in the fleet’s Marine detachments), U.S. and British sailors, and Royal Marines go ashore at Yokosuka.
The Army’s 11th Airborne Division and General MacArthur lands at Atsugi Airfield.
As SCAP, he becomes the virtual ruler of Japan.
In 1957, the remainder of the 6th Marines sails for duty with the Sixth Fleet.
The regiment will return to Camp Lejeune on 18 November, but the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines (1/6) will remain with the fleet until 6 February 1958.
In 1961, 31 Marines of 1st Force Reconnaissance Company make the first-ever night parachute jump from a Marine GV-1 propjet transport, over Camp Horno on board Pendleton.
In 1967, an enemy mortar attack damages 18 helicopters and causes 57 Marine casualties.
If the records are correct (and that is up for conjecture) Anthony Gale was promoted to 1st Lieutenant at the ripe old age of 16 and rose to become the fourth Commandant of the Marine Corps at 37.
Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Gale, USMC
Fourth Commandant
3 March 1819 – 16 October 1820
Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Gale, fourth Commandant of the Marine Corps and the only one ever fired, was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 17 September 1782. Fewer records survive concerning him than any other Commandant but it is known that he was commissioned a second lieutenant on 2 September 1798. Thereafter he fought, in fairly quick succession, the French, the Barbary pirates, the British, and one of his Navy mess-mates. The last encounter, involving an affront to the Corps, brought about the naval officer’s sudden demise and Commandant William Burrow’s approval for Gale’s defense of his Corps’ honor.
Unfortunately for him, increasing rank brought other difficulties not resolved so directly. In 1815, while commanding at Philadelphia, he fell out with Commandant Franklin Wharton over construction of barracks. A court of inquiry cleared him, but he was banished to a less desirable post, where he nursed a feeling of persecution and resumed dueling – this time with John Barleycorn.
As a consequence of these and other alleged shortcomings, Capt. Gale, although next senior at the time of Wharton’s death, had to battle for the job. Capt. Archibald Henderson, second in line, was characteristically blunt in assessing Capt. Gale’s qualifications, or lack of them, to the Secretary of the Navy. After a court of inquiry, which exonerated him, Capt. Gale, with 21 years of service, became Lieutenant Colonel Commandant 3 March 1819. By then, the Corps had been without a leader for six months.
Soon came troubles with Navy Secretary Smith Thompson, who frequently countermanded LtCol Gale’s orders in a humiliating manner. Finally, LtCol Gale courageously submitted a letter analyzing the proper division of function between himself and the Secretary, and respectfully pointed out the impossibility of his position. This official reaction to infringements of his authority, he paralleled by unofficial retreats to alcohol. Three weeks later (18 September 1820) he was under arrest, charged with offenses of alcoholic and related nature. By 8 October 1820, the court had found him guilty, the President had approved, and LtCol Gale was removed from office and the Marine Corps.
From Washington, Gale went first to Philadelphia where he spent several months in hospitals, then took up residence in Kentucky. Armed with proof that he had been under the strain of temporary mental derangement while Commandant, he spent 15 years attempting to have his court-martial decision reversed. Eventually, in 1835, the government partially cleared him and awarded him a stipend of $15 a month which was later increased to $25 and continued until his death in 1843 in Stanford, Lincoln County, Kentucky.
Is it just me or does it seem strange to anyone else that the 4th Commandant of the Marine Corps was granted a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant at the age of 15, if that is his correct birthdate? He became a 1st Lieutenant at the age of 18 or 19 and married then, too. He made Captain at 21 or 22; Lieutenant Colonel Commandant at 36. The article in a March print edition of Leatherneck says he was 69 in 1834, but if the birthdate is right, he was only 51 in that year, when his son William married and his wife was deeded a tract of land from her sister. This made him only 60 or 61 when he died in 1843.
And now you know the rest of the story.
Saepius Exertus, Semper Fidelis, Frater Infinitas!
Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever!
-Richard W. Pettengill, Corporal USMC
And damn proud of it!