Quotes from the Army about Marines
"I can't say enough about the two Marine divisions. If I use words like 'brilliant,' it would really be an under description of the absolutely superb job that they did in breaching the so-called 'impenetrable barrier.' It was a classic- absolutely classic- military breaching of a very very tough minefield, barbed wire, fire trenches-type barrier."
- Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, Commander, U.S. Central Command, February 1991
"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, U.S. Army
"Why the hell can't the Army do it if the Marines can; they are all the same kind of men...
why can't the Army be like the Marines?"
- Commander-in-Chief, AEF General J. Pershing, U.S. Army
"The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of Marines. Lord, how they could fight."
- Major General Frank Lowe, U.S. Army
"I can never see a United States Marine without experiencing a feeling of reverence."
- General Johnson, U.S. Army
"The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle."
- General Pershing, U.S. Army
"The American Marines have it [pride], and benefit from it. They are tough, cocky,
sure of themselves and their buddies. They can fight and they know it."
- General Mark Clark, U.S. Army
"The 1st Marine Division is the most efficient and courageous combat unit I have ever seen or heard of."
- Major General Frank E. Lowe , US Army , 1950
"Your Marines having been under my command for nearly six months, I feel that I can give you a discriminating report as to their excellent standing with their brothers of the army and their general good conduct."
- General John J. Pershing, USA, in a letter to Major General Commandant George Barnett, USMC, Nov 10, 1917
"No one can say that the Marines have failed to do their work in handsome fashion."
- Major General Hagood, U.S. Army
"The more Marines I have around, the better I like it."
- General Clark, U.S. Army
The man who will go where his colors will go, without asking, who will fight a phantom foe in a jungle and mountain range, without counting, and who will suffer and die in the midst of incredible hardship, without complaint, is still what he has always been, from Imperial Rome to sceptered Britain to Democratic America. He is the stuff of which legions are made. His pride is his colors and his regiment, his training hard and thorough and coldly realistic, to fit him for what he must face, and his obedience is to his orders. As a legionary, he held the gates of civilization for the classical world...he has been called United States Marine.
Lieutenant Colonel T.R. Fehrenbach, US Army in "This Kind of War"
Quotes from the Navy about Marines
"There is no military body in our country of higher efficiency than the Marine Corps.
They take great pride in their profession. They never let things slack a bit."
- Rear Admiral C.M. Wilslow, U.S. Navy
"You cannot exaggerate about the Marines. They are convinced to the point of arrogance, that
they are the most ferocious fighters on earth- and the amusing thing about it is that they are."
- Father Kevin Keaney, 1st MarDiv Chaplain, Korean War
"The Marine Corps has just been called by the New York Times, 'The elite of this country.' I think it is the elite of the world."
- Admiral William Halsey, U.S. Navy
"By their victory, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the Fifth Amphibious Corps have made an accounting to their country which only history will be able to value fully. Among the American who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue."
- Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, U.S. Navy
Quotes by Marines, about Marines
"Remember, whatever you write, this was no retreat. All that happened was that we found
more Chinese behind us than in front of us, so we about-faced and attacked."
- Chesty Puller, USMC, speaking to reporters after the battle out of the Chosin Reservoir, Korean War
"They're on our right, they're on our left, they're in front of us, they're behind us;
they can't get away from us this time."
- Chesty Puller, USMC, Chosin Reservoir, Korean War
"We're surrounded. That simplifies our problem of getting to these people and killing them."
- Chesty Puller at the Chosin Reservoir
When an Army captain asked him for the direction of the line of retreat, Col Puller called his artillerymen, gave them the Army position, and ordered: "If they start to pull back from that line, even one foot, I want you to open fire on them." Turning to the captain, he replied "Does that answer your question? We're here to fight." At Koto-ri in Korea
- Chesty Puller at Koto-ri in Korea
"The mail service has been excellent out here, and in my opinion this is all that the
Air Force has accomplished during the war."
- Chesty Puller in a letter to his wife while in Korea
Quotes about Marines from our enemies
"Do not attack the First Marine Division. Leave the yellowlegs alone. Strike the American Army."
- Orders given to Communist troops in the Korean War; shortly afterward, the Marines were ordered to not wear their khaki leggings to keep the enemy from immediately fleeing
"Panic sweeps my men when they are facing the American Marines!"
- Captured North Korean Major
"They told our perimeter guard to open up or we'll blow you away and then they looked up and saw the Marines on the roof with these really big guns and they said in Somali, 'Igaralli ahow,' which means, 'Excuse me, I didn't mean it, my mistake.'"
- Karen Aguilar, U.S. Embassy, Mogadishu, Somalia, 1991
"The American Marines are terribly reckless fellows...they would make very good storm troopers."
- Unidentified German officer at Belleau Wood
