Forgotten Warriors: The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, the Corps Ethos, and the Korean War

Modern War Studies

by Thomas X. Hammes

When the Korean War broke out in 1950, the Marine Corps was ordered to deploy an air-ground brigade in less than ten days, even though no such brigade existed at the time. Assembled from the woefully understrength 1st Marine Division and 1st Marine Air Wing units, the Brigade shipped out only six days after activation, sailed directly to Korea, was in combat within ninety-six hours of landing and, despite these enormous handicaps and numerically superior enemy forces, won every one of its engagements and helped secure the Pusan Perimeter. Despite its remarkable achievements, the Brigade's history has largely been lost amid accounts of the sweeping operations that followed. Its real history has been replaced by myths that attribute its success to tough training, great conditioning, unit cohesion, and combat-experienced officers. None of which were true. T. X. Hammes now reveals the real story of the Brigade's success, prominently citing the Corps' crucial ability to maintain its ethos, culture, and combat effectiveness during the period between World War II and Korea, when its very existence was being challenged. By studying the Corps from 1945 to 1950, Hammes shows that it was indeed the culture of the Corps-a culture based on remembering its storied history and learning to face modern challenges-that was responsible for the Brigade's success. The Corps remembered the human factors that made it so successful in past wars, notably the ethos of never leaving another marine behind. At the same time, the Corps demonstrated commendable flexibility in adapting its doctrine and operations to evolutions in modern warfare. In particular, the Corps overcame the air-ground schism that marked the end of World War II to excel at close air support. Despite massive budget and manpower cuts, the Corps continued to experiment and learn even at it clung to its historical lodestones. This approach was validated during the Brigade's trial by fire. More than a mere battle history, Forgotten Warriors gets to the heart of marine culture to show fighting forces have to both remember and learn. As today's armed forces face similar challenges, this book confirms that culture as much as technology prepares America's fighting men and women to answer their country's call.

Genres: Military Fiction, History, Military History

274 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

USMC Colonel

Reviews

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Examining the brief career of the first Marine unit deployed to the Korean War, Hammes finds the legend of a well-trained formation, led from top to bottom with combat veterans from the Second World War, to be a great deal less than accurate. Instead, there is the reality of an ad hoc unit thrown together from what personnel were available in the wake of the Summer transfer season, but a unit that still did as much as any to hold the perimeter at Pusan, before being redesignated as the 1st Marine Division on the voyage to Inchon.

So, if the conventional wisdom leaves something to be desired, how does Hammes explain the performance of the Pusan Marines? To a large degree he attributes this to good doctrine and culture. While some realistic training did take place in the brigade, and while there were combat-experienced leaders at the level of brigade HQ, Hammes suspects that the single biggest reason for the unit's success was that the Marine Crops worked very hard at healing the rift between its ground and aviation elements post-1945; good aerial support was certainly a game changer in the battle to come. There was also an effort to really improve small-unit tactics at the same time, in the shadow of having to face the Soviet military. Finally, there was a real sense of getting back to basics in relation to the concept that every Marine is a rifleman before they are anything else, thus allowing for replacements gathered on the fly to be assimilated quickly and overcoming the usual lack of time needed to create a cohesive unit. The rest, as they say, is history.

Originally written: November 24, 2013.

[Roberto Chavez · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are interested in battle history in Korea, you should jump to the second half of the book. The first half covers embarkation, the interwar period, training, and doctrine. It's very interesting ... to someone else.

[Reads At · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this close read on the first month of Marine corps fighting in Korea. Hammes makes a compelling case for changes in air ground doctrine and culture as the explanation for excellent Marine Corps performance in the summer 1950.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressive look at the first Marines to enter the fight in Korea.

[Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first third was okay, middle third was rough, but the last third was worth it. Worth reading once, but not twice.