China Marine 2/4, 1938 Era

Submitted by Frank Ramsey, former China Marine

     In the spring of 1938, the Japanese forces had occupied the area around Shanghai and part of the city.  The Chinese were being pushed back, and, at that time, the fighting was about 20 miles away to the northwest.  Marine orders were concerned primarily with guard duty of various nature. We had numerous posts at bridges and other points along Soochow Creek between us and the Japanese army sentries across the creek, 100 -150 feet away. We shared Soochow Creek duties with a unit of the Italian “Savoy Grenadiers” just next door.  We guarded a few factories, some owned by the Japanese, and had a few observation posts on tall buildings with a view of the area and Whangpoo River to check troop movement through the area. Two most important concerns were to break up crowds to avoid terrorist acts and to prevent any occurrence that would jeopardize American presence in China. (First Battalion, “Lucky Dogs,” drew the Shanghai power plant to guard – good duty.) Under these conditions, the Fourth Regiment were garrison Marines. Each man in H Company, Second Battalion, was equipped with a .30-06 rifle, a caliber .45 pistol, plus a Thompson submachine gun to each squad. Our machine guns were .30 caliber, water-cooled.  One platoon trained with mortars and howitzers. Doesn’t sound like much these days, does it? It would have to do!

    Each year, we shipped north to Camp Holcomb at Chinwangtao on the Bay of Chihi to fire the range and qualify on our weapons, as well as to touch on field problems with the machine gun. To experience long-range suppressing fire, we had to fire over the camp. One year, we fired a bit long and shot the mast off a fishing boat. It was fortunate that we didn’t hit anyone, because these men supplied us with fresh fish and prawns for our beach parties. The next year, the elevation barrier was left off, and the squad fired through the mess hall. Again, not a soul was hit, but this really hurt, because the food was not the same afterwards. (Not my squad!)

    Guard duty was important in Chinwangtao as the railroad to Peking ran along the perimeter of the camp and was under Japanese control. Chinese saboteurs were always trying to cross the camp to blow the railroad bridge. We were a small island in a large mess of Japanese military.

    One year, we left camp to take a weekend excursion to Peking. We could stay at the Marine Barracks there with the Embassy Guard. On our way, the train we were on pulled onto a rail siding. We sat waiting and the word came down that a Japanese military train was passing on its way to the coast. As the train started to go by, we could see in, and each seat had a soldier holding a white covered box in his lap. Obviously, these were the cremated soldiers killed in combat with the Chinese military - either Nationalist or Communist. We reacted like tourists, of course, and started taking pictures. We were held there after the train passed, and the officers with us came by and told us we would have to give up our film before we could proceed to Peking. The Captain laid it out to us not to do anything stupid such as turn in unexposed film. As he pointed out, we were headed into more of them and still had to come back through the same places to get home. He made a good point. I think we all complied with his orders. Seeing Peking was worth it to us.

    We had some busy days! Watching a war 20 miles away. Stepping around corpses wrapped in straw mats that could not be shipped back to the ancestral home for burial due to the presence of the Japanese troops.

    Watching out for falling cotton bales from factory rooftops during strikes. And watching where you stepped - the honey bucket carriers were busy but did miss some spots.

    In between times, it was great. America was in a depression, but a Marine private at $20.80 a month was paid as much as twenty times that in local currency. At first it was fun to spend it all; soon, it became real money, and we went back to being broke at the end of the month. A quart of Haig and Haig, Pinchbottle   Scotch was $1.24 G (U.S., or “gold”). We could have a Harris Tweed suit hand made for $5.00 G, and we had our khakis made of special material. The Marine Club was a large facility downtown, and many men “owed their soul to the company store” if they stayed too long or too often.

    China duty was exceptionally fine for any Marine willing to carve that much time from life. I was, and still am, impressed with my experiences and glad that I volunteered for the tour, even though I had to extend my enlistment one year to qualify. A little icing on the cake for me was the transfer during the summer of 1940 of Major Lewis “Chesty” Puller from Marine Detachment U.S.S. Augusta to 2d Battalion, 4th Marines Operations Officer and temporary command of the battalion for about a month that summer. To hear that man’s parade ground voice was enough to send a chill up the back – at least it did to me.

    Norfolk, Virginia, February 14, 1938, until December 19, 1940, is a long tour of duty. It is within a day or so of totaling thirty-four months. Thirty months were in China, so I had four months of Navy transport duty on the U.S.S. Chaumont (the “Love Boat”), an awful ship. Chaumont stood for “Christ Help All Us Marines On Navy Transport.” The Navy also arranged shore liberty in 14 ports on the way over and five more on the way stateside. When we reached Mare Island, I left the ship and paid my rail fare back east. Marines do not give up but will go on their own if provoked!

Semper Fi, Pungyeo , F.O. Ramsey, Former China Marine

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Editor’s note: The following was excerpted from biographical information provided by Mr. Ramsey. * * *

    “I joined the Marine Corps in summer 1936, just eighteen. From a small New Hampshire town and I had seen one Marine in my life, and in his Blues! That did it! My real purpose in life was to learn to fly and I thought the best way to do it was in the service. (Free, I meant.) I survived Parris Island with a vow to eliminate one of my DI's if ever we met again. (Didn't happen. He showed up as my First Sergeant my last month or so in China.) Four months into my enlistment I was flying from the galley to the mess hall with a tureen of mashed potatoes in each hand.

    “Service Battalion, Quantico, Virginia, replanting dogwood saplings was not what I thought the service should be, so I volunteered for Marine Barracks, 8th and Eye, Washington, D.C. I enjoyed my time there and became aware that flying was not going to happen so volunteered for China duty and have been glad of it ever since. I was discharged in August 1941; did not sign up in the reserves as I planned on getting married and was sure I would be called back within a few months.

    “December 7, 1941 changed most of my plans. I was in Hartford, Connecticut waiting to be called for a job at Colt Arms and on Dec. 12th could stand it no longer and went down to the Marine Recruiting Office. The sergeant on duty was a former China Hand. We did not like each other over there and when I said I wanted to sign up for aviation duty he said ‘You will go back to a machine gun company where you belong you +^*#~~~.’ I cussed and finally left him boiling mad. I checked around and finally signed on with the Army who said ‘you are now headed for an Army airfield.’ ”