THE MARINES
ARE LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD MEN By
R.W. "Dick" Gaines
GySgt USMC (Ret.)
1952-72 Gunny
G's Sites & Forums
Have you ever wondered just where and when that
familiar phrase, "A Few Good Men," came into being? Was it World War
Two, Korea, the Cold War? Was it from Madison Avenue, or a subtle public
relations ploy, or just a fluke happening?
Actually it was none of these nor was it of recent
vintage--in fact, the phrase predates the Corps itself, since the
Marines as a Corps did not come into being until
11 July 1798, after the Marines of 1775 had ceased to exist about
1783.
From BGen Edwin H. Simmons' book,
The United States Marines A History,
Naval Institute Press, 1998....page 17....
A FEW GOOD MEN
"William Jones, captain of
Marines in the Providence (the 28-gun frigate, not the 12-gun sloop) then
at Boston, advertised in the 20 March 1779 Providence (R.I.) Gazette
the need for "a few good Men" to engage in "a short Cruize" and gave
the Marine Corps a recruiting slogan it would be using two hundred
years later. "
And through the years there have been many other slogans used
on Marine Corps recruiting posters. (Click
Here, here
, and here!) Among these
the following slogans have been used: First To Fight; Tell It To The Marines;
Let's Go, U.S. Marines; The Few, The Proud, The U.S. Marines; If You Want
To Fight, Join The Marines; No One Likes To Fight, But Someone Has To Know
How, etc. More recently, 1992, Hollywood used the
"A Few Good Men" theme for a movie starring Jack (You Can't Handle
The Truth!) Nicholson as Marine Colonel Jessup. The Absolute Best
Way
To Find Old Marine Corps Buddies!
According To Gunny G
