Did You Know?: "Chesty" Puller Stories, etc.

Gunny G's
"Globe & Anchor"
*Ye Olde Salts' Tavern On The WEB!*
(For The Thinking Marine!)
By
R.W. "Dick" Gaines
Gny Sgt USMC (Ret.)
1952 (Plt # 437) - 1972
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

TALES OF THE OLD CORPS: Puller Of The Marines!
Time again to amend/update GyG's wepage(s) on "Chesty" Puller....
It would be difficult indeed to do a webpage/website on Marine Corps history without including in some way the Marine's Marine, LtGen Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller. Yet there are so many Marine websites out there and all of them are chock full of stories, quotes, legends, etc.about Chesty. In an attempt to avoid redundancy here, I have chosen to find some of the lesser known, or at least the lesser written about, stories on Puller. Hopefully all Marines are already well aware of the more common information found on most sites about him; if not, a quick Google search will take care of that for each of you so afflicted. Some of the information I post here will seem at first to have little or nothing to do with him--but be patient, read on, and you will come away from these pages with information that not every Marine necessarily is aware of. And, hopefully, you will pass on such information, as all good Marines must do.
(Ha!--just try and shut up a Marine up about Chesty!)

I have been at this website thing for many years now, and most of the information I speak of is already scattered around the 'Net on many of my numerous webpages. It ain't that pretty--as bells and whistles go--but it is informative. Sometimes I come across a webpage of mine lost out there, somewhere on the WWW, something that has somehow gone astray. And, of course I happily add it again somewhere on my sites as a link. Trouble is, these webpages are not forever--nothing is. And they sometimes, for various reasons, just mysteriously disappear from the 'Net. For this reason, I advise everyone to cut-n-paste your favorite writings, and save them somewhere where you can find them again.

It is my purpose now to reproduce info here and/or provide links on Chesty to those other webpages for viewing. I know, I should consolidate all this info onto one page of all the Gen Puller stuff. But then again I would likely miss some of it anyway, and something new to add always comes along later. And, too, I really hate to do away with any of the old pages. So, as some have noted, my sites and its information may seem to some to be somewhat disjointed here and there. Keep in mind, I never planned all this stuff out--it just sort of evolved since about 1997, and I just keep adding to it as things come to my attention.
Semper Fidelis
Dick Gaines
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~~~~~

LINKS TO OTHER GyG "Chesty" WebPages...
Best Remembered Words Of Chesty Puller
Better Than A Sergeant? - Ask Chesty Puller!
RETURN FROM KOREA, 1951--PULLER HAS THINGS TO SAY!!!!!
My Apartment...by GyG
Lewie Puller's Cousin, Georgie
Evans F. Carlson & Chesty Puller...On esprit de corps
Puller and Evans Carlson/Carlson's Raiders On Guadalcanal
Chesty Puller On Loyalty!
(Gen Patton On Loyalty - Similar To His Distant Cousin, Gen Puller)
To GyG's Sites & Forums....
To Contact GyG Post Message At....

The following information has already been posted to one of my previous Puller pages, and as I now have further information on this topic, I am posting it here again so as to present the topic in its entirety, as I know it .

PULLER--Life Saving Medal In Australia?

"The following was sent to me by former Marine Sergeant, and Vietnam veteran, Sgt Rick Mowles who remembered reading the article back in 1971. He also researched and obtained a copy of the original article.

The article was occasioned by the death of Marine Lt. General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller USMC (Ret.). The article was from the Roanoke World News, and dated October 12, 1971. My thanks to Rick for bringing the article to my attention, and for providing me a photocopy of the article itself.

The article focuses on Puller's death, his long and varied service to the Marine Corps and his country, his many medals and honors, etc., and his lengthy illness prior to his death.

In addition, the following is quoted from the article. "At one point in his career while serving in Australia, a car broke loose from a ferry on which he was riding and dropped into the water. Puller jumped in and rescued the two occupants. The Australians awarded him their Life Saving Medal--not realizing he couldn't swim a stroke."

The above quoted incident is one that I do not recall having previously known of. I cannot locate anything of it in either of the two best references on Puller--i.e., "Chesty," by LtCol Jon T. Hoffman, USMCR, or, "Marine," by Burke Davis; of course, it might well be in those books and I just missed it. In addition to the above article, I am also, however, seeking to find official authentication, of some kind, for the above, to satisfy my own curiosity.
-RWG"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now...the rest of the story...
(The following from Jon T. Hoffman, Col USMCR (Ret), author of, CHESTY, The Story of Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller, USMC, Random House, 2001.)

I heard back from Col Jon Hoffman, USMCR
(Ret.) and the author of "Chesty." His first
e-mail referred me to pp 111 of that book...
-RWG
~~~~~
Subject: Puller
Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 13:19:55 -0500
Gy Gaines,
The info you are looking for is on page 111 of
"Chesty." I hope this helps.
Semper Fi,
Jon Hoffman
~~~~~
(Quote from "Chesty...")
"Hoffman, John T., Lt Col, USMC, Chesty, â€œOn
the China Station,â€� 1933-1936, p. 111:

"Here Puller had his first chance to stand
pier-side duty as officer of the deck, but he
performed a much more memorable service on the
evening of November 10. He and a few other
Marines had attended a rifle match. On the
return trip they were crossing a river on a ferry
and were just about to dock when a car ran off
the slip and plunged into the water. As others
stood by in horror, Chesty tore off his shoes and
shirt and dived in. He pulled two women from the
sinking automobile before it went down and
drowned the unlucky driver. After his daring
feat a bystander gave him a bottle of whiskey and
he drank freely. When he finally returned to the
ship, his fellow officers saw his bedraggled,
boozy condition and kidded him for failing off
the pier after too much revelry. They discovered
the truth only after reading the newspapers two
days later."

Potter, Nimitz, p. 160; Waters to Davis and
interview notes, BDP; Augusta to Puller, 12 Nov
1934, PP.
~~~~~~~~

Since the above account mentioned nothing of a
"Life Saving Medal," I e-mailed Col Hoffman back
on that point.
-RWG
~~~~~
Here is his response to that...

"Hello Dick,
I went back and pulled my files for that
part of the book. The main sources for the
event are a letter from Nimitz
commending Puller for his actions
(dated 12 Nov 1934), A 1960 letter from a
Navy officer who served on the Augusta
with Puller, and Burke Davis' notes
of his interviews with Puller.
None mention the award of a medal, so I
assume there was no such
award (nor was any such award mentioned in his
fitness reports, though
commendations for other events were attached
during this period).
Interestingly, the Nimitz letter makes
reference only to "the part
you played in the attempted rescue of the
unfortunate young woman who was
drowned." It does not mention the rescue of
anyone else. The letter from
the fellow officer is even less specific,
mentioning that Puller
participated in a rescue. Only the Burke Davis
notes refer to two women
actually being pulled from the car and another
one drowning. There is a
reference in the Nimitz letter to the 12 Nov
edition of The Argus (a
Melbourne newspaper). I never had the
opportunity to dig that up, but it
probably would tell the entire tale if it is
archived somewhere.
Semper Fi,
Jon"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE:
I had missed finding a reference to this in the
book because the event occurred in 1934, and I
had assumed it was related to Australia during WW II,
when Marines had also been in Australia. (So much for assumptions!)
My thanks and best to Col Hoffman for his kind assistance on this.
-RWG
~~~~~
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