Antedating of "Gung Ho"

[JAMES A. LANDAU Netscape. Just the Net You Need.]

>The OED's first citation of "gung ho" with that spelling is dated 1943
>(with the spelling "kung-hou," they have a 1942 citation).  The
>phrases.org.uk site gives a citation for "gung ho" from the Oakland
>Tribune, Sept. 24, 1941, obtained presumably from Newspaperarchive or
>Google News Archive.

It is generally believed (and may be correct) that “gung ho” was introduced into English by a US Marine, Lt. Col. Evans Carlson, who in World War II founded the Marine Raiders (also known as "Carlson’s Raiders").  Carlson had spent a good deal of time observing the Chinese Communists.

Excerpts from  http://www.angelfire.com/ca/dickg/gungho.html

Well, then, what was the intention of the originator of the now famous term, "Gung Ho?"

For the answer to that we can go to Carlson's own book, Twin Stars Of China, 1941. Carlson wrote, "The men of the Eighth Route Army had a term for this spirit of cooperation. They called it 'gung ho.'"

Later, Carlson taught his men from his experiences relating to the above. In the Carlson biography, The Big Yankee, by Michael Blankfort, 1947, Carlson says, "..Two words--'ethical indoctrination.' Those are big words, boys, but let me tell you simply what they mean. The reason those 600 men were able to endure such hardship is because they knew why it was necessary for them to complete that march."

           James A. Landau
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           Northrop-Grumman Information Technology
           8025 Black Horse Pike, Suite 300
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