Quotation: "a marine and his rifle" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

[unsigned editorial] "To Test Trench Warfare" _Reno Evening Gazette_ Sep
18 1937 p 4 col 1
"Where the practice abroad has been to build military strength about
automatic weapons, such as the light machine gun, this nation still
holds that the rifle in the hands of a marksman is the deadliest weapon
in the world."


> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2009 4:18 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Quotation: "a marine and his rifle"
>
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Quotation: "a marine and his rifle"
>
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> --------
>
> Not in YBQ - as far as I can tell.
>
> 38,000 raw Googlits for the phrase "The deadliest weapon in the world
> is a
> U.S. Marine and his rifle," attributed to AEF commander Gen. John J.
> Pershing in 1918. There are, of course, a number of variant wordings.
>
> Every U.S. Marine since WWII has been exposed to this quote.
>
> The earliest ex. I can find is in a news item apparently based on a
> Marine
> Corps press release:
>
> 1942 _Paris (Texas) News*_ (*April 5) 47:  Creed of Marine and His
> Rifle
> Written By Officer ... When the reports on the battles of Chateau
> Thierry
> and Belleau Wood came into A.E.F. headquarters at Chaumont, France,
> back in
> 1918, officers reported General Pershing said, "The deadliest weapon
in
> the
> world is a United States Marine and his rifle."
>
> The immediate source of the quote may have been Brig. Gen. William H.
> Rupertus, Commander of the San Diego Marine Base and author of the
> "Creed."
>
>
> My search of the Web, Google Books, Newspaperarchive, and ProQuest
> failed to
> reveal either an earlier appearance of the remark or any definitive
> connection to Gen. Pershing.
>
> An Internet search also failed to reveal whether Rupertus (a
lieutenant
> during World War I) was stationed at Pershing's headquarters in 1918,
> where
> he might have heard (about) the remark himself.
>
> 38,000 is a lot.
>
> JL
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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