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

Tue Jun 30 16:37:33 UTC 2009

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Getting off topic, but the movie "Full Metal Jacket" addresses this:

HARTMAN:  The deadliest weapon in the world is a marine and his rifle.

And later on in the film . . .

HARTMAN:  Do any of you people know who Charles Whitman was? . . . None
of you dumbasses knows?
COWBOY raises his hand.
HARTMAN:  Private Cowboy?
COWBOY:  Sir, he was that guy who shot all those people from that tower
in Austin, Texas, sir!
HARTMAN:  That's affirmative. Charles Whitman killed twenty people from
a twenty-eight-storey
observation tower at the University of Texas from distances up to four
hundred yards.
HARTMAN looks around.
HARTMAN: Anybody know who Lee Harvey Oswald was? . . . Private Snowball?
SNOWBALL:  Sir, he shot Kennedy, sir!
HARTMAN: That's right, and do you know how far away he was?
SNOWBALL:  Sir, it was pretty far! From that book suppository building,
sir!
HARTMAN:  All right, knock it off! Two hundred and fifty feet! He was
two hundred and fifty feet away
and shooting at a moving target. Oswald got off three rounds with an old
Italian bolt action
rifle in only six seconds and scored two hits, including a head shot! Do
any of you people
know where these individuals learned to shoot?
JOKER raises his hand.
HARTMAN:  Private Joker?
JOKER:  Sir, in the Marines, sir!
HARTMAN:  In the Marines! Outstanding! Those individuals showed what one
motivated
marine and his rifle can do! And before you ladies leave my island, you
will be able to
do the same thing!

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 9:40 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Quotation: "a marine and his rifle" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
---------------
> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Quotation: "a marine and his rifle" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
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> --------
>
> Well, Bill, that cite certainly casts doubt on Pershing's coinage of
> the
> phrase, especially since it's
>
> a) the earliest known version and doesn't mention him
> b) almost twenty years after he was supposed to have said it - giving
> it
> time to get into print earlier
> c) doesn't mention Marines specifically.
>
> Since at least 1917 Marines have received intensive marksmanship
> training in
> boot camp. Marksmanship training in the other services traditionally
> has
> been less demanding, hence the association of the quote with Marines.
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 12:03 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
> Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> > Subject:      Re: Quotation: "a marine and his rifle" (UNCLASSIFIED)
> >
> >
---------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
> >
> > 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"
> > >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > ---------------
> > > --------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Quotation: "a marine and his rifle"
> > >
> >
---------------------------------------------------------------------
> --
> > > --------
> > >
> > > 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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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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