My connection to Chesty

The way it works in the Marine Corps is that one generation of Marines passes on to the next the lessons they learned, along with their traditions and values. It is fair to say that what I learned from the people who preceded me, I passed along to those who eventually replaced me. Today, Lewis Burwell Puller is a Marine Corps legend. They called him “Chesty” Puller because he was, and I suspect still is, the Marine Corps’ most decorated officer. He is the only Marine to be awarded five (5) Navy Cross medals, which ranks just under the Medal of Honor. It was my privilege to meet General Puller briefly in 1970 while assigned to Headquarters, U. S. Marine Corps; he was visiting with the Commandant and I was conducting business in the outer office when General Puller entered the room. As an enlisted man, I came to attention as he entered the office, and he walked over to shake my hand, and said, “My name’s Puller.” It was an electrifying experience.

Corporal Stan Wawrzniak, USMC earned two Navy Cross medals for service during the Korean War. He was assigned to the 1st Marines on the occasion of each action, a regiment that was, at the time, commanded by none other than Colonel Louis B. Puller. In 1972 — 1973, it was my privilege to be assigned to Lieutenant Colonel Wawrzniak’s battalion while assigned to the 3rd Marine Division. In addition to my duties at the division headquarters, I was also assigned as a platoon commander within Headquarters Company. Colonel Wawrzniak was every bit the same kind of Marine as was Lieutenant General Chesty Puller.

On one occasion, Colonel Wawrzniak related this story to me from his experience in the Korean War. While the 5th and 7th Marines moved forward to the Chosin Reservoir in November 1950, Puller’s 1st Marines were assigned to occupy and hold Hagaru and the Koto perimeter. Once China launched their November offensive, Puller’s task became critical to the survival of the 5th Marines and 7th Marines as they regressed from the Chosin Reservoir. Faced with the prospect of defending a large area of the Koto perimeter with only two companies of Marine infantry, Puller used additional resources as they became available to him. These included elements of the Army’s 185th Engineer Battalion, Company E, 1st Medical Battalion, Company B of the Army’s 31st Infantry, and the 41st Royal Marine Commando. Operational control of the Division’s Reconnaissance Company was also placed under Puller. It was during this assault that Puller commented, “We’ve been looking for the enemy for several days now. We’ve finally found them. We’re surrounded. That simplifies our problem of finding these people and killing them.”

Wawrzniak explained that the ground was frozen solid; such conditions made it impossible to dig fighting holes for proper defensive positions. Early one morning, with literally thousands of Chinese regulars attempting to push the Marines from their positions, the Marines began taking sustained and increasing volumes of fire from the Chinese. The Marines were laying prone in shallow depressions prepared by raking away small layers of frozen topsoil with their entrenching tools, doing all they could to protect themselves from enemy fire. Enemy bullets were snapping no more than an inch or two over the Marine’s heads and they hunkered down, and no one with any sense looked up to see what was going on. In doing so, said Wawrzniak, “A Marine was just asking for it.”

Wawrzniak, laying prone and as close to the ground as he could get, moved his head to the right where he noticed a pair of combat boots standing no more than a foot from his position. Without looking up, then Corporal Wawrzniak said, “Hey you dumb bastard, you’d better get down or you’re going to get shot.”

A gravely voice replied, “Bullshit. There hasn’t been a communist bullet made that can kill me.”

Looking up from his hunkered down position, Corporal Wawrzniak saw Chesty Puller standing next to him calmly surveying enemy activity and their positions. The bullets kept flying across the main line of resistance, but Puller was never hit. “The old man was right after all,” Wawrzniak told me in 1973. “My God, what a fantastic Marine he was.”

Whether Chesty Puller’s cool demeanor under stressful circumstances had an inspirational effect on Stan Wawrzniak, we cannot know. It is a question best answered by Colonel Wawrzniak himself, but more than likely, Wawrzniak earned two Navy Cross medals by simply doing what Marines do when they are under fire, and without any thought of rewards. In any case, Colonel Stan Wawrzniak was also a fantastic Marine.

Copyright, 2005