| |
W. THOMAS SMITH, JR.: February 2005 |
 | | The overall “Expeditionary Troops” commander was Lt. General Holland M. “Howlin’ Mad” Smith, a hard-bitten Alabaman who had won the French Croix de Guerre for his actions at Belleau Wood during World War I. Smith was nick-named “Howlin’ Mad” because of his unforgiving approach to failure on the part of subordinates. |
| | This time they would be “helicoptered-out” to the USS Belleau Wood, which was waiting somewhere off the California coast. |
| | My charges - the so-called kids - were only lance corporals, privates-first-class, and privates; many of them so new their camouflaged utility uniforms had yet to take on that well-worn, faded, sun and seawater-bleached “salty” look mine had. |
| wtsjrthisweek.blogspot.com /2005_02_01_wtsjrthisweek_archive.html (6451 words) |
