My Great-Uncle, Francis (Frank) O'Brien served with the Merrill's Marauders, mainly in Burma, present-day Myanmar. He served there from late 1944 until early 1945. Although he never survived Burma, his sister, my grandmother, used to tell me stories he used to tell her before his passing away in the Asian country. Well, by around November of '44 he was promoted to First Lieutenant, and was given command of a small infantry platoon and was given the position of XO of his company (unfortunately, I'm not sure of the name of this specific company). Very unfortunately (and I used to actually cry when I was little when I heard about it), my Great Uncle came under attack in early February by Japanese forces along with his platoon. His entire platoon was captured, and he was interrogated more than others. He refused to give any information, and, as a result, was shot at the base of the neck by the Japanese officer that lead his interrogations. Even more annoyingly (but gratefully) the Army sent a raid company to rescue his platoon, only days (even hours, my grandmother said) after he was executed. Shortly afterward, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president, sent us a certificate for the Purple Heart. Although I do not have it, it still lies in my grandmother's study at her house. Every time I visit her, I go into that room and give him a minute-long silence of respect. I just wanted to post this on here. Thank you for reading, and I hope my Great Uncle is looking down on me now.
Hi Mastacheef117, I thought you might be interested in a bit of information I found out about your great uncle: Frank J. O'Brien State Registered: Hawaii Death Date: 17 Jan 1945 Cemetery: Honolulu Memorial Cemetery Burial Plot: Plot C Row 0 Grave 399 Cemetery City: Honolulu Cemetery Country: Hawaii WAR: World War II Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart Title: First Lieutenant Rank: First Lieutenant Service: U.S. Army Service ID: 1299783 Division: 475th Infantry Regiment Data Source: World War II Honor RollI couldn't find him in the initial rolls of Merrill's Marauder's but they received many replacements in mid-'44, and what was left standing of that group was later rolled into the 475th Infantry, which fought in eastern Burma until April '45, when the survivors( minus your great uncle, of course) were sent to China to train Chinese troops until the end of the war. I couldn't find the particulars of his death, though.
There's a decent article in the most recent Military Heritage magazine on Stillwell, Merrill's Marauders and the US-trained Chinese division that fought in Burma. Maybe a little general for you guys but good nonetheless.
Found this Merrill's Marauders:Forward which may be of interest for you. MERRILL'S MARAUDERS "PASS IN REVIEW" From HyperWar: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II: Central Burma At the beginning of 1945, Sultan's Northern Combat Area Command, in addition to administrative and supply organizations, contained several large combat units. These included the American trained and equipped 30th, 38th, and 50th Chinese Divisions; the British 36th Division, on loan from the Fourteenth Army; and the recently activated American 5332d Brigade (Provisional), a long-range penetration unit. The 5332d Brigade, also known as the M[SIZE=-1]ARS[/SIZE] Task Force, had three regiments. One contained the survivors of Merrill's Marauders, which had been reorganized, brought up to strength with replacements from the United States, and redesignated the 475th Infantry Regiment. Another was the 124th Cavalry Regiment, a dismounted former National Guard unit from Texas functioning as infantry. The third, considered to be an elite unit, was the U.S.-trained and -equipped 1st Chinese Regiment (Separate). Against increasing resistance from the Japanese 33d Army, Sultan's forces moved south from Myitkyina with the British 36th Division to the west, the Chinese 50th Division in the center, and the 30th and 38th Chinese Divisions along with the M[SIZE=-1]ARS[/SIZE] Task Force on the east. At the same time, the Chinese Expeditionary Force drove west toward the town of Wanting on the China-Burma border. Although the 33d Army's defensive positions along the border separated the two converging forces, the Japanese were greatly outnumbered and no match for Sultan's men. By late January the Japanese 33d Army was forced back, Wanting was captured, and the land route to China was restored to Allied control. --8-- Japanese truck and tankette trapped by crater blown in the Burma Road by M[SIZE=-1]ARS[/SIZE] demolition men. (National Archives) Accompanied by press and public relations personnel, engineers, and military police, the first convoy pushed off for China from Ledo on 12 January 1945. After being delayed by fighting en route, the vehicles rolled triumphantly into Kunming on 4 February. The opening of the Ledo-Burma Road, soon to be redesignated the "Stilwell Road" by Chiang Kai-shek, forged the last link in the chain of land communications between Calcutta and Kunming, a distance of more than 2,000 miles. By July, gasoline also would be pumped through a pipeline constructed from Ledo to Kunming, 928 miles away, paralleling the Stilwell Road. Sultan next considered how to deal with the Japanese forces in north central Burma, who were still near enough to disrupt road traffic --9-- moving into China, as well as to threaten the flank and rear of British forces now driving into central Burma. Believing that a threat to the Japanese supply line, the old Burma Road which ran from the Chinese border south to Lashio and Mandalay, would result in Japanese withdrawal, Sultan ordered Brig. Gen. John P. Willey, the M[SIZE=-1]ARS[/SIZE] Task Force commander, into action. He wanted the M[SIZE=-1]ARS[/SIZE] force, less the 1st Chinese Regiment, which was held in reserve, to move overland around the Japanese defenses and cut the road near the village of Ho-si, about thirty miles south of Wanting. Willey's projected route was suitable for resupply by air, long recognized as the key to success while operating behind enemy lines, but the overall plan had disadvantages. In the objective area, the Burma Road was not easily severed, since it was beyond machine gun range from the ridge paralleling the road on the west and secondary roads existed in the hills to the east, providing the enemy with an alternative line of communication. Nevertheless, Willey's troops executed their part of the operation, reaching the vicinity of the Burma Road on 17 January. While Willey's M[SIZE=-1]ARS[/SIZE] soldiers took up position, Sultan pushed the battle-hardened Chinese against the Japanese 33d Army's 56th Division, which was holding defensive positions south of Wanting. The Chinese 38th Division moved southeast, astride the old Burma road, while the Chinese 30th Division struck out across country, swinging south and east toward the road about ten miles north of Ho-si. Farther south and west, the Chinese 50th and the British 36th Divisions continued moving south toward the road between Lashio and Mandalay, an area held by the 33d Army's 18th Division. The 56th Division's commander, Lt. Gen. Yuzo Matsuyama, recognized his perilous situation. Obviously the immediate threat came from the north and northwest. But should Sultan's command, which Matsuyama placed at 6 divisions, be seconded by the entire Chinese Expeditionary Force of 14 divisions crossing into Burma from the east, his 20,000 men would be vastly outnumbered. When a large air drop of supplies came in for the M[SIZE=-1]ARS[/SIZE] Force, the Japanese mistakenly thought that an airborne force was being landed. Convinced that he would --10-- Securing the Burma Road January--March 1945 --11-- soon be cut off, Matsuyama informed the 33d Army's commander, Lt. Gen. Masaki Honda, that his situation was critical and that he planned to destroy the bulk of his ammunition and abandon his present positions. Honda, however, viewed Matsuyama's situation differently. He instructed Matsuyama to defend in place until casualties and ammunition could be evacuated. Then he sent two motor transport companies, about forty vehicles loaded with gasoline, to join the 56th Division and assist in its final withdrawal. Encouraged by additional supplies, Matsuyama evacuated most of his casualties and several tons of ammunition before parts of the Chinese 30th and 38th Divisions blocked passage on the road north of Ho-si on 29 January. That night a sudden and violent banzai charge against the roadblock quickly overran the Chinese position. When the Chinese made no move to reestablish the block, Matsuyama began a retreat after dark on the 31st, almost in front of Chinese and American forces massed west of that section of the Burma Road. The move was both delicate and risky, but Japanese troops successfully completed their withdrawal by 4 February. At this juncture, Allied inaction was puzzling. Willey had positioned his two largely untried American regiments near Ho-si. There, rather than occupy a blocking position squarely astride the Burma Road and risk taking heavy casualties, he limited his effort mainly to interdicting the road with artillery and mortar fire. His infantrymen had dug in along a ridge about a mile and a half west of the road, with the 124th Cavalry Regiment to the north and the 475th Infantry Regiment to the south. Since arriving in the area on 17 January, they had experienced several small engagements with enemy forces and had managed to disrupt traffic on the road to their east, although the Japanese fuel convoy had managed to reach Matsuyama's troops to the north. In fact, Willey's men remained unaware that Japanese forces were withdrawing from the area using the trails and roads east of the main highway. On 2 February, the 124th Cavalry attacked what was thought to be a Japanese battalion entrenched on the high ground near the village of Hpa-pen, about a mile and a quarter northeast of the regiment's foxholes. Willey believed that the capture of this position would make it easier for the 124th to stop Japanese traffic along the Burma Road. Unknown to the Americans, however, the Japanese eastern bypass around the Burma Road in front of the position of the M[SIZE=-1]ARS[/SIZE] Task Force began near Hpa-pen and was strongly defended. After a twenty minute artillery and mortar preparation, the 2d Squadron of the 124th Cavalry moved out at 0620 toward Hpa-pen --12-- Marsmen on Loi-kang Ridge. (National Archives) with Troops E and F abreast and Troop G in the rear. As Troop F moved up a rough trail, its commander, 1st Lt. Jack L. Knight, was well out in front. When two Japanese suddenly appeared, Knight killed them both. Crossing the hill to the reverse slope, the troop commander found a cluster of Japanese emplacements. Calling up his men, he led them in a successful grenade attack on the enemy fortifications. When the Japanese, who seemed to have been surprised, steadied and began inflicting heavy casualties, Knight kept his attack organized and under control. Although half blinded by grenade fragments, bleeding heavily, and having seen his brother Curtis shot down while running to his aid, Knight fought on until he was killed leading an attack on a Japanese emplacement. For this action, Lieutenant Knight received the Medal of Honor posthumously, the only Medal of Honor awarded in the China-Burma-India theater during World War II. With resistance heavy on Troop F's front and with Troop E fighting off strong counterattacks, the squadron commander committed his --13-- reserve, Troop G, in midmorning. Advancing through the first line of Japanese bunkers, the reserve troop momentarily paused to direct artillery fire on a second enemy defense line to its front and then charged forward to carry the final Japanese position on the hill. When the fighting ended, the Americans held the high ground close to the road and reported killing over two hundred of the enemy. The 2d Squadron also had incurred many losses. Twenty-two of its soldiers were dead and another eighty-eight had to be evacuated on litters because of wounds. The next day, the 475th Infantry, still positioned south of the cavalry regiment, attacked a Japanese position on a ridge near the village of Loi-kang about a mile west of the Burma Road. While the 2d Battalion moved north to fix the Japanese in position, the 1st Battalion, preceded by an extensive artillery and mortar barrage, struck from the south, eventually clearing that portion of the ridge of all enemy defenders at a cost of 2 killed and 15 wounded. But by this time, most of the Japanese had escaped to the south. During the next few days, patrol actions and artillery exchanges with the Japanese rear guard and stragglers grew fewer. By 10 February when Chinese forces arrived in the M[SIZE=-1]ARS[/SIZE] area in strength, seeking to regain contact with the Japanese 56th Division, the enemy had long since passed through and was fifty miles away regrouping at Lashio. To the west, General Sultan's 50th Chinese and 36th British Divisions continued moving south toward the Burma Road between Lashio and Mandalay. In early February, the British came up against strong resistance from the Japanese 33d Army's 18th Division. Fighting continued until 25 February when the 18th Division was ordered to move south to reinforce the 15th Army defending against General Slim's Fourteenth Army, which was closing in on Mandalay to the west. By the end of March, both the 50th Chinese and 36th British Divisions had reached the Burma Road east of Mandalay, where the 36th Division came under Slim's Fourteenth Army control. While Sultan was clearing the Japanese from the northern stretch of the Burma Road, Slim's Fourteenth Army had continued to push the Japanese back in the center. The British 33 Corps advanced southeastward until meeting stubborn resistance north of Mandalay in late January. Meanwhile, the British 4 Corps had slipped south undetected, and by 19 February had established a bridgehead on the Irrawaddy River about one hundred miles south of Mandalay. From there an armored column, completely supplied by air, smashed its way sixty miles eastward to capture the critical town of Meiktila and its cluster of eight airstrips. The drive to the east continued another --14-- twenty miles to the town of Thazi on the Mandalay-Rangoon railway, thereby cutting off some 30,000 Japanese troops to the north from their supplies and their best route of escape. The fighting around Meiktila and Thazi grew more severe as the Japanese Burma Area Army shifted troops from the Mandalay front southward and also rushed up reinforcements from southern Burma in an effort to reopen the rout
While I've not yet found your uncle listed, I noted that in donhsf info he mentioned your uncle being awarded the Bronze Star. At The National World War II Museum Merrillâ??s Marauders it states the following including the portion I bolded about the Bronze Star. "The 5307th composite unit (provisional), also commonly known as Merrill’s Marauders after its commanding officer, Brigadier General Frank Merrill, was a regimental sized unit created and trained for long range penetration of Japanese lines in Burma during World War II. Because the Marauders operated in some of the harshest jungle terrain on the planet, the unit was issued weapons and gear that soldiers could carry on their backs or on the pack saddles of mules. Heavy artillery support was sacrificed in favor of untethered mobility. In February 1944, the 5307th marched into the Burmese jungle with an initial strength of 2,750 officers and men. Their mission was to wreak havoc on Japanese lines of supply and communication with the ultimate objective of capturing the Japanese air field and town of Myitkyina, nearly 800 miles away. Over their five-month march to Myitkyina, the Marauders fought victoriously against larger Japanese forces by consistently achieving the element of surprise and employing their expertise in marksmanship and small-unit tactics. The Marauders also faced hunger and disease, exacerbated by inadequate aerial resupply drops. Malaria, typhus, and amebic dysentery inflicted more casualties on the Marauders than did the Japanese. When in August of 1944, the town of Myitkyina fell to the Marauders and elements of the Chinese army, only 130 officers and men out of the original 2,750 were fit for duty. A week later, the 5307th was disbanded. In recognition of their incredible feat, the unit received a Distinguished Unit Citation and each soldier of the unit was awarded a Bronze Star. Although Merrill’s Marauders were only operational for six months, the legacy of their gallantry is honored by the U.S. Army through the modern day 75th Ranger Regiment, which traces its lineage directly to the 5307th composite unit. "
