Merrill’s Marauders, famed Army unit from World War II, meet for last reunion
NEW ORLEANS — It’s the last reunion for members of the famed U.S. Army jungle fighters called Merrill’s Marauders. Three thousand volunteered for a dangerous secret mission during World War II — a mission so secret they weren’t told even where they were going.
They hacked their way through nearly 1,000 miles of jungle behind enemy lines in Myanmar, then called Burma, fighting in five major and 30 minor actions against veteran Japanese troops.
“This is the last of the outfit,” said David Allen of Rock Hill, S.C.
He’s among 13 of the original volunteers still alive. Five are in New Orleans this week, along with three men who joined the unit as replacements or were at its final battle to take an airfield held by the Japanese.
With the veterans are more than 90 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They filled a meeting room Tuesday at a New Orleans hotel, gathering at round tables to reminisce and look at small black-and-white photos, articles about the campaign and their old reunions. Children and other descendants were collecting autographs and listening to memories.
It was the first reunion for Ethan Glen Byrne, 15, of Hamilton, Ala., and his grandfather Rick Lowe, whose father was a Marauder.
Lowe was in his teens when his father, Delbert P. Lowe, died. He began researching Merrill’s Marauders several years ago and learned about the reunions.
He came because it was the last. “I wanted to honor my dad,” he said.
The unit won a Presidential Unit Citation, six Distinguished Service Crosses, four Legions of Merit, 44 Silver Stars and a Bronze Star for every man in the regiment. Their shoulder patch was adopted by the 1st Battalion of the 75th Infantry Ranger Regiment. And their families are pushing a pair of bills to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Merrill’s Marauders.
A war correspondent created the nickname, after Brig. Gen. Frank Merrill, because the formal name was a mouthful, according to the 2013 history “Merrill’s Marauders: The Untold Story of Unit Galahad and the Toughest Special Forces Mission of World War II.”
The men of the 5,307th Composite Unit (Provisional) were a thoroughly mixed bag. Some were seasoned jungle fighters. Others were city boys without much service. Still others, some of them joining when the unit was training in India, were like the “Dirty Dozen,” leaving the stockade for danger and a pardon. Allen said he was a “college playboy” when he was drafted.
Robert “Bob” Passanisi, 94, of Lindenhurst, N.Y., said patriotism and family solidarity were his reasons for volunteering. He had two brothers serving in Europe. “I somehow felt that me doing my part would relieve my brothers,” he said Tuesday.
With mules and horses to carry 70-pound radios and airdropped supplies, they also had muleskinners and others to care for the animals. Lester Hollenbeck, 96, of Deltona, Fla., shod them. “Mules sometimes were ornery,” he said. “We sometimes had to throw ’em down on their side to put shoes on them.”
He signed autographs with a pen made from a .50-caliber bullet.