![]() More than 1,800 Marines gave their lives in the June 1918 battle, which was key to the Allies’ victory and the armistice to come that Nov. Army soldiers to defeat five German divisions in France. The general hailed the legacy of Marines in conflicts around the world before and since Vogel’s valiant WWII service - including Vietnam, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan, where he noted a retired Marine in the audience served with him: Patrick Dulin, DLA’s executive director of logistics operations.īut it’s a war of long ago that has special relevance for Marines in 2018, Maxwell said. This year marks 100 years since the World War I Battle of Belleau Wood, in which Marines fought alongside U.S. “And then before you know it, you realize that you stand and serve with many Marines who will be legendary for those who follow - who have their own stories.” “For me, the opportunity to deliver that dog tag reflected a part of the lineage that we as Marines have been entrusted to pass down from generation to generation,” Maxwell said. Maxwell’s NCO in charge helped find Vogel’s surviving family members, who were very grateful to receive the memento of their loved one’s service, he recalled. Vogel then used explosives to destroy two caves full of enemy fighters. Finding a machine-gun nest, Vogel “quickly annihilated the crew, captured the gun and turned it upon the enemy, destroying a mortar position and killing all the members of the mortar crew,” the citation read. He read from the award citation, describing how Vogel went beyond the front lines under heavy fire from enemy machine guns and mortars. Vogel, Maxwell recalled, ultimately received the Navy Cross for his bravery during combat in Okinawa in May 1945, only three months before the Japanese surrendered. One tag belonged to Vogel, a r econnaissance noncommissioned officer in Fourth Marines, Sixth Marine Division. Marine dog tags he’d found while stationed in the Solomon Islands. It was there that Australia’s ambassador to Afghanistan asked Maxwell to help him return two U.S. The general had been serving in Afghanistan as the director of logistics for the NATO Combined and Joint Command. 8 event in the McNamara Headquarters Complex. Maxwell, the Corps’ assistant deputy commandant for installations and logistics, was the guest speaker at the Nov. Hugh Vogel to his family members a few years ago. David Maxwell recounted his role in returning the relic of Marine Cpl. The nearly two-and-a-half centuries in which a unique, tightly knit military force has fought America’s enemies with valor, on land and at sea.Īn ongoing history of sacrifice that unites all Marines, past and present, in unremitting devotion to the nation, fellow Marines and the values of the Corps - semper fidelis.Īt a celebration of the 243rd b irthday of the Marine Corps, Brig. The bravery and sacrifice of one Marine to secure victory. It was only a dog tag - a United States Marine’s government-issued combat identification.īut to a Marine Corps general officer, the small piece of metal carried by a fallen comrade in World War II represented so much more:
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