| Marines in World War II Commemorative Series |
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FROM MAKIN TO BOUGAINVILLE: Marine Raiders in the Pacific War by Major Jon T Hoffman, USMCR Sources The best primary documents are the relevant operational and administrative records of the Marine Corps held by the Washington National Records Center in Suitland, Maryland. Of particular note are the files of the Amphibious Force Atlantic Fleet, which detail the efforts of Edson and Holland Smith to create their version of the raiders. Another important source is the Edson personal papers collection at the Library of Congress Manuscript Division. The various offices of the Marine Corps Historical Center provide additional useful information. The Reference Section holds biographical data on most significant individuals. The Oral History Section has a number of interviews with senior raiders and other Marines, particularly Brigadier General Charles L. Banks, Brigadier General Fred D. Beans, Colonel Justice M. Chambers, Brigadier General Samuel B. Griffith II, Major General Oscar F. Peatross, Lieutenant General Alan Shapley, and General Gerald C. Thomas. The Personal Papers Section holds numerous items pertaining to the raiders.
A number of secondary sources deal with the history of the raiders in some depth. The Marine Corps' own World War II campaign monographs were based on interviews and other sources of information in addition to the service's archives. Jeter Isely and Philip Crowl's The U.S. Marines and Amphibious War, James Roosevelt's Affectionately, F D. R., Michael Blankfort's Big Yankee, and Samuel Griffith's Battle for Guadalcanal are valuable books. The Marine Corps Gazette and Leatherneck contain a number of articles describing the raiders and their campaigns. Of particular interest is Major General Peatross' account of the Makin raid in the August and September 1992 issues of Leatherneck. Charles L. Updegraph, Jr's U.S. Marine Corps Special Units of World War II and Lieutenant Colonel R. L. Mattingly's Herringbone Cloak — GI Dagger are two monographs specifically addressing the formation of the raiders. The publications of the two raider associations, The Raider Patch and The Dope Sheet, contain a number of first-person accounts written by former raiders.
Major Jon T. Hoffman, USMCR, has spent more than 12 years on active duty as an infantry officer, an instructor at the Naval Academy, and a historian at Headquarters Marine Corps. Presently he is serving as a reserve field historian for the Marine Corps History and Museums Division. He has a master's degree in military history from Ohio State University and a law degree from Duke University. In 1994 Presidio Press published his biography of Major General Edson, Once A Legend, which won the Marine Corps Historical Foundation's Greene Award. He is the author of numerous articles in the Marine Corps Gazette, Naval Institute Proceedings, Naval History, Leatherneck, and Vermont History. His works have earned several writing prizes, including the Marine Corps Historical Foundation's Heinl Awards for 1992, 1993, and 1994.
THIS PAMPHLET HISTORY, one in a series devoted to U.S. Marines in the World War II era, is published for the education and training of Marines by the History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Washington, D.C., as a part of the U.S. Department of Defense observance of the 50th anniversary of victory in that war. Editorial costs of preparing this pamphlet have been defrayed in part by a grant from the Marine Corps Historical Foundation.
DIRECTOR OF MARINE CORPS HISTORY AND MUSEUMS GENERAL EDITOR, CARTOGRAPHIC CONSULTANT EDITING AND DESIGN SECTION, HISTORY AND MUSEUMS DIVISION Marine Corps Historical Center 1995 PCN 190 003130 00
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