thedrifter
03-03-03, 06:28 PM
Ray Davis was already a World War II veteran when he received the Medal of Honor for bravery in Korea--and he still had one more war to go.
By Jon Guttman
The military career of Raymond Gilbert Davis epitomizes the professional development of an American officer. From his first assignment as a junior officer in the United States Marine Corps, he worked his way up the ranks to four-star general, finally serving as assistant commandant of the Corps from February 23, 1971, to his retirement on March 31, 1972. In the course of his career, Davis gained the sort of experience for which no training courses can substitute--combat in three wars. During Korea, his second war, Davis' outstanding leadership at the Chosin Reservoir earned him the Medal of Honor. In a recent interview with Military History editor Jon Guttman, Davis reflected on his long career with the Marines.
Military History: What was your background prior to joining the Marine Corps?
Davis: I was born in Fitzgerald, Georgia, on January 13, 1915. I moved to Atlanta at an early age, and later went to Georgia Tech, where I participated in Army ROTC [Reserve Officers' Training Corps]. Upon graduation in June 1938, I was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Reserve, then immediately transferred to the Marine Corps with a regular commission.
MH: You seem to have decided on a military career early in life.
Davis: Well, it was the Depression. Jobs were scarce. I had a teaching fellowship at the University of Tennessee, with the promise of a master's degree in 18 months, but the money was canceled somehow. I had to compete for a Marine job with a Navy ROTC candidate, but since Marine training is more related to Army land warfare than Navy training, I made it. I reported to the Charleston Navy Yard for a physical, then went to Basic school at Broad Street in Philadelphia for 10 months.
MH: What was your first duty upon graduating from that course?
Davis: In May 1939, I reported for sea duty as a junior officer for a 40-Marine detachment aboard the heavy cruiser Portland in the Pacific Ocean. We also manned the ship's 5-inch anti-aircraft [AA] battery. When we weren't in port at Long Beach, California, we were going on gunnery drills up the coast or taking part in maneuvers from Pearl Harbor.
MH: How long did that go on?
Davis: It was a one-year tour. In May 1940, I was sent to Quantico, Virginia. I became interested in gunnery and asked to attend the base defense weapons school, learning to man coastal batteries. Halfway through the course, though, I decided I didn't want to do that. Fortunately, I was transferred out by the commander, Major Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller.
MH: Where did you go next?
Davis: I served with the 1st Marine Division at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as an anti-aircraft officer. Later I moved back to Quantico, then to Parris Island, South Carolina. I next helped open up Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where I was when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
MH: How did you react to that news?
Davis: We were up all night listening to the radio, then we were briefed on our general mission, getting our equipment, being trained to defend the coast. Amid all that, I was promoted to captain in February 1942, and a short time later I married Willa Knox Heafner, a schoolteacher from Washington, North Carolina, with whom I had fallen in love while I was at Camp Lejeune. We didn't get all our guns until June, when we were shipped out by train to San Francisco. From there, we got on the converted passenger liner Ericsson and were escorted by destroyers and a cruiser to Wellington, New Zealand, arriving on July 11.
MH: What mission did they have in mind for you?
Davis: We learned that the Japanese were building an airfield in the Solomon Islands that would have endangered U.S. shipping routes. We transferred aboard Navy transports, and on August 7 we landed at our objective--the island of Guadalcanal.
MH: What was your role there?
Davis: Our assignment was to protect the airstrip once we seized it. We had 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns, and 20mm guns were still arriving from Camp Lejeune when we were setting up.
MH: How effectively were you able to defend Henderson Field, as the captured strip was named by the Marines?
Davis: We had a mechanical fire-control computer for the 40s. We also had 20mm and .50-caliber guns. For anything above 4,000 feet, however, we had no accuracy. Three weeks later, the 3rd Defense Battalion came in with 90mm guns, and we were subordinated to them. Fortunately, we had some Marine fighter squadrons [VMFs] to deal with the [Mitsubishi G4M] Betty bombers.
MH: Did you have to deal with strafing attacks by enemy fighters?
Davis: Once, four or five [Mitsubishi A6M2] Zeros came in to sweep the airfield, and all of them were shot down. We claimed them, but between the 3rd Defense Battalion and every Marine with a rifle, who knows who really got them?
MH: How did you stay ready for the enemy planes without radar?
Davis: Coastwatchers would tell us when they were coming. Japanese planes came over about every day. When Major John Lucien Smith's [Grumman F4F-4] Wildcats of VMF-223 attacked the bombers, they would always attack the guy on the left flank. Sometimes they would shoot him down, but even if they didn't, he would get rattled, maneuver to evade their fire and throw off the whole formation.
MH: Were you involved in any land fighting?
Davis: Some of my units were farmed out to infantry regiments, forming special weapons units--conglomerate anti-aircraft and anti-tank units. One of our units used towed 37mm guns with anti-personnel shells during the Battle of the Tenaru River, where a 700-man Japanese battalion was annihilated on August 24. I was there the next day, with my people. We took one or two wounded Japanese prisoners; almost all of the rest were killed. I also had a unit near the airfield during the Battle of Bloody Ridge on September 18.
MH: How were the Marines able to hold out against the Japanese onslaughts?
Davis: The Australians, who had occupied the islands before the Japanese, had trained native scouts to track the Japanese, and the intelligence the scouts gathered helped us pinpoint enemy attacks and concentrate our defenses.
MH: Was that the daily routine for the next several months?
Davis: We were bombarded almost every night by the Japanese fleet and bombed from the air by day. We lost few men, though, since we took cover in two-man slit trenches that limited how many would fall victim to each bomb or shell that hit. It got so you would hear the click of the bomb release or see the flash of the guns at sea and you would get in your hole. At first, we had our own 500-pound bombs scattered around, and we would have to put out fires that the Japanese hits set in the grass. On two occasions, I was standing on a 500-pound bomb, beating out the fire around it.
MH: What was the worst month for you on Guadalcanal?
Davis: October, when Puller went north to Matanikau. At that point there was no food, and we had to eat captured rice. The cook said that the black spots in the rice were weevils, but some of us ate them, too, as a source of protein. The cook put in a few raisins to camouflage them. Fishing boats came in from the West Coast with food. We were sick with dengue, malaria and dysentery. Our medical supplies were lost. Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley said he had to withdraw the fleet and that we had his permission to surrender if we needed to. The Marine commander, Maj. Gen. Alexander A. Vandegrift, refused.
MH: When did things finally take a turn for the better?
Davis: In November we got a squadron of Boeing B-17s, which was encouraging. Then there were the pivotal naval battles of November 13*15. I was on the beach when the light cruiser Atlanta was lost on the night of November 13. My men cheered, thinking it was Japanese--until the next morning, when she drifted in and her sailors were coming ashore. Despite the Navy's losses, though, they turned the campaign around. Even the air attacks slowed down. We were getting new ships and airplanes. Admiral William F. Halsey used the fleet to seek out and destroy the Japanese.
MH: Were you there for the final Japanese evacuation on February 7, 1943?
Davis: No. I was pulled out in January 1943, just as the Army units were coming in, and I was subsequently promoted to major. The 1st Marine Division was shipped to Australia to get replacements and equipment. We were out of action for eight to nine months--about 5,000 or 6,000 Marines were down with malaria. Guadalcanal changed a lot of minds, though--it proved that our guys could defeat the Japanese.
MH: When did you return to combat?
Davis: They moved us to Goodenough Island, off eastern Papua, where we spent time ashore for a few days. Then they reloaded us for Port Moresby, New Guinea, then off to Cape Gloucester. My AA platoons were farmed out to new regiments. I was left behind, to take command of a special weapons battalion. Chesty Puller was in charge of loading ships, and I told him that my units were being shipped out and that I needed to take care of them. He stroked his chin and said: "I agree with you. I'll tell you, Old Man, you get on that ship over there, and tell them I said to take you along to Cape Gloucester." So I took my staff aboard--those were my orders.
continued..............
By Jon Guttman
The military career of Raymond Gilbert Davis epitomizes the professional development of an American officer. From his first assignment as a junior officer in the United States Marine Corps, he worked his way up the ranks to four-star general, finally serving as assistant commandant of the Corps from February 23, 1971, to his retirement on March 31, 1972. In the course of his career, Davis gained the sort of experience for which no training courses can substitute--combat in three wars. During Korea, his second war, Davis' outstanding leadership at the Chosin Reservoir earned him the Medal of Honor. In a recent interview with Military History editor Jon Guttman, Davis reflected on his long career with the Marines.
Military History: What was your background prior to joining the Marine Corps?
Davis: I was born in Fitzgerald, Georgia, on January 13, 1915. I moved to Atlanta at an early age, and later went to Georgia Tech, where I participated in Army ROTC [Reserve Officers' Training Corps]. Upon graduation in June 1938, I was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Reserve, then immediately transferred to the Marine Corps with a regular commission.
MH: You seem to have decided on a military career early in life.
Davis: Well, it was the Depression. Jobs were scarce. I had a teaching fellowship at the University of Tennessee, with the promise of a master's degree in 18 months, but the money was canceled somehow. I had to compete for a Marine job with a Navy ROTC candidate, but since Marine training is more related to Army land warfare than Navy training, I made it. I reported to the Charleston Navy Yard for a physical, then went to Basic school at Broad Street in Philadelphia for 10 months.
MH: What was your first duty upon graduating from that course?
Davis: In May 1939, I reported for sea duty as a junior officer for a 40-Marine detachment aboard the heavy cruiser Portland in the Pacific Ocean. We also manned the ship's 5-inch anti-aircraft [AA] battery. When we weren't in port at Long Beach, California, we were going on gunnery drills up the coast or taking part in maneuvers from Pearl Harbor.
MH: How long did that go on?
Davis: It was a one-year tour. In May 1940, I was sent to Quantico, Virginia. I became interested in gunnery and asked to attend the base defense weapons school, learning to man coastal batteries. Halfway through the course, though, I decided I didn't want to do that. Fortunately, I was transferred out by the commander, Major Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller.
MH: Where did you go next?
Davis: I served with the 1st Marine Division at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as an anti-aircraft officer. Later I moved back to Quantico, then to Parris Island, South Carolina. I next helped open up Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where I was when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
MH: How did you react to that news?
Davis: We were up all night listening to the radio, then we were briefed on our general mission, getting our equipment, being trained to defend the coast. Amid all that, I was promoted to captain in February 1942, and a short time later I married Willa Knox Heafner, a schoolteacher from Washington, North Carolina, with whom I had fallen in love while I was at Camp Lejeune. We didn't get all our guns until June, when we were shipped out by train to San Francisco. From there, we got on the converted passenger liner Ericsson and were escorted by destroyers and a cruiser to Wellington, New Zealand, arriving on July 11.
MH: What mission did they have in mind for you?
Davis: We learned that the Japanese were building an airfield in the Solomon Islands that would have endangered U.S. shipping routes. We transferred aboard Navy transports, and on August 7 we landed at our objective--the island of Guadalcanal.
MH: What was your role there?
Davis: Our assignment was to protect the airstrip once we seized it. We had 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns, and 20mm guns were still arriving from Camp Lejeune when we were setting up.
MH: How effectively were you able to defend Henderson Field, as the captured strip was named by the Marines?
Davis: We had a mechanical fire-control computer for the 40s. We also had 20mm and .50-caliber guns. For anything above 4,000 feet, however, we had no accuracy. Three weeks later, the 3rd Defense Battalion came in with 90mm guns, and we were subordinated to them. Fortunately, we had some Marine fighter squadrons [VMFs] to deal with the [Mitsubishi G4M] Betty bombers.
MH: Did you have to deal with strafing attacks by enemy fighters?
Davis: Once, four or five [Mitsubishi A6M2] Zeros came in to sweep the airfield, and all of them were shot down. We claimed them, but between the 3rd Defense Battalion and every Marine with a rifle, who knows who really got them?
MH: How did you stay ready for the enemy planes without radar?
Davis: Coastwatchers would tell us when they were coming. Japanese planes came over about every day. When Major John Lucien Smith's [Grumman F4F-4] Wildcats of VMF-223 attacked the bombers, they would always attack the guy on the left flank. Sometimes they would shoot him down, but even if they didn't, he would get rattled, maneuver to evade their fire and throw off the whole formation.
MH: Were you involved in any land fighting?
Davis: Some of my units were farmed out to infantry regiments, forming special weapons units--conglomerate anti-aircraft and anti-tank units. One of our units used towed 37mm guns with anti-personnel shells during the Battle of the Tenaru River, where a 700-man Japanese battalion was annihilated on August 24. I was there the next day, with my people. We took one or two wounded Japanese prisoners; almost all of the rest were killed. I also had a unit near the airfield during the Battle of Bloody Ridge on September 18.
MH: How were the Marines able to hold out against the Japanese onslaughts?
Davis: The Australians, who had occupied the islands before the Japanese, had trained native scouts to track the Japanese, and the intelligence the scouts gathered helped us pinpoint enemy attacks and concentrate our defenses.
MH: Was that the daily routine for the next several months?
Davis: We were bombarded almost every night by the Japanese fleet and bombed from the air by day. We lost few men, though, since we took cover in two-man slit trenches that limited how many would fall victim to each bomb or shell that hit. It got so you would hear the click of the bomb release or see the flash of the guns at sea and you would get in your hole. At first, we had our own 500-pound bombs scattered around, and we would have to put out fires that the Japanese hits set in the grass. On two occasions, I was standing on a 500-pound bomb, beating out the fire around it.
MH: What was the worst month for you on Guadalcanal?
Davis: October, when Puller went north to Matanikau. At that point there was no food, and we had to eat captured rice. The cook said that the black spots in the rice were weevils, but some of us ate them, too, as a source of protein. The cook put in a few raisins to camouflage them. Fishing boats came in from the West Coast with food. We were sick with dengue, malaria and dysentery. Our medical supplies were lost. Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley said he had to withdraw the fleet and that we had his permission to surrender if we needed to. The Marine commander, Maj. Gen. Alexander A. Vandegrift, refused.
MH: When did things finally take a turn for the better?
Davis: In November we got a squadron of Boeing B-17s, which was encouraging. Then there were the pivotal naval battles of November 13*15. I was on the beach when the light cruiser Atlanta was lost on the night of November 13. My men cheered, thinking it was Japanese--until the next morning, when she drifted in and her sailors were coming ashore. Despite the Navy's losses, though, they turned the campaign around. Even the air attacks slowed down. We were getting new ships and airplanes. Admiral William F. Halsey used the fleet to seek out and destroy the Japanese.
MH: Were you there for the final Japanese evacuation on February 7, 1943?
Davis: No. I was pulled out in January 1943, just as the Army units were coming in, and I was subsequently promoted to major. The 1st Marine Division was shipped to Australia to get replacements and equipment. We were out of action for eight to nine months--about 5,000 or 6,000 Marines were down with malaria. Guadalcanal changed a lot of minds, though--it proved that our guys could defeat the Japanese.
MH: When did you return to combat?
Davis: They moved us to Goodenough Island, off eastern Papua, where we spent time ashore for a few days. Then they reloaded us for Port Moresby, New Guinea, then off to Cape Gloucester. My AA platoons were farmed out to new regiments. I was left behind, to take command of a special weapons battalion. Chesty Puller was in charge of loading ships, and I told him that my units were being shipped out and that I needed to take care of them. He stroked his chin and said: "I agree with you. I'll tell you, Old Man, you get on that ship over there, and tell them I said to take you along to Cape Gloucester." So I took my staff aboard--those were my orders.
continued..............