Random Marine Corps Quotes

"Don't you forget that you're First Marines! Not all the communists in Hell can overrun you!" Col. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC - rallying his First Marine Regiment near Chosin Reservoir, Korea, December 1950

"We signed up knowing the risk. Those innocent people in New York didn't go to work thinking there was any kind of risk. ~ Pvt. Mike Armendariz-Clark, USMC; Afghanastan, 20 September 2001,As reported on page 1 of the New York Times

“For me, the Eagle, Globe and Anchor is a symbol for the entire Corps, something in common and a bond between new Marines and old.” — Staff Sgt. Charles E. Fessler | World War II veteran

"For over 221 years our Corps has done two things for this great Nation. We make Marines, and we win battles." ~ Gen. Charles C. Krulak, USMC (CMC); 5 May 1997

"By their victory, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the Fifth Amphibious Corps have made an accounting to their country which only history will be able to value fully. Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue. " ~ Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, U.S. Navy

"The United States Marine Corps, with its fiercely proud tradition of excellence in combat, its hallowed rituals, and its unbending code of honor, is part of the fabric of American myth. " ~ Thomas E. Ricks; Making the Corps, 1997

"We're not retreating, Hell! We're just attacking in a different direction!" — Gen. Oliver Smith | USMC

“We found a water pipe, tied the flag to it and put it up. Then all hell broke loose below. Troops cheered, ships blew whistles, some men openly wept.”  ~ Cpl. Charles Lindbergh, flag raising on Iwo Jima

 

"Hell, these are Marines.  Men like them held Guadalcanal and took Iwo Jima. Bagdad ain't shit. ~ Marine Major General John F. Kelly

"There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion." - Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army