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AN eventful period of almost fourteen years drew to a close on Friday, November 28, 1941, when the Fourth U. S. Marines, under the command of Colonel Samuel Lutz Howard, evacuated the city of Shanghai, China, after completing one of the longest and most successful "peace-time" missions in the history of the United States Marine Corps.
The intended withdrawal of all Marines from China, announced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on November 7, 1941, might well be termed an "escape." For ten days after the withdrawal Japan executed the most heinous act any nation ever committed against another in its attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Marine forces in North China, under the command of Colonel W. W. Ashurst were interned in Tientsin and made prisoners of war-the first in the war against Japan-just as they were on their way to board the S. S. President Harrison which had been sent in evacuate them.
The Fourth Marines saw a colorful and historic kaleidoscope of events pass in review during the fourteen years of its tour of duty in Shanghai. During the later years, the Marines came into almost daily contact with the Japanese military and naval forces and learned mam a lesson for later use.
The various commanders of the Fourth Marines were soldiers of action, reputation and leadership. From Colonel Charles J. (Jumbo) Hill, the first commanding officer of the regiment in China, to Colonel Samuel Lutz Howard, regimental commander at the lime of the evacuation, they included such officers as Colonel H. C. Davis. Colonel DeWitt Peck, Colonel F. D. Kilgore. Colonel Richard S. Hooker. Colonel Joseph C. Fegan. Colonel Charles F. B. Price, and Colonel Charles H. Lyman. The late Major General Smedley D. Butler commanded the Marine Brigade of which the Fourth was a part when Marines were sent to China in 1927.
All were experienced officers, chosen by the Commandant of the Marine Corps for their ability. Then, too, each of them possessed some particular quality that added to the prestige and influence of the Fourth U. S. Marines among the foreigners and native population in that most cosmopolitan of cities.
Colonel Howard, probably as much as any Marine commander in Shanghai, was called upon to exercise military skill mixed...