Griffin W.E.B. - The Corps 09 - Under Fire

There were two enlisted men just inside the door. One was Staff Sergeant John B. Adair, USMC, who had had the overnight duty NCO, and the other was PFC Wilson J. Coughlin, USMC, who had had the overnight duty as driver of the 1949 Chevrolet staff car, should that vehicle be required in the discharge of Staff Sergeant Adair's duty.

When Staff Sergeant Adair-who was short, squat, starting to bald, and did not look as if he had been sent over from Central Casting to play a Marine sergeant-saw Major Macklin, he popped to attention and bellowed, "At-tention on deck!"

PFC Coughlin popped to attention.

There were only two ribbons on PFC Coughlin's shirt, but Staff Sergeant Adair's display was even more impres-sive than Major Macklin's. His was topped by the ribbon signifying that he had been awarded the Silver Star Medal. Adair also had the Purple Heart, but with two clusters, in-dicating he had been wounded three times.

Very privately-although he knew his opinion was shared by most of his peers-Staff Sergeant Adair thought Major Robert B. Macklin was a chickenshit prick.

"As you were," Major Macklin said, and marched through the outer office of the G-l's office into the Officer Personnel Section, and between the desks of that section to his office, which was at the end of the room.

He put his fore-and-aft cap on a clothes tree and sat down at his desk. The desk was nearly bare. Macklin liked to keep things shipshape. There was an elaborately carved nameplate he'd had made for a package of cigarettes in Tientsin, China, after the war. There was a telephone and a desk pad of artificial leather holding a sheet of green blot-ter paper. There was a wooden In box on the left corner of the desk and an Out box on the right corner of the desk. The Out box was empty. The In box contained a curling sheet of teletypewriter paper.

Major Macklin opened the upper right-hand drawer of his desk and took from it a large ashtray, which had a box of matches in its center. He placed this on the right side of his desk, then went back into the drawer and came out with a straight-stemmed pipe and a leather tobacco pouch. He filled the pipe, carefully tamping the tobacco, and then lit it with one of the wooden matches from the ashtray. Then he returned the tobacco pouch to the drawer and reached for the teletype message, which had apparently come in overnight.

ROUTINE

HQ USMC WASH DC 1405 6 JUNE 1950

TO COMMANDING GENERAL

CAMP PENDLETON, CAL

ATTN: G-l

REFERENCE IS MADE TO MESSAGE HQ USMC DATED 27 MAY 1950 RELIEVING CAPT K. R. MCCOY FROM NAVAL ELEMENT HQ SCAP TOKYO JAPAN AND ASSIGNING HIM TO CAMP PENDLETON CAL FOR SEPARATION FROM AC-TIVE DUTY.

SUBJECT OFFICER, ACCOMPANIED BY HIS DEPENDENT WIFE, DEPARTED TOKYO JAPAN FOR CAMP PENDLETON VIA COMMERCIAL AIR 4 JUN 1950. EN ROUTE TRAVEL TIME ESTI-MATED AT NINETY-SIX (96) HOURS.

SUBJECT OFFICER'S SERVICE RECORDS ARE CURRENTLY BEING EVALUATED BY ENLISTED PERSONNEL SECTION, G-l, HQ USMC TO DE-TERMINE AT WHAT ENLISTED RANK OFFICER WILL BE PERMITTED TO ENLIST, SHOULD HE SO DESIRE, AFTER HIS SEPARATION FROM COMMISSIONED STATUS. PRIOR TO ENTERING UPON TEMPORARY ACTIVE DUTY AS A COM-MISSIONED OFFICER IN 1941, SUBJECT OF-FICER WAS CORPORAL, USMC.

ON ARRIVAL AT CAMP PENDLETON CAPT MC-COY SHOULD BE COUNSELED BY AN OFFICER OF EQUAL OR SUPERIOR RANK MAKING CLEAR TO HIM THE FOLLOWING:

HQ USMC DOES NOT WISH TO ENTERTAIN ANY REQUEST FOR RECONSIDERATON OF HIS RE-LEASE FROM ACTIVE DUTY AS A COMMISSIONED OFFICER. HE WILL BE SEPARATED FROM THE USMC NOT LATER THAN 30 JUNE 1950.

IT IS THE INTENTION OF THE G-l SECTION USMC TO DETERMINE AT WHICH ENLISTED GRADE CAPT MCCOY MAY ELECT TO ENLIST ON SEPARATION AT THE EARLIEST POSSIBLE TIME. SUCH DETERMINATION WILL BE FUR-NISHED BY TELETYPE MESSAGE TO G-l CAMP PENDLETON, AND IT IS ANTICIPATED THIS WILL OCCUR BEFORE 30 JUNE. ON RECEIPT OF ENLISTMENT OPTION, CAPT MCCOY WILL BE OFFERED THE OPTION OF IMMEDIATE RE-LEASE FROM ACTIVE DUTY FOR THE PURPOSE OF ENLISTING IN THE USMC; OR OF IMMEDI-ATELY BEING SEPARATED FROM THE NAVAL SERVICE TO ENTER CIVILIAN LIFE. SHOULD CAPT MCCOY ELECT TO DO SO HE MAY REMAIN ON ACTIVE DUTY UNTIL 30 JUNE 1950.

CAPT MCCOY HAS TWENTY-NINE (29) DAYS OF ACCRUED LEAVE. HE SHOULD BE OFFERED THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO ON LEAVE STATUS IF HE SO DESIRES UNTIL HE ACCEPTS OR DECLINES REENLISTMENT IN THE GRADE TO BE OF-FERED, OR UNTIL 28 JUNE 1950 WHEN AB-SENT PRIOR SEPARATION AS OUTLINED ABOVE HIS SEPARATION PROCESS MUST COMMENCE.

FOR THE COMMANDANT:

ROSCOE L. QUINCY LT COL USMC

ASST CHIEF OFFICER PERSONNEL OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT CHIEF OF STAFF, G-l

HQ USMC

ROUTINE

Major Macklin puffed thoughtfully on his pipe as he considered the message, then read it again to fix the details in his mind.

Although this was not mirrored on his face, Major Macklin had an emotional reaction to the message. He was surprised at its intensity.

At 0735, five minutes after Lieutenant Colonel Peter S. Brewer, USMC-a short, muscular, thirty-seven-year-old-who was Chief of Officer Records and Major Macklin's immediate superior, had entered his office, he saw Major Macklin in the open door of the office, waiting for permission to enter.

He waved him in.

"Good morning, Macklin," Lieutenant Colonel Brewer said. "Something?"

"Good morning, sir," Macklin replied. "I wondered if the colonel had seen this?"

He handed Brewer the TWX from Eighth and Eye.

Brewer read it, then looked up at Macklin to see what he had tp say about it.

"The phrase about encouraging this officer to take leave before he's separated, sir."

"What about it?"

"Sir, I'd like to find something for this officer to do around here, so that he wouldn't have to take leave."

"Why?"

"Sir, I know this officer. May I speak frankly?"

Lieutenant Colonel Brewer made a "come-on" gesture with his left hand.

"Sir, McCoy was commissioned when the Corps really needed officers. And, frankly, he was one of those who never should have been commissioned."

"Why not?"

"Well, sir, he lacks the education to be an officer, and... this is difficult to put in words. He doesn't really under-stand the unwritten rules on which an officer has to pattern his life. He's not an officer and a gentleman, sir, if you take my meaning."

"Where are you going with this, Macklin?" Lieutenant Colonel Brewer asked.

"I know McCoy well enough to know he's living from payday to payday," Macklin said. "You know the type, sir. Not a thought for tomorrow..."

"Okay, so what?"

"My thought, sir, is that if McCoy doesn't take leave, he'll be paid for it when he's separated. Whether he leaves the Corps or reenlists, I'm sure that he'd like to have-is really going to need-a month's pay in cash."

Lieutenant Colonel Brewer considered that a moment, first thinking that it was really nice of Macklin to take an interest like this-he didn't seem the type-and then con-sidering what he was asking for.

The Eighth and Eye TWX had said McCoy "should be of-fered the opportunity" to take leave; it didn't make it an or-der.

"Sure," Lieutenant Colonel Brewer said. "Why not? Have him inventory supply rooms or something. There's always a need for someone to do that."

"And, sir, with your permission, I'd rather not have him get the idea we're doing this out of-what... pity, I sup-pose, is the word."

Brewer considered that for a moment.

"Handle it any way you think is best, Macklin."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. With your permission, sir?"

Lieutenant Colonel Brewer gave Major Macklin permis-sion to withdraw with a wave of his hand.

Major Macklin returned to his office quite pleased with himself.

"Killer" McCoy getting himself booted out of the Corps was really no surprise. The miserable little sono-fabitch should never have been a commissioned officer in the first place. I'm only surprised that he lasted as long as he did.