John W. Thomason, Jr.
It would be a very comforting thing if we could, in this urgent year of 1940, call up from the ground those long-boned, hairy fellows whose armies traversed this country a lifetime ago. It would be a hopeful thing if they might be mustered again, in their simplicity, their earnestness, and their antique courage. It would be an easy detail to instruct men of their proved and savage aptitude for war in the tactics and techniques introduced by the modern practitioners of that most ancient art. And our enemies would presently be confounded by us in all their knavish tricks.
For these men believed in something. They counted life a light thing to lay down in the faith they bore. They were terrible in battle. They were generous in victory. They rose up from defeat to fight again, and while they lived they were formidable. There were not enough of them; that is all.
- John W. Thomason, Jr. (from "The Confederate Army"
-- a forward to "A Lone Star Preacher")
Also, from the same source:
"What are you fighting for?" says an officer of Meade's staff to a hairy Mississippian, captured in Pennsylvania in 1863. "Fightin' for ouah rights, " the Mississippian told him. "But friend, what earthly right of yours have I ever interfered with?" the major asked him. "I don’ know," the soldier answered honestly, after some thought. "None that I know of, seh. But maybe I've got rights I haven't heard tell about, an' if so, I'm fightin' for them, too."
Concerning the Marines in World War I:
. . . a number of diverse people who ran curiously to type, with drilled shoulders and a bone-deep sunburn, and a tolerant scorn of nearly everything on earth. Their speech was flavored with navy words, and words culled from all the folk who live on the seas and the ports where our war-ships go. . . . They were the Leathernecks, the Old Timers: collected from ship's guards and shore stations all over the earth to form the 4th Brigade of Marines, the two rifle regiments, detached from the navy by order of the President for service with the American Expeditionary Forces. They were the old breed of American regular, regarding the service at home and at war as an occupation; and they transmitted their temper and character and view-point to the high-hearted volunteer mass which filled the ranks of the Marine Brigade.
-John W. Thomason, Jr. (from "Fix Bayonets!")
John William Thomason, Jr.
1893-1944. American Marine
officer, author and artist. Born
Huntsville, Texas. Attended
Southwestern University, Texas, Normal Institute, Nashville, and University of
Texas (1912-1913), when he came to New York City to study at the Art Student's
League. Commissioned a second
lieutenant in U. S. Marines in 1917 he fought at Belleau Wood, Château-Thierry,
San Mihiel, Soissons and Mont Blanc. He later saw service in Cuba, Nicaragua,
China, and at sea. With the coming
of World War II, he served as Lieutenant Colonel in Naval Intelligence.
As a writer-artist he was an illustrator primarily of his own
books. He wrote eleven illustrated
books. His first book Fix
Bayonets (1926) had illustrations in pen, pencil and watercolors (some
hastily sketched with improvised materials on the battlefield).
Other books include Jeb Stuart (1930), Salt Winds and Gobi Dust
(1934), Gone to Texas (1937), and Lone Star Preacher (1941).
He also wrote many articles for such magazines as American Mercury,
Scribner’s and Saturday Evening Post.
Among other decorations Thomason was awarded the Silver Star,
Navy Cross and Air Medal. Thomason
Park, a section of the Marine Corps Base at Quantico, Virginia and the navy
destroyer USS John W. Thomason were named in his memory.
He is buried in Huntsville, Texas.
Sketch from Fix Bayonets: "The Leathernecks, the Old Timers"
