Charles Newton Hunter (January 11, 1906, Oneida, New York - June 14, 1978, Cheyenne, Wyoming) was the author of the book Galahad (1963) a first person account of the Burma Campaign in World War II. Galahad was the code-name for the U.S. Army's 5307th Composite Unit (provisional), better known as Merrill's Marauders. "Colonel Charles N. Hunter had been with Galahad from the beginning as its ranking or second ranking officer, had commanded it during its times of greatest trial, and was more responsible than any other individual for its record of achievement."[1]
Hunter began his Army career as a West Point graduate. From page 169 of the West Point "Howitzer" Yearbook, Class of 1929, we learn that he was known to his classmates as "Newt" from his middle name, "Newton." He is described as having a "ruddy countenance, slightly tilted nose, sandy hair, and twinkling blue eyes carry an appeal that can pass unnoticed by no mortal lass."
WWII and Training for Burma
Following the Quebec meeting between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill a decision was made to create long range penetration groups to get behind the Japanese lines as a part of an overall Asian mainland offensive.
Lieutenant Colonel Hunter, with three years of experience in the Philippines, two years in the Canal Zone doing jungle warfare training, and most recently in charge of the combat training course in the infantry school, Fort Benning, Georgia, was put in charge of the shipment of the new unit to India and their subsequent training.
Colonel Hunter was able to obtain enough Galahad volunteers with previous experience with mules or horses to take care of the 700 pack animals in the 5307th. Each Special Force brigade also utilized up to 1,000 mules. Special attention was given to the very difficult training of the animals and their handlers for river crossings. Problems in this area, if not solved promptly, could hold a jungle column up for hours on a river bank. During the course of the operation, the men grew to love many of their animals, and they cared for and protected them just as if they were fellow soldiers. Incidentally, the Special Force debrayed their pack animals for security. Hunter, however, refused to debray Galahad's animals, stating that braying was one of the few pleasures a jackass enjoyed. He later claimed that to his knowledge their brays never posed a noise problem. Apparently, the mules were just too tired to bray.
As a final training preparation before going into battle, Hunter hiked Galahad over 140 miles from their last assembly area to their jump-off site beyond Ledo. He claimed that this decision, despite its unpopularity, accomplished a number of goals. It completed the conditioning of the men and animals (who had lately undergone a soft three weeks of travel time by train). Next, it allowed the muleteers and their animals to adjust to each other on the trail. Furthermore, it 'sweat in' the pack saddles to the animal's backs. And finally, it eliminated unfit men from the ranks. Hunter stated that, "More than any other single part of Galahad's training, the hike down the Ledo Road, in my professional judgment, paid the highest dividends." Having completed this arduous hike with full loads, marching primarily at night over mountainous terrain, the men of Galahad lacked no confidence in their ability to meet the physical demands of the coming operation.
In February 1944, under command of Brigadier General Frank Merrill, 2,503 men and 360 mules began a 1,000 mile march - out of India, over the Patkai region of the Himalayas and deep into the Burmese jungle.
But on March 29, General Merrill suffered his first heart attack and command returned to then executive officer, Colonel Hunter.
Following months of forced marches through monsoon season, weakened by hunger and malnutrition, suffering from amoebic dysentery, malaria, various fevers, snake bite, scrub typhus, and fungal skin diseases they were reaching the end of their ability to continue. Captain Fred O. Lyons said the last thing keeping him going had been not letting Colonel Hunter down:[3]
By now my dysentery was so violent I was draining blood. Every one of the men was sick from one cause or another. My shoulders were worn raw from the pack straps, and I left the pack behind.. The boys with me weren't in much better shape... A scout moving ahead suddenly held his rifle high in the air. That meant Enemy sighted... Then at last we saw them, coming down the railroad four abreast... The gunner crouched low over his tommy-gun and tightened down. Then the gun spoke. Down flopped a half-dozen Japs, then another half dozen. The [Japanese] column spewed from their marching formation into the bush. We grabbed up the gun and slid back into the jungle. Sometimes staggering, sometimes running, sometimes dragging, I made it back to camp. I was so sick I didn't care whether the Japs broke through or not; so sick I didn't worry any more about letting the colonel down. All I wanted was unconsciousness.
August 3, 1944, following the last battle, Myitkyina was declared secure and on that day Col. Hunter was sent back to the United States.[4]
After five major battles and seventeen minor engagements only two men survived without being hospitalized or killed. One was a Lieutenant Phil Weld,[5] who later became famous for his single-handed ocean racing of small sailboats. The other was Colonel Charles N. Hunter.
He retired to Cheyenne, Wyoming, home of his wife, Don Mae, who died February 27, 1970, of heart failure. Of their three daughters, only his youngest, Sara is alive today. Anne died in 1959 and Sue in 1977.
Quotation
Sick men have no morale
—After Myitkyina, Colonel Hunter referred to the fact that at some point, even the most heroic of men can go no further
Bibliography
Charles Newton Hunter, Galahad (San Antonio, TX: Naylor Co., 1963)
Charlton Ogburn, The Marauders (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1956)
Charles N. Hunter, AGF Report of Overseas Observations with Units in C.B.I. February 17, 1945.
↑ Charlton Ogburn, The Marauders (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1956) pg 2
1 2 U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Combined Arms Research Library "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 2007-06-10. Retrieved 2009-03-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ Lyons, Fred O. (Capt), Merrill's Marauders In Burma, Interview with Paul Wilder, 1945
Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India Theater during World War II. An early American popular hero of the war for leading a column walking out of Burma pursued by the victorious Imperial Japanese Armed Forces, his implacable demands for units debilitated by disease to be sent into heavy combat resulted in Merrill's Marauders becoming disenchanted with him. Infuriated by the 1944 fall of Changsha to a Japanese offensive, Stilwell threatened the Chinese Nationalist leader, Chiang Kai-shek, that lend-lease aid to China would be cut off, which made Ambassador Patrick J. Hurley decide that Stilwell had to be replaced. Chiang had been intent on keeping Lend-Lease supplies to fight the Chinese Communist Party, but Stilwell had been obeying his instructions to get the Communists and the Nationalists to co-operate against Japan.
The Chindits, officially known as Long Range Penetration Groups, were special operations units of the British and Indian armies which saw action in 1943–1944 during the Burma Campaign of World War II.
Merrill’s Marauders (named after Frank Merrill) or Unit Galahad, officially named the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), was a United States Army long range penetration special operations jungle warfare unit, which fought in the Southeast Asian theater of World War II, or China-Burma-India Theater (CBI). The unit became famous for its deep-penetration missions behind Japanese lines, often engaging Japanese forces superior in number.
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The Ledo Road was an overland connection between British India and China, built during World War II to enable the Western Allies to deliver supplies to China and aid the war effort against Japan. After the Japanese cut off the Burma Road in 1942 an alternative was required, hence the construction of the Ledo Road. It was renamed the Stilwell Road, after General Joseph Stilwell of the U.S. Army, in early 1945 at the suggestion of Chiang Kai-shek. It passes through the Burmese towns of Shingbwiyang, Myitkyina and Bhamo in Kachin state. Of the 1,726 kilometres (1,072 mi) long road, 1,033 kilometres (642 mi) are in Burma and 632 kilometres (393 mi) in China with the remainder 61 km was in India. The road had the Ledo-Pangsau Pass-Tanai (Danai)-Myitkyina--Bhamo-Mansi-Namhkam-Kunming route.
Frank Dow Merrill was a United States Army general and is best remembered for his command of Merrill's Marauders, officially the 5307th Composite Unit (provisional), in the Burma Campaign of World War II. Merrill's Marauders came under General Joseph Stilwell's Northern Combat Area Command. It was a special forces unit modelled on the Chindits' long range penetration groups trained to operate from bases deep behind Japanese lines.
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The 6th Ranger Battalion was a United States Army Ranger Battalion which saw action in the Pacific during World War II. The battalion is best known for its role in the Raid at Cabanatuan in the Philippines in January 1945.
Detachment 101 of the Office of Strategic Services operated in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II. On 17 January 1956, it was awarded a Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation by President Dwight Eisenhower, who wrote: "The courage and fighting spirit displayed by its officers and men in offensive action against overwhelming enemy strength reflect the highest tradition of the armed forces of the United States."
The Order of battle of the Chindits, an Allied special force which carried out two deep penetration raids behind Japanese line during the Burma campaign in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II
David Richardson (1916–2005) was an American journalist and United States Army soldier. A member of Merrill's Marauders, he became famous for his behind the lines coverage of their combat exploits during the Burma Campaign of World War II. His articles for Yank, the Army Weekly describing the Marauders' campaign's record-setting marches and heavy sustained fighting were noted as "[capturing] the flavor of battle, as well as the Marauders' jingoistic pride and derring-do".
Charlton Ogburn Jr. was an American writer, most notably of memoirs and non-fiction works. Before he established himself as a writer he served in the US army, and then as a State Department official, specialising in South-East Asian affairs.
Merrill's Marauders is a 1962 Technicolor war film, photographed in CinemaScope, and directed and co-written by Samuel Fuller. It is based on the exploits of the long-range penetration jungle warfare unit of the same name in the Burma campaign, culminating in the Siege of Myitkyina.
A long-range penetration patrol, group, or force is a special operations unit capable of operating long distances behind enemy lines far away from direct contact with friendly forces as opposed to a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol, a small group primarily engaged in scouting missions.
The 4th Combat Cargo Group was a World War II United States Army Air Forces combat organization that served in Tenth Air Force as part of the China Burma India Theater of World War II.
The Burma campaign in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II took place over four years from 1942 to 1945. During the first year of the campaign, the Imperial Japanese Army with aid from Burmese insurgents had driven British forces and Chinese forces out of Burma, and occupied most of the country. From May to December 1942, most active campaigning ceased as the monsoon rains made tactical movement almost impossible in the forested and mountainous border between India and Burma, and both the Allies and Japanese faced severe logistical constraints.
The fighting in the Burma campaign in 1944 was among the most severe in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II. It took place along the borders between Burma and India, and Burma and China, and involved the British Commonwealth, Chinese and United States forces, against the forces of Imperial Japan and the Indian National Army. British Commonwealth land forces were drawn primarily from the United Kingdom, British India and Africa.
The siege of Myitkyina was an engagement during the Burma campaign of World War II. The Allied victory was part of the larger Battle of Northern Burma and Western Yunnan which succeeded in opening the Ledo Road.
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