H-AGOM-RChamberlin

Sergeant Reid C. Chamberlain USMC

Reid Carlos Chamberlain, born in Arkansas in 1919, enlisted in the US Marine Corps on 21 June 1938, and acquired his "boot camp" training at the Marine Corps Bases San Diego, California. On 4 April 1939, he received a dependency discharge because of ill parents who were unable to work, however, the following day, he enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve (inactive status), and was promoted to Private First Class the same day.

After one-month’s course of instruction in aircraft welding, he went to work for the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation at Lindbergh Field at San Diego. As the defense program moved into high gears, Chamberlain was working on the newest type of Army and Navy planes. He was recalled to active duty in the Marine Corps on 26 June 1941, and again reported for duty at San Diego. His special request to be transferred to duty in the Pacific was granted on 9 August 1941, when he left the United States for the Marine Barracks at Cavite, Philippine Islands, where he joined Company "C", 1^st Separate Marine Brigade.

Reid C. Chamberlain

Then came the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941. On 10 December 1941, Private First Class Chamberlain was on duty at Binokayan, Imus in the Province of Cavite, where he received & damaged ear drum from gun detonations while repelling the enemy planes in their bombing of the Cavite Navy Yards. His last letter to his mother in February 1942 stated that he had "some close calls but nothing to worry about." He was a member of Battery "C" of the anti-aircraft defenses when the Japanese landed on the west coast of Bataan. On 25 February, he took a patrol of 30 men to Pucot Hill where they were ambushed by about 500 Japs. Safe retreat was made possible by Chamberlain’s silencing of an enemy machine gun with his Browning automatic rifle. For that bravery, he was recommended for the Silver Star Medal. Two days later he was wounded in the right forearm by bullets from a Japanese machine gun. The following month he was promoted to the rank of corporal and transferred to the 3d Battalion, 4th Marines.

On 6 May 1942, Army General Wainwright surrendered the Philippines. That same night Corporal Chamberlain with a party of 16 men attempted to escape from Corregidor in a motor launch. That was the last seen of him by those less fortunate Americans who became prisoners of war, and he was carried on the rolls as "missing in action” as of 6 May 1942. After many days of drifting and wandering, suffering extreme hardships from hunger and cold, he landed on Mindanao and reported to Army Colonel Wendell W. Fertig in command of the US Army forces in the Philippines. On 15 January 1943, be was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army of the United States, and became a liaison officer for Colonel Fertig's headquarters. He served with various divisions of guerrillas operating in the Islands and passed continuously, through situations of great danger in areas held by the Japanese. His detachment was instrumental in obtaining supplies in addition to getting important papers through the enemy blockade and relaying valuable information back to the Army's headquarters. Because of his ability to command, he was promoted to first lieutenant in the Army on 1 October 1943. Because of “ill health" and his desire to rejoin the Marine Corps, he left the Philippines about 15 October, arriving an 23 November in Australia, where he sailed via the USS GRIPSHOLM for the United States. He arrived at Headquarters Marine Corps in Washington, D. C. on 13 December 1943. Then started the problem of straightening out his service status. Was he a Marine or was he a soldier? The affair was settled by discharging him from the Marine Corps Reserve on 14 January 1943, the day prior to his acceptance of a commission in the Army. The Army likewise discharged him on 21 December 1943 in order that be might be re-enlisted in the Marine Corps. On 23 December, he re-enlisted as a Corporal in the regular Marine Corps. On 28 February 1944, Lieutenant General Alexander A. Vandegrifts, Commandant of the Marine Corps pinned the Army’s Distinguished Service Modal on Chamberlain’s blouse. The citation related the young Marine’s extraordinary heroism in action during the period he served with Colonel Fertig's soldiers on Mindanao. The decoration was awarded by command of General Douglas MacArthur.

Because of his outstanding-service as a commissioned officer in the Army, Corporal Chamberlain was recommended for appointment to the Marine Officers' Candidates’ Class at Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia. However, Chamberlain felt that he needed some time for readjustment in the ways of normal living and requested discharge from the Marine Corps Officers’ Candidates’ Class to resume enlisted man’s duties as an orderly at San Diego, where he could be near his family, In April 1944, he requested assignment in the Pacific area. On 26 May he joined the V Marine Amphibious Corps Replacement Battalion at Pearl Harbor, T.H. In August he left Pearl Harbor en-route to Guam, arriving 21 September, 1944, when be was assigned to Company "A", 21^st Marines. At last he had achieved his wish of again joining a combat unit. On 16 Feb 1945, his unit left Guam via the USS PRESIDENT ADAMS for Iwo Jima. He participated in the bitter fighting there until March 19 1945 when he was killed in action.

Major General Allen H. Turnage, Director of Personnel of the Marine Corps sent the following letter to Chamberlain’s mother:

"Your sons record was illustrious and outstanding. He was proud to serve his country as a member of the Corps he loved so well. He and his comrades, who, by their bravery and determination, are defeating the enemy on the islands in the Pacific, will always remain an inspiration with the members of the Corps and to all the people of our Nation.”

Sergeant Chamberlain’s decorations and medals included the following: Distinguished Service Cross (Army) for the duty in the Philippines; Purple Heart with two gold stars (Philippines and Iwo Jima); Distinguished Unit Badge with one Oak Leaf Cluster (Army Philippines); Presidential Unit Citation with one bronze star (Iwo Jima); American Defense Service Medal with Base clasp (Philippines); Philippine Defense Ribbon with one bronze star (Philippines); Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal with two bronze Stars (Philippine and Iwo Jima); World War II Victory Medal.

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Marine who “Wouldn’t Give Up” is Hero of New Philippine Saga

Fled Corregidor to Battle Japs with Guerrillas

Star 24 November 1944

(The following story was written by First Lt. Weldon James, a Marine Corps public relations Officer recently returned from overseas.)

The Marine Corps today revealed the story of "the corporal who wouldn't give up."

The Leatherneck hero escaped from Corregidor the day it surrendered, became a first lieutenant in the Army, fought with the guerrillas in the Philippines for nearly two years escaped, re-enlisted in the marines, demanded combat duty, and again is overseas where the Japs are thickest.

Now a sergeant, the rugged, blue-eyed fighter is Reid C. Chamberlain, 25, of El Cajon, Calif., whose Distinguished Service Cross citation early this year was limited for security reasons; to a terse affirmation of "extraordinary heroism in action….”

First reported missing, then dead, then "secretly alive," young Chamberlain was a joyous secret indeed to his mother, Mrs. Ettie May :Chamberlain of El Cajon.

Fought First on Bataan.

Serving with the 4th Marines, Pfc. Chamberlain fought first on Bataan, where he won promotion to corporal, then on Corregidor.

When the impending surrender of "The Rock" was announced on the morning of May 6, 1942, the corporal, with several Marine and Army companions, escaped in a motor launch.

How they got from island to island, where and how they served with guerrilla bands in 1942 may not be told.

Near the end of the year they acquired a launch and set out for China.

Their engine failed some 70 miles at sea. They drifted 28 days before landing again in the Philippines.

Cpl. Chamberlain, another American and two Filipinos acquired a, native sailboat, eventually set sail for Australia. The corporal changed his mind and returned to the Philippines with some inter-islanders who put; him in touch with a guerrilla outfit.

Smuggled In Munitions

The, corporal went "outside” for the guerrillas, smuggled in guns, powder, lead, gasoline. A guerrilla leader, a Colonel in the United States Army, commissioned him a second lieutenant and, six adventure-filled months later promoted him to first lieutenant.

After two years in the Philippines, First Lt. Chamberlain finally came back to America.

In Washington the paper confusion was great. The Marines gave him a discharge. The Army permitted him-to resign his commission and gave him the Distinguished Service Cross.

Then the hardy youth. who did some growing up in his native Parkin, Ark., before his family moved West, re-enlisted in the Marine Corps. He was given appointment to the Officer Candidates' Class at Quantico.

Lt. Gen. Alexander A. Vandegrift, commandant of the Marine Corps, arrangeoua 60-day furlough. He went to Quantico, but no sooner had he entered school than, he applied for line duty.

An Unusual Request.

It was an unusual request, three days after admission to an Officer training school. He got his transfer, went to a West Coast base. Orders, stipulated that he was not to be transferred again without the express approval of the commandant. He was "stuck for the duration."

He won promotion to sergeant. In time he was Presented the Purple Heart, with Gold Star for wounds of 1942.

Sgt. Chamberlain could have had another fling at candidates', class, but he was getting tired of his peaceful existence.

The commandant received another formal request. Please, could he be "released" for combat duty?

The sergeant was still subject to recurrent malaria, and that alone is good reason to keep a man stateside. But, as his commanding officer wrote ,.approving Sgt. Chamberlain's request, the Californian had "a valuable temperament for combat."

Gen.-Vandegriff agreed.

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Marines Diary Reveals How He Gave Up Romance for Death

From Times Herald, 08-02-45

Beautiful Filipino Girl Made Him Ask Himself for the First Time if He Was In Love

Before the young marine, Reid C. Chamberlain, died fighting for his country on Iwo Island, he had the chance to ask himself a basic question: "Am I in love?"

Romance came to the El Cajon Calif. Lad for the first and only time in his life on the Philippine Island Basilian.

Having fought on Luzon with one guerrilla band, he was going to Mindanao to join another. But he was felled by malaria and natives took him ashore on Basilia and summoned a native nurse from an American mission. Her name was, Evangelista, and she was beautiful.

She was the heroine of Chamberlain's diary, which was published yesterday by Leatherneck, magazine of the marine corps. So imbued with war was the young man, he scarcely had time for anything else, but she made an impression from the very start. His diary recorded:

"Even though I was burning' up with fever I noticed Miss Evangelista was very attractive. She is taller than the average Filipino girl, about five feet five inches, slender and curvaceous. She had Jet black eyes and long lashes, gleaming white, even teeth and a winning smile; Her hair is long and she had combed it back in a neat coiffure and parted it in the center.'

Is "Doctor and Mother"

This was written on March 13, 1943. Two days later Chamberlain had recovered from his delirium to again write in his diary. He recorded that "Miss Evangelista is a sort of combination doctor and mother for the entire area. Natives drop in to tell her their troubles and to have their wounds or illnesses treated."

Four days later, he wrote: "Evangelista takes excellent care of me. I have grown quite fond of her and nicknamed her 'Ba,", why, I don't know. But she seems to like my pet name. I am still weak and Ba insists I remain in bed a few more days.

On March 24, he recorded:

My fifth day out of bed an I'm beginning to feel like my old self again, although I'm still weak. I asked Be to, go on a picnic with me, and she accepted an prepared a nice supper for the occasion.

"We walked about three mile through some lovely wooded country to a spot on the bank of a small stream where we sat holding hands, discussing life, the war, and the future.

Grateful To "Ba”

"Neither of us seemed very certain regarding these subjects but I felt very close to Ba and grateful as we watched the huge red sunset that filled the sky with myriad of blue hues.

"I took Ba in my arms and kissed her tenderly. Her lips were soft and warm. She smiled I as she buried her head comfortably on my shoulder. It felt as if it belonged there.

"I've never been in love. I wonder if I'm in love now. Whatever it is I find it a very pleasant sensation."

On April 1, the Basilian guerrillas gave a dance in his honor....

"Ba looked radiant. She wore a long dark red party dress and a red hibiscus in her hair that added to her dark beauty. She danced well and I realized she is the most versatile, able, and intelligent girl I had ever known, as well as one of the prettiest. Yet she is Filipino and I am an American and there is still a war to fight. I made up my mind to leave the next day.

Tells Her His Plans

"When we walked back to the mission after the party, I told her of my intention. She asked me to stay but I told her that it is my duty to continue the fight against the Japs, that I am a soldier and my country is at war."

She protested that he could fight Japs on Basilian -- he didn't have to go on to Mindanao to fight them.

He told her his diary said:

“No, Ba. I must leave. My place is with Col. Fertig."

With this statement of fact, BA disappears from the fighting man's diary: "She had tears in her eyes when I kissed her good night."

Goes Back to Marines

Chamberlain escaped from Corregidor fortress when it capitulated to the Japanese and fought with guerrilla bands for 18 months. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army and later was promoted to first lieutenant though his marine rank was corporal.

In November 1943, he was evacuated to Australia and received from Gen. MacArthur the Distinguished Service Cross "for extraordinary heroism In action" and the Purple Heart with gold star for his wounds.

He could have remained in the army as a first lieutenant but chose to return to the marines as a corporal. He was a sergeant when, he fell in action on Iwo Jima.

Philippine Hero Killed by Iwo Sniper

by S/Sgt Alvin M. Josephy jr, Combat Correspondent

IWO JIMA (Delayed) Sgt. Reid C. Chamberlain of El Cajon, Cal., hero of two years' fighting as a Philippine guerrilla who didn't want duty in the United States and who took his plea for more combat to the Marine Corps Commandant, was killed March 2 by a Jap sniper. The bullet which killed Chamberlain as he went toward the front lines ended one of the most amazing careers of the war.

Chamberlain fought with the famous 4th Regiment in the Philippines, being wounded at Cavite and on Bataan. He escaped from Corregidor before the surrender to the Japs in 1942. He fought with the guerrillas for two years, occasionally leaving the Jap held island to smuggle guns and gasoline to the underground there.

A corporal then, his heroism won him an Army field commission and, subsequent to his escape and return to the United States, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army's second highest award for valor.

Resigning his Army first lieutenant's commission, he was sent to Marine officers' school but his urge for line duty was so great he requested that he be transferred out of the school. The transfer was granted with the proviso that his commanding officer could not transfer him further or send him overseas without the approval of the Commandant.

Chamberlain, called a man with a 'valuable temperament, for combat,' put in an official request for combat duty. Finally it was granted and he was sent to the 3rd Division, landing with the 21st Regiment on Iwo Jima.

On Iwo, Chamberlain acted as battalion runner. The day of his death he was going toward the front lines. The route passed the mouths of a series of caves in the side of a rocky ridge. A battle had been fought around the cave entrances just previously and dead Japanese lay in profusion.

As he passed, there were three rifle shots. Chamberlain was struck in the head by one of the bullets and died instantly.

Chamberlain was a quiet, unassuming youth, and a capable, and respected leader. Not many of his companions knew of his previous adventures. Those who did knew that he was motivated by a desire to avenge his comrades who were lost at Corregidor. He was happy at the news, received just before he left for Iwo, of the liberation of many of the American prisoners in Manila. He looked forward to hearing that many of his former comrades were free again.

At MCB recently, Sgt. Chamberlain told over the 'Halls of Montezuma' radio program of his two years' hit-and-run warfare against the Japs in the Philippines.

Highlighting his adventures was Chamberlain's securing a diesel engined launch and setting out for the China coast, intending to join Chinese guerrillas. His engine failed 70 miles at sea. Chamberlain and nine companions drifted for 28 days, most of the time without food and with little water. Finally they landed back on the Philippines. With two Filipinos, Chamberlain later set sail in a native sailboat for Australia. But he changed his mind and returned to join a large guerrilla outfit.

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The Corporal Who Wouldn’t Give Up is Back Fighting the Japs Again

By 1^st Lt Weldon James, PRO

WASHINGTON - The Marine Corps last weekend revealed the story of "the corporal who wouldn't give up"-a Leatherneck hero who escaped from Corregidor the day it surrendered, survived 28 days of drifting in the China Sea, became a first lieutenant in the Army, fought with the guerrillas in the Philippines for nearly two years, smuggled in guns and gasoline to them from the outside world, escaped, re-enlisted in the Marines, demanded combat duty, and again is overseas where the Japs are thickest.

Now a sergeant, the rugged, blue-eyed fighter is Reid C. Chamberlain of El Cajon, Cal., whose DSC citation early this year was for security reasons limited to a terse affirmation of "extraordinary heroism in action . . . "

First reported missing in action, then dead, then "secretly alive," young Chamberlain was a joyous secret indeed to his mother, Mrs. Ettie May Chamberlain of El Cajon. She knew nothing of his activities, but evidently was informed of his aliveness and well-being, with the injunction to tell no one, not even the insurance company, until his return.

Serving with the 4th Marines in the Philippines when war came in 1941, PFC. Chamberlain fought first on Bataan, winning promotion to corporal, then on Corregidor.

Twice wounded in action, he recovered. When news of the impending surrender of "the rock" was announced on the morning of May 6, 1942, the corporal, with several Marine and Army companions, escaped in a motor launch to a point elsewhere in the islands.

How they got from island to island, where and how they served with various guerrilla bands, in those last long months of 1942, may not be told.

Near the end of the year they acquired a 45foot diesel-engined launch and set out for the coast of China, intending to join Chinese guerrillas and "work their way" up to Chungking.

Their engine failed some 70 miles out at sea. A makeshift sail proved too small to be effective, and they drifted for 28 days before landing again in the Philippines.

On this heartbreaking trip there were 10 men five Filipinos, five Americans. They suffered an acute shortage of water and ran out of food.

When they hit the unwanted shore again, the party split up. Corp. Chamberlain, another American and two Filipinos acquired a native sailboat, eventually set sail for Australia. The untiring corporal changed his mind on the way south, and returned to the Philippines with some friendly inter-islanders who put him in touch with a large guerrilla outfit, bossed by a Colonel in the Philippine Army.

Now the indomitable corporal really hit his stride. He went "outside the Philippines" for guerrillas, smuggled in badly needed guns, powder, lead, gasoline. Another guerrilla leader, a Colonel in the US Army, commissioned him a second lieutenant and, six adventure-filled months later, promoted him to first lieutenant. The bands with which he served numbered other Marine and Army personnel, officers and men, as well as Filipinos.

After a full two years in the Philippines, Lt. Chamberlain, USA, finally came back to America. Despite several bouts of malaria, his iron-man constitution had stood him well, and he was in what the doctors termed reasonably good shape.

In Washington the paper-confusion was great, but the lieutenant waded through it. The Marines gave him a necessarily tardy honorable discharge, retroactive to the day before he accepted the Army commission (Jan. 15, 1943). The Army permitted him to resign his commission and, in turn, gave him an honorable discharge, not to mention the DSC for services rendered.

Then the hardy youth, who did some growing up in his native Parkin, Ark., before his family moved west, re-enlisted in the Marine Corps. He was given immediately his old rating of corporal and appointment to OCS at Quantico.

First, however, he had less vigorous business to attend to. Lt. Gen. Vandegrift, Commandant, presented him with the DSC awarded by the Army, and arranged a rare thing in the service -- a 60-day furlough.

He then went to Quantico, but had no sooner entered than he applied for transfer to line duty. His commanding officer noted that Chamberlain was "extremely anxious for combat duty."

It was an unusual request, three days after admission to an officer-training school. Without prejudice to his record, he got his transfer, went to a west coast base. His orders stipulated that he was not to be transferred again, or sent overseas, without the express approval of the Commandant. He had a soft base job. He was "stuck for the duration."

He won promotion to sergeant. In time he was presented the Purple Heart with Gold Star for those wounds of 1942. The Marine Corps had already ruled that his mother could keep the Purple Heart sent her after the official announcement of his death.

Chamberlain's "adjustment" was rapid-and typical. He could have had another fling at candidates class, but he decided against it.

It wasn't long before the Commandant received another formal request from the sergeant. Please, could he be "released" for combat duty?

The sergeant was still subject to recurrent malaria, and that alone is good reason to keep a- man stateside. But, as his, commanding officer wrote, approving Sgt. Chamberlain's request, the Californian, among other assets, had "a valuable temperament for combat."

Gen. Vandegrift agreed. Sgt. Chamberlain is now back fighting the Japs again.