Memoirs Of A Marine

Marine General Vernon E. Megee, born in the Indian Territory near Tulsa, Okla., served in the Marine Corps from 1919 to 1959. Starting as an enlisted man, by the end of his brilliant 40-year career, he had served two years as the Assistant Com­mandant/Chief of Staff at Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps and commanded Fleet Marine Force, Pacific.
As a young “slick-sleeve” private, Megee was selected to attend the U.S. Army’s Motor Transport School near Baltimore. This basic training in motorized mechanics set the stage for his entry into the early days of Marine aviation. Selection to the “meritorious noncommissioned officers” program propelled him to Officer Can­di­dates School. Megee declared that his un­usual background had “disclosed to [him] a first-hand panorama of America’s de­velopment, from the oxcart to the airplane.”

Entirely appropriate for this centennial year of Marine Corps aviation, Gen Me­gee’s open cockpit biography takes readers from the “canvas and wire” days of avia­tion through the experimental days when the doctrine of close air support was de­veloped and into the age of helicopters and jet-powered aircraft.

With early tours in Haiti, China and Nic­aragua, the young officer served with many icons of the “Old Corps.” His time in the pre-war fleet included a tour on board the old Saratoga (CV-3) as the commander of the famed Marine Fighting Squadron Two. This experience afloat set the stage for the future when he would command Marine aviation in the northern Pacific.

In the chapter titled “The Peruvian In­terlude,” he nimbly described his two-year posting as assistant chief of the newly established United States Air Mission to Peru. He and his family moved to Peru and enjoyed the culture. However, some of his most harrowing flight experiences occurred while flying through the rarified air of the Peruvian Andes.
In 1944, as a senior colonel with 25 years of service, Megee was set to fill his wartime destiny; first, as an observer of the Marine landings on Peleliu, and later as the air support commander during the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

For Iwo Jima, Megee commanded the first Landing Force Air Support Control Unit (LFASCU) ever deployed in combat. As he fully understood, the future of Ma­rine aviation depended on how his team was able to control these close-in airstrikes during the bitter battle ahead. “Scrape your bellies on the sand” became the byword established for Megee’s Marine and Navy fighter-bomber pilots.

In January 1953, now a general officer, Megee assumed command of the First Marine Aircraft Wing in Korea. The wing provided close air support for the 8th Army, of which the First Marine Division was then a part. This mission included air defense of the southern part of Korea and support for the 5th Air Force’s strategic bombing campaign. Gen Megee wrote: “Al­though higher rank and greater respon­sibility were to come my way, the apex of my military career was reached in Korea.”

If war can be considered perilous, then, too, can be the treacherous ascent to the highest ranks of military command struc­ture. By 1956, Gen Megee was promoted to lieutenant general and became Assistant Commandant and Chief of Staff at Head­quarters, U.S. Marine Corps. It was con­sidered remarkable for any Marine aviator to attain this exalted position, and from this position, Gen Megee provides extreme­ly interesting insights into the personalities of the Corps’ senior leaders.

Gen Megee’s book illuminates much of our Corps’ most memorable history. No­tably, this memoir was designed spe­cifical­ly for release after the general’s death. Within the covers of the book, this no-nonsense Marine tells his tale. And he does so with exacting historical detail, dabs of humor and an enormous amount of per­sonal integrity.

Military biographies are a dime a dozen, but Gen Megee’s book soars with the “guts and glory” of the fledgling days of Marine aviation. From the earliest times our daring Marines took flight, through the now legendary preinvasion “beach strafing” close air support tactics, Gen Megee’s book, “Memoirs of a Marine,” unfailingly recalls what those high-flying glory days meant to the development of Marine Corps aviation.

Editor’s note: Marine veteran “Red Bob” Loring is a frequent reviewer for Leatherneck and a tireless worker to better the lives of the less fortunate in East Pasco County, Fla. He reports that for the December holidays, he and fellow Toys for Tots workers “provided toys, skivvies and a food allotment for 1,200 East Pasco families and something like 4,000 tots.”

MEMOIRS OF A MARINE.
By Gen Vernon E. Megee.
Published by Atriad Press.
250 pages. Softcover.
Stock #1933177284.
$17.96 MCA Members.
$19.95 Regular Price.