Every one of the 15,000 men who composed the more than a century old Marine Corps when the war broke out was ready and on his toes when the call for action came. There was nothing in the way of scientific preparedness that got by them. In the matter of trench helmets, for instance, when it was time for the American nation to come to the front in the great world war, the Marines had a helmet so much of an improvement on the one used by the Allies that there was no comparison.
Armored motorcars, likewise, of the most improved type, belonged to the Marine Corps when the call for action came. These cars are capable of making 45 miles an hour, and there were plenty of them for service in the Marine Corps. Some interesting equipment never used before the big war composed part of the quartermasters' stores in the Marine Corps.
It's a marvel what these chaps can do with a big naval gun—one of those big brutes which are bolted down to the deck of a warship. It doesn't look like a thing to be picked up and carted around the country. That's precisely what the heavy artillery companies do, however. It takes them but a few minutes to sling one of these five-inchers over the side of a ship, land it, and take it wherever it is needed. They do this with the aid of a single-spar derrick, some little narrow-gauge trucks and a portable narrow-gauge railroad.
TRANSPORTATION OF BIG GUN.
The method is to lay down the railroad—it can be done very swiftly by men carefully trained in the art of laying tracks over all kinds of ground—put the gun and its mount, with a specially prepared base of extremely heavy timbers, on the tracks, and trundle it to the place where it is needed to pour a rapid fire into the enemy.
Here a pit has been dug, in which is laid down the heavy timber base, riveted together with heavy steel bolts. Then it is well packed with dirt and stone, and the gun carriage made fast ingeniously. The single-stick derrick has been erected alongside, guyed out in four directions with heavy ropes, which are made fast to the ground by means of "dead men," and manipulated by very live gangs of husky marines. A chain block of powerful type is used to pick up the gun carriage and put it in place, and afterwards to swing the gun into its sockets on the carriage.
Later the breech locks and sights are added, and the big five-inch, 40-caliber naval gun is ready to go into action. These big and heavy guns, suitable for long range work with high explosive shells, can be taken a quarter of a mile or so from the ship which carried them, over rough ground, set up and put in operation in a few days' time.
But the heavy artillery base is only one of the Marines' work. They have big howitzers, of the more modern type, most of which are kept at Annapolis, where they can be loaded aboard ship in short order. Men and machines can be mobilized at the strategic points in a very short time.
EVERY MAN'S SERVICE.
The Marine service is unique in many respects. For one thing, it is every man's service. The proportion of officers who have risen from the ranks or who have been commissioned from civilian life is higher in the Marine Corps than in either the Army or the Navy. This, of course, makes for democracy in the corps. An enlisted man, who does not wait until he is too far up in the 20's to enlist, has a very fair chance of earning his commission. Another thing—and this is of prime importance to the ambitious fellow—promotion goes by merit. In the army and navy the young officer is promoted by seniority.