The following excerpt from the historical novel Puller’s Runner was provided to GreatHistory.com by the authors, Nick Ragland and Joe Rouse. The authors say:
Puller’s Runner chronicles the service of Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller to his country, but more so, it chronicles his front-line leadership. Instead of hunkering down in the midst of mind-chilling cold, Puller chose to be out among his troops. He led by example. He never asked a Marine to do something he wouldn’t do himself.
These events are shared by Michael Abbo, Puller’s fictional runner. He epitomizes other runners of his day. He was willing to risk his life for Puller because of his great respect for him. demonstrates through Abbo’s words in his memoir the lengths to which Puller was willing to go to keep up the morale of his men in deplorable and harsh circumstances.
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Chosin Reservoir, North Korea : November 26, 1950
Early the next morning before day break, Bodey, Jones and I walked over to the cook tent for breakfast. There was no mess tent. You ate outside in the cold. We stood in the line waiting to be served. We had our backs to the wind. It was awkward trying to eat with gloved hands and the pancakes and eggs got cold before I could fork them into my mouth. By the time I sipped the coffee from my canteen cup, it was ice cold.
“Christ, this is like eating in a meat locker,” I said.
Bodey looked at me and said, “There ain’t a meat locker this cold.”
When we returned to Puller’s CP, he was there waiting for us.
He said, “I want to check the perimeter. Get the jeep.”
We drove north toward the unfinished airstrip. Then we got out of the jeep and walked while Jones followed us in the jeep.
Every breath was painful. If I breathed through my mouth, the cold burned my throat. If I breathed through my nose, you could feel the mucus begin to freeze. I was twenty-seven years old and found this bitter cold almost unbearable. As we walked along, I noticed that Chesty was breathing hard and sometimes he would put his scarf over his nose and mouth. I wondered how a man almost twice my age could cope with this weather, especially since he had spent most of his years in Marine Corps in the tropics, and his blood had been thinned by heat and humidity. It had to be hard on the old Marine.
Men who had manned the fighting holes during the latter part of the night were leaving and were being replaced by those who had slept. Puller would stop and banter with the men. “How did it go out there last night?”
“Colder than hell, Colonel, but it was quiet.”
“All right, you boys stay on your toes. There’s Chinese up in those hills. They’re up to something.” Then Puller walked along and talked to the next group of men. After an hour of this, we got in the jeep and drove back to the CP.
I had seen pictures of the gold rush in the Yukon in 1898 and Koto-ri, if you got rid of the trucks and jeeps, looked a lot like one of those mining camps; snow covered tents, lots of activity, and cold miserable men. As I looked around at this dismal scene, I thought to myself, what in the hell are we doing here?
This hands-on leadership is what allows Chesty Puller to become the most decorated Marine in history. He was revered by his men both for his courage and his loyalty to them.
The fictionalization of the runner makes this story believable. The facts in Puller’s Runner are correct in name and event. We chose to take this avenue of presentation to bring life to the truth.
– Nick Ragland and Joe Rouse
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Research papers said:
Wow! Great story of courage and bravery…
November 19th, 2009 at 10:52 am