Miracle at Belleau Wood begins at Les Mare Farm in France
with just 200 U.S. marines, who spend their blood to
prevail against impossible odds, resisting an
overwhelming German force of thousands until, joined by
more marines, they turn the battle back against the
enemy, save Paris, save France, and save the Allied hope
of total victory. Call it, as many Americans did in 1918,
the Gettysburg of the Great War, or compare it to the
Spartan sacrifice at the Gates of Fire, Thermopylae, it
was the birth of the modern marines as America's
preeminent warrior corps. The battle spanned an entire
month, and as word of the marines' deeds leaked through
the channels General Pershing himself scrambled to plug,
enlistment in Corps increased by 200 percent. And
Pershing, concerned lest a handful of bellhops would
eclipse the fame of the entire United States Army, could
do nothing to dissuade the French from renaming Belleau
Wood itself Bois de la Brigade de Marine."
