The following account was provided by SGT K.L. McCullough, a Radioman in Carlson’s Raiders during the Makin Island Raid. It is his observations of the actions on Makin Island. It is provided for information only and does not constitute endorsement by the United States Department of Defense, the United States Department of the Navy or the USS Makin Island (LHD 8). 

Reflections of a Carlson’s Marine Raider – August 18, 1942 

We all began to move around about daylight not many of us got any sleep the night of the 17th. Most of the night was spent trying to figure how to get our boats through the surf. We lost most of the equipment and were completely exhausted by about 12 or 1 o’clock. We then tried to get a little rest so we could try again in daylight. The next morning there were three or four boats that left the island and got safely to the sub’s. Then one boat was sent from the sub back to the island, presumably to pass a line into the island so we could all get off. One of the marines swam into the beach and told the colonel that the sub commander said he would be there until we all got off. The marine then swam back to his boat and, about that time planes came over and strafed the boat and we never saw the five marines again. The subs had to dive. In the mean time it was discovered that I was the only communication person still alive. We had lost the other four radiomen. The colonel told me to stick around the make-shift command post. So, as soon as the planes were gone, we started making plans for withdrawal. Some squads were sent out to check the island for Japanese and anything of use. I believe around 11 o’clock the planes were back. Dropped a few bombs and strafed some then left again. About this time it was decided we would cross the island and leave by the lagoon side. But we had to wait until the subs surfaced again to signal him again. The colonel went about checking our dead and talking to the natives making arrangements to bury our dead as we were not able to take them off if we got ourselves off. Around 6 PM we sighted the subs and I used a flashlight to signal them with some difficulty with recognization signals. Then we proceeded to communicate. We dragged 4 boats across the island and lashed them to a native outrigger. I guess it was around 7 PM when we shoved off. We had one motor and the rest was oars. The going was really slow. After 10 or 15 minutes the boat on the far right wanted to cut loose and make it on their own, but the colonel said we would do better by all staying together. So on we went, we still could not see the subs and the going was slow. The same men in the right boat still wanted to break loose and go on their own. Finally the colonel told them they could. So they cut loose and moved out at a much faster pace (I believe they were the marines that were beheaded – we never saw them again). When we got to the Nautilus we figured they had reached the Argonaut. We never knew until we were back in Honolulu. And that is my belief (as everyone knew we were going to try to leave when we contacted the subs and we knew it would be close to dark) when we were going. I believe the motor stopped so it was just paddles. It seemed we would never get past the point and into the open sea, where the subs were waiting. 60 years is a long time to remember all the small details. Although some things are as vivid as yesterday. 

SGT. K.L (MAC) MC CULLOUGH USMC 

Myths of Makin Island Raid 

The following account was provided by SGT K.L. McCullough, a Radioman in Carlson’s Raiders during the Makin Island Raid. It is his observations of the actions on Makin Island. It is provided for information only and does not constitute endorsement by the United States Department of Defense, the United States Department of the Navy or the USS MAKIN ISLAND (LHD 8). 

There have been many articles written about Carlson’s raid on Makin some of them true but also a lot of them (myths) good reading unless you know the truth. 

#1 The rifle shot by Mitchel just as we landed: It was an accident but it happened. What did not happen was all hell did not break loose. It was about twenty minutes before the fighting started. 

#2 Carlson’s panic: I was with Carlson most of the two day’s. He acted like a man on a mission. But it could have been grocery shopping, or a day in training. He was about the most calm guy on the island. 

#3 Surrender note: I heard about the note about fifty years after the raid. There was no way in hell Carlson would have surrendered with the President’s son with us. Carlson would have died defending us. The two men who were supposed to delivered the note. The story goes as they left the tent where they gave the Japanese the note they saw a Japanese running. One of them grabbed a Japanese pistol and it would not fire. So he grabbed a rifle and shot the Japanese soldier (our two were supposed to be without weapons, there just happened to be these weapons laying around). How far had the Japanese run while all of this gun grabbing was going on?? It was at least twelve o’clock at night and there were no lights on. Makes you wonder. 

Also it was told that the colonel forgot the men that were guarding our withdrawal. We did not get off the island but if we had would the men just set up camp on the island? Their boats were there I believe one of them would be smart enough to figure it was time to go. Unless they all wanted someone to come back to the island and tell them it was time to leave?? 

#4 Communicating with the subs: Most stories is that we contacted the subs by radio but we had no working radios that second day. The four Radiomen I had were all killed the first day, and the radios were not reliable. The second day the subs had to dive that morning. So, in the afternoon when the subs surfaced i used a flashlight to communicate with them. 

#5 Men left behind: Early ON the second day a boat from the sub came into the outer edge of the breakers and a marine swam in and told the colonel that the sub commander said he would be there until we all got off. Then the marine swam back to the rubber boat, about that time Japanese planes came over. The subs dived and the rubber boat was strafed. We watched for the marines in the boat but i don’t believe we ever saw any of them. Early that day the colonel told the boys that if they could get a crew together and thought they could get to the subs that go ahead and try. This was before the planes came over. One story is that the night before the colonel said he was going to surrender and it was every man for himself (which is a lot of bull) after the subs dived we all gathered and the colonel told everyone that we would have to wait for the subs to surface and it would probably be late in the afternoon. Then he sent some patrols out to see what the situation was. The colonel went out where the dead marines were. I don’t know just what he did. He told me to keep watch for the subs. By about eleven o’clock every one was back where we spent the night. The colonel told us that when we contacted the sub we would ask them to come around to the lagoon side of the island. 

The colonel contacted the natives and made arrangements to bury our dead. Around five the sub surfaced and I contacted them and ask them to pick us up off the point on the lagoon side. Then we dragged four rubber boats across the island. There we found a native outrigger, we lashed three boats on the right side of the outrigger and one on the left, about seven we shoved off. One motor and the rest paddles. It was slow looking at the shore we were barley moving, the men in the far right boat wanted to cut loose and go on. The colonel told them it would be best if we all stayed together. So after about thirty minutes we were still barely moving. The men asked the colonel again to cut loose and he gave permission. They really moved out in a hurry and, that was the last time we saw them. We finally got to the sub the men were not on the sub. We just supposed they had boarded the other sub. We set sail and didn’t know they were not with us until we got back to Honolulu. And, to me those are the boys that were captured and taken to Kwajalein. 

SGT. K.L (MAC) MC CULLOUGH USMC 

13 JAN 2016 | Adele Uphaus-Conner Marine Corps Base Quantico

On Nov. 6, 1942, the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion under Lt. Col. Evans Carlson embarked on what became known as the Long Patrol, a 29-day, 151-mile slog across the island of Guadalcanal in pursuit of Japanese forces. It was a successful mission and only 16 Raiders were killed, but according to Oscar Peatross, legendary Marine Gen. Chesty Puller, who commanded the 1st battalion, 7th Marines on Guadalcanal, didn’t think Carlson would be able to pull it off.

“Puller told Carlson, ‘If you send the Marines up there, they’ll never come back,’” Peatross’s stepson, former Marine W. Kemp Norman, Jr., said. Peatross was one of Carlson’s Raiders and participated in the Long Patrol. He was a captain at the time.

“My stepfather was always proud of having done something Puller said was impossible,” Norman said.

Peatross was a decorated Marine officer who retired in 1971 as a major general. He earned the Navy Cross for his heroic actions during the Makin Island raid in August 1942 and a Bronze Star for action in Iwo Jima in 1945. He was awarded two Legions of Merit for service in the Korean and Vietnam wars. 

In his later life, he wrote Bless ‘Em All, a first-person account of the 2nd Marine Raiders. On Jan. 7, his stepson Norman donated two original copies of the now out-of-print book to the Marine Raider Museum, which is housed in Raider Hall, the Martial Arts Center for Excellence (MACE), at The Basic School at Marine Corps Base Quantico. 

The Marine Raiders were elite units, based on the British Commandos, established in 1942 to conduct guerilla warfare, specifically landing in rubber boats and operating behind enemy lines. They are said to be the first U.S. special operations forces to see combat in World War II. All four Raider battalions were disbanded in 1944 when the Marine Corps decided they had out-lived their mission.

In 2015, then-commandant Joseph Dunford announced that the principal combat arm of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command, which was formed in 2005, would be renamed the Marine Raider Regiment to highlight their lineage to the original Raiders. 

Norman said he was looking for a repository for his stepfather’s Raider memorabilia, which also includes letters and photographs. He didn’t know the museum at Raider Hall existed until a friend told him about it. 

Joseph Shusko, the retired lieutenant colonel who directs the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program, escorted Norman on a tour of Raider Hall. Raider artifacts—letters home, flags, patches, shoes, mess kits, weapons, uniforms, a Japanese bugle with a bullet hole in it from a Raider-fired gun—fill display cases in the hallways and the conference room. 

“The Raiders were the first martial artists of the Marine Corps,” Shusko said. “They were also the first to use dogs in combat, wear camo uniforms and develop fire team tactics. They were mavericks in so many ways.”

Evans Carlson, commander of the 2nd Raider battalion in which Peatross served, had spent time in China and was inspired by the idea that all soldiers, regardless of rank, should have the confidence and initiative to make decisions. He borrowed the Chinese term “gung-ho”—translated as “work together”—to encourage camaraderie and teamwork among his troops. This term caught on and is now associated with the Marine Corps as a whole.

“That idea of responsibility at the lower level is unique to the U.S. Marine Corps and is still with us,” Shusko said.

Shusko showed Norman a display listing the names of all Marines who served in the four Raider battalions. They located Peatross’ name among the 8,004 recorded there.

Shusko said that there are in excess of 200 Raiders still living. The oldest will turn 103 this month and the youngest will turn 90. They visit Raider Hall often and tell stories that bring the past to life, such as how they used to wear Chuck Taylor basketball shoes aboard ship because they found the Marine Corps-issued boots too slippery and how they spray-painted camouflage patterns on their utility uniforms. 

Norman said he has vivid memories of sitting at the dinner table and listening to his stepfather’s Raider stories.

“He told me how the men used to complain about Carlson ordering them to sing Methodist hymns while marching,” Norman remembered. “There was one story about a warrant officer who looked into the porthole of a Japanese ship only to be met by the end of a Japanese gun. But it misfired, and he survived. When you’re a teenaged boy, you pay attention to that kind of story.”

Norman said his stepfather inspired him to join the Marine Corps in 1950.

“All you had to do was be exposed to him to be inspired,” he said. “I think everyone who joins the Marines is inspired by someone like him.”

Norman said he was “tremendously impressed” by the museum at Raider Hall and happy to have found a safe repository for his stepfather’s artifacts.

“It’s incredible what you’ve put together here,” he told Shusko. “I could not be more proud.”

“Everything here is taken care of by Marines,” Shusko said. “That’s what Marines do. We love our legacy.”