Merrill's Marauder Tells Tale Of Heroic World War II Mission
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked the nation for volunteers for a "secret and dangerous mission." Three thousand young men volunteered. Just 200 of the Army rangers came home.
They were known as "Merrill's Marauders," named after their commander.
The troops marched on foot through 1,000 miles of Burmese jungle to disrupt Japanese supply lines.
Photos: NYC Veterans Day Parade
"Those that volunteered had no idea what the mission was going to be," Robert Passanisi, 89, one of the surviving heroes, told CBS 2's Jennifer McLogan.
"It's pretty well known that nobody else ever did anything as strenuous, as enduring and as difficult in such a miserable terrain."
Passanisi said he gets emotional when talking about the nation's aging World War II veterans and keeping their heroism alive.
"Talking about it now, the eyes are watering already," he said of the mission. "But as I said, death is sort of in another category. But I am emotional about America."
One of the mission's leaders was McLogan's father, Lt. Ted McLogan, who helped save Passanisi and others, thanks to a bilingual Japanese-American soldier who intercepted enemy radio communications and warned that the Americans were outnumbered and about to be attacked.
"Lt. McLogan pulled his platoon back about 50 yards, and they booby-trapped all their foxholes and such," Passanisi said. "Got all the firepower that McLogan's platoon could put out. And apanese officers realized they were tricked. Very instrumental in the Japanese finally pulling out."
The site of the battle became known as McLogan's Hill. Ted McLogan died earlier this year.
Every soldier on the mission was awarded the bronze star. The Pentagon ordered that no Marauder was ever to be placed in combat again.
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