World War II Chronicle: December 27, 1943
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The Marines have landed on two more spots on New Georgia Island (see front page). Meanwhile, Chesty Puller’s younger brother Lt. Col. Samuel D. Puller has been named commanding officer of the 1st Marine Raider Regiment. The Marine Corps is expanding from four divisions to six and the men they need will come from specialist ranks like the Raider, Paramarine, amphibious tractor, and barrage balloon units. When the Raider regiments are disbanded, which happens in just a few days, 1st, 3rd, and 4th Raider Battalion Marines are assigned to the newly formed 4th Marine Regiment. 2nd Raider Battalion Marines are distributed among other units.
Puller will be named executive officer of the 4th Marines and former 2nd Raider Regiment CO Alan Shapley is skipper. Shapley was a football star as a Midshipman at Annapolis (Class of ’27), playing and coaching the All-Marine football squad in 1927 and 28. By December 1941 he commanded the Marine detachment aboard USS Arizona. He was on board when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and was awarded the Silver Star for rescuing a drowning shipmate while swimming ashore. Shapley served as 1st Marine Division’s chief of staff in the Korean War where he earned a Bronze Star with Combat “V.” He later commands 3rd Marine Division and Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, retiring a lieutenant general in 1962…
Also on the front page, the Royal Navy has sunk the German battleship Scharnhorst in the Battle of North Cape… Three brothers who enlisted together in February 1941 and served as Marine communications linemen on Guadalcanal have all been awarded the Silver Star. More incredibly, they were all wounded by the same enemy shell (story on page five)… George Fielding Eliot column on page six…
Sports on page 12, and the Chicago Bears defeated the Washington Redskins 41-21 in the NFL Championship Game. Sid Luckman threw five touchdowns and Bronko Nagurski, who is back after retiring in 1937, scored on a three-yard touchdown run. Had the Redskins not beaten Chicago in last year’s title match 14-6 this would have been the fourth championship in a row for the Monsters of Midway… Page 13 lists the 1943 Associated Press Southeastern All-Service team:
- George Poschner (Georgia), 176th Infantry
- Warren Tiller (none), Georgia Navy Pre-Flight
- Arthur Edmiston (Tennessee), Georgia Navy Pre-Flight
- Jack McKewan (Alabama), 124th Infantry
- Bill Henderson (Citadel), Charleston Coast Guard
- Joe Routt (Texas A&M), 300th Infantry
- Brad Ecklund (Oregon), Jacksonville Naval Aviation Technical Training Center
- Pat Harder (Wisconsin), Georgia Navy Pre-Flight
- Ermal Allen (Kentucky), 300th Infantry
- Duke Iversen (Oregon) Jacksonville NATTC
- Frank Filchock (Indiana), Naval Air Station Memphis
Poschner will earn the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism during the Battle of the Bulge. Unable to receive treatment for his wounds for two days, he became unconscious for 18 days and required 20 surgeries to save his life. Poschner lost both of his legs and several fingers. Routt, selected by the Cleveland Rams as the 16th pick in the 1938 NFL Draft, is killed in action in Belgium on Dec. 10, 1944. He is inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1962.
“Whitey” Ecklund, named Oregon’s “Lineman of the Century” in 1999, was in the second wave of Marines to land on Okinawa. After the war he plays five seasons in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League and is named to two Pro Bowl teams. Allen was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals in 1947, but chose to play for Paul Brown in Cleveland instead. He returned to Kentucky and was Bear Bryant’s offensive coordinator, later joining Tom Landry’s coaching staff on the Dallas Cowboys.
Harder becomes the second overall pick in the 1944 NFL Draft, but he is serving in the Marines as well. After the war he becomes the first player to score over 100 points three years in a row. He is a five-time Pro-Bowl selection and on NFL’s 1940s All-Decade Team. Wisconsin fans still chant “Hit ’em again, harder harder harder!” Iversen plays five seasons for the New York Giants, Yankees, and Yanks. Filchock already had five seasons under his belt before his military service, and will return to the Redskins next season.
Three of these players were drafted in 1947: Allen (3rd Round, 18th overall), Iversen (8th), and Ecklund (20th). Three picks behind Ecklund is Texas Longhorn back Tom Landry. He join the Army Air Force in February 1943. Tom’s brother Robert flew B-17s and lost his life when his Fort crashed in the North Atlantic. Tom learned to be a B-17 copilot and flew 26 combat missions over Europe in the Eighth Air Force’s 860th Bomb Squadron.
After the war, Landry played six seasons between the Yankees and Giants, leading the league in punting yardage three times. He took over as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys for their inaugural season, destined to become one of the greatest coaches in football history.
Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 27 December 1943. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1943-12-27/ed-1/