Parris Island

Introduction

Author-Uploaded Audio

Listen to a narration of this entry's description by Dr. Trowbridge and Steven Straley.

Text-to-speech Audio

Parris Island is a historic training facility for the United States Marine Corps. Before becoming a Marine every recruit is sent to a boot camp; those who enlist west of Mississippi will likely go to San Diego and the rest will go to Parris Island. Women recruits however can only be sent to Parris Island. The U.S. Marines date to 1798 when Congress designated them as a separate service. This military base is a significant part of military history and remains in operation today. Parris Island produces around 17,000 recruits every year.

Images

This is the flag being raised over Iwo Jima, an infamous moment that was luckily captured by Joe Rosenthal on February 23rd, 1945. Two hundred and fifty men went and battled up on Iwo Jima hill but only twenty-seven were able to come home. The six men who raised the flag have been misidentified multiple times, but the most recent and final corrections were announced and it consisted of Cpl. Harlon Block, Pfc. Harold Keller, Pfc. Ira Hayes, Pfc. Harold Schultz, Pfc. Franklin Sousley and Sgt. Michael Strank as the men who were pictured raising the flag. These Marines were replacing the smaller flag raised at the summit of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, because they wanted the flag to be seen by the enemies. The flags final place is in the Marine Corps Museum on display for all to see.

The Marine Corps in emblem consist of an eagle, globe, and anchor. Each part of this emblem is significant. Starting with the eagle, this is connected to the constitution and how Marines will defend it and it also connects to the fact that we fight in the air. In the Eagles mouth you will find a banner that says semper fidelis, the Marine Corps motto. Next is the globe, it depicts the Western Hemisphere because that is where most of the action took place in USMC history. Also represents our global reach, you can even see the lines of latitude. Behind the globe is the anchor, which stands for our connections with the United States Navy. Since the beginning they have always worked with the Navy as a fighting organization able to protect the shores of the United States it has a foul rope or line wrapped around it and it does not have a bitter end or a loose tie essentially capitulates that we are not going to disappear anytime soon in our time as a fighting force won't come to an end.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

In 1562 a French expedition lead by Jean Ribaut, was the first European group to attempt to colonize Parris Island. Eventually Parris Island became home to British plantations after being purchased by Colonel Alexander Parris. Treasure of the South Carolina colony in 1750 period during and after the civil war the island became home to freed slaves, they attended school and live their daily lives period union forces captured Port Royal in 1861 Parris island became a calling station for the Navy. Eventually the war ended answer to the Marines but it on July 11th of 1798 it became its own branch. Robert Smalls who was a former slave-turned-congressman and fought for the creation of a new federal military on the island. Marines were first stationed on the island in 1891 as a small security detachment led by first Sergeant Richard Donovan. Port Royal was the runner of Paris Allen.

In 1890 and 1893 there were massive tidal waves that swept over the island destroying buildings and homes of the Marines. Parris island was officially designated as a United States marine core recruit depot on November 1, 1915. During World War One the first platoon of the Marines saw battle in France. More than 46,000 Marines were trained to fight in World War One. After the bombing In Hawaii on December 7th, 1941 5,272 Marines arrived at Parris island, in the month after that 9206 arrived. This created the 4th and 5th battalions of the United States Marine Corps.

1941 through 1945 the Marines trained over 200,000 recruits were trained here and at the time of the Japanese surrender the Depot contained 20,000 recruits, In 1946 Marine Corps leaders reorganized Paris island and decided to give it a designation that would reflect its primary mission the training of recruits therefore the world famous marine core recruit Depot Parris island South Carolina was born.

Parris Island is the home to many infamous statues that hold the history of the United States. Another notable site on the base is the Marine Corps Museum, it contains a variety of materials on the history of the Marines. Every month there are thousands of recruits on the base and three months after being at boot camp their families come to visit. The families get to go to the parade deck and watch their loved ones graduate and get pinned with the marine core emblem. After the graduation the new Marines can show their families the barracks and catch up on what has happened for the past three months.

Sources

History of Parris Island. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2019, from https://www.mcrdpi.marines.mil/About/History-of-Parris-Island/.

Peterson, N. (1993). Piecing together history at parris island. Leatherneck (Pre-1998), 76(8), 40.

Stroud, Mike . Parris Island Plantations, The Historical Marker Database. August 6th 2009. Accessed December 5th 2019. https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=21410.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

https://alexgreyfowler.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_4494.jpg

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