History of the Marine Noncommisioned officer

HISTORY OF THE MARINE NONCOMMISIONED OFFICER

Louis J. Hauge Jr.

The Marine NCO's are such that they clearly depict the standards and traditions that the Corps itself has become so well known for. Throughout history marine NCO's have been responsible for saving countless lives and achieving a great many victories in battle through acts of courage, dedication, valor, and self-sacrifice that not everyone possesses. When viewing the accomplishments of Marine NCO's it is no wonder why we are viewed as the elite.

One among many Marine NCO's of note is Corporal Louis J. Hauge Jr. who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his brave and decisive action Battling Japanese forces on Okinawa in 1945. An excerpt from his citation reads as follows "Alert and aggressive during a determined assault against a strongly fortified Japanese Hill position, Corporal Hauge boldly took the initiative when his company's left flank was pinned down under a heavy machine-gun and mortar barrage with resultant severe casualties and, quickly locating the two machine guns which were delivering the uninterrupted stream of enfilade fire, ordered his squad to maintain a covering barrage as he rushed across an exposed area toward the furiously blazing enemy weapons. Although painfully wounded as he charged the first machine-gun, he launched a vigorous singlehanded grenade attack, destroyed the entire hostile gun position and moved relentlessly forward toward the other emplacement despite his wounds and the increasingly heavy Japanese fire. Undaunted by the savage opposition, he again hurled his deadly grenades with unerring aim and succeeded in demolishing the second enemy gun before he fell under the slashing fury of Japanese sniper fire. By his ready grasp of the critical situation and his heroic one-man assault tactics, Corporal Hauge had eliminated two strategically placed