Frank Merrill

For the Tarzan actor, see Frank Merrill (actor).

correspondents, after viewing the 5307ths performance

on the ring ranges, promptly dubbed the unit Merrills
Marauders. General Merrill oversaw the training and deFrank Dow Merrill (December 4, 1903 in Hopkinton,
Massachusetts December 11, 1955 in Fernandina ployment of the three battalions of the 5307th into Burma
in February 1944.
Beach, Florida) was a United States Army general and is
best remembered for his command of Merrills Maraud- In slightly more than ve months of combat behind
ers, ocially the 5307th Composite Unit (provisional), in Japanese lines in Burma, the Marauders, who supported
the Burma Campaign of World War II. Merrills Maraud- the X Force, advanced 750 miles through some of the
ers came under General Joseph Stilwell's Northern Com- harshest jungle terrain in the world, fought in 5 major
bat Area Command. It was a special forces unit modelled engagements (Walawbum, Shaduzup, Inkangahtawng,
on the Chindits' long range penetration groups trained to Nhpum Ga, and Myitkyina) and engaged in combat with
operate from bases deep behind Japanese lines.
the Japanese Army on thirty-two separate occasions. Battling Japanese soldiers, hunger, and disease, they had traversed more jungle on their long-range patrols than any
other U.S. Army unit of the war.
1 Background and early career
Merrill lived with his family in Amesbury, Massachusetts
and graduated from Amesbury High School. He enlisted
in the U.S. Army in 1922 and earned the rank of sta
sergeant in Company A, 11th Engineers.
He received an appointment to West Point in 1925 and he
graduated in 1929. Merrill also earned a B.S. in military
engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1932. In 1938, Merrill became the Military Attach in Tokyo where he studied the Japanese language.
He joined General Douglas MacArthur's sta in the
Philippines in 1941 as a military intelligence ocer.
Merrill was on a mission in Rangoon, Burma at the time
of the Pearl Harbor attack and remained in Burma after General Stilwell and Merrill in 1944
the Japanese invasion.
On March 29, Merrill suered his rst heart attack and
In November 1943, Colonel Merrill was promoted to command returned to then executive ocer, Colonel
brigadier general only a month before his fortieth birth- Charles N. Hunter. In their nal mission against the
day, making him one of the youngest American generals Japanese base at Myitkyina, the Marauders suered 272
since the Civil War. Even more remarkable was the fact killed, 955 wounded, and 980 evacuated for illness and
that he had been serving as a commissioned ocer for disease. By the time the town of Myitkyina was taken,
only 14 years.
only about 200 surviving members of the original Marauders were present.
On August 10, 1944, a week after the towns fall to U.S.
and Chinese forces, the 5307th was disbanded with a nal
total of only 130 combat-eective ocers and men (out
In 1943, General Merrill was appointed to command a of the original 2,997).
new volunteer U.S. Army special forces unit patterned
after the Long Range Jungle Penetration groups formed
by the British to harass Japanese forces in Burma (the
Chindits). The U.S. Armys ocial name for the unit was 3 Post war
the 5307th Composite Unit (provisional). (The title provisional means the unit is formed for a special mission or After the wars end, Merrill served in the Philippines. In
operation and will be disbanded afterwards). Visiting war early 1946 he was assigned to the headquarters of the 6th

Merrills Marauders

Army in San Francisco under General Stilwell. In May of 7 Dates of

the same year, Merrill and Stilwell led two Marine platoons to suppress a prison uprising at Alcatraz Federal Sources - [4] [5]
Penitentiary in what is known as the Battle of Alcatraz.[1]
Due to post war downsizing of the Army, Merrill was
reduced in rank to brigadier general on 1 June 1946. He
retired from the Army in his permanent rank of colonel
on 30 June 1948 and was promoted to brigadier general
on the retired list the next day.
After retiring from the Army, Merrill became the New
Hampshire Commissioner of Highways. In December
1955 he was elected President of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Ocials but
died two days later.[2]

Legacy

REFERENCES

rank

Enlisted (rose to the rank of Sta Sergeant) - 14 July

1922
Cadet, USMA - 1 July 1925
2nd Lieutenant - 13 June 1929
1st Lieutenant - 1 November 1934
Captain - 13 June 1939
Major, AUS - 10 October 1941
Lieutenant Colonel, AUS - 25 May 1942
Colonel, AUS - 8 January 1943

In 1992 General Merrill was inducted into the U.S. Army

Ranger Hall of Fame as a member of its inaugural class
of inductees.

Brigadier General, AUS - 8 November 1943

The Everett Turnpike bridge over New Hampshires

Souhegan River was a favorite of Merrills, and is dedicated to Merrills Marauders.[3]

Brigadier General, AUS - 1 June 1946

Camp Frank D. Merrill, near Dahlonega, Georgia, is

home to the three-week mountain training phase of the
United States Army Ranger School.

Brigadier General, Retired - 1 July 1948

Major General, AUS - 5 September 1944

Colonel, Regular Army - 10 June 1948

Note - The Army of the United States (AUS) was an adThe U.S. Army retroactively awarded members of Merministrative designation for ocer commissions which
rills Marauders the U.S. Army Ranger Tab.
were temporary due to wartime needs. Ocers with
these commissions were frequently reduced in rank after
the wars conclusion.

In popular culture

Merrill was played by Je Chandler in the 1962 lm

Merrills Marauders.

8 See also
China Burma India Theater

Awards and decorations

Combat Infantryman Badge
Distinguished Service Medal
Legion of Merit
Bronze Star Medal
Purple Heart

Merrills Marauders
Charles N. Hunter
United States Army Rangers

9 References
[1] The Encyclopedia of American Prisons by Carl Sifakis, pg.
9

American Defense Service Medal with Foreign

Service clasp

[2] http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/build02.htm

Asiatic-Pacic Campaign Medal

[4] U.S. Army Register. 1946. pg. 473

World War II Victory Medal

[5] U.S. Army Register. 1950. pg. 788.

[3] http://www.marauder.org/bridge01.htm

10

External links

Frank Merrill
WW2DB: Frank Merrill
A lm clip AIR ASSAULT TACTICS ETC. (1945)
is available at the Internet Archive

11

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