U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., celebrated the Senate passage of legislation he introduced to award the Congressional Gold Medal to “Merrill’s Marauders,” the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), in recognition of the heroic unit’s extraordinary efforts and sacrifices during World War II.
 
The bipartisan Merrill’s Marauders Congressional Gold Medal Act, S.743, passed the Senate unanimously today.
 
“On behalf of these World War II heroes and their families, I’m so pleased the Senate has voted to recognize this elite group of volunteer warriors and award them with the Congressional Gold Medal,” said Isakson, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. “I’m proud that the legacy of Merrill’s Marauders lives on today at Fort Benning with the 75th Ranger Regiment, and I hope the U.S. House will soon pass its measure to award them with the Congressional Gold Medal.”
 
On August 10, the World War II “Merrill’s Marauders” unit marked the 75th anniversary of the disbanding of the top-secret commando force in Burma in 1944. This historic, all-volunteer unit, which today includes nine surviving members, defeated the much larger, elite Japanese 18th Division in five major battles and 30 minor engagements despite being poorly supplied and underfed. The unit’s successful mission freed airspace over Burma so a critical Allied pathway could be forged into China.
 
Today, the mountain phase of Army Ranger School is taught in Dahlonega, Georgia, at Camp Frank D. Merrill, which is named after the unit’s commander. Additionally, the 75th Ranger Regiment, headquartered at Fort Benning, Georgia, traces its history to this unit and honors the Marauder legacy by wearing its patch as their crest.
 
At the 1943 Quebec Conference, the world’s top two Allied leaders, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, created the plan for the secret, all-volunteer American long-range penetration force, which became known as Merrill’s Marauders. Nearly 3,000 soldiers from the Caribbean, South Pacific and stateside answered Roosevelt’s call for a “dangerous and hazardous” mission. The volunteers were considered expendable and not expected to survive their mission in the China-Burma-India Theater, today called the “forgotten theater” of World War II.
 
Operating under the code name Galahad, the volunteers were trained in India on long-range reconnaissance tactics by British Major General Orde Wingate’s famous Chindits. With only what they could carry on their backs or pack on mules, Merrill’s Marauders hacked their way through almost 1,000 miles of dense jungles and trudged up the Himalayan Mountains to seize their objective of northern Burma’s all-weather Myitkyina airfield.
 
When the unit disbanded 75 years ago, only about 100 Merrill’s Marauders remained in Burma. Only two had not been seriously injured or stricken with malaria, dysentery, typhus or other jungle diseases during the campaign.
 
The unit received the Presidential Unit Citation, and every member of Merrill’s Marauders received the Bronze Star. To date, 29 members of the unit have been inducted into the Army Ranger Hall of Fame. Marauder Russell G. Wellman, a Distinguished Service Cross recipient, was posthumously inducted into the Army Ranger Hall of Fame at Fort Benning in July.