|
THIS IS THE SECOND OF TWO PAGES housing materials culled
from the Robert H. Dunlap collection in the Marine Corps
Research Center (CLICK
HERE FOR PAGE 1). Born
in 1879 in Washington D.C., Dunlap served in the US Marine Corps
in the Spanish-Cuban-American War (1898), the Filipino
Insurrection (1899-1902), the Boxer Rebellion in China (1900),
Panama (1903-04), Veracruz, Mexico (1914), Haiti and the
Dominican Republic (1915-17) and France in the Great War and its
aftermath (1918-19), and Peking (1922-24) before becoming
Commander of the Marine Corps School in Quantico (1925-28). (Right: Capt. Dunlap's
identity card from the Great War)
Colonel Dunlap's Nicaragua duty commenced in January 1928,
part of the military buildup in anticipation of US-supervised
elections later in the year. For 19 months — from 19
January 1928 to 20 August 1929 — Dunlap served as Commander of
the 11th Regiment of the 2nd Brigade of the U.S. Marines in
Nicaragua, and as Northern Area Commander in the Guardia
Nacional de Nicaragua, based in Ocotal. His successor as
Northern Area Commander in Ocotal was Col. Robert L. Denig (see
DENIG DIARY & PAPERS).
These two web pages house nine documents and 58 photographs.
This page is devoted to the
collection's ten photographs of the Voluntarios,
all taken on February 14,
1929 in or just outside Ocotal. Six of these are labeled
"NEW" because they have not been found in any other collections.
A critical reading of these photographs is offered in
PHOTO-DOCS > USMC-GN > VOLUNTARIOS.
Grateful acknowledgement is extended to the
staff of Archives & Special Collections of the MCRC; to Lebanon
Valley College students Olivia Edwards, Nicole Wilhelm, and Mary
'Katie' Yost for their excellent work at the MCRC for three days in
early January 2015; and to the Arnold Grant in Experiential
Education for funding this research.
|
5. Fotos de Los Voluntarios, 14 de Febrero
de 1929
|
|
Note:
Six of the following 10 photos are labeled "NEW" because
each adds to the stock of known
photographs of the Voluntarios, a fascinating
counterinsurgency experiment undertaken by the Marines &
Guardia from January to June 1929; see
GUARDIA > VOLUNTARIOS.
These & other photos of the Voluntarios are
also housed and more thoroughly interpreted in
PHOTO-DOCS > USMC-GN > VOLUNTARIOS.
|
|
|
Ocotal, February 14, 1929.
Caption on rear: "Colonel Dunlap, Ocotal,
Nicaragua. Gen. Caldera on my right - all the rest cols
or something." One in a fascinating series of
photographs on the Voluntarios mustering,
mobilizing, and heading off into the hills on this
February day. NEW.
|
|
|
Ocotal, February 14, 1929. Probably right before the
more formal photographs taken moments later. At
left, around 50 Voluntario enlisted men stand
in formation for inspection along Ocotal's main street
next to the central park, left shoulder arms, more or
less, as a group of eight officers gathers at right —
four US Marines and four Voluntarios, among
them Col. Dunlap and Gen. Augusto Caldera. A man
walks into the scene from the left, headed for the
clutch of officers. In the far background, four
civilian men in white hats stand at the street corner,
observing. Again, not a hatless head or a female
in sight. NEW.
|
|
|
Ocotal, February 14, 1929. Col. Dunlap,
Gen. Augusto Caldera, and other Voluntario
officers stand in rough formation next to an adobe wall
next to Ocotal's central park. This is NOT the same
adobe wall that the enlisted Voluntarios are
standing next to in the above photograph. This is
a different adobe wall, next to a different
building. The shadows here are long.
It is getting toward sunset. The soldier in line
closest to the camera carries a trumpet in his right
hand. They appear to be waiting . . . for
something. NEW.
|
|
|
Ocotal, February 14, 1929. Col. Dunlap inspects a line
of Voluntarios, with ribbons around their hats (of what
color? Green?), with Voluntario officers
accompanying Dunlap on the inspection. NEW.
|
|
|
Ocotal,
February 14, 1929. Another in the series. Col. Dunlap,
Gen. Augusto Caldera, and perhaps Pichingo (at far
right). In other collections.
|
|
|
Outskirts of
Ocotal, February 14, 1929. Voluntarios on
the march out of Ocotal. In other collections.
|
|
|
Ocotal, February 14, 1929.
Voluntarios mustering; another in the series. NEW.
|
|
|
Ocotal, February 14, 1929.
Caption on rear: "From Dunlap folder, Photos,
Nicaragua. Lt. Herman Hanneken, Lt. H. R. Paige, Gen.
Juan Escamilla & Nicaraguan Volunteers, 1929." An
exceptionally high quality copy of a photo found in
other collections.
|
|
|
Ocotal, February 14, 1929. One of
the most interesting & revealing in the series on the
Voluntarios mustering in Ocotal on this February day.
There's a whole lot going on in this photograph, as
illustrated in Photo-Docs. NEW.
|
|
|
Ocotal, February
14, 1929. Very good copy of a photo
appearing in other collections. No caption in
Dunlap copy, but caption in copy in USNA2/RG127 reads:
"Ocotal, Nicaragua, 14 Feb 1929. General Caldera and
volunteers. Shown in photo also Brigadier General
R. H. Dunlap and Lieutenant Dawson." The caption is
twice mistaken: Dunlap was a colonel at the time,
and Lt. Dawson is not in this photograph.
|
|
|
|
|
TO PAGE 1 OF
DUNLAP PAPERS
|
|
