THIS IS THE SECOND OF TWO PAGES housing materials culled from
the collection of General Graves B. Erskine in
the MCRC's Archives & Special Collections (CLICK HERE FOR PAGE
1). As his Wikipedia entry aptly
summarizes (offsite),
the most historically memorable action of Gen. Graves Blanchard Erskine (June 28, 1897 –
May 21, 1973) was commanding the 3rd Marine Division during
the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. After the war he went on to play a key role in shaping US policy in East
Asia & Southeast Asia during the Cold War: "In June 1950,
the Secretary of Defense appointed General Erskine as Chief of
Military Group, Joint State-Defense Mutual Defense Assistance
Program Survey Mission to Southeast Asia. . . . he visited the
Philippines, French Indochina, Malaya, Thailand and Indonesia .
. . [he] received orders in December 1950 . . . as Commanding
General of the Department of the Pacific [and] performed
additional duties as Member of the Advisory Group, Western Sea
Frontier and Commanding General, Marine Corps Emergency Forces,
Western Sea Frontier." In 1949, he served as a consultant
for the Academy Award-nominated film, The Sands of Iwo Jima,
starring John Wayne. (Right: Capt. Graves B.
Erskine in Nicaragua, 1929).
The collection housed here goes back to the days when
Graves B. Erskine was a mere Captain in the Marine Corps.
Page 1 of this Erskine
collection houses only six documents, but each
is exceptional — like the affectionate letter of March 3, 1932
from soon-to-be Jefe Director of the Guardia Nacional and, soon
after, dictator of Nicaragua Anastasio Somoza García.
Another gem is the fifth document, a diary of events during
Capt. Erskine's service as Aide to President José María Moncada
from January 1 to May 1, 1929.
This Page 2 of the Erskine collection houses 20 photographs
from the MCRC (all in 600 dpi
JPEG files), also housed & more thoroughly interpreted in
PHOTO-DOCS > MCRC.
There are some extraordinary photographs here.
Grateful acknowledgement is extended to the
staff of Archives & Special Collections of the Marine Corps
Research Center in Quantico VA; 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.
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Four Marines, including Graves Erskine
(second from left), clustered around a native Nicaraguan
at center, with rustic building and doorway behind.
Could be a local cantina & its owner & three of
Erskine's drinking buddies, perhaps Juigalpa 1928 (no
caption, no date; see other Juigalpa photos below).
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Some 20 native Nicaraguans lined up
along a city's main street, with several more leaning
against building at right, with the city square in the
left background, with steps leading into the square (no
caption, no date).
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Seven US Marines next to single-prop
airplane, with "MARINES" in large letters on bottom of
wings, discharging passengers in aviation field (no
caption, no date).
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July 1928, USMC Captain R. W. Peard mounted &
posing in Ocotal in front of the city jail. Caption
on rear: "Capt Peard riding my horse - in front of
Ocotal jail - July 1928"
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1928 or 1929,
transport plane landing in Ocotal aviation field.
Caption on rear: "Transport plane landing in
Ocotal".
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1928 or 1929,
León train station, with market woman holding
large bowl on her head facing camera. Caption on
rear: "This is our train at the station in Leon".
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1928 or 1929,
León street scene, with movie house at left, a
"Joyería" in the background, two barefoot boys in the
street, two girls walking at left, and in general a
typical & unscripted & active street scene.
Caption on rear: "A street in Leon residential &
business section. 1/2 block from Parque el Perez.
We live in house marked X. The house (1) is a
movie house - now showing The Volga Boatman." (no
date.)
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Late 1928,
Somoto. Nine Marine officers prominent in the
military campaigns in Las Segovias posing in front of
Somoto officers quarters. Caption on
rear: "Dunlap's patrol & officers of Somoto.
In front of officers quarters - Somoto, Nic - 1928.
#1 Lt. Brink.
#2 Lt. Lucky.
#3. Capt Erskine.
#4. Capt. Stokes [Stockes].
#5. Col. Dunlap.
#6. Capt. Reagan.
#7 Capt. Austin
(U.S.A.) #8 Lt.
Mosher. #9 Capt.
Sanderson
(R.O.)"
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Bull-fighters in
annual fiesta in Juigalpa, 1928. Caption
on rear: "'Bull-Fighters' at the Rodeo in Juigalpa
- (annual fiesta). Held in town park, fence
epected for the occasion. 1928."
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Scenes of Civil
War in León, 1926-27. Barricades of piled
blocks at right with barbed wire lining the avenue a man
walks down. Caption inscribed on photo:
"Fortificaciones en León, Nic. Guerra
de 1926-27. 2a
Avenida Oeste."
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Nine Marines pose
holding baseball gear on a hillside outside Juigalpa,
1928. Caption on rear: "View over
valley from plateau on which is situated, Juigalpa.
1928."
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Looking down a
commercial street in city, with long building
at right featuring in large letters, "Pablo Möller &
Cia. Ltda.", with man standing in doorway, and avenue
receding toward the hills close by. Perhaps
Juigalpa, or Jinotega, 1928 (no caption, no date).
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Looking down a
residential street, perhaps Juigalpa 1928 (no
caption, no date).
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Up to 100 men &
women moving & hauling earth by hand & in baskets.
A fascinating photograph. What is happening here?
Adults (no children) carry, fill & move around with
large woven baskets, empty or filled with earth or soil,
seemingly loosened on both sides of a kind of small
valley leading down toward what looks to be a riverbed.
A palatial mansion sits in the distance, a large iron
railroad-style trestle above right & affixed vertically
with a large iron post at left. The downward
sloping hill in the background & the lay of the land
suggests a river valley in an interior city, perhaps
Juigalpa 1928. Probably a crew of manual laborers
working on a road, railroad, or docks improvement
project.
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Mass assembly
along a city street, with Marine Corps band, Nicaraguan
politicians, and a very large crowd.
Perhaps President José María Moncada's inauguration in
Managua on January 1, 1929, the first day of Capt.
Erskine's service as Moncada's aide. Looks like
Managua.
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León, 1929.
Caption on rear: "The calle at
Leon, Nic. We were billeted here until May 1st."
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León central
park, ca. 1929. Caption on rear:
"View of the Park in Leon, Nic. Native movie ad from
'The Boatmen of the Volga'."
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Handcuffed prisoner standing next to priest &
with Marines & Nicaraguan civilians. Appears
to be immediately prior to an execution, and to be the
same man whose corpse appears in the photo below (no
caption, no date).
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Corpse of man laying on ground, with
bloodied chest and wearing striped prisoner uniform,
with pant-legs of another man standing behind.
Appears to be the same man who appears as a handcuffed
prisoner in the photo above (no caption, no date).
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Fascinating & intriguing piece of Liberal
propaganda, ca. 1927. Caption on rear:
"This is a liberal conception of the Conservative
Party's oppression, and is used for propaganda.
Large pictures in color are pasted at places frequented
by Liberals. Also, the Liberals paint their houses
red or at least have red the predominant color, and the
Conservatives follow the same scheme using blue. Every
house has a predominantly Red or Blue." Inscribed
onto the image: : ¡¡Horror! El Gran
Ginete Apocaliptico en Nicaragua. ¡¡DIOS nos Salve!!"
Shows Emiliano Chamorro riding the horse of
"Conservatismo," with legs painted "GUERRA," "HAMBRE,"
"INCENDIO," PESTE," with "PUEBLO" strapped onto horse,
and with a skeleton riding behind Chamorro, reminiscent
of José Guadalupe Posada's work in Mexico. Endless
fields of crosses fill a cemetery at Cosigüina --
Tamarindo -- Las Grietas." Caption below: "APÓSTAL
de la Paz: conoced el cuadro demonstrativo de tus
víctimas y flagelo a la PATRIA." At bottom, list
of dates, events, victims & cost in capital. A
very intricate piece of propaganda.
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Gen. Graves B. Erskine with John Wayne, 1949.
Taken from Flickr.com (offsite).
"Major General Graves B. Erskine and John Wayne on Set
of Sands of Iwo Jima, 1949. From the
Graves B. Erskine Collection (COLL/3065) at the Marine
Corps Archives and Special Collections."
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Gen. Graves B. Erskine, official photo from
Wikipedia (offsite).
No date.
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TO PAGE 1
GRAVES B. ERSKINE PAPERS
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