The Big Yankee: The Life Of Carlson Of The Raiders

Includes 12 Illustrations

This biography is the story of one of the most impressive figures to emerge from World War II. Evans F. Carlson is a living war hero who has won a place in the hearts of thousands of Americans through his courage, his humanity, and his grasp of the issues of war and peace. It is the story of Carlson the soldier and of Carlson the great American who has struggled against prejudice, complacency and ignorance to realize his vision of democracy in our military organizations and in the world at large.

Here is the picture of the magnetic military leader who built up the revolutionary Raider Battalion on the principles of “Gung-Ho” and led it into the first land encounter with Jap forces. But underneath the superefficient soldier and planner of battles is the American looking for a way to fulfill the promise of our tradition. Carlson was raised in New England; he ran away from home, entered the Army, was sent to Europe, learned about guerilla warfare in Nicaragua and Asia. His first visit to China opened his eyes to the struggle men were still making to achieve democracy. He lived and fought with the Eighth Route Army. He tried to tell the world what he had learned about military democracy and the threat of Japanese fascism. Officialdom, however, was not ready for his message and he had to resign from the Marine Corps to bring his warning to the American people. Time proved his predictions true, and after 1941 he rejoined the Marines and organized the famous Raider Battalion, which put in practice what he had learned in China and all that he believed about American democracy.

Michael Blankfort was in the Marine Corps himself and got to know Colonel (now Brigadier General) Carlson there. He has written this biography through this personal knowledge of Carlson and through conferences with his family and close friends and enthusiastic veterans who served with him.