Ex-Policeman Praises Seabees
Warrant Officer Freeman Reticent About His Own Decorations
Many homecoming combat veterans are reluctant to talk about themselves and the deeds which won for them the bright colored campaign ribbons and the stars and clusters which adorn them.
What is so rare as to disconcert the prospective interviewer is a marine, fresh from the combat areas, who not only refuses to tell his own story, but also is reticent on the subject of the marine corps and insists on bestowing lavish praise on another branch of the service.
This refusal to talk violates one of the oldest traditions of the marine corps, long noted for the lack of modesty on the part of its members in discussing that organization.
They’re Really Tops.
But, Warrant Officer Stanley Freeman, former police officer, who recently returned home after two years in the South Pacific, insists that if he must talk about the war at all, his conversational contributions will pertain to the Seabees.
“They’re really tops, and I think every marine who has seen them in action will agree with me,” he says. “I’ve seen Seabees grab rifles and leap into landing barges in order to be among the first ashore on some Jap-held island. They’ve gone ashore with the first wave of marines on many different occasions. And they always gave good accounts of themselves.
“They work as hard as they fight, and sometimes under difficulties that are even harder than combat. Once, I saw a gang of them leveling out one end of a landing strip with bulldozers while Japs still held the other end of the strip.
To Old for Combat.
“Many members of the Seabees are men who might be considered too old for combat. Many of them have sons in service, and are doing everything they can to win the war in a hurry.”
Virtually all of the former patrolman’s overseas time was spent with a marine aviation unit in the Solomon islands area. He took part in the American conquest of Munda and Guadalcanal. But, he refuses to talk about either event.
“One of the exciting things on Guadalcanal, as far as I was concerned, was a meeting with my brother, Cpl. Mark Freeman,” he says. “Mark also is in the marines, and is a member of an artillery group. I met him first in July, and had another long talk with him just before I left the Solomons.”
Three Major Battles.
In addition to campaign bars decorating service in the American theater and the South Pacific area, Warrant Officer Freeman wears a presidential citation, which was awarded to his marine aviation wing, and stars denoting participation in three major engagements.
The Freeman brothers are sons of Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Freeman, former Sioux Cityans who now live in Los Angeles. Warrant Officer Freeman will report for duty at a marine base in California at the end of his leave.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, January 21, 1945 (photo included)
