'Expendable' WWII Merrill's Marauders survive into their 100s
By Jonnie Melillo ClasenAugust 25, 2016
FORT BENNING, Ga. -- Three Merrill's Marauders, 1944 survivors of the secret mission of almost 3,000 presidential volunteers who fought through the disease-ridden "forgotten theater" of World War II, the China-Burma-India Theater, have lived to the age of 101. Another made it to 100.
Living to be a centenarian is remarkable. What is even more remarkable is that those Infantry jungle fighters, who have been called everything from "misfits" to "magnificent," weren't even expected to survive.
"We were expendable," said Merrill's Marauder Sam V. Wilson, who turns 93 next month. The retired Army lieutenant general, who helped start Delta Force and still contributes to military publications, explained, "A plan existed on paper to get us into Burma, but no plan existed to get us out."
https://www.army.mil/article/173880/expendable_wwii_merrills_marauders_survive_into_their_100s
