Marcus V. Duarte
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Marines
PFC Marcus Duarte, Jr. was born in Bridgeport, TX. on January 15, 1915.
He enlisted in the Marines on May 25, 1944 and was discharged on January 31, 1946.
He spent his service with C Company, 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. He now lives in Maple Lake, Minnesota. His son, Jim Duarte, put together the following story:
"We arrived on an island in the Pacific. We were 'New Marines' from the States assigned to this company. The Colonel there told us about a Marine of his named Besaw. Many fellow Marines in this company called him the 'Mad Russian' because he would do things that nobody else would dare try to do. The Marines were trying to take over the island. One day in a combat zone Besaw had to take a crap. He didn’t care that he was in a combat zone, he was going to take a crap, that’s all. Nothing was going to stop him and he didn’t care about anything else. He left his foxhole and went off to take a crap. While he was taking a crap a sniper was shooting at him. This didn’t stop him - he didn’t get up. Instead, he finished his crap. After he was done he went hunting for the sniper, found him, and shot him.
The Colonel said, “Now that’s what I call a ‘Real Marine’, he doesn’t show fear. Nothing stops him. He finishes his job, and then goes into the next job”."
