This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Sgt Bill Cline
to remember
Marine LtCol Frank Cline.
If you knew or served with this Marine and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Sapulpa
Last Address Sun City, Arizona
Date of Passing Jan 28, 1985
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Check out this web site: http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/militarynoseart/FrankCline1.htm
Military Officers Association of America Mobile Facility Program
Other Comments:
LtCol. Frank Cline enlisted into the Marine Corps in 1942. Around 1953 the Warrant Officer and LDO, (Limited Duty Officer) programs came out. He applied and was accepted into both. He accepted the LDO program where he rose to the highest authorized rank at that time which was LtCol. During LtCol. Cline's 32 years of service, he survived WWII, Korea and Vietnam. We lost him in 1985 from walking pneumonia. He is buried in Arlington Cemetery across from Headquarters Marine Corps. Here is a URL of a brief history of LtCol Cline. http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/militarynoseart/FrankCline1.htm
Marine Corps Heritage Foundation member National Museum of the Marine Corps
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Luzon Campaign (1944-45)
From Month/Year
December / 1944
To Month/Year
April / 1945
Description On December 15, 1944, landings against minimal resistance were made on the southern beaches of the island of Mindoro, a key location in the planned Lingayen Gulf operations, in support of major landings scheduled on Luzon. On January 9, 1945, on the south shore of Lingayen Gulf on the western coast of Luzon, General Krueger's Sixth Army landed his first units. Almost 175,000 men followed across the twenty-mile (32 km) beachhead within a few days. With heavy air support, Army units pushed inland, taking Clark Field, 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Manila, in the last week of January.
Two more major landings followed, one to cut off the Bataan Peninsula, and another, that included a parachute drop, south of Manila. Pincers closed on the city and, on February 3, 1945, elements of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division pushed into the northern outskirts of Manila and the 8th Cavalry Regiment (organized as infantry) passed through the northern suburbs and into the city itself.
As the advance on Manila continued from the north and the south, the Bataan Peninsula was rapidly secured. On February 16, paratroopers and amphibious units simultaneously assaulted the islet of Corregidor. It was necessary to take this stronghold because troops there can block the entrance of Manila Bay. The Americans needed to establish a major harbor base at Manila Bay to support the expected invasion of Japan, planned to begin on November 1, 1945. Resistance on Corregidor ended on February 27, and then all resistance by the Japanese Empire ceased on August 15, 1945, obviating the need for an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands.
Despite initial optimism, fighting in Manila was harsh. It took until March 3 to clear the city of all Japanese troops, and the Japanese Marines, who fought on stubbornly and refused to either surrender or to evacuate as the Japanese Army had done. Fort Drum, a fortified island in Manila Bay near Corregidor, held out until 13 April, when a team of Army troops went ashore and pumped 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the fort, then set off incendiary charges. No Japanese soldiers in Fort Drum survived the blast and fire.
In all, ten U.S. divisions and five independent regiments battled on Luzon, making it the largest American campaign of the Pacific war, involving more troops than the United States had used in North Africa, Italy, or southern France.
