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China Horse Marine?


Rustykamel
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After ten years being on the Internet with my Marine Corps history web site, I have received an eMail questioning something that I wrote. So, need some help from the Marine experts here on this forum. Was Kemp Battle Nye, USMC assigned to the Peking mounted detachment? This is what I wrote: "Most Marines are cocky, but it seems that the Peking Horse Marines were especially so. Kemp Battle Nye, USMC, a member of this elite mounted unit, described his troop this way: "trained by the descendents of Genghis Khan, and fought recklessly, loved carelessly, and lived dangerously." About 1936, Corporal Nye, a most handsome, charming and flamboyant Marine, was Pearl S. Buck's lover. In 1932, Ms. Buck won the Pulitzer Prize for her classic novel, <u>The Good Earth</u>, a book about Chinese peasant life. Surprised that a famous missionary woman would have anything to do with an enlisted China Marine? Well, later in life Nye was described as: "charming, distinguished, handsome, incredibly energetic, gregarious, and flamboyant, a bon vivant, a natural storyteller, and one of the greatest pitchman who ever lived." The swashbuckling Corp. Nye went on to storm several beaches during World War Two, become a successful North Carolina businessman, plus author of at least five semi-autobiographical books."

 

Nye was a China Marine, but need some sort of confirmation he was also a Horse Marine otherwise will delete the whole paragraph. Thanking you in advance, Jim

 

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Jim I will go through the muster rolls again but from what I saw he was assigned to a line company and later after the Mounted was disbanded joined the HQ company....I did not check throughly though. Yes he was in Peiping that we know. He may have done all he said he did but he also may have embellished his China time....what I found sad is the guy that used my picture and your words for his publication without even asking us first.

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Jim just went back and did more random checks and it appears from 1936 though Feb 1938 he was A Company the whole time with some detached duty in Chibawangtoa and Taku. If I am correct and reading the thing you asked me to check he may well have inflated his China time a bit. Not uncommon. Reading his words does paint a rather flamboyant account although he or another Marine may well have been close to Pearl Buck as she did spend some time on the tartar wall and her name does appear in other Marines account as she crossed paths with the Mar Det.

 

I interviewed several people who remember the Mounted as swashbuckling, perfectly groomed, hard riding men....although one Wyoming Marine who spent time as a cowboy before his Marine Cruise noted "they were good riders but remember many of these kids were from Brooklyn and other big cities. And did not grow up around horses."

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Thank you, Dirk. That's good enough for me and will delete my Nye paragraph. Again, thank you ever so much for your help. Jim

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Jim I would not delete it. His words are entertaining but once you confirm (remember I only did a fast check) you can recraft him as a wannabe or someone writing about what they saw when stationed there....which in a sense shows how much regard these mounted guys were held by the Marines. Frankly I like your page.

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This quote from an online article probably sums up Nye's exaggerated stories:

 

He tells about a conversation with a
friend, the late Kemp Nye. who loaned him
Pearl Buck's novel on the last Chinese em-
press: "I read it and I handed it back to him
and I said 'Kemp, 1 don't understand how
she knew exactly what the empress was
thinking about.' And he laughed and said
'Like you and me. she just knows how to
tell a good story.' "
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Jim I would not delete it.

 

Good advice - just note in the article that the record shows something different than what he claimed.

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Thank you Dirk, Bob and Dick. I decided to delete my paragraph on Nye. I just wouldn’t be comfortable leaving it up even with a disclaimer. Jim
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If this is "misinformation" has been written about elsewhere, it can be a good idea to leave it up and then explain what the record actually shows is the truth. That way someone doing a Google search can get the truth along with the myth.

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Bob, As far as I know, my Nye paragraph has only appeared in Gooch's Marines by Lou Giaffo and it is being used to sell a photographic book supplement on Horse Marines by Kemp Nye, USMC. The item for sale is here: http://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/author/nye-kemp/

 

I will think about your suggestion and do appreciate that you took the time to give me your thoughts. Jim

 

PS, For those of you who haven't seen my web page, here it is:

http://www.usmcpresentarms.com/adsusmc_horsemarines.html

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