Baldwin Township set to dedicate Russell 'Huck' Hamler Veterans Memorial

Russell “Huck” Hamler has never lost sight of the fact that he’s lucky to be alive.

During World War II, Hamler, a 98-year-old Mt. Lebanon native and Baldwin Township resident was part of a top-secret elite Army unit known as “Merrill’s Marauders,” named after its commander, Brigadier General Frank Merrill, and made famous by a 1962 movie of the same name.

Pfc. Hamler volunteered to be a part of it even though he was informed that it was extremely dangerous duty deep behind enemy lines in the jungles of the China-Burma-India Theater and the chances of survival were slim. Their mission was to capture a Japanese held airfield and force open a supply route between India and China. They were fighting Japanese forces that outnumbered them.

“People will describe their time in combat, but it’s different when you have shells and bullets coming at you,” Hamler said in an interview with the Tribune-Review. “You just don’t know how you’re going to react when you’re under fire. It’s not too nice. Of course, you’re doing the same to them.”

On one fateful night in April 1944, the Japanese had Hamler and the Marauders pinned down as a barrage started. It was all Hamler and the rest of the men could do to take cover and try to survive.

“I just got into my foxhole and it’s a good thing, because if I wouldn’t have gotten in where I was sort of flat, I wouldn’t be sitting here — because a shell took a big hunk out of me,” Hamler said. “My buddy was killed and a lot of other people.”

Hamler suffered a serious hip injury and was trapped in his foxhole for 10 days before being rescued. He was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

Decades later, more recognition has come his way. In a ceremony held last April, Hamler was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal and on Oct. 1, Baldwin Township will hold a dedication ceremony for the Russell “Huck” Hamler Veterans Memorial.

“We thought it was appropriate that we named it (after him),” said Baldwin Township commissioner Nick Pellegrino. “I was aware of ‘Merrill’s Marauders’ and the China-Burma campaign during World War II but, to be honest with you, I was unaware that Mr. Hamler was one of the Marauders and actually living in our township.”

That’s probably because Hamler generally keeps a low profile and deflects praise.

“I just had to do my job like everybody else in the outfit,” he said. “At that time, you’re young and you don’t have all the sense to be scared of a lot of stuff. We had a good outfit, my goodness, a lot of good boys.”

Hamler said he volunteered for the mission because he was told that in exchange for signing up, he would be given a one month furlough — but that didn’t happen.

“I’m very proud of my Dad, he’s my hero,” Hamler’s son Jeffrey said. “I’ve always known this stuff because I’ve listened to the stories all of my life. It’s about time they recognized “Merrill’s Marauders.” They were (fighting) in the jungle. If you’ve ever seen Tarzan movies, I mean that’s what that was like. I’ve seen pictures.”

At the outset of their mission, by virtue of an allied arrangement, they were considered a British force, officially the 5307^th Composite Unit serving under legendary Lord Louis Mountbatten’s South East Asia Command.

Years after the war ended, Hamler had an opportunity to meet Mountbatten at Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, where he worked as a mechanic for Trans World Airlines.

Of the nearly 3,000 men who fought through the jungles of Burma to capture the Japanese held airfield and open the Allied supply route between India and China, only about 200 were left by the end of the mission.

Today, Hamler is one of two surviving Marauders. And he is no fan of war.

“I wouldn’t want to do it again,” he said. “When countries have differences, their (political leaders) should get together and iron it out by talking instead of going and shooting somebody, instead of fighting with these people and shooting at them, you’re shooting at somebody you don’t know and you’re never going to know.

“When there’s problems, deal with it in words instead of going to war and killing people. I would like to see them stop all wars.”