In 1943, General Frank Merrill was appointed to command a new volunteer U.S. Army special forces unit (Unit Galahad) patterned after the Long Range Jungle Penetration groups formed by the British to harass Japanese forces in Burma (the Chindits). The U.S. Army’s official name for the unit was the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional). (The title provisional means the unit is formed for a special mission or operation and will be disbanded afterwards.) Visiting war correspondents, after viewing the 5307th’s performance on the firing ranges, promptly dubbed the unit Merrill’s Marauders. General Merrill oversaw the training and deployment of the three battalions of the 5307th into Burma in February 1944.
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