"Colonel Paige's record in World War II epitomizes the ancient rhyme about how small details affect the course of events; the lack of a nail leads to the loss of a shoe, leading to the loss of a horse, rider, battle, and eventually the entire kingdom. It was my belief, and that of many military historians, that such was the case on that horrendous night on Guadalcanal in 1942. If Mitch Paige and his Marines had not held that critical position protecting America's tenuous foothold on Guadalcanal, our first offensive action of World War II might have been emboldened to negotiate a flawed peace treaty with a political price tag almost too high to imagine- the eventual surrender of Southeast Asia, the Hawaiian Islands, and Alaska. Sergeant Paige and his tenacious Marines thus may have altered the course of history. Our Corps of Marines took the offensive, never to lose it."
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Original Language: English
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Patrick Brent, Chairman, Bradford Adams & Company, 24 July 1996, Foreword to A Marine Named Mitch (1975), Palo Alto: Bradford Adams & Company
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mitchell_Paige
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Mitchell Paige
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