Battle of Harlingen details

[Olefin]

For those who have the Texas module a few details I thought would be interesting about the Battle of Harlingen where the students of the Marine Military Academy held off the Mexicans for several days until they were all wiped out

The Marine Military Academy established one of the first Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps in the nation and all the cadets are members of the MCJROTC unit.

The students uniforms parallel those of the US Marines - thus the Mexican forces may have initially thought they were taking on a USMC unit. The Academy has the students sorted into seven rifle companies, each of which is led by a retired DI. Each rifle company had roughly 80 cadets each - in 1998 (in our world) they had 530 cadets.

The Iwo Jima monument, which is located on the Academy grounds, is the original mold for the one at Arlington. In addition the remains of Corporal Harlon Block, who was one of the Marines in the flag-raising photo, are interred on the Academy grounds.

the military staff at the Academy is a mix of various retired USMC NCO's - meaning they would have led by combat experienced NCO's and officers, either with Korea or Vietnam War experience (possibly even WWII)

Commander in 1998 would have been Major General Harold G. Glasgow, who had 36 years of active duty in the Marine Corps including combat duty in Korea and he had previously commanded Parris Island and the 3rd Marine Division.

Also in town is the Harlingen Armed Forces Reserve Center used by the Army, Navy and Marine Corps - when they wrote the module the center was just being built - that would have added some reservists and staff to the defenders of the town

Gives some added flavor to the battle (they literally had one of the great symbols of US military heroism standing right among them) and explains how a bunch of cadets could have fought so hard - basically the Mexicans ran into the equivalent of about two USMC rifle companies who were fighting to not only defend their school but the honor of the USMC.