Frank Merrill
| Frank Merrill | |
|---|---|
Frank Merrill, left, with General Joseph Stilwell
|
|
| Born |
December 4, 1903 Hopkinton, Massachusetts |
| Died | December 11, 1955 (aged 52) Fernandina Beach, Florida |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1922–1948 |
| Rank |
Major General 
|
| Commands held | Merrill's Marauders |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Awards |
Distinguished Service Medal Bronze Star Legion of Merit Purple Heart |
Frank Dow Merrill (December 4, 1903 in Hopkinton, Massachusetts – December 11, 1955 in Fernandina Beach, Florida) was a United States Army general and is best remembered for his command of Merrill's Marauders, officially the 5307th Composite Unit (provisional), in the Burma Campaign of World War II. Merrill's Marauders came under General Joseph Stilwell's Northern Combat Area Command. It was a special forces unit modelled on the Chindits' long range penetration groups trained to operate from bases deep behind Japanese lines.
Merrill lived with his family in Amesbury, Massachusetts and graduated from Amesbury High School. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1922 and earned the rank of staff sergeant in Company A, 11th Engineers.
He received an appointment to West Point in 1925 and he graduated in 1929. Merrill also earned a B.S. in military engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1932. In 1938, Merrill became the Military Attaché in Tokyo where he studied the Japanese language.
He joined General Douglas MacArthur's staff in the Philippines in 1941 as a military intelligence officer. Merrill was on a mission in Rangoon, Burma at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack and remained in Burma after the Japanese invasion.
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