FORT BENNING, Ga., (March 11, 2015) -- Spc. Donald Leonard, 27, Georgia National Guard, had his sergeant's stripes pinned on in a measurable way Feb. 22 at the unit's Milledgeville, Georgia, headquarters.

During World War II, Leonard's great uncle Alfred Greer was a Merrill's Marauder serving under Lt. Logan Weston, known as "the fighting preacher," in the China Burma India Theater.

Leonard, who wanted his sergeant's stripes pinned on by a Merrill's Marauder, contacted Marauder spokesperson and historian Bob Passanisi, 90, in New York, in an attempt to locate a surviving member of the unit in Georgia.

Passanisi referred him to Vincent Melillo, who lives in Columbus and is the last original Merrill's Marauder in Georgia. There are less than 50 original Merrill's Marauders - officially known as the 5307th Composite Unit Provisional - still living. They were nicknamed after their commander, retired Gen. Frank D. Merrill.

In his remarks following the pinning ceremony, Melillo, who will be 97 in July, told Leonard he was honored to pin on his sergeant's stripes and "to represent Merrill's Marauders and your great uncle Greer."

"Sergeant Leonard's great uncle and Lt. Weston and the rest of the 3rd Battalion are why I am able to be here with you today," Melillo told the National Guardsmen. "Last Easter Sunday was the 70th anniversary of the 2nd Battalion being rescued by the 3rd Battalion at the battle of (Burma), after we were surrounded for almost two weeks by the Japanese.

"I was a scout (with) Blue Combat Team, R Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, when we were surrounded in Burma on that mountain top at Nphum Ga," he said, adding that their water holes were polluted with dead mules and they had few supplies left when they were rescued.

Melillo presented Leonard with a copy of a letter written by Weston to the mother of Dan Carrigan, a Marauder who was killed when he was fighting his way up the trail with the 3rd Battalion to rescue the 2nd Battalion.

He also presented Leonard with a copy of two poems, "Merrill's Marauders" and "Sentinels of Freedom," written by veteran Clif Hyatt before he retired from the Army Heritage and Education Center at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Also, his daughter set up a small display of Melillo's World War II and Korean War memorabilia.

Both Weston and Melillo are members of the Army Ranger Hall of Fame. In 2013, Melillo was also inducted into the Georgia Military Veteran's Hall of Fame.

Last year, governors of every state, with the exception of California, issued proclamations declaring Aug. 10 as National World War II Merrill's Marauder Day, the 70-year anniversary the 5307th Composite Unit was disbanded in Burma.

Merrill's Marauders were the first American combat troops to fight the Japanese on the ground in Asia. Modern-day Army Rangers, the 75th Ranger Regiment, honor their legacy by wearing the Marauder patch as their crest.

Camp Frank D. Merrill, where the rigorous mountain phase of Ranger training is conducted in North Georgia, is named in honor of the unit's commander.

With only what they could carry on their backs or pack on mules, the Marauders walked almost 1,000 miles further than any other World War II fighting force.

No mechanized vehicles were part of the long columns of men and mules supplied by C-47 airplane drops.

They trudged behind enemy lines up the foothills of the Himalayas and into the jungles of northern Burma to capture the only all-weather airstrip May 17, 1944, at Myitkyina, crushing Japan's control of the sky and enabling the allies to begin flying supplies into Burma to connect the Ledo and Burma roads and open up a crucial pathway into China.

The Marauders were considered "expendable," since a plan exited to get them into - but not out of - Burma.

Jungle diseases ravaged their numbers so only about 300 of the approximate 1,300 remaining original Marauders were still considered fit for combat when they reached the Myitkyina airfield.

Those survivors later went on to join replacements that continued to fight in Burma as the 475th Infantry, which became part of the Mars Task Force.