Retired Marine the voice behind the 'oorah'

The oldest living sergeant major of the Marine Corps is a legend of sorts.

Retired Sgt. Maj. John Massaro left his hometown of Cleveland during the 1940s to enlist in the Marines. His career would span three decades, taking him to combat zones in Korea and Vietnam, and finally into the role of the Marine Corps' top enlisted leader before his retirement in 1979.

That highly abbreviated biography of the eighth sergeant major of the Marine Corps would get the attention of any Marine. But official service anecdotes credit him with popularizing "oorah" in the Marine lexicon — and that alone has cemented him into leatherneck lore.

While there are several theories about the origins of the saying, some Marine Corps historical references suggest that Massaro carried the popular phrase into his drill field tours after it was used during his days with 1st Marine Division Reconnaissance Company in the mid-1950s. Massaro, then a company gunnery sergeant, and the men who boarded the submarine Perch for recon and raid training in the decade after World War II got in the habit of saying "oorah" while imitating the sub's klaxon horn that sounds off as "arrugah."

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"It became some kind of greeting, when you saw one of your shipmates or one of your Marines, instead of saying, 'How are you?'" Massaro said. "It kind of got passed around. It was used as a chant, when people were running."

"Oorah" has become a battle cry for the generations since, a phrase symbolic of the Marine Corps as much as "leatherneck" and "devil dogs." Some historic references cite Massaro's tour at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego as the place "oorah" really caught hold when he began using the phrase with new recruits.

Massaro, for one, is baffled why he's credited with the word. "I don't take credit for it," he said, chuckling. "It was a phrase or a term originally coming from boarding a ship."

The roots of "oorah" stretch beyond reconnaissance. It was likely coined by the infantry several years earlier. Massaro, speaking by phone from Utah, said he and other riflemen with Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, first went aboard the Perch in 1949 for troop transport training, "so it really wasn't something that was original to recon."

Massaro was just a teenager when World War II ended. After training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, he rode a train to Camp Pendleton, California, where he was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marines. His infantry career included three tours on the drill field, and assignments with recon and aviation units before being named SMMC.

"I was blessed," he said. "I try to sit back and look. The hand of Providence guided me where I went."

Like many Marines, Massaro spent the week of the Corps' birthday reminiscing and reconnecting with friends and battle buddies.

For all the Marine Corps' birthdays Massaro celebrated throughout his career, though, one stands apart.

On Nov. 10, 1952, he and his Marines stood watch near the border between North and South Korea, where official peace talks were taking place. The cooks somehow whipped up a hot meal and a cake, he said.

"Every Marine had a piece of cake that day for the Marine Corps birthday, and you were looking right down on Panmunjom," he said.