Some additional biographical information about Col. Roettinger
I have a current research interest in Marine operations in the South and Southwest Pacific, so I followed this wonderful thread with considerable interest. For the heck of it, I spent some pleasant time consulting my own reference materials, the web, and some of the commercial databases to which I have access.
I didn’t exhaust all the possibilities, but here’re some further details regarding Col. Roettinger’s career as a marksman, Marine officer, CIA agent, and very public critic of his former agency.
Thought this might be of interest. In more or less chronological order, I discovered the following.
Second place, Eastern Small Bore Association, All-Around Aggregate, 1941. Listed as living in Wyoming, Ohio (also second in Center Fire, Rapid Fire) (NYT)
I can find no record in Zimmerman, McMillan or Frank of his service on Guadalcanal, nor, as far as I know, did the Third Marine Division take part in that campaign. The engraving suggests that Roettinger may have been stateside during the 1st Mar. Div. operations on Guadalcanal (Aug. 7, 1942 – mid-Dec.1942), depending on what we understand the reference to the “1942 National Mid-Winter Center Fire Champion” to mean. This doesn’t mean he wasn’t there with, for instance, the 2nd Mar. Div., which served alongside Patch’s Americal Division for the remainder of the campaign on the Island, or he may have had some other duty with one of the numerous Marine detachments that remained or arrived on the island after the departure of the 1st Mar. Div..
Rentz shows him on the roster of the 1st Bn, 3rd Marine, 3rd Div. , First Marine Amphibious Corps, as Exec. Officer, 1 December, 1943, “Capt. Philip Roettinger” (Rentz, Marines in the Central Solomons, 1952)
Awarded a Silver Star during this campaign, “For Gallantry in Action on November 1, 1943 at Bougainville, Solomon Islands”
2nd in the Engbrecht .45 pistol competition—1947—Major Roettinger from Camp Lejune (NYT)
Chosen for the American Rifle and Pistol Squad, London Olympics, 1948, no mentioned rank, living in Cincinnati. Rapid fire pistol squad. (NYT}
United States Park Police Pistol Tournament, 1950—listed as Col.. Placed strongly in the Master Class matches. (Washington Post)
United States Squad, International Shooting Union World Championships, Caracas, Venezuela, Nov. 15-14, 1954. Listed as Lt.Col. USMC (Reserves), Washington, DC (Washington Post)
Admits to McCarthy that “he was part of the successful 1954 effort to overthrow left-leaning Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz.” (Washington Post)
[Ed. note: Arbenz resigned on June 27, 1954; the CIA actively pursued his removal in Operations Washtub and PBSUCCESS, both of which were executed through the winter of ’53 and the spring of ’54. One could infer much from Roettinger’s visit to Caracas Nov. 14-15, ’54—a station flush with success and hungry for new glory.. It would be fascinating to have a full record of his participation in international shooting events, and to map these out against the places in which he’s known to have served—with his pre-war shooting record, it makes a natural cover.]
Founder of ASRDIS, Association for Responsible Dissent. Quoted by Colman McCarthy in The Washington Post, Dec. 13, 1987: “We are going to try to expose covert action. We’re going to try to get it legally banned because we can find no reason, no justification, for covert action on the part of the American people.” ARDIS director was John Stockwell (another Marine), an old CIA Vietnam hand and author of In Search of Enemies (1978) and The Praetorian Guard: The US Role in the New World Order (1991), an outspoken, tough critic of the CIA.
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Another appearance in a piece by Julia Preston, “Nicaraguans Hold ‘Cordial’ Talks” (Washington Post, March 22, 1988): “The government team arrived with a group of Americans opposed to the Reagan administration’s support for the contras, including actor and singer Kris Kristofferson and Brian Wilson, a Vietnam veteran who lost both legs when he threw himself in front of a Navy train during a protest in California last September. Also with them was former CIA agent , Philip Roettinger.”
Marvelous photo of Roettinger with Daniel Ellsberg and David Dellinger blocking the south entrance to the Pentagon during a demonstration against U.S. activities in El Salvador, (Washington Post, Oct. 18, 1988).
Appears in Secrets of the CIA, Turner Original Productions, 1998
Interviewed here:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/CI..._ITTJun95.html
http://www.commongroundradio.org/shows/97/9741.html
Pictured in a USMC team photo (1957):
http://www.odcmp.org/103/inc_book.asp
The Colonel was so Old Breed that he went all Smedley on ‘em.; what a privilege to have known this interesting man! I’m envious.
Cheers!
Chandos Michael Brown