Clemson Ranger Club hosts 5th Annual CPT Philip B.Piazza Memorial 5k

October 2, 2015

On Saturday October 26^th the Clemson Ranger Club hosted the 5^th Annual Captain Philip B. Piazza Memorial 5K in the ClemsonBotanical Gardens. This year 140 runners registered for the race, raising $2,800. Money raised from the race is divided between funding training for the Clemson Ranger Club and a donation to the Clemson Student Veterans Association. The Clemson Ranger Club will present a check for $1,400 to the Clemson Student Veterans Association this year.

The race is held in honor of Captain Philip B. Piazza. We were lucky enough to have Captain Piazza’s wife, Emma, as well as daughters and grandchildren attend the race. Philip B. Piazza enlisted at Hartford, CT, where he received basic training and was expeditiously promoted to the grade of First Sergeant in a period of eight months. Turning down a commission in the medical field, he was sent to the Infantry Officers Candidate School. He was commissioned in 1942, and was selected to ship out to combat duty in Africa, but a change in orders sent him to the Dutch West Indies and then to Trinidad. In Trinidad he was assigned to the 33rd Infantry where he served as XO of Company E.

In September 1943, after distinguishing himself while in the role of XO, E Company of the 33^rd Infantry, the now First Lieutenant was placed in command of a heavy weapons squad within the six combat teams composing the famous 5307 Provisional Unit known as Merrill’s Marauders. Their Combat Mission behind enemy lines began with a 125 mile foot march and terminated 750 miles behind the Japanese units that were confronting friendly Chinese troops in the Mogaung/Hukong valleys of north and central Burma. The unit was ordered to establish and hold a road block for 24 hours on an enemy held supply route. After maintaining the road block for 38 hours a Japanese counter attack threatened to overwhelm the Marauder’s position. With disregard for his personal safety, while observing from an advance position, Lieutenant Piazza coordinated mortar and machine gun fire to devastating effect, thus allowing friendly forces to successfully extract from their position due exclusively to the heavy weapons supporting fires of Lieutenant Piazza’s men. The success of this mission denied General Tanaka and the Japanese 18th Imperial Division to retake approximately 35 miles of the Hukong valley which had been liberated by the aggressive positioning of Merrill’s Marauders. At the south end of the Mogaung valley, the unit was engaged again by a series of Banzai attacks. While managing friendly machine gun and mortar fire from an advance location Lieutenant Piazza was hit by enemy mortar fire destroying his ankle. Lieutenant Piazza’s men moved quickly to successfully rescue their young leader. While being litter borne away from the battle Lieutenant Piazza was hit in the head by two rounds of enemy small arms fire. Again, the effectiveness of the heavy weapons enabled the battalion to withdraw to safety. Lieutenant Piazza was litter borne eight miles to an evacuation strip where, seven days later, he was flown to the 20th General Hospital in India.

Captain Piazza spent the next year recovering from his wounds before rotating back to the United States. Captain Piazza returned to active duty at Camp Blanding, FL where he taught soldiers the basics of combat in the Asian theatre. Captain Piazza continued to teach at Camp Blanding until he was medically discharged from the Army. Following his medical discharge Captain Piazza retired to Clemson South Carolina where he was involved in Clemson Corps and supported both the Army and Air Force ROTC Programs. Beyond his involvement at Clemson Captain Piazza founded the Merrill’s Marauders Association, was inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame, sat on the Ranger Hall of Fame Committee, sat on the Ranger Memorial at Ft. Benning Committee and was a member of the American Legion.

Captain Piazza Died on Sunday May 29^th, 2011. On Thursday, June 2^nd, 2011 Captain Piazza was buried with full military honors at the M.J. “Dolly” Cooper Veterans Cemetery in Anderson, SC. An Honor Guard from various special Operations Units was on hand to Honor this respected veteran, including the 75^th Ranger Regiment; the Ranger Training Brigade; and representatives from  the Special Forces, 101^st Airborne and 82^nd Airborne Divisions. Several of his fellow Ranger Hall of Fame members were also present.

Military awards include the Bronze Star, Combat Infantryman Badge, Purple Heart with cluster, Presidential Unit Citation, and several campaign medals. Also awarded by the National Chinese Army is the Chinese War Memorial Medal.