History of the Marine NCO: Sergeant Matej Kocak During World War I, Marines served an essential role, and with a vast supply of Noncommissioned Officers with experience, they distinguished themselves on the battlefields of France. In this Essay I would like to explain how one of the many Marine Non Commissioned officers that participated in the battles in France demonstrated extraordinary heroism and exceptional leadership by way of using “The Marine Corps Leadership Traits”. The top three that I thought he showed most that I would like to present were Endurance, Courage, and Initiative. In 1916, eight years after his first enlistment in the Marine Corps he found himself ashore in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where he participated in skirmishes with native bandits in Las Canitas, Azua Province, Dominican Republic. He then showed his endurance in 1917 by again deploying to fight a battle, only this time at St. Nazaire, France. The following year, 1918, he was promoted to Sergeant and then took part in the attack against the enemy in Bois De Belleau Bouresches sector northwest of Chateau Thierry, France. On July 18, 1918, he participated in the attack at Villers Cotteret Wood south of Soissons, France, and it was on this day he performed the act of heroism for which he was posthumously awarded both the Army and Navy Medal of Honor. Sergeant Matej Kocak showed substantial courage on July 18, 1918, when his battalion came under fire by a hidden machine-gun nest. By himself, unprotected by cover fire from his own men, he worked in between the German positions in the face of fire from enemy covering detachments. He located the machine-gun nest, rushed it and with his bayonet he drove off the German soldiers.
Shortly after Sergeant Metej Kocak proved his courage he took the initiative and organized 25 French colonial soldiers who had become separated from