On 14 June 1898, at a place called Cuzco Well above Guantanamo Bay, Sergeant John Quick of the 1st Marine Battalion stood up on an exposed ridge with an improvised semaphore flag and signaled corrections to a supporting warship — his back to the enemy, Spanish and friendly fire passing around him. He earned the Medal of Honor. Quick was an NCO like the one shown here, and the action typified the Marines' first real test of the new expeditionary age: the battalion had landed at Guantanamo on 10 June, the first U.S. ground troops in Cuba, and held Camp McCalla while the Navy fought offshore.

W. Britain stands the NCO at the ready, the Krag–Jørgensen rifle held across the body with bayonet fixed and head turned as if a line is forming. He wears the Corps' dark blue wool service blouse with red NCO chevrons and yellow trim, light blue trousers, tan canvas leggings, and a black leather cartridge belt, topped by the broad campaign hat of the period. He marks the hinge between the old Corps and the new: link him back to the dress lineage of the 1859 Dress Marine and the 1833 NCO, and forward to the expeditionary Corps of the Banana Wars Marine who carried the 1898 tradition into the Caribbean.

W. Britain model 13038. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), solid metal hand-painted in a matte finish. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.