As the German Spring Offensive rolled toward Paris in early June 1918, a French officer advised the Marines moving up at Belleau Wood to fall back with the retreating line. Captain Lloyd Williams of the 5th Marines is said to have answered, "Retreat? Hell, we just got here." The Marines stayed, held the line outside the wood, and then attacked into it across open wheat against entrenched machine guns, wire, and gas. Twenty-six days and nearly 5,000 casualties later the wood was theirs. Williams did not live to see it — he was gassed and mortally wounded in the fighting — but his reply became one of the Corps' proudest lines.

W. Britain sculpts the classic infantry pose — feet planted, the M1903 Springfield shouldered, the Marine taking his shot. He wears the M1917 helmet, wool service dress and puttees, cartridge belt and haversack, the kit of a 4th Brigade rifleman in the wheat. He anchors a fire-and-maneuver scene: covering the advancing rifleman as he moves, with the Chauchat gunner adding automatic fire and the trench shotgunner for the close work in the trees.

W. Britain model 13075. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure in the standing firing pose on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.