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General Randolph McCall Pate, 21st Commandant of the
Marine Corps, was born in Port Royal, South Carolina,
on 11 February 1898. After a brief tour of enlisted
service with the U.S. Army in 1918, he entered the Virginia
Military Institute, graduating in June 1921 with a Bachelor
of Arts degree. He was commissioned a second lieutenant
in the Marine Corps Reserve that September and accepted
his commission in the Regular Marine Corps the following
May. In addition to expeditionary duty in Santo Domingo
in 1923 and 1924 and in China from 1927 to 1929, General
Pate served at various posts in the United States and
Hawaii. He was promoted to first lieutenant in September
1926, to captain in November 1934, and to major in October
1938. In the spring of 1939, he became Assistant Chief
of Staff for Supply, 1st Marine Division, at New River
(later Camp Lejeune), North Carolina, and while there
was promoted to lieutenant colonel in January 1942.
He began his World War II service in this capacity,
participating in the planning and combat phases of the
Guadalcanal campaign. He was promoted to colonel in
December 1943, and later saw further service in the
Pacific area. Returning
to the United States after the war, he was named Director
of the Division of Reserve at Marine Corps Headquarters
in January 1946. The following year he assumed duties
as a member of the General Board, Navy Department,
Washington, D.C. In July 1948, he became Chief of
Staff of the Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia,
and two years later was named Director of the Marine
Corps Educational Center. While stationed at Quantico
in September 1949, he was promoted to brigadier general.
In
July 1951, BGen Pate was assigned to the Office of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where he served as Deputy
Director of the Joint Staff for Logistic Plans. He
was named Director of the Division of Reserve for
a second time that November and in August 1952, was
promoted to major general. The following month, he
took command of the 2d Marine Division at Camp Lejeune.
Ordered to Korea in June 1953, he commanded the 1st
Marine Division until May 1954.
In
July 1954, MajGen Pate was appointed Assistant Commandant
of the Marine Corps and Chief of Staff, serving in
that capacity at the rank of lieutenant general for
eighteen months. On 1 January 1956, he was promoted
to the rank of general and executed the oath of office
as Commandant of the Marine Corps, succeeding General
Lemuel C. Shepherd.
As
Commandant, he directed an overhaul of recruit training,
largely in response to the tragic Ribbon Creek episode,
in which six recruits drowned in a training night
march at Parris Island, South Carolina. Also, the
unstable Middle East situation led to the landing
in 1956 of a Marine battalion at Alexandria, Egypt,
to cover the evacuation of 1,500 civilians. Two years
later four Marine battalions landed in Lebanon to
support the pro-Western government.
General
Pate retired 31 December 1959. At his retirement ceremonies,
he was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal
for “exceptionally meritorious service to the
Government of the United States in a duty of great
responsibility as Commandant of the Marine Corps from
1 January 1956 to 31 December 1959.”
Following
a brief illness, Gen Pate died at the U.S. Naval Hospital,
Bethesda, Maryland, 31 July 1961. Funeral services
were held on 3 August in Fort Myer Chapel, Arlington,
Virginia, and the general was interred with full military
honors in Arlington National Cemetery.
General
Pate’s medals and decorations include: the Navy
and Army Distinguished Service Medals; the Legion
of Merit with Combat “V” and Gold Star
in lieu of a second award; the Purple Heart (Guadalcanal,
1942); the Presidential Unit Citation (Guadalcanal,
1942); the Navy Unit Commendation (Korea, 1953); the
World War I Victory Medal; the Marine Corps Expeditionary
Medal with two bronze stars (Santo Domingo, 1923-24
and China, 1927-29); the Yangtze Service Medal (China,
1927); the American Defense Service Medal; the Asiatic-Pacific
Campaign Medal with three bronze stars; the American
Campaign Medal; the World War II Victory Medal; the
National Defense Service Medal; the Korean Service
Medal with one bronze star; the United Nations Service
Medal; the Korean Presidential Unit Citation; and
the Korean Order of Military Merit Taiguk.
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UNITED
STATES MARINE CORPS
