Lieutenant
General Lewis Burwell Puller, colorful veteran of
the Korean fighting, four World War II campaigns
and expeditionary service in China, Nicaragua and
Haiti, was one of the most decorated Marines in
the Corps, and the only Leatherneck ever to win
the Navy Cross five times for heroism and gallantry
in action. Promoted to his final rank and placed
on the temporary disability retired list 1 November
1955, he died on 11 October 1971 in Hampton, Virginia
after a long illness.
The
general's last active duty station was Camp Lejeune,
North Carolina, where he was commanding the 2d Marine
Division when he became seriously ill in August
1954. After that he served as Deputy Camp Commander
until his illness forced him to retire.
A
Marine officer and enlisted man for 37 years, General
Puller served at sea or overseas for all but ten
of those years, including a hitch as commander of
the "Horse Marines" in China. Excluding medals from
foreign governments, he won a total of 14 personal
decorations in combat, plus a long list of campaign
medals, unit citation ribbons, and other awards.
In addition to his Navy Crosses (the next-highest
decoration to the Medal of Honor for Naval personnel),
he holds its Army equivalent, the Distinguished
Service Cross.
He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and
his fifth Navy Cross for heroism in action as commander
of the 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, during
the bitter fight to break out of Korea's Chosin
Reservoir area. The latter citation, covering the
period from December 5 to 10, 1950, states in part:
"Fighting
continuously in sub-zero weather against a vastly
outnumbering hostile force, (the then) Colonel Puller
drove off repeated and fanatical enemy attacks upon
his Regimental defense sector and supply points.
Although the area was frequently covered by grazing
machine gun fire and intense artillery and mortar
fire, he coolly moved among his troops to insure
their correct tactical employment, reinforced the
lines as the situation demanded and successfully
defended his perimeter, keeping open the main supply
routes for the movement of the Division.
"During
the attack from Koto-ri to Hungman, he expertly
utilized his Regiment as the Division rear guard,
repelling two fierce enemy assaults which severely
threatened the security of the unit, and personally
supervised the care and prompt evacuation of all
casualties.
"By
his unflagging determination, he served to inspire
his men to heroic efforts in defense of their positions
and assured the safety of much valuable equipment
which would otherwise have been lost to the enemy.
His skilled leadership, superb courage and valiant
devotion to duty in the face of overwhelming odds
reflect the highest credit upon Colonel Puller and
the United States Naval Service.
"
Serving in Korea from September 1950 to April 1951,
the general also earned the Army Silver Star Medal
in the Inchon landing, his second Legion of Merit
with Combat "V" in the Inchon-Seoul fighting and
the early phases of the Chosin Reservoir campaign,
and three Air Medals for reconnaissance and liaison
flights over enemy territory.
General
Puller also fought with the 1st Marine Division
in the World War II campaigns on Guadalcanal, Eastern
New Guinea, Camp Gloucester and Peleliu, earning
his third Navy Cross and the Bronze Star and Purple
Heart Medals at Guadalcanal, his fourth Navy Cross
at Cape Gloucester, and his first Legion of Merit
with Combat "V" at Peleliu. He won his first Navy
Cross in November 1930, and his second in September
and October 1932, while fighting bandits in Nicaragua.
Born
26 June 1898, at West Point, Virginia, the general
attended Virginia Military Institute until enlisting
in the Marine Corps in August 1918. He was appointed
a Marine Reserve second lieutenant 16 June 1919,
but due to the reduction of the Marine Corps after
World War I, was placed on inactive duty ten days
later. He rejoined the Marines as an enlisted man
on the 30th of that month, to serve as an officer
in the Gendarmerie d'Haiti, a military force set
up in that country under a treaty with the United
States. Most of its officers were U.S. Marines,
while its enlisted personnel were Haitians.
After
almost five years in Haiti, where he saw frequent
action against the Caco rebels, General Puller returned
to the United States in March 1924. He was commissioned
a Marine second lieutenant that same month, and
during the next two years, served at the Marine
Barracks, Norfolk, Virginia, completed the Basic
School at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and served
with the 10th Marines at Quantico, Virginia. He
was then detailed to duty as a naval aviator at
Pensacola, Florida, in February 1926.
In
July of that year, the general embarked for a two-year
tour of duty at the Marine Barracks, Pearl Harbor.
Returning in June 1928, he served at San Diego,
California, until he joined the Nicaraguan National
Guard Detachment that December. After earning his
first Navy Cross in Nicaragua he returned to the
United States in July 1931, to enter the Company
Officers Course at the Army Infantry School, Fort
Benning, Georgia. He completed the course in June
1932, and returned to Nicaragua the following month
to begin the tour of duty which brought him his
second Navy Cross.
In
January 1933, General Puller left Nicaragua for
the west coast of the United States. A month later
he sailed from San Francisco to join the Marine
Detachment of the American Legation at Peiping,
China. There, in addition to other duties, he commanded
the famed "Horse Marines." Without coming back to
the United States he began a tour of sea duty in
September 1934, as commanding officer of the Marine
Detachment aboard the USS Augusta of the
Asiatic Fleet. In June 1936, he returned to the
United States to become an instructor in the Basic
School at Philadelphia. He left there in May 1939,
to serve another years as commander of the Augusta's
Marine detachment, and from that ship, joined the
4th Marines at Shanghai, China, in May 1940.
After
serving as a battalion executive and commanding
officer with the 4th Marines, General Puller sailed
for the United States in August 1941, just four
months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. In September
he took command of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines,
1st Marine Division, at Camp Lejeune. That regiment
was detached from the 1st Division in March 1942,
and the following month, as part of the 3d Marine
Brigade, it sailed for the Pacific theater. The
7th Marines rejoined the 1st Marine Division in
September 1942, and General Puller, still commanding
its 1st Battalion, went on to earn his third Navy
Cross at Guadalcanal.
The
action which brought him that medal occurred on
the night of October 24-25, 1942. For a desperate
three hours his battalion, stretched over a mile-long
front, was the only defense between vital Henderson
Airfield and a regiment of seasoned Japanese troops.
In pouring jungle rain the Japanese smashed repeatedly
at his thin line, as General Puller moved up and
down its length to encourage his men and direct
the defense. After reinforcements arrived he commanded
the augmented force until late the next afternoon.
The defending Marines suffered less than 70 casualties
in the engagement, while 1,400 of the enemy were
killed and 17 truckloads of Japanese equipment were
recovered by the Americans.
After
Guadalcanal the general became executive officer
of the 7th Marines. He was fighting in that capacity
when he won his forth Navy Cross at Cape Gloucester
in January 1944. When the commanders of two battalions
were wounded, he took over their units and moved
through heavy machine gun and mortar fire to reorganize
them for attack, then led them in taking a strongly-fortified
enemy position.
In
February 1944, General Puller took command of the
1st Marines at Cape Gloucester. After leading that
regiment for the remainder of the campaign, he sailed
with it for the Russell Islands in April 1944, and
went on from there to command it at Peleliu in September
and October, 1944. He returned to the United States
in November, 1944, was named executive officer of
the Infantry Training Regiment at Camp Lejeune in
January 1945, and took command of that regiment
the next month.
In
August 1946, General Puller became Director of the
8th Marine Corps Reserve District, with headquarters
at New Orleans, Louisiana. After that assignment
he commended the Marine Barracks at Pearl Harbor
until August 1950, when he arrived at Camp Pendleton,
California, to re-establish and take command of
the 1st Marines, the same regiment he had led at
Cape Gloucester and Peleliu.
Landing with the 1st Marines at Inchon, Korea, in
September, 1950 he continued to head that regiment
until January 1951, when he was promoted to brigadier
general and named Assistant Commander of the 1st
Marine Division. That May he returned to Camp Pendleton
to command the newly reactivated 3d Marine Brigade,
which was redesignated the 3d Marine Division in
January 1952. After that, he was Assistant Division
Commander until he took over the Troop Training
Unit, Pacific, at Coronado, California, that June.
He was promoted to major general in September 1953,
and in July 1954, assumed command of the 2d Marine
Division at Camp Lejeune. Despite his illness he
retained that command until February 1955, when
he was appointed Deputy Camp Commander. He served
in that capacity until August, when he entered the
U.S. Naval Hospital at Camp Lejeune prior to retirement.
After his death in October 1971, he was buried in
a family plot at the Christi's Church Cemetery,
Middlesex County, Virginia.
As
already mentioned, the general holds the Navy Cross
with Gold Stars in lieu of four additional awards;
the Army Distinguished Service Cross; the Army Silver
Star Medal; the Legion of Merit with Combat "V"
and Gold Star in lieu of a second award; the Bronze
Star Medal; the Air Medal with Gold Stars in lieu
of second and third awards; and the Purple Heart
Medal. His other medals and decorations include
the Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon with four
bronze stars; the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal
with one bronze star; the World War I Victory Medal
with West Indies clasp; the Haitian Campaign Medal;
the Second Nicaraguan Campaign Medal; the Marine
Corps Expeditionary Medal with one bronze star;
the China Service Medal; the American Defense Service
Medal with Base clasp; the American Area Campaign
Medal; the Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal with
four bronze stars; the World War II Victory Medal;
the National Defense Service Medal; the Korean Service
Medal with one silver star in lieu of five bronze
stars; the United Nations Service Medal; the Haitian
Medaille Militaire; the Nicaraguan Presidential
Medal of Merit with Diploma; the Nicaraguan Cross
of Valor with Diploma; the Republic of Korea's Ulchi
Medal with Gold Star; and the Korean Presidential
Unit Citation with Oak Leaf Cluster.