Gen. David M. Shoup USMC

  

Gen. David M. Shoup USMC

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/shoup.htm

General David Monroe Shoup served as the twenty-second Commandant of the Marine Corps from January 1, 1960 until his retirement from active service, December 31, 1963.

As a colonel in World War II, General Shoup earned the Nation's highest award, the Medal of Honor, while commanding the Second Marines, 2d Marine Division, at Betio, a bitterly contested island of Tarawa Atoll. The British Distinguished Service Order was also awarded him for this action. The following citation accompanied his award of the Medal of Honor:

"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of all Marine Corps troops in action against enemy Japanese forces on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, from November 20 to 22, 1943.

"Although severely shocked by an exploding shell soon after landing at the pier, and suffering from a serious painful leg wound which had become infected, Colonel Shoup fearlessly exposed himself to the terrific relentless artillery, and rallying his hesitant troops by his own inspiring heroism, gallantly led them across the fringing reefs to charge the heavily fortified island and reinforced our hard-pressed thinly-held lines. Upon arrival at the shore, he assumed command of all landed troops and, working without rest under constant withering enemy fire during the next two days conducted smashing attacks against unbelievably strong and fanatically defended Japanese positions despite innumerable obstacles and heavy casualties.

"By his brilliant leadership, daring tactics, and selfless devotion to duty, Colonel Shoup was largely responsible for the final, decisive defeat of the enemy and his indomitable fighting spirit reflects great credit upon the United States Naval Service."

General Shoup was the 25th Marine to receive the Medal of Honor in World War II. It was presented to him on January 22, 1945 by the late James V. Forrestal, then Secretary of the Navy.

The general was born December 30, 1904, at Battle Ground, Indiana. A 1926 graduate of DePauw University, Greecastle, Indiana, he was a member of he Reserve Officers Training Corps at the University. He served for a month as a second lieutenant in the Army Infantry Reserve before he was commissioned a Marine second lieutenant on July 20, 1926.

Ordered to Marine Officers Basic School at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Lieutenant Shoup's instruction was interrupted twice by temporary duty elsewhere in the United States, and by expeditionary duty with the Sixth Marines in Tientsin, China. After serving in China during most of 1927, he completed Basic School in 1928. He then served at Quantico, Virginia; Pensacola, Florida; and San Diego, California.

From June 1929 to September 1931, Lieutenant Shoup was assigned to the Marine detachment aboard the USS MARYLAND. By coincidence, the USS MARYLAND was the flagship for the assault on Tarawa 12 years later --providing emergency Naval gunfire support with her 16-inch guns early on D-Day. On his return from sea duty, he served as a company officer at the Marine Corps Base (later Marine Corps Recruit Depot), San Diego, until May 1932 when he was ordered to the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington. He was promoted to first lieutenant in June 1932.

Lieutenant Shoup later served on temporary duty with the Civilian Conservation Corps in Idaho and New Jersey form June 1933 to May 1934. Following duty in Seattle, Washington, he was again ordered to China in November 1934, serving briefly with the Fourth Marines in Shanghai, and, subsequently, at the American Legation in Peiping. He returned to the United States, via Japan, early in June 1936 and was again stationed at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. He was promoted to captain in October 1936.

Captain Shoup entered the Junior Course, Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, in July 1937. On completing the course in May 1938, he served as an instructor for two years. In June 1940, he joined the Sixth Marines in San Diego. He was promoted to major in April 1941.

One month later, Major Shoup was ordered to Iceland with the Sixth Marines and, after serving as Regimental Operations Officer, became Operations Officer of the 1st Marine Brigade in Iceland in October 1941. For his service in Iceland during the first three months after the United States entered World War II, he was awarded the Letter of Commendation with Commendation Ribbon. He assumed command of the 2d Battalion, Sixth Marines, in February 1942. On returning to the States in March, the 1st Marine Brigade was disbanded and he returned with this battalion to San Diego.

In July 1942, he became Assistant Operations and Training Officer of the 2d Marine Division. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in August 1942.

Sailing from San Diego aboard the USS MATSONIA in September 1942, Lieutenant Colonel Shoup arrived at Wellington, New Zealand, later that month. From then until November 1943, he served as G-3, Operations and Training Officer of the 2d Marine Division during its training period in New Zealand. His service in this capacity during the planning of the assault on Tarawa earned him his first Legion of Merit with Combat "V". During this period he also served briefly as an observer with the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal in October 1942 and with the 43d Army Division on Rendova, New Georgia, in the summer of 1943, earning a Purple Heart in the latter operation.

Promoted to colonel November 9, 1943, Colonel Shoup was placed in command of the Second Marines (Reinforced), the spearhead of the assault on Tarawa. During this action he earned the Medal of Honor as well as a second Purple Heart. In December 1943, he became Chief of Staff of the 2d Marine Division. For outstanding service in this capacity from June to August 1944, during the battles for Saipan and Tinian, he was again awarded the Legion of Merit with Combat "V". He returned to the United States in October 1944.

On his return to the States Colonel Shoup served as Logistics Officer, Division of Plans and Policies, Headquarters Marine Corps. He was again ordered overseas in June 1947. Two months later he became Commanding Officer, Service Command, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific. In June 1949, he joined the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton as Division Chief of Staff. A year later he was transferred to Quantico where he served as Commanding Officer of the Basic School from July 1950 until April 1952. He was then assigned to the Office of the Fiscal Director, Headquarters Marine Corps, serving as Assistant Fiscal Director. He was promoted brigadier general in April 1953.

In July 1953, General Shoup was named Fiscal Director of the Marine Corps. While serving in this capacity, he was promoted to major general in September 1955. Subsequently, in May 1956, he began a brief assignment as Inspector General for Recruit Training. Following this, he served as Inspector General of the Marine Corps from September 1956 until May 1957. He returned to Camp Pendleton in June 1957 to become Commanding General of the 1st Marine Division.

General Shoup joined the 3d Marine Division on Okinawa in March 1958 as Commanding General. Following his return to the States, he served as Commanding General of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, from May to October 1959. On November 2, 1959, he was promoted to lieutenant general and assigned duties as Chief of Staff, Headquarters Marine Corps.

General Shoup was nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on August 12, 1959 to be the 22d Commandant of the Marine Corps, and his nomination for a four-year term was confirmed by the Senate. Upon assuming his post as Commandant of the Marine Corps on January 1, 1960, he was promoted to four-star rank.

On January 21, 1964, shortly after his retirement, General Shoup was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by President Lyndon B. Johnson for exceptionally meritorious service as Commandant of the Marine Corps.

A complete list of the general's medals and decorations includes: the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with Combat "V" and Gold Star in lieu of a second award, the Letter of Commendation with Commendation Ribbon, the Purple Heart with Gold Star in lieu of a second award, the Presidential Unit Citation, the Yangtze Service Medal, the Expeditionary Medal, the American Defense Service Medal with Base clasp, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with four bronze stars, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the British Distinguished Service Order.

General Shoup died 13 January 1983, and was buried in Section 7-A of Arlington National Cemetery.

Biography courtesy of the United States Marine Corps

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SHOUP, DAVID MONROE

Rank and organization: Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps, commanding officer of all Marine Corps troops on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, and Gilbert Islands, from 20 to 22 November 1943. Entered service at: Indiana. Born: 30 December 1904, Tippecanoe, Indiana. 

Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of all Marine Corps troops in action against enemy Japanese forces on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, from 20 to 22 November 1943. Although severely shocked by an exploding enemy shell soon after landing at the pier and suffering from a serious, painful leg wound which had become infected, Col. Shoup fearlessly exposed himself to the terrific and relentless artillery, machinegun, and rifle fire from hostile shore emplacements. Rallying his hesitant troops by his own inspiring heroism, he gallantly led them across the fringing reefs to charge the heavily fortified island and reinforce our hard-pressed, thinly held lines.

Upon arrival on shore, he assumed command of all landed troops and, working without rest under constant, withering enemy fire during the next 2 days, conducted smashing attacks against unbelievably strong and fanatically defended Japanese positions despite innumerable obstacles and heavy casualties. By his brilliant leadership daring tactics, and selfless devotion to duty, Col. Shoup was largely responsible for the final decisive defeat of the enemy, and his indomitable fighting spirit reflects great credit upon the U.S. Naval Service.

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DAVID M. SHOUP DEAD AT 78
EX-COMMANDANT OF MARINE CORPS

WASHINGTON, January 16, 1983 – General David M. Shoup, a retired Commandant of the Marine Corps, a World War II hero and early, outspoken critic of United States involvement in the Vietnam War, died Thursday of a heart ailment at the Circle Terrace Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia.  He was 78 years old and lived in Alexandria.

General Shoup, who won the Medal of Honor for gallantry at Tarawa in the Pacific, said he believed the extensive buildup of American forces in Vietnam was unjustified.  He called President Johnson’s contention that the Vietnam War was vital to United States interest “pure, unadulterated poppycock.”

In 1966, three years after his retirement from the Marine Corps, General Shoup told students of Pierce College in Los Angeles that he did not think “as related to the present and future safety of this country” that “the whole of Southeast Asia was worth a single American life.”

“People keep honking about four Presidents having made commitments,” he said in an interview in 1968.  “We never made commitments, legal or otherwise, to furnish combat-type forces to anyone.”

General Shoup, a short, chunky man who had a quiet, matter-of-fact way of speaking, was named Commandant of the Marine Corps in 1959 after 33 years in the service.

General Shoup’s appointment by President Eisenhower caused bitterness among ranking Corps officers.  He was advanced over nine other officers, including three lieutenant generals, all of whom immediately applied for retirement.

In 1962, testifying before a special preparedness subcommittee of the Senate formed to investigate anti-Communist indoctrination in the armed forces, General Shoup criticized the panel for sending investigators to question enlisted Marines.  The Marine Corps should not be teaching hate, he said; it should be teaching men how to defend themselves and their country.

Among his first actions as head of the Marine Corps was to end the use of swagger sticks “except for those who need them.”  They promptly disappeared.  He also ended the traditional practice of escorting Marines convicted by a court-martial off the post with drummers playing the death march.

In command of the Marines in the attack on Japanese-held Beito Island of Tarawa, November 20-22, 1943, then-Colonel Shoup earned the highest military honor for valor.

On the first night of the assault, Colonel Shoup was wounded in the leg by shrapnel, but, according to the citation be received, he “fearlessly exposed himself to the terrific and relentless artillery, machine gun and rifle fire.”

Stranded a half mile down the beach from their landing point, Colonel Shoup rallied his troops and, the citation read, “gallantly led them across the fringing reefs to charge the heavily fortified island and reinforce our hard-pressed, thinly held lines.”

After Tarawa he served through the battles of Saipan and Tinian in the Mariana Islands.

David Monroe Shoup was born in Battle Ground, Indiana, on December 30, 1904.  He graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, in 1926.

After graduation, he spent a month as a Lieutenant in the United States Army Infantry Reserve and was then transferred to the Marine Corps on June 26, 1926.  He studied at the Basic School for Marine Officers at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and served several years on the battleship USS Maryland off China.

Later he served as an instructor at the Marine Corps Training and Instructional Center at Quantico, Virginia.

Colonel Shoup was commanding a Marine Detachment in Iceland at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

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SHOUP, ZOLA DeHAVEN

On January 28, 2003. Preceded in death by her husband, General David Monroe Shoup, United States Marine Corps (Retired); Survived by daughter, Carolyn Lamar of North Carolina; brother, Floyd DeHaven of Indiana; granddaughters, Catherine Chase of New York, Vicky Watkins of North Carolina, Martha Shoup of Colorado; grandson, Kenneth Shoup of Virginia; and great-granddaughter, Becky Watkins of North Carolina.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, February 13, 9 a.m. in Fort Myer Chapel. Interment Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20005.

Cuban Missile Crisis: JFK being mocked by top generals caught on tape

The Cuban missile crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side and the United States on the other, which occurred in October 1962, during the Cold War.

https://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-cuban-missile-crisis-jfk-being-mocked-by-top-generals-caught-on-tape-1745221

"I agree with that answer, general, I just agree with you, I just agree with you a hundred percent. Somebody's got to keep him from doing the goddamn thing piecemeal. That's our problem. Go in there and frig around with the missiles. You're screwed. You go in there and frig around with anything else, you're screwed," Shoup had added.

The Cuban missile crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side and the United States on the other, which occurred in October 1962, during the Cold War.

General Earle G. "Bus" Wheeler USA

 Earle Gilmore "Bus" Wheeler, (January 13, 1908 - December 18, 1975) was a U.S. Army General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ewheeler.htm

Born in Washington D.C., Wheeler graduated from West Point in 1932 and was commissioned into the infantry. After 4 years at Fort Benning, he went to China with the 15th Infantry Regiment, then accompanied that regiment to Fort Lewis in 1938-1940.

He served in a variety of training assignments from 1941-1944, then went to Europe in November 1944 with the 63rd Infantry Division. In late 1945 he returned to the U.S. as an instructor at Fort Sill, then returned to Germany from 1947-1949 as a member of the U.S. Constabulary.

He attended and graduated from the National War College in 1950, then returned to Europe in various NATO staff positions until 1955, when he transferred to the General Staff at the Pentagon. He took command of the 2nd Armored Division in 1958 and III Corps in 1959, then became Director of the Joint Staff in 1960. In 1962 he was briefly Deputy Commander of U.S. Forces in Europe before being named Chief of Staff of the United States Army later that year.

In 1964 he succeeded Maxwell D. Taylor as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and held that post until 1970. Wheeler died in Frederick, Maryland after a heart attack, while being transported by ambulance from his West Virginia home to Washington D.C.

Considering the large number of general officers available in 1964 with distinguished combat records in World War II and Korea, the staff officer Wheeler was a surprising choice for the top Pentagon post. His relative lack of combat experience, however, might actually have been seen as a plus in the eyes of the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson. The latter was not known for his tolerance of independent thinking, and Wheeler's dutiful acquiesence in Johnson's conduct of the Vietnam War is a failure for which Wheeler has been harshly criticized by some historians.

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Earle Gilmore Wheeler was born on January 13, 1908 at Washington, D.C., he graduated from West Point in 1932 and was commissioned in the Infantry.

After four years at Fort Benning, Georgia, during which he was advanced to First Lieutenant in August 1935, he graduated from the Infantry School in 1937, served at Tientsin, China, with the 15th U.S. Infantry. In 1938-40 he was at Fort Lewis, Washington, with the same regiment, and in 1940-41 was an instructor at West Point, receiving promotion to temporary Captain in 1941 and then graduating from the Command and General Staff School. He was advanced to temporary Major in February and Colonel in November. After various training assignments, mainly in the South, he was sent to Europe in November 1944 as Chief of Staff of the 63rd Infantry Division, which landed at Marseilles, France, and joined Alexander M. Patch's 7th Army. Late in 1945 he returned to the U.S. and for a year was an instructor at the Artillery School, Fort Still, Oklahoma. In 1946, he returned to Europe, and from 1947 to 1949 was on the staff of the U.S. Constabulary (formerly VI Crops) in occupied Germany.

He graduated from the National War College in 1950 and was promoted to Brigadier General in November 1952, serving in staff posts with NATO forces in Southern Europe until 1955, when he was attached to the General Staff in Washington, receiving promotion to Major General in November of that year. In October 1958, he took command of the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas, moving up to command also of III Corps in March 1959. In April 1960, he was promoted to temporary Lieutenant General and named Director of the Joint Staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In March 1962, he was promoted to temporary General and made Deputy Commander of U.S. Forces in Europe under Lauris Norstad, and in October of that year he became Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army.

In July 1964, he succeeded General Maxwell D. Taylor as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He held that post, through a period of rapid modernization of the Armed Forces during a trying era of war in Vietnam, until he retired in July 1970. In 1973 he revealed that he had, on the personal orders of President Richard M. Nixon, directed secret and, when made public, highly controversial, bombing missions over Cambodia in 1969-70.

He died at Frederick, Maryland, December 18, 1975, after a heart attack and while being transported by ambulance from his West Virginia home to Washington, D.C. He had held the Chairmanship oft he Joint Chiefs longer than anyone else. His nickname was "Bus."

He is buried in Section 30 of Arlington National Cemetery.

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Frances Howell "Betty" Wheeler, 90, who was a prominent hostess as the wife of two four-star Army generals, died July 1, 2004, of cancer at a hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia. She lived on a farm near Martinsburg.

Mrs. Wheeler was well known in military and diplomatic circles for many years, particularly from 1964 to 1970, when her husband, General Earle G. Wheeler, was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Wheeler previously was Army Chief of Staff.

Mrs. Wheeler, who lived in various military quarters near Washington for many years, christened the nuclear submarine USS Billfish in 1970.

She had been married to General Wheeler for 43 years when he died in 1975.

In 1980, she married another four-star general, Frank S. Besson Jr., who, like General Wheeler, was a member of the Class of 1932 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. Gen. Besson was the founder and first commander of the Army Materiel Command and an authority on military transportation and logistics.

They lived in Alexandria until his death in 1985. After General Besson's death, she resumed using the name of her first husband.

In 1988, Mrs. Wheeler christened the Army logistical support vessel General Frank S. Besson Jr.

Survivors include a son from her first marriage, Dr. Gilmore "Bim" Wheeler; seven stepchildren from her second marriage; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

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WHEELER, FRANCES H. "Betty" (Age 90)

On July 1, 2004. Beloved widow of General Earle G. Wheeler, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, died in Martinsburg, West Virginia. She is survived by her son, Dr. Gilmore "Bim" Wheeler and his wife, Judy; three grandsons, William G. and John R. Wheeler and Jonathan Aronoff; daughters-in-law, Laura and Jennifer Wheeler; two great-grandchildren, Chelsey and William Wheeler, as well as seven step-children by her second husband, General Frank S. Besson, Jr.

Services will be held on Friday, July 9, 2004 at 2:45 p.m. at the Old Post Chapel at Fort Myer with interment to follow at Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Army Emergency Relief, 200 Stovall Street, Alexandria, VA 22332.

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WHEELER, FRANCES H
DATE OF BIRTH: 10/28/1913
DATE OF DEATH: 07/01/2004
DATE OF INTERMENT: 07/09/2004
BURIED AT: SECTION 30  SITE 434-1
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

WIFE OF WHEELER, EARLE GILMORE  - GEN   US ARMY

General Earle Gilmore Wheeler USA

 Earle Gilmore "Bus" Wheeler, (January 13, 1908 - December 18, 1975) was a U.S. Army General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ewheeler.htm

Born in Washington D.C., Wheeler graduated from West Point in 1932 and was commissioned into the infantry. After 4 years at Fort Benning, he went to China with the 15th Infantry Regiment, then accompanied that regiment to Fort Lewis in 1938-1940.

He served in a variety of training assignments from 1941-1944, then went to Europe in November 1944 with the 63rd Infantry Division. In late 1945 he returned to the U.S. as an instructor at Fort Sill, then returned to Germany from 1947-1949 as a member of the U.S. Constabulary.

He attended and graduated from the National War College in 1950, then returned to Europe in various NATO staff positions until 1955, when he transferred to the General Staff at the Pentagon. He took command of the 2nd Armored Division in 1958 and III Corps in 1959, then became Director of the Joint Staff in 1960. In 1962 he was briefly Deputy Commander of U.S. Forces in Europe before being named Chief of Staff of the United States Army later that year.

In 1964 he succeeded Maxwell D. Taylor as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and held that post until 1970. Wheeler died in Frederick, Maryland after a heart attack, while being transported by ambulance from his West Virginia home to Washington D.C.

Considering the large number of general officers available in 1964 with distinguished combat records in World War II and Korea, the staff officer Wheeler was a surprising choice for the top Pentagon post. His relative lack of combat experience, however, might actually have been seen as a plus in the eyes of the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson. The latter was not known for his tolerance of independent thinking, and Wheeler's dutiful acquiesence in Johnson's conduct of the Vietnam War is a failure for which Wheeler has been harshly criticized by some historians.

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Earle Gilmore Wheeler was born on January 13, 1908 at Washington, D.C., he graduated from West Point in 1932 and was commissioned in the Infantry.

After four years at Fort Benning, Georgia, during which he was advanced to First Lieutenant in August 1935, he graduated from the Infantry School in 1937, served at Tientsin, China, with the 15th U.S. Infantry. In 1938-40 he was at Fort Lewis, Washington, with the same regiment, and in 1940-41 was an instructor at West Point, receiving promotion to temporary Captain in 1941 and then graduating from the Command and General Staff School. He was advanced to temporary Major in February and Colonel in November. After various training assignments, mainly in the South, he was sent to Europe in November 1944 as Chief of Staff of the 63rd Infantry Division, which landed at Marseilles, France, and joined Alexander M. Patch's 7th Army. Late in 1945 he returned to the U.S. and for a year was an instructor at the Artillery School, Fort Still, Oklahoma. In 1946, he returned to Europe, and from 1947 to 1949 was on the staff of the U.S. Constabulary (formerly VI Crops) in occupied Germany.

He graduated from the National War College in 1950 and was promoted to Brigadier General in November 1952, serving in staff posts with NATO forces in Southern Europe until 1955, when he was attached to the General Staff in Washington, receiving promotion to Major General in November of that year. In October 1958, he took command of the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas, moving up to command also of III Corps in March 1959. In April 1960, he was promoted to temporary Lieutenant General and named Director of the Joint Staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In March 1962, he was promoted to temporary General and made Deputy Commander of U.S. Forces in Europe under Lauris Norstad, and in October of that year he became Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army.

In July 1964, he succeeded General Maxwell D. Taylor as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He held that post, through a period of rapid modernization of the Armed Forces during a trying era of war in Vietnam, until he retired in July 1970. In 1973 he revealed that he had, on the personal orders of President Richard M. Nixon, directed secret and, when made public, highly controversial, bombing missions over Cambodia in 1969-70.

He died at Frederick, Maryland, December 18, 1975, after a heart attack and while being transported by ambulance from his West Virginia home to Washington, D.C. He had held the Chairmanship oft he Joint Chiefs longer than anyone else. His nickname was "Bus."

He is buried in Section 30 of Arlington National Cemetery.

---

Frances Howell "Betty" Wheeler, 90, who was a prominent hostess as the wife of two four-star Army generals, died July 1, 2004, of cancer at a hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia. She lived on a farm near Martinsburg.

Mrs. Wheeler was well known in military and diplomatic circles for many years, particularly from 1964 to 1970, when her husband, General Earle G. Wheeler, was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Wheeler previously was Army Chief of Staff.

Mrs. Wheeler, who lived in various military quarters near Washington for many years, christened the nuclear submarine USS Billfish in 1970.

She had been married to General Wheeler for 43 years when he died in 1975.

In 1980, she married another four-star general, Frank S. Besson Jr., who, like General Wheeler, was a member of the Class of 1932 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. Gen. Besson was the founder and first commander of the Army Materiel Command and an authority on military transportation and logistics.

They lived in Alexandria until his death in 1985. After General Besson's death, she resumed using the name of her first husband.

In 1988, Mrs. Wheeler christened the Army logistical support vessel General Frank S. Besson Jr.

Survivors include a son from her first marriage, Dr. Gilmore "Bim" Wheeler; seven stepchildren from her second marriage; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

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WHEELER, FRANCES H. "Betty" (Age 90)

On July 1, 2004. Beloved widow of General Earle G. Wheeler, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, died in Martinsburg, West Virginia. She is survived by her son, Dr. Gilmore "Bim" Wheeler and his wife, Judy; three grandsons, William G. and John R. Wheeler and Jonathan Aronoff; daughters-in-law, Laura and Jennifer Wheeler; two great-grandchildren, Chelsey and William Wheeler, as well as seven step-children by her second husband, General Frank S. Besson, Jr.

Services will be held on Friday, July 9, 2004 at 2:45 p.m. at the Old Post Chapel at Fort Myer with interment to follow at Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Army Emergency Relief, 200 Stovall Street, Alexandria, VA 22332.

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WHEELER, FRANCES H
DATE OF BIRTH: 10/28/1913
DATE OF DEATH: 07/01/2004
DATE OF INTERMENT: 07/09/2004
BURIED AT: SECTION 30  SITE 434-1
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
  WIFE OF WHEELER, EARLE GILMORE  - GEN   US ARMY

General David M. Shoup USMC

  Gen. David M. Shoup USMC

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/shoup.htm

General David Monroe Shoup served as the twenty-second Commandant of the Marine Corps from January 1, 1960 until his retirement from active service, December 31, 1963.

As a colonel in World War II, General Shoup earned the Nation's highest award, the Medal of Honor, while commanding the Second Marines, 2d Marine Division, at Betio, a bitterly contested island of Tarawa Atoll. The British Distinguished Service Order was also awarded him for this action. The following citation accompanied his award of the Medal of Honor:

"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of all Marine Corps troops in action against enemy Japanese forces on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, from November 20 to 22, 1943.

"Although severely shocked by an exploding shell soon after landing at the pier, and suffering from a serious painful leg wound which had become infected, Colonel Shoup fearlessly exposed himself to the terrific relentless artillery, and rallying his hesitant troops by his own inspiring heroism, gallantly led them across the fringing reefs to charge the heavily fortified island and reinforced our hard-pressed thinly-held lines. Upon arrival at the shore, he assumed command of all landed troops and, working without rest under constant withering enemy fire during the next two days conducted smashing attacks against unbelievably strong and fanatically defended Japanese positions despite innumerable obstacles and heavy casualties.

"By his brilliant leadership, daring tactics, and selfless devotion to duty, Colonel Shoup was largely responsible for the final, decisive defeat of the enemy and his indomitable fighting spirit reflects great credit upon the United States Naval Service."

General Shoup was the 25th Marine to receive the Medal of Honor in World War II. It was presented to him on January 22, 1945 by the late James V. Forrestal, then Secretary of the Navy.

The general was born December 30, 1904, at Battle Ground, Indiana. A 1926 graduate of DePauw University, Greecastle, Indiana, he was a member of he Reserve Officers Training Corps at the University. He served for a month as a second lieutenant in the Army Infantry Reserve before he was commissioned a Marine second lieutenant on July 20, 1926.

Ordered to Marine Officers Basic School at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Lieutenant Shoup's instruction was interrupted twice by temporary duty elsewhere in the United States, and by expeditionary duty with the Sixth Marines in Tientsin, China. After serving in China during most of 1927, he completed Basic School in 1928. He then served at Quantico, Virginia; Pensacola, Florida; and San Diego, California.

From June 1929 to September 1931, Lieutenant Shoup was assigned to the Marine detachment aboard the USS MARYLAND. By coincidence, the USS MARYLAND was the flagship for the assault on Tarawa 12 years later --providing emergency Naval gunfire support with her 16-inch guns early on D-Day. On his return from sea duty, he served as a company officer at the Marine Corps Base (later Marine Corps Recruit Depot), San Diego, until May 1932 when he was ordered to the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington. He was promoted to first lieutenant in June 1932.

Lieutenant Shoup later served on temporary duty with the Civilian Conservation Corps in Idaho and New Jersey form June 1933 to May 1934. Following duty in Seattle, Washington, he was again ordered to China in November 1934, serving briefly with the Fourth Marines in Shanghai, and, subsequently, at the American Legation in Peiping. He returned to the United States, via Japan, early in June 1936 and was again stationed at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. He was promoted to captain in October 1936.

Captain Shoup entered the Junior Course, Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, in July 1937. On completing the course in May 1938, he served as an instructor for two years. In June 1940, he joined the Sixth Marines in San Diego. He was promoted to major in April 1941.

One month later, Major Shoup was ordered to Iceland with the Sixth Marines and, after serving as Regimental Operations Officer, became Operations Officer of the 1st Marine Brigade in Iceland in October 1941. For his service in Iceland during the first three months after the United States entered World War II, he was awarded the Letter of Commendation with Commendation Ribbon. He assumed command of the 2d Battalion, Sixth Marines, in February 1942. On returning to the States in March, the 1st Marine Brigade was disbanded and he returned with this battalion to San Diego.

In July 1942, he became Assistant Operations and Training Officer of the 2d Marine Division. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in August 1942.

Sailing from San Diego aboard the USS MATSONIA in September 1942, Lieutenant Colonel Shoup arrived at Wellington, New Zealand, later that month. From then until November 1943, he served as G-3, Operations and Training Officer of the 2d Marine Division during its training period in New Zealand. His service in this capacity during the planning of the assault on Tarawa earned him his first Legion of Merit with Combat "V". During this period he also served briefly as an observer with the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal in October 1942 and with the 43d Army Division on Rendova, New Georgia, in the summer of 1943, earning a Purple Heart in the latter operation.

Promoted to colonel November 9, 1943, Colonel Shoup was placed in command of the Second Marines (Reinforced), the spearhead of the assault on Tarawa. During this action he earned the Medal of Honor as well as a second Purple Heart. In December 1943, he became Chief of Staff of the 2d Marine Division. For outstanding service in this capacity from June to August 1944, during the battles for Saipan and Tinian, he was again awarded the Legion of Merit with Combat "V". He returned to the United States in October 1944.

On his return to the States Colonel Shoup served as Logistics Officer, Division of Plans and Policies, Headquarters Marine Corps. He was again ordered overseas in June 1947. Two months later he became Commanding Officer, Service Command, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific. In June 1949, he joined the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton as Division Chief of Staff. A year later he was transferred to Quantico where he served as Commanding Officer of the Basic School from July 1950 until April 1952. He was then assigned to the Office of the Fiscal Director, Headquarters Marine Corps, serving as Assistant Fiscal Director. He was promoted brigadier general in April 1953.

In July 1953, General Shoup was named Fiscal Director of the Marine Corps. While serving in this capacity, he was promoted to major general in September 1955. Subsequently, in May 1956, he began a brief assignment as Inspector General for Recruit Training. Following this, he served as Inspector General of the Marine Corps from September 1956 until May 1957. He returned to Camp Pendleton in June 1957 to become Commanding General of the 1st Marine Division.

General Shoup joined the 3d Marine Division on Okinawa in March 1958 as Commanding General. Following his return to the States, he served as Commanding General of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, from May to October 1959. On November 2, 1959, he was promoted to lieutenant general and assigned duties as Chief of Staff, Headquarters Marine Corps.

General Shoup was nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on August 12, 1959 to be the 22d Commandant of the Marine Corps, and his nomination for a four-year term was confirmed by the Senate. Upon assuming his post as Commandant of the Marine Corps on January 1, 1960, he was promoted to four-star rank.

On January 21, 1964, shortly after his retirement, General Shoup was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by President Lyndon B. Johnson for exceptionally meritorious service as Commandant of the Marine Corps.

A complete list of the general's medals and decorations includes: the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with Combat "V" and Gold Star in lieu of a second award, the Letter of Commendation with Commendation Ribbon, the Purple Heart with Gold Star in lieu of a second award, the Presidential Unit Citation, the Yangtze Service Medal, the Expeditionary Medal, the American Defense Service Medal with Base clasp, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with four bronze stars, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the British Distinguished Service Order.

General Shoup died 13 January 1983, and was buried in Section 7-A of Arlington National Cemetery.

Biography courtesy of the United States Marine Corps

---

SHOUP, DAVID MONROE

Rank and organization: Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps, commanding officer of all Marine Corps troops on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, and Gilbert Islands, from 20 to 22 November 1943. Entered service at: Indiana. Born: 30 December 1904, Tippecanoe, Indiana. 

Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of all Marine Corps troops in action against enemy Japanese forces on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, from 20 to 22 November 1943. Although severely shocked by an exploding enemy shell soon after landing at the pier and suffering from a serious, painful leg wound which had become infected, Col. Shoup fearlessly exposed himself to the terrific and relentless artillery, machinegun, and rifle fire from hostile shore emplacements. Rallying his hesitant troops by his own inspiring heroism, he gallantly led them across the fringing reefs to charge the heavily fortified island and reinforce our hard-pressed, thinly held lines.

Upon arrival on shore, he assumed command of all landed troops and, working without rest under constant, withering enemy fire during the next 2 days, conducted smashing attacks against unbelievably strong and fanatically defended Japanese positions despite innumerable obstacles and heavy casualties. By his brilliant leadership daring tactics, and selfless devotion to duty, Col. Shoup was largely responsible for the final decisive defeat of the enemy, and his indomitable fighting spirit reflects great credit upon the U.S. Naval Service.

---

DAVID M. SHOUP DEAD AT 78
EX-COMMANDANT OF MARINE CORPS

WASHINGTON, January 16, 1983 – General David M. Shoup, a retired Commandant of the Marine Corps, a World War II hero and early, outspoken critic of United States involvement in the Vietnam War, died Thursday of a heart ailment at the Circle Terrace Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia.  He was 78 years old and lived in Alexandria.

General Shoup, who won the Medal of Honor for gallantry at Tarawa in the Pacific, said he believed the extensive buildup of American forces in Vietnam was unjustified.  He called President Johnson’s contention that the Vietnam War was vital to United States interest “pure, unadulterated poppycock.”

In 1966, three years after his retirement from the Marine Corps, General Shoup told students of Pierce College in Los Angeles that he did not think “as related to the present and future safety of this country” that “the whole of Southeast Asia was worth a single American life.”

“People keep honking about four Presidents having made commitments,” he said in an interview in 1968.  “We never made commitments, legal or otherwise, to furnish combat-type forces to anyone.”

General Shoup, a short, chunky man who had a quiet, matter-of-fact way of speaking, was named Commandant of the Marine Corps in 1959 after 33 years in the service.

General Shoup’s appointment by President Eisenhower caused bitterness among ranking Corps officers.  He was advanced over nine other officers, including three lieutenant generals, all of whom immediately applied for retirement.

In 1962, testifying before a special preparedness subcommittee of the Senate formed to investigate anti-Communist indoctrination in the armed forces, General Shoup criticized the panel for sending investigators to question enlisted Marines.  The Marine Corps should not be teaching hate, he said; it should be teaching men how to defend themselves and their country.

Among his first actions as head of the Marine Corps was to end the use of swagger sticks “except for those who need them.”  They promptly disappeared.  He also ended the traditional practice of escorting Marines convicted by a court-martial off the post with drummers playing the death march.

In command of the Marines in the attack on Japanese-held Beito Island of Tarawa, November 20-22, 1943, then-Colonel Shoup earned the highest military honor for valor.

On the first night of the assault, Colonel Shoup was wounded in the leg by shrapnel, but, according to the citation be received, he “fearlessly exposed himself to the terrific and relentless artillery, machine gun and rifle fire.”

Stranded a half mile down the beach from their landing point, Colonel Shoup rallied his troops and, the citation read, “gallantly led them across the fringing reefs to charge the heavily fortified island and reinforce our hard-pressed, thinly held lines.”

After Tarawa he served through the battles of Saipan and Tinian in the Mariana Islands.

David Monroe Shoup was born in Battle Ground, Indiana, on December 30, 1904.  He graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, in 1926.

After graduation, he spent a month as a Lieutenant in the United States Army Infantry Reserve and was then transferred to the Marine Corps on June 26, 1926.  He studied at the Basic School for Marine Officers at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and served several years on the battleship USS Maryland off China.

Later he served as an instructor at the Marine Corps Training and Instructional Center at Quantico, Virginia.

Colonel Shoup was commanding a Marine Detachment in Iceland at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

---

SHOUP, ZOLA DeHAVEN

On January 28, 2003. Preceded in death by her husband, General David Monroe Shoup, United States Marine Corps (Retired); Survived by daughter, Carolyn Lamar of North Carolina; brother, Floyd DeHaven of Indiana; granddaughters, Catherine Chase of New York, Vicky Watkins of North Carolina, Martha Shoup of Colorado; grandson, Kenneth Shoup of Virginia; and great-granddaughter, Becky Watkins of North Carolina.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, February 13, 9 a.m. in Fort Myer Chapel. Interment Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20005.

Cuban Missile Crisis: JFK being mocked by top generals caught on tape

The Cuban missile crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side and the United States on the other, which occurred in October 1962, during the Cold War.

https://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-cuban-missile-crisis-jfk-being-mocked-by-top-generals-caught-on-tape-1745221

"I agree with that answer, general, I just agree with you, I just agree with you a hundred percent. Somebody's got to keep him from doing the goddamn thing piecemeal. That's our problem. Go in there and frig around with the missiles. You're screwed. You go in there and frig around with anything else, you're screwed," Shoup had added.

The Cuban missile crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side and the United States on the other, which occurred in October 1962, during the Cold War.

General Victor H. Krulak

  

General Victor H. Krulak

Small Wars Jounral

https://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/lieutenant-general-victor-h-krulak-updated

LIEUTENANT GENERAL VICTOR H. KRULAK (UPDATED)

Tue, 01/13/2009

Via the Los Angeles Times - Lieutenant General Victor H. Krulak dies at 95.

"Retired Marine Lt. Gen. Victor H. "Brute" Krulak, celebrated for his leadership in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and for his authoritative book on the Marines, "First To Fight," died Monday at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. He was 95 and had been in declining health for several years."

"In a career that spanned three decades Krulak displayed bravery during combat and brilliance as a tactician and organizer of troops..."

More at the International Herald Tribune and San Diego Union Tribune.

Lt. Gen. Krulak's official USMC biography:

Lieutenant General Victor H. Krulak, a "paramarine" during World War II, was born in Denver, CO, January 7, 1913. He was commissioned a Marine second lieutenant upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy, May 31, 1934. His early Marine Corps service included: sea duty aboard USS ARIZONA, an assignment at the U.S. Naval Academy; duty with the 6th Marines in San Diego and the 4th Marines in China (1937-39); completion of the Junior School, Quantico, VA (1940); and an assignment with the 1st Marine Brigade, FMF, later the 1st Marine Division.

At the outbreak of World War II, he was a captain serving as aide to the Commanding General, Amphibious Corps, Atlantic Fleet, General Holland M. Smith. He volunteered for parachute training and on completing training was ordered to the Pacific area as commander of the 2d Parachute Battalion, 1st Marine Amphibious Corps. He went into action at Vella Lavella with the 2d New Zealand Brigade.

As a lieutenant colonel in the fall of 1943, he earned the Navy Cross and the Purple Heart Medal on Choiseul Island, where his battalion staged a week-long diversionary raid to cover the Bougainville invasion. Later, he joined the newly formed 6th Marine Division and took part in the Okinawa campaign and the surrender of Japanese forces in the China area, earning the Legion of Merit with Combat "V" and the Bronze Star Medal.

After the war, he returned to the United States and served as Assistant Director of the Senior School at Quantico, and, later, as Regimental Commander of the 5th Marines at Camp Pendleton. He was serving as Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, when the Korean Conflict erupted, and subsequently served in Korea as Chief of Staff, 1st Marine Division, earning a second Legion of Merit with Combat "V" and Air Medal.

From 1951 to 1955, he served at HQMC as Secretary of the General Staff, then rejoined Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, as Chief of Staff. In July 1956, he was promoted to brigadier general and designated Assistant Commander, 3d Marine Division on Okinawa. From 1957 to 1959, he served as Director, Marine Corps Educational Center, Quantico. He was promoted to major general in November 1959, and the following month assumed command of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego.

General Krulak was presented a third Legion of Merit by General Maxwell D. Taylor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for exceptionally meritorious service from 1962 to 1964 as Special Assistant for Counter Insurgency Activities, Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On March 1, 1964, he was designated Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, and promoted to lieutenant general.

For the next four years he was responsible for all Fleet Marine Force units in the Pacific, including some 54 trips to the Vietnam theater. He retired on 1 June 1968, receiving a Distinguished Service Medal for his performance during that period.

Rest in peace General Krulak and our condolences to the family and friends of this great Marine.

Please see A New Kind of War written by Lt. Gen. Krulak.

Serving in the Joint Staff as the focal point in counterinsurgency operations and training, I went to Vietnam eight times between 1962 and 1964. In those early years, I learned something of the complex nature of the conflict there. The problem of seeking out and destroying guerrillas was easy enough to comprehend, but winning the loyalty of the people, why it was so important and how to do it, took longer to understand. Several meetings with Sir Robert Thompson, who contributed so much to the British victory over the guerrillas in Malaya, established a set of basic counterinsurgency principles in my mind. Thompson said, "The peoples' trust is primary. It will come hard because they are fearful and suspicious. Protection is the most important thing you can bring them. After that comes health. And, after that, many things--land, prosperity, education, and privacy to name a few."

Victor H. Krulak, Marine Behind U.S. Landing Craft, Dies at 95

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/obituaries/05krulak.html

By Richard Goldstein

Jan. 4, 2009

Lt. Gen. Victor H. Krulak, a highly decorated Marine commander who championed innovative tactics in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, died Dec. 29 in San Diego. He was 95.

His death was announced by his son Gen. Charles C. Krulak, the Marine commandant from 1995 to 1999.

When he attended the Naval Academy, he was nicknamed Brute by his fellow midshipmen, a wry reference to the fact that he was only 5 feet 4 and weighed 120 pounds or so.

But General Krulak became a renowned figure in the Marines. He helped develop the landing craft that carried troops, vehicles and supplies onto the invasion beaches of World War II. He received the Navy Cross, the Marines’ highest award for valor after the Medal of Honor, for his exploits against the Japanese. He told of the corps’ history and ethos in his book “First to Fight” (1984).

Victor Harold Krulak, a native of Denver, joined the Marines after graduating from Annapolis in 1934.

In 1937, while a lieutenant in an intelligence outfit in Shanghai, when the Japanese were trying to conquer China, he used a telephoto lens to take pictures of Japanese landing craft with a square bow that became a retractable ramp, enabling troops and equipment to be dispatched quickly onto an enemy beach.

Envisioning those ramps as answering the Marines’ needs in a looming world war, Lieutenant Krulak showed the photographs to his superiors, who passed on his report to Washington. But two years later, he found that the Navy had simply filed it away with a notation saying it was the work of “some nut out in China.”

He persevered, building a balsa wood model of the Japanese boat design and discussing the retractable ramp concept with the New Orleans boat builder Andrew Higgins. That bow design became the basis for the thousands of Higgins landing craft of World War II.

 “There would not have been a Normandy or an Okinawa or an Iwo Jima without that boat,” his son Charles said in an interview on Sunday.

Lt. Gen. Victor H. Krulak

In the fall of 1943, General Krulak, a lieutenant colonel at the time, commanded a battalion in a diversionary raid on Choiseul Island in the Solomons that enabled a larger Marine contingent to capture the more important island of Bougainville. Although wounded, he continued to lead his marines in battle, bringing him the Navy Cross. Some of his wounded men were evacuated by a Navy torpedo boat skippered by Lt. John F. Kennedy.

In the late 1940s, General Krulak helped pioneer the use of helicopters to carry marines and supplies into battle, a maneuver employed in the Korean War, when he was chief of staff of the First Marine Division.

When Kennedy became president, General Krulak reminded him of their meeting on Choiseul. He presented Kennedy with a bottle of whiskey, something he had promised him for his rescue work back in 1943 but never had a chance to deliver. In 1962, Kennedy named General Krulak the counterinsurgency adviser to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

During the Vietnam War’s early stages, General Krulak expressed optimism over the prospects for American and South Vietnamese success. But in the mid-1960s, when he commanded all marines in the Pacific, he opposed the strategy pursued by Gen. William C. Westmoreland, the overall American commander in Vietnam.

General Westmoreland proposed the use of marines in large-scale battles. General Krulak wanted to emphasize pacification, the effort to win over the South Vietnamese villagers by assisting in economic projects and protecting them from the enemy. He also advocated the bombing and mining of Haiphong’s harbor to cut off supplies to North Vietnam. He met with President Lyndon B. Johnson in mid-1966 to press those ideas, but, as General Krulak later put it, “as soon as he heard me speak of mining and unrestrained bombing of the ports, Mr. Johnson got to his feet, put his arm around my shoulder, and propelled me firmly toward the door.”

General Krulak retired from the Marines in 1968. He settled in the San Diego area and became an executive and writer for the Copley Newspapers.

In addition to his son Charles, he is survived by his sons Victor Jr. and William; four grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren. His wife, Amy, died in 2001.

In a speech to the Marine Corps Association in 2007, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told of the young marine lieutenant of the late 1930s who pursued his ideas for an innovative landing craft after being written off as a “nut.” Mr. Gates said that “Victor Krulak’s story and accomplishments” provided lessons in “overcoming conventional wisdom and bureaucratic obstacles.”

In his history of the Marines, General Krulak expressed concern over an “all-encompassing military bureaucracy” that “represents a more formidable battlefield than many the corps has known.”

“The marines,” he wrote, “are an assemblage of warriors, nothing more.”

Correction: Jan. 8, 2009

A picture on Monday with an obituary about Lt. Gen. Victor H. Krulak, a Marine commander who championed innovative tactics, was published in error in some copies. It showed General Krulak’s son, Gen. Charles C. Krulak, retired commandant of the Marine Corps, wearing four stars and a billed hat. The correct picture showed his father wearing three stars and a soft cap.

Correction: Jan. 9, 2009

A picture on Monday with an obituary about Lt. Gen. Victor H. Krulak, a Marine commander who championed innovative tactics, was published in error in some copies, and a correction in this space on Thursday described the picture incorrectly. It showed General Krulak’s son, Gen. Charles C. Krulak, retired commandant of the Marine Corps, wearing four stars, the highest rank — not five — and a billed hat. (The correct picture showed his father wearing three stars and a soft cap.)

General Maxwell Davenport Taylor

 General Maxwell Davenport Taylor 

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/mdtaylor.htm

Taylor was born in Keytesville, Missouri and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1922.

 World War II

Taylor's rise to the highest echelons of U.S. government began under the tutelage of General Matthew B. Ridgway in the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division when Ridgway commanded the division in the early part of World War II. In 1943, his diplomatic and language skills resulted in his secret mission to Rome to coordinate an 82nd air drop with Italian forces. He met with the new Italian Prime Minister, Marshal Pietro Badoglio. The air drop near Rome to capture the city was called off at the last minute, when Taylor realized that it was too late. German forces were already moving in to cover the intended drop zones. Transport planes were already in the air when Taylor's message cancelled the drop, preventing the suicide mission. These efforts behind enemy lines got Taylor noticed at the highest levels of the Allied command.

After the campaigns in the Mediterranean, Taylor was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, which was training in England. After the 101st's founder and commander Major General Bill Lee suffered a heart attack, Taylor was given command of the division.

Taylor jumped into Normandy on June 5, 1944 with his men. He was the first Allied general to land in France on D-Day. He held command of the 101st Airborne Division for the rest of the war, but missed out leading the division during its most famous conflict, the Battle of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, because he was attending a staff conference in the United States. General Anthony McAuliffe was there and assumed command. Some of the paratroopers resented Taylor for this later.

[ From 1945 to 1949 he was superintendent of West Point, afterwards he was the commander of allied troops in Berlin from 1949 to 1951.

In 1953, he was sent to the Korean War. From 1955 to 1959, he was the Army Chief of Staff, succeeding his former mentor, Matthew B. Ridgway. During his tenure as Army Chief of Staff, Taylor attempted to guide the service into the age of nuclear weapons by restructuring the infantry division. Observers such as Colonel David Hackworth have written the effort gutted the role of US Army company and field grade officers, rendering it unable to adapt to the dynamics of combat in Vietnam.

During 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered General Taylor to deploy 1,000 troops from the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas to enforce Federal court orders to desegregate Central High School during the Little Rock Crisis.

As Army Chief of Staff, Taylor was an outspoken critic of the Eisenhower Administration's "New Look" defense policy, which he viewed as dangerously over-reliant on nuclear arms and neglectful of conventional forces; he also criticized the inadequacies of the Joint Chiefs of Staff system. Frustrated with the administration's failure to heed his arguments, General Taylor retired from active service in July of 1959. He campaigned publicly against the "New Look," culminating in the publication in January 1960 of a highly critical book entitled "The Uncertain Trumpet."

As the 1960 presidential campaign unfolded, Democratic nominee John Kennedy criticized Eisenhower's defense policy and championed a muscular "flexible response" policy intentionally aligned with Taylor's views as described in "The Uncertain Trumpet." After the April 1961 failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, Kennedy, who felt the Joint Chiefs of Staff had failed to provide him with satisfactory military advice, appointed Taylor to head a task force to investigate the failure of the invasion.

Both President Kennedy and his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, had immense regard for Taylor, whom they saw as a man of unquestionable integrity, sincerity, intelligence and diplomacy. The Cuba Study Group met for six weeks from April to May 1961 to perform an 'autopsy' on the disastrous events surrounding the Bay of Pigs invasion. In the course of their work together, Taylor developed a deep regard and a personal affection for Robert F. Kennedy, a friendship which was wholly mutual and which remained firm until Kennedy's assassination in 1968.

Taylor spoke of Robert Kennedy glowingly, "He is always on the lookout for a 'snow job', impatient with evasion and imprecision, and relentless in his determination to get at the truth." Robert Kennedy named one of his sons Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy (better known as an adult as "Max").

Shortly after the investigation concluded, the Kennedys' warm feelings for Taylor and the president's lack of confidence in the Joint Chiefs of Staff led John Kennedy to recall Taylor to active duty and install him in the newly-created post of "Military Representative to the President." His close personal relationship with the President and White House access effectively made Taylor the president's primary military advisor, cutting out the Joint Chiefs. On 1 October 1962, Kennedy ended this uncomfortable arrangement by appointing Taylor as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a position in which he served until 1964.

Taylor was of crucial importance during the first weeks and months of the Vietnam War. Whereas initially President Kennedy had told Taylor that "the independence of South Vietnam rests with the people and government of that country," Taylor was soon to recommend that 8,000 American combat troops be sent to the region at once. After making his report to the Cabinet and the Chiefs of Staff, Taylor was to reflect on the decision to send troops to South Vietnam that, "I don't recall anyone who was strongly against, except one man, and that was the President. The President just didn't want to be convinced that this was the right thing to do.... It was really the President's personal conviction that U.S. ground troops shouldn't go in."(Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy: His Life and Times)

 Taylor received fierce criticism in Major (now Colonel) H.R. McMaster's book "Dereliction of Duty". Specifically, General Taylor was accused of intentionally misrepresenting the views of the Joint Chiefs to Secretary of Defense McNamara, and cutting the Joint Chiefs out of the decision making process. Whereas the Chiefs felt that it was their duty to offer unqualified assessments and recommendations on military matters, Gen. Taylor was of the firm belief that the Chairman should not only support the President's decisions, but also be a true believer in them. This discrepancy manifested itself during the early planning phases of the war, while it was still being decided what the nature of American involvement should be. McNamara and the civilians of the Office of the Secretary of Defense were firmly behind the idea of graduated pressure, that is, to escalate pressure slowly against the N. Vietnam, in order to demonstrate US resolve. The Joint Chiefs, however, strenuously disagreed with this, and believed that if the US got involved further in Vietnam, it should be with the clear intention of winning, and through the use of overwhelming force. Using a variety of political maneuvering, including liberal use of outright deception, McMaster contends that Gen. Taylor succeeded in keeping the Joint Chief's opinions away from the President, and helped set the stage for McNamara to begin to dominate systematically the US decision making process on Vietnam.

He again retired and became Ambassador to South Vietnam from 1964 to 1965, succeeding Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. He was Special Consultant to the President and Chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (1965–1969) and President of the Institute for Defense Analyses (1966–1969).

General Taylor died in Washington, D.C. on 19 April 1987 of Lou Gehrig's Disease. He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery

Awards:
Distinguished Service Cross
Distinguished Service Medal
Silver Star
Legion of Merit
Bronze Star
Purple Heart

---

Maxwell Davenport Taylor was born in Keytesville, Missouri, on 26 August 1901.

He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1922 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Engineers in June 1922, and then attended his branch course. He served in Hawaii with the 3d Engineers, 1923–1926, and married Lydia Gardner Happer in 1925.

He transferred to the Field Artillery and served with the 10th Field Artillery, 1926–1927. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in February 1927.  He studied French in Paris and was instructor in French and later Spanish at West Point, 1927–1932; he graduated from the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1933, and from the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1935.

He was promoted to Captain in August 1935 and was a student of Japanese at the American embassy in Tokyo from 1935 to 1939, with detached military attaché duty at Peking, China, in 1937. He graduated from the Army War College, 1940, and was promoted to permanent Major in July 1940.  He then served in the War Plans Division and on a Hemisphere defense mission to Latin American countries in 1940.  He then commanded the 12th Field Artillery Battalion, 1940–1941; and served in the Office of the Secretary of the General Staff, 1941–1942.

He received temporary promotions to Lieutenant colonel in December 1941, to Colonel in February 1942, and Brigadier General in December 1942.  He was then Chief of Staff of the 82d Airborne Division in 1942, then its artillery commander in operations in Sicily and Italy in 1942 to 1944. He received temporary promotion to Major General in May 1944 and commanded the 101st Airborne Division in the Normandy invasion and the Western European campaigns, 1944–1945; He was promoted to permanent Lieutenant Colonel in June 1945, and Brigadier General in January 1948.

He was chief of staff of the European Command in 1949, and commander of the United States forces in Berlin, 1949–1951; He was promoted to temporary Lieutenant General and permanent Major General in August 1951; He was then Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations, G–3, and Deputy Chief of Staff for operations and administration, 1951–1953; He was promoted to temporary General in June 1953.  The then was commander of the Eighth Army in the final operations of the Korean War in 1953 and then initiated the Korean armed forces assistance program, in 1953 and 1954. He commanded United States Forces, Far East, and the Eighth Army 1954–1955, and was Commander in Chief, United Nations Command, 1955; He was Chief of Staff of the United States Army, 30 June 1955–30 June 1959 and opposed dependence upon a massive retaliation doctrine, pushing for an increase in conventional forces to ensure a capability of flexible response, guided the transition to a "pentomic" concept, and directed Army participation in sensitive operations at Little Rock, Lebanon, Taiwan, and Berlin.

General Taylor retired from active service in July 1959 and was recalled as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1962–1964. He again retired and became Ambassador to South Vietnam, 1964–1965; he was Special Consultant to the President and Chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, 1965–1969; was President of the Institute of Defense Analysis, 1966–1969.

General Taylor died in Washington, D.C., on 19 April 1987.

---

To fellow cadets at West Point, where he graduated in 1922, and to contemporaries during World War II, he was an "intellectual," a scholar who had an affinity for foreign languages. That may have been one reason he was called upon in 1943 for one of the war's most unusual missions, a daring trip by patrol boat to the Italian coast near Rome, then by Red Cross ambulance into the capital for what turned out to be a futile attempt to gain Italian complicity in a landing of U.S. airborne divisions to occupy Rome coincident with the Italian surrender.

One of the United States Army's airborne enthusiasts, he fought in Sicily and Italy as the Artillery Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. He commanded the 101st Airborne Division in airborne assaults in France on D-Day (June 6, 1944), in Operation Market in the Netherlands and in ground operations during the Battle of the Bulge and the drive through Germany.

His post-World War II career involved many major assignments: Superintendent of West Point; Commander of the Eighth Army in Korea; Army Chief of Staff; Special Military Advisor to President John F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Ambassador to Vietnam.

He died on April 19, 1987 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In announcing his death, the Pentagon said that he had been admitted to the hospital in mid-January and that he died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nerve cells that is better known as Lou Gerhig's Disease. He was buried in Section 7-A of Arlington National Cemetery, just a short distance from the Memorial Amphitheater and the Tomb of the Unknowns.

His wife, Lydia Happer Taylor, died on April 22, 1997 at the age of 95, of cardiac arrest at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. She accompanied her husband to assignments in Germany, Vietnam and Japan. She was the co-founder of the Army Distaff Foundation, which later became Knowllwood, a military retirement facility in Northwest Washington.