Clifton B. Cates, born on August 31, 1893, in Cates Landing, Tennessee, attended school in Lake County and the Missouri Military Academy in Mexico, Missouri. A graduate of the University of Tennessee's School of Law, he served as a Marine in both the First and Second World Wars, including combat duty in five operations in World War I and four operations in World War II. After service in China with the Fourth Marines, he commanded the Second Battalion, Sixth Marines in 1937, and then as a colonel led the First Marine Regiment, First Marine Division, on Guadalcanal during World War II. As a major general, he commanded the Fourth Marine Division during the conquest of Tinian and Iwo Jima in 1944. He was the first Tennessean to achieve the rank of full general, served as the 19th Commandant of the Marine Corps from 1948 to 1952, was wounded seven times, received many American and foreign medals, and after thirty-seven years as a Marine died on June 4, 1970, with his remains interred in Arlington National Cemetery.