Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller

Lewis B. Puller, the most decorated Marine in the history of this country, was born on June 26, 1898, grew up in West Point, attended West Point High School, enrolled at the Virginia Military Institute, and left after a year. He joined the Marines in 1918 as an enlisted man to fight in World War I, was sent to Haiti, and did not reach France before the war ended. Promoted to second lieutenant in the Marine reserves in June 1919, he was made inactive less than a month later because of a reduction in force, then reenlisted and served with the Gendarmerie d’Haiti, taking part in more than 40 battles over the next five years. Promoted again to second lieutenant, he served at bases in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, and California, then went to Nicaragua in late 1928 with the National Guard detachment, where he earned the first of his five Navy Crosses. After returning to the U.S. for officer training in 1931 and finishing in 1932, he immediately returned to Nicaragua and earned his second Navy Cross. From 1933 to 1936 he served in China commanding the “Horse Marines” and completed sea duty on the USS Augusta of the Asiatic Fleet, then served as an instructor at the Basic School in Philadelphia, returned to sea duty as commander of the Augusta’s Marine detachment, and after service with the 4th Marine Regiment at Shanghai returned to the U.S. in August 1941 to command the 1st Battalion of the 7th Marines. Those 7th Marines formed the base of the newly created 3rd Brigade, which defended Samoa in May 1942, and his troops were then stationed on Guadalcanal, where his quick action brought cover fire from a Navy destroyer that allowed a landing craft to reach and save three surrounded companies. On Guadalcanal his battalion also defended Henderson Airfield against a full regiment of Japanese troops in a three-hour battle in which his troops suffered 70 casualties and the Japanese lost 1,400 troops; his men prevailed, helping him earn his third Navy Cross, and during the battle he was shot twice by a sniper and wounded by shrapnel in three places, earning the Purple Heart. He was then promoted to executive officer of the 7th Marine Regiment and earned his fourth Navy Cross after reorganizing and leading three battalions against heavily fortified Japanese positions when two battalion commanders were wounded; he was immediately promoted to colonel and, a month later, named commander of the 1st Marine Regiment. Six months after that promotion he became executive officer of the Infantry Training Regiment at Camp Lejeune and within weeks its commanding officer. After World War II he directed a reserve regiment in New Orleans and later commanded the Marine Barracks at Pearl Harbor. When the Korean War began, he was reassigned as commander of the 1st Marine Division; after the division landed at Inchon, he earned his fifth Navy Cross during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir and became widely associated with the words, “We’ve been looking for the enemy for some time now. We’ve finally found him. We’re surrounded. That simplifies things.” After Chosin Reservoir he was promoted to brigadier general, served as assistant division commander of the 1st Marine Division, was then promoted to command the whole division, and after less than a year returned to his former post and then quickly to the U.S. After his return he was promoted to major general and lieutenant general, served in several command positions, and retired in 1955 for medical reasons. Though retired, he later sought active duty for the Vietnam War in 1966 but was refused because of his age. He returned to Virginia after retirement, died in Saluda on October 11, 1971, at age 73, and was buried in Christchurch Parish Cemetery.

West Point, Virginia · United States