Lieutenant General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller was a colorful veteran of the
Korean War, four World War II campaigns, and expeditionary service in China,
Nicaragua, and Haiti. He was the only Marine to win the Navy Cross five times
for heroism and gallantry in combat.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 the Navy Crosses, the highest honor the Navy
can bestow, he holds its Army equivalent, the Distinguished
Service Cross.
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 force
reductions after World War I, was placed on inactive duty ten days later. He
rejoined the Marines as an enlisted man to serve with the Gendarmerie d'Haiti, a
military force 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, Puller returned in March 1924 to the United States. 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 Marine Regiment
at Quantico, Virginia.
In July of 1926, Puller embarked for a two-year tour of duty at the Marine
Barracks, Pearl Harbor. Returning in June 1928, he served in San Diego,
California, until he joined the Nicaraguan National Guard Detachment that
December. After winning 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 that brought
him a second Navy Cross.
In January 1933, Puller left Nicaragua for 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 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 year as commander of the Augusta's
Marine Detachment, and from that cruiser, joined the 4th Marine Regiment at
Shanghai, China, in May 1940.
After serving as a battalion executive and commanding officer with the 4th
Marines, Puller sailed for the United States in August 1941. 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 3rd Marine Brigade, sailed for the Pacific
theater. The 7th Regiment rejoined the 1st Marine Division in September 1942,
and Puller, still commanding its 1st Battalion, went on to win his third Navy
Cross at Guadalcanal.
The action that 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 1400 of the enemy were killed
and 17 truckloads of Japanese equipment were recovered by the Americans.
After Guadalcanal, Puller became executive officer of the 7th Marines. He was
fighting in that capacity when he won his fourth Navy Cross at Cape Gloucester
in January 1944. There, when the commanders of the 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, 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. He went on to command it at Peleliu in
September and October 1944. He returned to the United States in November 1944,
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, Puller became Director of the 8th Marine Corps Reserve
District, with headquarters at New Orleans, Louisiana. After that assignment, he
commanded 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 3rd Marine
Division in January 1952. After that, he was assistant at 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 2nd 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.
In 1966, General Puller requested to return to active duty to serve in
Vietnam, but was turned down because of his age. He died 11 October 1971 in
Hampton, Virginia, after a long illness. He was 73.
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