US Marine Corps General. He served as the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division during World War II and became the first Hispanic to attain the rank of Lieutenant General. Born in Puerto Rico while it was still under Spanish rule, his family moved to Maryland in 1900, two years after the Spanish-American War. After graduating from high school in 1911, he received an appointment by Puerto Rican governor George Colton to attend the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. In June 1915 he graduated from the academy and was commissioned a second lieutenant of the Marine Corps. In 1916 he participated in the capture of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and during World War I, he commanded a Marine detachment on board the USS Texas in the North Atlantic and participated in the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in 1919. He served as aide-de-camp to Major General Joseph Henry Pendleton after serving on a tour of sea duty aboard the USS Wyoming. In 1926 he served with the Gendarmerie of Haiti for three years during which time he became active in the war against Augusto César Sandino in Nicaragua. In 1929 he returned to the US and attended the Field Officers Course at the Marine Corps School in Quantico, Virginia. In 1931 he was appointed to the "Landing Operations Text Board" in Quantico, which was the first organizational step taken by the Marines to develop a working doctrine for amphibious assault. The following year he wrote an essay titled "Ship-to-Shore in Amphibious Operations" which was published in the Marine Corps Gazette. In 1933 he was assigned to Havana, Cuba as an intelligence officer, following the Cuban Sergeant's Revolt. From 1935 to 1937, he was the Assistant Naval Attaché, attached to the American Embassy to Italy in Rome. While there, he participated as an observer with the Italian Forces during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. The experiences which del Valle gained as an observer led him to write the book "Roman Eagles Over Ethiopia," where he describes the events leading up to the Italian expedition and the complete movements of combat operations by the Italian Army under Generals De Bono, Badoglio, and Graziani. In 1939 he attended the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, and after graduating was named Executive Officer of the US Marine Corps Division of Plans and Policies, Washington DC. In March 1941 he became the commanding officer of the 11th Marine Regiment (artillery). As a colonel at the outbreak of World War II, he led his regiment and participated in the Guadalcanal Campaign, providing critical artillery support for the 1st Marine Division. On August 21, 1942, at the Battle of the Tenaru, the firepower provided by his artillery units killed many assaulting Japanese soldiers before they ever reached the Marine positions. The outcome of the battle was so stunning that the Japanese commander, Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki, committed suicide shortly afterwards. As a result of his leadership, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in October 1942. He was retained as head of the 11th Marines, the only time that the regiment has ever had a general as their commanding officer. In 1943 he served as Commander of Marine Forces overseeing Marine operations at Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and the Russell and Florida Islands. In April 1944, as Commanding General of the Third Corps Artillery, III Marine Amphibious Corps, he participated in the Battle of Guam. In late October 1944, he succeeded Major General William H. Rupertus as Commanding General of the 1st Marine Division, which was training on the island of Pavuvu for the invasion of Okinawa. On May 29, 1945, he participated in one of the most important events which led to victory in Okinawa. After five weeks of fighting, he ordered Company A of the 1st Battalion 5th Marines to capture Shuri Castle, a medieval fortress of the ancient Ryukyuan kings. Seizure of Shuri Castle represented a moral blow for the Japanese and was an undeniable milestone in the Allied quest to take Okinawa from the Japanese forces. After the end of World War II, he returned to the US, where he was named Inspector General, Headquarters US Marine Corps, Washington DC. He retired in that position at the rank of lieutenant general in January 1948, with nearly 33 years of continued military service in the US Marine Corps. Among his military decorations and awards include the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, and Legion of Merit with one award star, the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, the navy Presidential Unit Citation with one service star, the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal with one service star, the Doninican Campaign Medal, the World War I Victory Medal, the Haitian Campaign Medal (1921), the Nicaraguan Campaign Medal (1933), the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with five service stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the Order of the Crown of Italy, the Colonial Order of the Star of Italy, the Italian Bronze Medal of Military Valor, and the Order of Naval Merit (Cuba), 2nd class. After his military retirement, he worked as a representative of ITT Corporation in the company's office in Cairo, Egypt. After some time with the company he was named president of ITT for all South America in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a position that he held until 1951. In 1953, believing that the US was in danger of a communist threat, he formed the Defenders of the American Constitution (DAC), whose main goal was to purge the US of any communist influence. The controversial views shared by some of the members of the DAC was to blame for the organization's decline in popularity. The same year, he ran for governor of Maryland and was defeated in his attempt to be nominated in the Republican primary election. He died at the age of 85 and after his death, the DAC ceased to exist.