United States Marine Corps General. He served as the 30th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps and was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from July 1991 until June 1995, and whose statements on race, women and gays in the military provoked widespread criticism. Growing up, his family moved often throughout the South, where his father worked for a dime-store chain. After graduating from Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Alabama, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps Reserve in December 1953 and enrolled in the Platoon Leader Class program. He attended Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University) in Auburn, Alabama, and after graduating in June 1957, he was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in the US Marine Corps. His early assignments included service in the 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, duty aboard the aircraft carrier USS Tarawa and the cruiser USS Little Rock, an instructor at The Basic School at Camp Barrett, Virginia, and as Officer Selection Officer at Raleigh, North Carolina. From 1966 to 1967 he served in Vietnam as operations and executive officer of the 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, and as an intelligence officer in the Headquarters, 3rd Marine Amphibious Force. He returned to the US and performed duty as the Aide de Camp to the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Lieutenant General Leonard F. Chapman, Jr, an inspector instructor at the 4th Air-Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, Miami, Florida, Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, California, a Plans Officer at Headquarters Marine Corps, Washington DC, Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence, 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Chief of Staff, Sixth Marine Amphibious Brigade, and Commanding Officer of the 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, and 36th and 38th Marine Amphibious Units at Camp Lejeune. His later military education included the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and the US Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island. In April 1982 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and served as the Director of Personnel Procurement, Headquarters Marine Corps, and Commanding General, Landing Force Training Command, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and Commanding General, 4th Marine Amphibious Brigade. In April 1986 he was promoted to the rank of major general and became the Director of Operations at Headquarters Marine Corps. In March 1988 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and served as the Deputy Chief of Plans, Policies and Operations, Headquarters Marine Corps Operations Deputy to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Commanding General of the Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic, the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, and the Allied Command Atlantic Marine Striking Force. He was promoted to the rank of general in July 1991 and he became the Commandant of the Marine Corps and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As Marine Corps Commandant, he issued an order in 1993 to cut down (and eventually eliminate) the recruitment category for married Marines, and the order was rescinded following a public outcry. He retired in these positions in June 1995, with 38 years of continuous military service in the US Marine Corps. Among his military decorations and awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with valor device, The Purple Heart, the Navy Commendation Medal with 1 award star & valor device, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Navy Presidential Unit Citation, the Navy Unit Commendation, the National Defense Service Medal with 1 service star, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with 2 service stars, the Sea Service Ribbon, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with 1 gold star, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry Unit Citation, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Colombian Distinguished Service, the Spanish Grand Cross of Naval Merit, the French Legion of Honor, Grade of Commander, the Argentinean Order of the Liberator General San Martin, Grand Cross, the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit, Grand Cross, and the Netherlands Medal of Merit. He also wore the Marine Corps Parachutist badge. After his military retirement, he served as president and CEO of the USO from 1996 until 2000 and was the chairman of the Marine Corps University Foundation as well as serving on a number of corporate boards. He died of cancer at the age of 78. His son, Carl Epting Mundy III, is currently serving as a brigadier general in the US Marine Corps.