US Marine Corps General. His military career spanned World Wars I and II, and the Korean War. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Southern California at Los Angeles, California before enlisting in the US Marine Corps in May 1917, shortly after the US entered World War I. In October 1917 he was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant and the following year, he completed the course at the Officer's Training School, Quantico, Virginia, and joined the newly activated 13th Marine Regiment. He left for France with that Regiment in September 1918 and became the Aide-de-Camp to US Marine Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler. In July 1919 he returned to the US and was stationed at Quantico until September 1921, when he was assigned to the Marine Barracks at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He returned to the US in December 1923 and he served briefly at Headquarters, Department of the Pacific, San Francisco, California, before he was ordered to San Diego, California, in February 1924, where he served in a number of capacities, including duty with the Staff of the Commanding General, Western Mail Guard, during a wave of railway mail robberies. In January 1927 he joined the 4th Marine Regiment and reported for duty in China the following month, where he later served on the staff of the Commanding General, 3rd Marine Brigade, at Shanghai, and at Tientsin. In March 1929 he returned to the US and the following month he returned to Quantico, where he was attached while serving that summer as Officer in Charge of the Marine Detachment that built President Herbert Hoover's Rapidan Summer Camp near Criglersville, Virginia. The following September he entered the Company Officers Course in the US Marine Corps Schools at Quantico, which he completed in June 1930. He then served briefly at San Diego before going to sea in October 1930, as commander of the Marine Detachment aboard the battleship USS Colorado. In September 1932 he was assigned to the Marine Barracks at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, where he served in various capacities for almost three years. In August 1935 he was again assigned to Quantico, where he served as Post Maintenance Officer and Safety Engineer before entering the Senior Course in August, 1938. Graduating in May 1939, he was ordered once more to China, where he served successively as Executive and Operations Officer of the Marine Detachment at the American Embassy, Peking (now Beijing), as commander of the Marine Detachment at Tientsin, as commander of Marine Forces, North China, and the embassy detachment at Peking. In June 1941 he returned to the US and the following month, he reported to US Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington DC, to become Assistant Officer in Charge of the Personnel Section, Division of Plans and Policies. He took charge of that section in April 1942 and when the Commandant of the Marine Corps issued orders to recruit and train African Americans, the responsibility fell to him. He served in this position until October 1943, when he named Officer in Charge of the Operations and Training Section. In January 1944 he was assigned to the Pacific Theater of operations as the Chief of Staff of the 3rd Marine Division the following month, and participated in the Battle of Guam. In October 1944 he was named Chief of Staff of the 5th Division and participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima, and in June 1945 he became the Assistant Commander of the 5th Division. In December 1945 he returned with that Division from Japan to the US, and after it was disbanded, he returned to the Pacific Theater in March 1946, as Fleet Marine Officer on the Staff of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Area. In September 1946 he became Chief of Staff, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii. In August 1947 he was assigned again to the US Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington DC, where he served as Director of the Division of Plans and Policies. In July 1949 he became the Inspector General of the US Marine Corps in Washington DC until June 1950, when he took command of the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He served in that capacity until December 1951, and subsequently, as Commanding General of Camp Lejeune until August 1952, when he was appointed Commanding General of the Department of the Pacific at San Francisco, California. In June 1954 he was assigned to The Hague, Netherlands as Chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group to the Netherlands. In November 1956 he returned to the US and became Commanding General of Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic at Norfolk, Virginia, and served in that position when he retired in November 1957 with 40 years of continued military service. Among his military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit with one 1 award star and combat "V" valor device, the Bronze Star, the Navy Presidential Unit Citation with one service star, the Navy Unit Commendation with one service star, the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, the World War I Victory Medal with one service star, the Yangtze Service Medal, the China Service Medal, the American Defense Service Medal with base clasp, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two service stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. He was then promoted to the rank of general on the retired list for having been especially commended in combat in accordance with an Act of Congress passed on March 4, 1925 and February 23, 1942 (colloquially known as a "tombstone promotion"). He died at the age of 79.