US Marine Corps General. A highly decorated combat veteran of World War II and the Korean War, he is probably best remembered as the commander of the 1st Marine Division during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in Korea, where he said, "Retreat, hell! We're not retreating, we're just advancing in a different direction." He grew up in Northern California and after high school he attended the University of California at Berkeley, California, graduating in 1916. In May 1917 after the US entered World War I, he joined the US Marine Corps as a 2nd lieutenant. The following month he was assigned his first overseas tour in Guam, Marianas Islands, where he served with the Marine Barracks, Naval Station. In October 1921 he served as Commanding Officer of the Marine Detachment aboard the battleship USS Texas until May 1924. In June 1928 he joined the Gendarmerie d'Haiti, Port-au-Prince, as Assistant Chief of Staff and three years later he became a student at the Field Officer's Course, U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Upon graduating in June 1932, he was ordered to duty at the Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia, as an instructor in the Company Officers' Course. In September 1933, he returned to Quantico and was assigned the Assistant Operations Officer of the 7th Marine Regiment. The following year, he was ordered to France where he joined the staff of the American Embassy in Paris for duty with the Office of the US Naval Attaché. From November 1934 to July 1936, while in Paris, he became the first Marine Corps officer to matriculate at the Ecole Supérieure de Guerre. In August 1936 he returned to Quantico and joined the staff of the Marine Corps Schools as an instructor in the S-3 Section, (Operations and Training). He acquired the nickname "the professor", gained a reputation as an intellectual during these years and was recognized as an expert on amphibious warfare. In July 1939 he was transferred to San Diego, California where he joined the Fleet Marine Force as Operations Officer at the Marine Corps Base. The following June, he became Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, and in May 1941, sailed with the 6th Marine Regiment for Iceland where he remained until returning to the US in March 1942, after entering World War II. In May 1942 he was assigned to Headquarters Marine Corps, Washington DC, where he became Executive Officer of the Division of Plans and Policies, and remained in this capacity until January 1944, when he joined the 1st Marine Division in the Pacific Theater, on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. He became the commander of the 5th Marine Regiment and subsequently led the regiment in the Talasea phase of the Battle of Cape Gloucester, codenamed Operation Cartwheel. In April 1944 he became Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Marine Division and participated in operations against the Japanese at the Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate, from September to November 1944. He then became Marine Deputy Chief of Staff of the 10th Army and participated in the Battle of Okinawa from April through June 1945. He returned to the US in July 1945 and became Commandant of the Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, and in January 1948, was named Commanding General, Marine Barracks, Quantico, in addition to his duties at the school. Three months later, he became Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps and Chief of Staff, Headquarters Marine Corps, Washington DC, serving also as Editor-in-Chief of the professional journal of US Marines, the Marine Corps Gazette. In June 1950 he was named Commanding General of the 1st Marine Division, and he led his division through the bitter campaigns of the Korean War, from the late summer assault at Inchon, to the sub-zero winter drive north to the Chosin Reservoir. In November 1950, with the 1st Marine Division surrounded at the Chosin Reservoir, he directed the breakout and subsequent 70-mile march to the seaport of Hungnam. In the end, his careful march north and ability to keep the division together saved it from total destruction and quite possibly the entire 10th Corps. In May 1951 he returned to the US and was assigned duties as Commanding General, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. In July 1953, he was advanced to the rank of lieutenant general and assumed his final duties as Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic, and served in this capacity until his retirement in September 1955, with 38 years of continuous active military service. Among his military and foreign decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit (with combat 'V' device & 1 gold award star), the Bronze Star (with combat 'V' device), the Air Medal, the Navy Presidential Unit Citation (with 3 service stars), the Navy Unit Commendation, the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, the World War I Victory Medal, the American Defense Service Medal (with base clasp), the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (with 3 service stars), the World War II Victory Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal (with one silver service star), the Haitian Distinguished Service Medal (with diploma), the Order of Orange-Nassau, Commander, the Order of National Security Merit, Tong-il Medal (with silver star), the Korean Presidential Unit Citation, and the United Nations Korea 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 (colloquially known as a "tombstone promotion"). He died at the age of 84.