Figure 1.--This is Brig. Gen. Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller about 1951 with his family. His som pictured here, Lewis Burwell Puller, Jr. would go on to serve as a Marine lieutenant in the Vietnam War. While serving with 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines (2/1), he was severely wounded by a land mine, losing both legs and parts of his hands. His father broke down sobbing when he first saw his son in the hospital..

Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller was the most decorated Marine in American history. Puller was born in West Point, Virginia (1898). His father was a grocer who died when Lewis was 10 years old. He grew up listening to elderly veterans telling stories of the Civil War and idolizing Confederate hero Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. He wanted to enlist in the United States Army to fight in the Border Conflict tht broke out with Mexico after Oabcho Villa's raids (1916). He was underage and his mother refused give him parental consent. He then enrolled on the Virginia Military Institute wher Jackson had taught. He left to enlist during World War I telling his instructors he wanted to "go where the guns are!" He was inspired by by press reports of the 5th Marines at Belleau Wood and enlisted in the Marine Corps as a private. The Germans surrendered before he was trained and sent overseas. He then earned a commission. He was a life-long Marine fighting first guerrillas in Haiti and Nicaragua and thn participated in some of the most important battles of the Pacific War and the Korean War. Most American World War II commanders gained fame and success when the United States had overwealming numerical and military superiority. Puller gained fame against Japanese forces that were well-armed and had numerical superority. He led a formation of the 7th Matine Division that reinforcded the battered 1st Division on Guadalcanal (September 1942). He played key roles in the ensuing major battles, including Matanikau and the all important Battle for Henderson Field which left 1,400Japanese dead in the fiekd while the Marines ad armies suffered onbly 70 casualties. The action broke the backbine of the Japanese effort to retake Guadalcanal. Puller was then involved in the effort to take Pelelei (September-October 1944). This was probably the greatest American mistake of the war. But Puller was not part of the staff decesion to assault the island, he only was part if the unit order to take it. He performed an incredible feat of arms against entrenched Japanese forces. And then later in the Korean war, he played an incredible job getting the Marines out of the Chosen Peninsula. Puller is one of two U.S. servicemen to be awarded five Navy Crosses and, with the Distinguished Service Cross he was awarded by the U.S. Army, he is the only person to have received six of the nation's second-highest awards for valor. He reached the rank of Lieutenant General.

Created: 11:22 AM 11/27/2015
Last updated: 11:22 AM 11/27/2015