Marine legend Lt. Gen. Victor Krulak dies

[thedrifter]

Marine legend Lt. Gen. Victor Krulak dies
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Dec 31, 2008 6:15:21 EST

SAN DIEGO — Lt. Gen. Victor Krulak, who headed all Marine forces in the Pacific during part of the Vietnam War, has died. He was 95.

Krulak died Monday at the Wesley Palms Retirement Community in San Diego, according to Edith Soderquist, a staff member at the facility. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Krulak commanded about 100,000 Marines in the Pacific from 1964 to 1968 — a span that saw the United States dramatically increase buildup in Vietnam.

Krulak, nicknamed “Brute” for his direct, no-nonsense style, was a decorated veteran of World War II and the Korean War.

After retirement, he often criticized the government’s handling of the Vietnam War. He wrote that the war could have been won only if the Vietnamese had been protected and befriended and if enemy supplies from North Vietnam were cut off.

“The destruction of the port of Haiphong would have changed the whole character of the war,” he said two decades after the fall of Saigon.

Krulak once summed up the U.S. dilemma in Vietnam by saying, “It has no front lines. The battlefield is in the minds of 16 or 17 million people.”

Before assuming command of Fleet Marine Force Pacific, Krulak served as principal adviser on counterinsurgency warfare to then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and the joint chiefs of staff.

“I never got enthusiasm out of war, and I’m convinced that the true pacifists are the professional soldiers who have actually seen it,” Krulak said many years after retiring from the post.

During World War II on the island of Choiseul, Krulak led his outnumbered battalion during an eight-day raid on Japanese forces, diverting the enemy’s attention from the U.S. invasion of Bougainville.

Krulak’s troops destroyed hundreds of tons of supplies, burning both camps and landing barges. He was wounded on Oct. 13, 1943, and later received the Navy Cross for heroism along with the Purple Heart.

At age 43 he became the youngest brigadier general in Marine Corps history up to that time. Krulak received the second of two Distinguished Service Medals when he retired from the military.

For the next nine years, he worked for Copley Newspapers, serving at various times as director of editorial and news policy and news media president of Copley News Service. He retired as vice president of The Copley Press Inc. in 1977 and contributed columns on international affairs and military matters for Copley News Service.

He also wrote the book “First to Fight,” an insider’s view of the Marine Corps.

His son Charles Krulak served as commandant — the Marines’ top post — from 1995 to 1999.

Ellie

RIP

[Phantom Blooper]

RIP Marine!

Semper Fidelis

[thedrifter]

Victor H. Krulak dies at 95; retired Marine lieutenant general
Nicknamed 'Brute,' Krulak was a decorated World War II hero and the author of a history of the Marines titled 'First to Fight.'
By Tony Perry

December 31, 2008

Retired Marine Lt. Gen. Victor H. "Brute" Krulak, celebrated for his leadership in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and for his authoritative book on the Marines, "First to Fight," died Monday at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. He was 95 and had been in declining health for several years.

In a career that spanned three decades Krulak displayed bravery during combat and brilliance as a tactician and organizer of troops.

"Brute was very forgiving of young Marines who made mistakes," said retired Col. G.I. Wilson, a combat veteran. "But he was hell on senior officers who preferred careerism and bureaucracy over decisive action. He detested those who lost sight of looking after their enlisted Marines and young officers."

Born in Denver on Jan. 7, 1913, Krulak was a 1934 graduate of the Naval Academy -- where he picked up his nickname, a jest on the fact he was 5 foot 4. As a junior officer he served in Marine actions in Central America, where his views on counterinsurgency were formed.

In World War II, as a lieutenant colonel, he led a battalion in a weeklong battle as a diversionary raid to cover the invasion of Bougainville. Although wounded, he refused to be evacuated. For his bravery he was awarded the Navy Cross.

Under heavy fire from the Japanese, the Navy sent patrol boats to evacuate wounded Marines. Krulak befriended one of the young commanders, John F. Kennedy. Decades later the two shared a drink of whiskey in the Oval Office after Kennedy was elected president.

After World War II, Krulak held several key jobs, including commander of the 5th Marine Regiment and later chief of staff for the 1st Marine Division during the war in Korea. Later he served as commander of the Marine boot camp in San Diego and, from 1962 to 1964, as special assistant for counterinsurgency to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

As commanding general of Fleet Marine Force Pacific he made 54 trips to Vietnam.

His ideas about mining Haiphong Harbor and relying on small unit actions in South Vietnam to win the support of the populace clashed with the strategy of Army Gen. William C. Westmoreland, commander of all U.S. troops from 1964 to 1968. He opposed Westmoreland's decision to establish an outpost at Khe Sanh, which resulted in one of the bloodiest sieges of the war.

Krulak had hoped to become Marine Corps commandant, but President Johnson in 1968 nominated Gen. Leonard Chapman Jr. Krulak retired and began a second career as an executive for Copley newspapers and as a columnist. He retired as an executive in 1977 but continued to write.

In 1984, his book "First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps" was published, examining the history and culture of the Marine Corps. It remains on the official reading list for Marines and has been said to carry the DNA of the organization that prides itself on being the worst enemy that a foe of the United States can imagine.

"The Marines are an assemblage of warriors, nothing more," Krulak wrote. He called on Marines to maintain a "religious dedication" to being ready to "go and win -- and then come back alive." He disdained Pentagon bureaucracy and, even as he celebrated the Corps' history, he called for Marines to "remain on the cutting edge of the technology that will keep its specialty effective."

Bing West, former assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration and author of books on Marines in Vietnam and Iraq, said Krulak "was legendary for the depth of his intelligence."

In a 2007 speech to the Marine Corps Assn., Defense Secretary Robert Gates praised Krulak for "overcoming conventional wisdom and bureaucratic obstacles thrown in one's path." Among other things, Krulak advocated that the Marines form a special forces unit when other Marine leaders opposed the idea.

All three of Krulak's sons served in Vietnam: Charles and William as Marine infantry officers, Victor Jr. as a Navy chaplain. After retiring from the Marines, William followed his brother into the Episcopal clergy.

Charles, as a general, served as Marine commandant from 1995 to 1999, and followed in his father's footsteps as an innovator and champion of the enlisted man. Along with his sons, Krulak is survived by four grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Krulak's wife, Amy, died in 2001. Funeral services are set for 2 p.m. Jan. 8 at the chapel at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Victor Krulak, Marine Corps legend, dies at 95

The Associated Press
Wednesday, December 31, 2008

SAN DIEGO: Lieutenant General Victor Krulak, who headed all U.S. Marine forces in the Pacific during part of the Vietnam War, has died. He was 95.

Krulak died Monday at the Wesley Palms Retirement Community in San Diego, according to Edith Soderquist, a staff member at the facility. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Krulak commanded about 100,000 marines in the Pacific from 1964 to 1968 - a span in which the United States drastically increases forces in Vietnam.

Krulak, nicknamed "Brute" for his direct, no-nonsense style, was a decorated veteran of World War II and the Korean War.

After retirement, he often criticized the government's handling of the Vietnam War. He wrote that the war could have been won only if the South Vietnamese had been protected and befriended and if enemy supplies from North Vietnam had been cut off.

"The destruction of the port of Haiphong would have changed the whole character of the war," he said two decades after the fall of Saigon.

Krulak once summed up the U.S. dilemma in Vietnam by saying, "It has no front lines. The battlefield is in the minds of 16 or 17 million people."

Before assuming command of Fleet Marine Force Pacific, Krulak served as principal adviser on counterinsurgency warfare to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and the joint chiefs of staff.

"I never got enthusiasm out of war, and I'm convinced that the true pacifists are the professional soldiers who have actually seen it," Krulak said many years after retiring from the post.

During World War II on the island of Choiseul in the Solomon Islands, Krulak led his outnumbered battalion during an eight-day raid on Japanese forces, diverting the enemy's attention from the U.S. invasion of Bougainville.

Krulak's troops destroyed hundreds of tons of supplies, burning both camps and landing barges. He was wounded on Oct. 13, 1943, and later received the Navy Cross for heroism, along with the Purple Heart.

At 43, he became the youngest brigadier general in Marine Corps history up to that time. Krulak received the second of two Distinguished Service Medals when he retired from the military.

For the next nine years, he worked for Copley Newspapers.

He also wrote the book "First to Fight," an insider's view of the Marine Corps.

His son Charles Krulak served as commandant - the Marines' top post - from 1995 to 1999.

Werner Wiskari, a former foreign correspondent and editor of international news for The New York Times, died on Dec. 8 in Wakefield, Rhode Island, near his home in Charlestown. He was 90.

Wiskari's death was confirmed by his wife, Millie Wiskari.

The son of a Finnish-born Lutheran pastor in Michigan, he served with the Navy in the Pacific in World War II and joined The Times as a radio news scriptwriter in 1948, soon after graduating from Columbia University and doing a year of postgraduate study there.

From 1958 to 1964, he was based in Stockholm as the northern European correspondent for The Times, its last.

He became an assistant to the foreign news editor of The Times in 1968. In 1971, he was part of the small team of editors that prepared the Pentagon Papers, the Defense Department's secret history of the Vietnam War, for publication.

When war broke out between Iran and Iraq in 1980, he compiled and rewrote fragmentary reports that he gleaned from news agencies and foreign publications and analyzed satellite photos of trench fortifications on either side.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Vietnam commander dies
Officer led 100,000 Marines from 1964 to 1968

[NoRemorse]

Looking sharp, sir. Semper Fi.

Any idea how many Divisions we have up there now?

I can't imagine the ruckus that many Marines would be causing on liberty on them golden streets.

[Gunner 0313]

Rest in peace sir. Semper Fi

[skipperwo1]

The little BULL kicked me in the right shin in PHU-BAI in 66 and it was no accident. Can any of you guess WHY.

[Old Marine]

RIP General.

[Old Marine]

The little BULL kicked me in the right shin in PHU-BAI in 66 and it was no accident. Can any of you guess WHY.

Because you looked down at him.

[skipperwo1]

Give that man a ceeegar! It was an inspection and I was a young Cpl. section leader. I had no idea he was still alive. I have thought of that day fondly. GUNG-HO

[ggyoung]

He was one hell of a leader. I would have followed him any place or time.

[bigdog43701]

Rest in Peace General....SEMPER FI

[thedrifter]

Lt. Gen. Victor Krulak passes on

12/31/2008 By compilation, Quantico Sentry Staff , Marine Corps Base Quantico
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. — Veteran of three wars and author, Lt. Gen. Victor H. “Brute” Krulak, 95, died Monday in Southern California.

Krulak, a Denver native, served with distinction through World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He later penned “First to Fight: An Inside Look at the Marine Corps,” which remains today on the Commandant’s Reading List.

Born Jan. 7, 1913, Krulak began his distinguished career began upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1934.

As a lieutenant colonel in the fall of 1943, he earned the Navy Cross and the Purple Heart on Choiseul Island, where his battalion staged a week-long diversionary raid to cover the Bougainville Invasion. Later, he joined the newly formed 6th Marine Division and took part in the Okinawa campaign and the surrender of Japanese forces in the China area. There he earned the Legion of Merit with Combat "V" and the Bronze Star.

After the war, he returned to the United States and served as assistant director of the Senior School at Quantico, and, later, as regimental commander of the 5th Marines at Camp Pendleton. He was serving as assistant chief of Staff, G-3, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, when the Korean Conflict erupted, and subsequently served in Korea as chief of staff, 1st Marine Division, earning a second Legion of Merit with Combat "V" and Air Medal.

In July 1956, he was promoted to brigadier general and designated assistant commander, 3d Marine Division on Okinawa. From 1957 to 1959, he served as director, Marine Corps Educational Center, Quantico. He was promoted to major general in November 1959, and the following month assumed command of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego.

General Krulak was presented a third Legion of Merit by General Maxwell D. Taylor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for exceptionally meritorious service from 1962 to 1964 as special assistant for counter-insurgency activities, Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

On March 1, 1964, he was designated commanding general, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, and promoted to lieutenant general.

For the next four years he was responsible for all Fleet Marine Force units in the Pacific, including some 54 trips to the Vietnam theater. He retired June1, 1968, receiving a Distinguished Service Medal for his performance during that period.

His son, retired Gen. Charles Krulak, served as commandant from 1995 to 1999.

Funeral services are set for 2 p.m. Jan. 8 at the chapel at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Lt. Gen. Victor H. "Brute" Krulak, shown during the Vietnam War, at one time commanded all Marine Corps forces in the Pacific. (Union-Tribune file photo)

Ellie