biography
| name: |
Puller, Lewis (Burwell)
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| |
nickname Chesty
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1898–1971)
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| biography:
| US marine officer, born in West Point, Virginia, USA. Noted for his tactical skill and his bravery under fire, he personified the tough, hard-driving marine combat commander. His father, a wholesale grocer, died when the boy was 10, and he hunted, trapped, and fished to help support the family before enlisting in 1918. He served in the Haitian constabulary (1919–24) and fought guerrillas in Nicaragua (1928–33). Given command of a batallion in the Seventh Marine Regiment shortly before the outbreak of World War 2, he led the unit in a brilliant defence of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal I (1942). As commander of the First Marine Regiment (1950), he led the seaborne assault on Inchon in Korea, participated in the drive to the Yalu R, and commanded the rear guard in the subsequent retreat from the Chosin Reservoir. |
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