Giants of the Corps
THE EARLY CAREER OF A
MARINE LEGEND
GENERAL EDDIE CRAIG
Story by Dick Camp • Photos and map courtesy of the author
Twenty-year-old St. John’s Military
Academy student Edward A. “Eddie”
Craig scanned the newspaper’s
special edition. “WAR,” the headline proclaimed. He rushed to the recruiting office, like thousands of other patriotic
young men.
“I couldn’t get a commission in the
Army until I was 21, but I could get one
in the Marines.” Craig sent a telegram to
his Army doctor father: “I’m entering
the U.S. Marine Corps. I have a chance
for a commission.” He received an immediate emphatic response: “Do not join
the U.S. Marines under any circumstance,
a terrible bunch of drunks and bums!”
Craig ignored the guidance and went
on to become one of the Corps’ premier
combat leaders. Eddie Craig led the 9th
Marines during the Bougainville and
Guam campaigns and planned the landing on Iwo Jima during World War II. He
also commanded the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade in the Pusan Perimeter during
the Korean War. He retired as a lieutenant
general after serving for almost 34 years.
And, yes, his father came to love Marines!
After being commissioned a second
lieutenant on 23 Aug. 1917, Craig thought
he was headed for the WW I battlefields
of France. He was bitterly disappointed
when “[they] got clear of land and the
ship headed south” to the Dominican Republic. A brigade of Marines was stationed in the country to back up the U.S.
military government, which was trying
to bring stability to the troubled island
republic.
• Monte Cristi
Puerto Plata •
Las Trencheras✹ Guayacana✹s • Navarette
• Santiago
La Vega •
• S. Francisco
De Macoris
Samana •
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
San Juan •
Seibo •
• Hato Mayor
• Consuelo
San Pedro De Macoris •
•Santo Domingo
• Haina
• Higuey
• La Romana
Barahona •
✹ Battle Sites
USMC Airfield
0 10
20 30 40 50
MILES
28 LEATHERNECK NOVEMBER 2006
A Parrot, Foul Weather and Field Duty
Craig and six other officers were given
passage aboard a converted yacht manned
by a Reserve naval officer. Space was at
a premium and the passengers had to bed
down on the deck of the tiny wardroom.
The captain’s beloved parrot perched
in the overhead, showering them with bird
droppings. The parrot’s noxious muck
and a West Indian hurricane, with its high
winds and towering waves, made the trip
a voyage from hell. To top it off, the
commanding officer chewed them out for
cluttering up his wardroom. One of the
exasperated lieutenants remarked in a
stage whisper, “How about that damn
parrot crapping all over our gear!”
Upon arrival in Santo Domingo in April
1919, Craig learned that he was being
assigned to the 70th Company, temporarily attached to the 15th Regiment. His
company was located in a remote area,
accessible only by native boats called
“gasolinas.”
Craig recalled, “I was the only American on the trip and practically every
available space was occupied by natives.
My accommodations consisted of a small
space on the forward deck where I was
surrounded by a native family, complete
with chickens.”
The natives were friendly, even sharing their meager food with him. He debarked at La Romana, a large sugar estate,
which became his base of operations.
The company was composed almost
entirely of old-timers, pre-war Marines
who had served in the Dominican Republic for more than two years. Craig
thought they were “a pretty hard-boiled
crowd, but I found they were good, efficient Marines.” Their camp consisted of
9-by- 9 wall tents for the men and a small
wooden building for Craig and his assis-
