Leadership in Action (Casemate)

"Retired Marine Colonel Camp presents an excellent biography of the twentieth commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps... Camp has a "just the facts" style that keeps the action moving. Leatherneck Warrior is a concise look at a marine whose life touched many important points in modern American military history." - Booklist Hero of Belleau Wood, Lemuel Shepherd was the living embodiment of a Marine Corps legend, for Belleau Wood was synonymous with Marine valor and sacrifice. At the age of just 22, after early graduation from Virginia Military Institute following the United States' entry into World War I, Lemuel Shepherd was made a platoon commander in the 5th Regiment of Marines. His first challenge was to help screen and organize the many recruits needed to convert the company up to war strength. Within just a couple of weeks of reporting for duty, he was on a ship bound for Europe. He would participate in the Aisne-Marne offensive, facing machine guns at the famous battle of Belleau Wood, receiving the DSC and Navy Cross for his gallantry. There he was twice wounded. He returned to the front in August, seeing action in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives, being wounded for the third time. His career in the Marine Corps continued after the war, encompassing time as aide-de-camp to the commandant of the Marine Corps, duty in China and Haiti, and a period on the staff of Marine Corps Schools, Quantico. After the US entered World War II, Shepherd took command of the 9th Marine Regiment, training it and leading it overseas. Promoted to brigade command in July 1943, he served on Guadalcanal, then as assistant division commander in the Cape Gloucester operation. In May 1944, he assumed command of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade and led them in the invasion and recapture of Guam. Finally, he commanded the 6th Marine Division through the battle of Okinawa, for which he received a Gold Star. He would command all Marines in the Pacific during the Korean War, and then in 1952 he was appointed as the 20th Commandant of the Marine Corps, introducing a number of important policies that increased military proficiency for the corps. This new biography utilizes Shepherd's oral history, a wide range of archival records from the Marine Corps History Division and the Virginia Military Institute, and a personal interview conducted by the author with General Shepherd in the 1980s, to give a fuller picture of the consummate "Leatherneck."

The amazing life of one of the Marine Corps' premier combat leaders in World War II and Korea. Marine Lieutenant General Edward A. Craig served in the Corps from 1917 until 1951. He was one of the "old Corps" Marines, serving in the Banana Wars, World War II where he was commanding officer, 9th Marine Regiment, Bougainville and Guam, and Korea, where he led the "Fire Brigade" which many historians attribute to having saved the Pusan Perimeter, enabling the U.S. and her allies to save South Korea. He was also instrumental in making the amphibious landing at Inchon successful. Craig was considered one of the premier combat leaders in the Marine Corps. Marine historian Dick Camp knew Craig personally and has woven Craig's own account of his service into context. Craig's recollections are more than recitations of facts, his account of leading in World War II provides the perspective of a combat leader balancing the mission objectives with responsibility for the men he leads. His account of fighting during the Korean War section provides insight into how unprepared the United States was and how a determined, well-led Marine brigade was able to stop the North Korean advance and prevent them from overrunning South Korea.

The first full-length biography of World War II general and Cold Warrior John Wilson "Iron Mike" O'Daniel, featuring "the very essence of the man… who spent more time under fire with his front-line troops than behind the safety of his office desk." - ARGunners.com John Wilson "Iron Mike" O'Daniel was one of the U.S. Army's great fighting generals of the 20th century. He began his military career with the Delaware Militia in 1914, served on the Mexican border in 1916, received a Distinguished Service Cross in World War I, was Mark Clark's man for hard jobs in the early days of World War II, and commanded the storied 3rd Infantry Division from Anzio to the end of the war in Europe, ending the war in Salzburg after liberating Munich, and Hitler's Berghof and Eagle's Nest on the Obersalzberg, Bavaria, Germany. "Iron Mike "commanded I Corps in Korea 1951–1952 and ended his career as the Chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Vietnam in the early days of American involvement there. LTC Stoy paints a vivid picture of this great American warrior who played an important role in World War II, became an ardent anti-Communist crusader after duty in Moscow as Military Attaché 1948–1950 as the Cold War intensified, laid the foundation for the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and remained an ardent supporter of President Ngo Dinh Diem while serving as Chairman of the American Friends of Vietnam from his retirement in 1956 until 1963, shortly before Diem's assassination.

A century of valor among one of the finest Infantry Divisions ever to serve, vividly chronicled through extensive research and interviews with veterans. From the Great War to the War on Terror, the US 4th Infantry Division has always been there. To War with the 4th recounts a hundred years of combat, beginning with their first battle on September, 14th, 1918. The men of the "Ivy" Division faced German artillery, fell in the hundreds, yet won the day. On D-Day of World War II, the 4th Division landed at Utah beach and kept fighting across Europe until Germany surrendered. From Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge, no other American division suffered more casualties in the European theater, and no other division accomplished as much. In Vietnam, they executed dangerous "search and destroy" missions and fought major engagements, including 33 consecutive days of close-quarters combat during the battle of Dak to. In May 2009, they fought in Iraq at the height of Operation Enduring Freedom. The 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team deployed to Afghanistan for a year-long combat mission in the birthplace of the Taliban. Through firsthand interviews with veterans across the decades, and the expert analysis of the authors, the role of one of America's mainstay divisions is illuminated in these pages.

Although not nearly as well-known as other US Army senior commanders, General Mark Clark is one of the four men-along with Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley-who historian Martin Blumenson called "the essential quartet of American leaders who achieved victory in Europe." Eisenhower nicknamed him the American Eagle. A skilled staff officer, Clark rose quickly through the ranks, and by the time America entered the war he was deputy commander of Allied Forces in North Africa. Several weeks before Operation Torch, Clark landed by submarine in a daring mission to negotiate the cooperation of the Vichy French. He was subsequently named commander of US Fifth Army and tasked with the invasion of Italy. Fifth Army and Mark Clark are virtually synonymous. From the September 1943 landing at Salerno, Clark and his army fought their way north against skilled German resistance, augmented by mountainous terrain. The daring January 1944 end-run at Anzio, although not immediately successful, set the stage for Fifth Army's liberation of Rome on 4 June 1944, after ten months of hard fighting. Mikolashek, a history professor at the US Army Command and General Staff College, sheds much needed historical light on one of America's most important fighting generals in this "warts and all" biography. He also demonstrates the importance of the Italian Campaign, paying tribute to the valorous soldiers of US Fifth Army and their Allied comrades.