Sunday, January 25, 2009

Dead Page: Marines-- "The War"

VICTOR KRULAK, 95

USMC General and legend

Standing just 5 feet five inches, Gen. Krulak rose to command all Marine forces in the Pacific from 1964 to 1968 and was nicknamed "The Brute" by classmates at the Naval Academy.

As a major before World War II, he helped developed the plan of amphibious warfare used to defeat the Japanese and championed the use of the Higgins boat to land troops, so often used during the war.

During the Korean War, he orchestrated the 1st Marine Brigade to save the day at the Pussan Peninsula. In the 1950s and1960s he formulated counter-insurgency techniques used during the Vietnam War and as commander in the Pacific of Marines, he oversaw the build-up of the war from 1964 to 1968.

After the war, he was very critical of the handling of the effort by the US government.


QUENTIN C. AANENSON, 87

Died Dec. 28, 2008. A fighter pilot during World War II from Luverne, Minnesota who was featured in Ken Burns' WW II epic "The War.". Mr. Aanenson enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942 and flew 75 combat missions in a P-47 Thunderbolt, mostly with the 391st Fighter Squadron of the 366th Fighter group.

He also wrote, filmed, and narrated his own documentary of his experiences, "A Fighter Pilot's Story."

The Greatest Generation.

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