David M. Shoup

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General David Shoup

David Monroe Shoup (born December 30, 1904 in Battle Ground , Indiana , † January 13, 1983 in Alexandria , Virginia ) was a general in the United States Marine Corps and served in the Pacific theater during World War II .

In the Battle of Tarawa he commanded all ground forces, for which he was awarded the highest military honor in the United States, the Medal of Honor . In the 1950s he commanded the 1st and 3rd U.S. Marine Division . His tenure as 22nd Commandant of the Marine Corps (1960-1963) shaped significant events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the first deployments of US soldiers in South Vietnam . After his retirement he appeared publicly against the Vietnam War .

Early years

David Shoup occurred during his studies at DePauw University in Greencastle , Indiana, the fraternity Delta Upsilon and the Reserve Officers' Training Corps at. After graduating in 1926, he served a month as a second lieutenant in an infantry unit in the US Army Reserve .

Entry into the marine infantry

On June 26, 1926 Shoup was in the rank ordered Marine Corps of Second Lieutenant in the active service of the US and the Marine Officers Basic School at the Philadelphia Navy Yard , ordered. This basically 26-week basic training for prospective officers was interrupted twice by Shoup, as he was briefly posted to other missions in the United States. He spent almost the entire next year with the 6th US Marine Regiment in Tientsin , China , so that he could not finish his basic school training until 1928.

For the following months, Shoup served on military bases in Quantico , Virginia ; Pensacola , Florida ; and in San Diego , California . From June 1929 to September 1931 he was assigned to the naval division on board the battleship USS Maryland (BB-46). On his return to the United States, he was a company officer at the Marine Corps Base in San Diego before being transferred to the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton , Washington , in May 1932 . There he was promoted to first lieutenant the following month .

Between June 1933 and November 1934 Shoup worked intermittently with the Civilian Conservation Corps , a work program initiated by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt , which took him to Idaho and New Jersey . After a brief engagement in Seattle , his second assignment in China followed. First assigned to the so-called China Marines in Shanghai , he switched to the American Legation Guard in Beijing , which has been serving there since the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.

Shoup returned to the Puget Sound Navy Yard in June 1936 after a brief stay in Japan , where he was appointed captain in October . After a course at the Marine Corps Schools in the MCB Quantico , which he took between June 1937 and May 1938, he spent the next two years as an instructor in Quantico. In June 1940 he was returned to the 6th Marine Regiment stationed in San Diego, where he was promoted to major in April of the following year . Shoup went to Iceland in May 1941 with his regiment , which was subordinate to the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade , where he was later appointed an operations officer on the regimental headquarters . In October he moved to the 1st US Marine Regiment, which was also stationed in Iceland, and carried out the same tasks on the staff there.

Second World War

Colonel Shoup (right, with map) in his command post on Tarawa . The soldier with his hands on his waist (left in the background) is Col. Merritt A. Edson , Chief of Staff of the 2nd Marine Division.

After the US entry into World War II, Shoup stayed in Iceland for the first few months, where he was appointed commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 6th US Marine Regiment in February 1942 . The brigade was transferred back to the United States and disbanded in New York City on March 25th . Shoup's battalion returned to San Diego, where it was subordinated to the 2nd Marine Division. Shoup himself was transferred to the divisional headquarters in July to take on the post of deputy operations and training officer. He was also promoted to Lieutenant Colonel a month later . In September the division was transferred to New Zealand , where Shoup, now operations and training officer, led the training and exercises of the soldiers for the upcoming mission. In between he acted as a military observer, including in October in the 1st US Marine Division fighting on Guadalcanal and during the summer of 1943 in the 43rd Infantry Division of the US Army , which fought on the island of Rendova in the New Georgia archipelago .

As a staff officer , Shoup was very much involved in the planning of the upcoming Gilbert Island operations, for which he was awarded the Legion of Merit . On November 9, he was promoted to colonel and entrusted with the command of the 2nd US Marine Regiment of the 2nd Marine Division. Eleven days later, his regiment spearheaded the invasion of Tarawa . During the two-day battle, despite being wounded, he took command of all fighting units, for which he was awarded the Purple Heart . In addition, Shoup was honored with the highest honor in the US armed forces, the Medal of Honor , presented to him on January 22, 1945 by Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal . He was the 25th Marine to be awarded this medal during World War II.

In December Shoup became Chief of Staff of the 2nd US Marine Division and was able to prove himself again during the battle for Saipan (June 15 to July 9, 1944) and Tinian (July 24 to August 1, 1944). The following October he returned to the United States and served as the logistics officer in the Planning and Tactics Department at the Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, DC

Postwar and Commandant of the Marine Corps

The Joint Chiefs of Staff during a meeting on February 10, 1960: General Lemnitzer , Admiral Burke , Chairman General Twining , General White and General Shoup (from left to right).

In August 1947, Shoup became the commanding officer of the service command of the Fleet Marine Force Pacific and in June 1949 the chief of staff of the 1st Marine Division based at Camp Pendleton . A year later he was transferred to Quantico, where he served as director of the Marine Officers Basic School until April 1952 . He then moved back to headquarters to first become deputy director and then from July 1953 director of the finance department. In between he was promoted to Brigadier General in April 1953 and to Major General in September 1955 . From May 1956, Shoup served a few months as a training inspector before becoming Inspector General of the US Marine Corps in the following September .

In June 1957 he returned to Camp Pendleton, where he took command of the 1st Marine Division. Nine months later, Shoup was transferred to Okinawa to command the 3rd Marine Division stationed there . Between May and October 1959 he headed the MCRD Parris Island on the US east coast and on November 2, in addition to his promotion to Lieutenant General , became Chief of Staff at the headquarters of the US Marine Corps.

Previously, Shoup was elected on August 12 by then US President Dwight D. Eisenhower to succeed the incumbent Commandant of the Marine Corps General Randolph M. Pate . He took up this post on January 1, 1960, at the same time as his promotion to general . Since he was a voting member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when it came to Corps matters, critical events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 and the first missions of US Marines in South Vietnam fell into his tenure. With his commitment as a Commandant, which ended at the end of 1963 , his service in the Corps itself ended. In recognition of his services as a Commandant , Shoup was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by US President Lyndon B. Johnson on January 21, 1964 .

retirement

After retiring, he retired in Arlington , Virginia. Regarding the intervention of the United States in Southeast Asia, which was already beginning during his term in office, and the inflamed Vietnam War , Shoup said in May 1966:

“I believe that if we had and would keep our dirty, bloody, dollar-crooked fingers out of the business of these nations so full of depressed, exploited people, they will arrive at a solution of their own. That they design and want. That they fight and work for [...] and not the American style, which they don't want. Not one crammed down their throats by the Americans. "

“I think if we had kept our dirty, damned, dollar-bent fingers out of the day-to-day business of these countries full of depressed and exploited people, they would one day solve their problems themselves. Which they develop and want. For which they fight and work [...] and not in the American style, which they do not want. Not a solution that the Americans shoved down their throats. "

- David M. Shoup

Shoup publicly criticized the then US government's Vietnam policy and supported the Association of Vietnam Veterans Against the War .

David M. Shoup died on January 13, 1983 at Circle Terrace Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was never married and died childless.

Awards

Selection of decorations, sorted based on the Order of Precedence of the Military Awards:

On June 22, 2002, the US Navy put the USS Shoup (DDG-86) into service. This Arleigh Burke-class destroyer was named after him.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David Monroe Shoup - General, United States Marine Corps (ArlingtonCemetery.net; accessed February 23, 2008; English)
  2. ^ Howard Jablon: David M. Shoup: A Warrior against War . 2005, p. 101 ( online [accessed March 3, 2009]).
  3. ↑ Defending VVAW Against Swift Boat Vets Lies (vvaw.org; accessed on February 23, 2008; English)
personal data
SURNAME Shoup, David M.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Shoup, David Monroe (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American general and 22nd Commandant of the United States Marine Corps
DATE OF BIRTH December 30, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Battle Ground , Indiana
DATE OF DEATH January 13, 1983
Place of death Alexandria (Virginia) , Virginia