Roy Geiger

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General Roy Stanley Geiger

Roy Stanley Geiger (born January 25, 1885 in Middleburg , Florida , † January 23, 1947 in Bethesda , Maryland ) was a general in the United States Marine Corps during the Pacific War . He was the first naval aviator to command a corps and the first marine to be entrusted with an army-sized military unit .

Military career

Early years

Roy Geiger came on 25 January 1885 in Middleburg, the US state of Florida to the world. He attended Florida State Normal and Industrial College and received a Bachelor of Laws from Stetson University , DeLand , Florida. He then joined the Marine Corps on November 2, 1907, and was appointed Second Lieutenant on February 5, 1909 .

After graduating from Marine Officers' School in Port Royal , South Carolina , Geiger served as a member of the US Navy Security Guard on the battleships USS Wisconsin (BB-9) and USS Delaware (BB-28) . In August 1912 he was transferred to Nicaragua , where, among other things, he was involved in the fighting over the Coyotepe and Barranca hills . From 1913 to 1916 he served in the Philippines and in the American Legation Guard in Beijing , Republic of China .

On March 31, 1916, First Lieutenant Geiger moved to Naval Air Station Pensacola , Florida, where he completed his training as a naval aviator on June 9 of the next year . He was the fifth Marine and the 49th officer (US Marine Corps and US Navy ) who was allowed to complete this training. During this time he made 107 flights with an airplane (73 flight hours ) and 14 take-offs with a balloon (28 hours 45 minutes flight time).

First World War

After further extensive flight training, Geiger was transferred to France in July 1918 when the United States entered the war . There he served initially in the at Dunkirk stationed No. 5 Bomber Group of the British Royal Air Force before he took command of a squadron of the 1st Marine Aviation Force , which was subordinate to the day squadron of the Northern Bombing Group . After the end of the war, he returned to the United States in January 1919, where he was awarded the Navy Cross for his leadership work in bombing raids against enemy targets .

Between the world wars

From December 1919 to January 1921 he was squadron commander of the 1st Provisional Brigade in Haiti . Thereafter made Geiger his service at Marine Flying Field, Marine Corps Base Quantico , Virginia before moving to Fort Leavenworth , Kansas went to the United States Army Command and General Staff College to visit. He completed this in June 1925. He then went back to Haiti as the commander of Observation Squadron 2 of the 1st US Navy Brigade . After his return from the Caribbean in August 1927, he was an instructor at the Marine Corps Schools in Quantico , Virginia until May 1928 . Geiger then worked in the Office of Military Aviation Affairs, the Operations and Training Department at the United States Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, DC

After graduating from US Army War College in Carlisle , Pennsylvania in June 1929, he was appointed Commanding Officer of the Air Force, East Coast Expeditionary Force , at Quantico, before being appointed Chief of Operations for Marine Corps Aviation in the Department of the Navy . From June 1935 he returned to Quantico as a member of the Fleet Marine Force . He completed the senior and advanced course at Naval War College in Newport , Rhode Island from June 1939 to March 1941, followed by service in the office of the military attaché in London , Great Britain .

Second World War

MajGen. Roy Geiger (left) and Major Joe Foss , the flying ace of Guadalcanal

In August 1941 Brigadier General Geiger was entrusted with the command of the US 1st Marine Aircraft Wing , Fleet Marine Force, in order to expand it accordingly in the event of a possible war with the Japanese Empire .

With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , the United States finally entered World War II , whereupon Geiger's association devoted itself to intensive training. During the Battle of Guadalcanal , he led his association, now called the Cactus Air Force , from September 3 to November 4, 1942. For his leadership work during this explosive period, he received his second Navy Cross with a gold star.

Admiral William Halsey , MajGen. Robert S. Beightler and MajGen. Geiger (seated from left to right) in the command post of the 37th Infantry Division during the Battle of Bougainville

In May 1943 he was appointed to the Marine Corps Headquarters as Director of Aviation. But after the sudden death of Major General Charles D. Barnett , commander of the I. Marine Amphibious Corps , he was ordered back to the war zone to command the landing on Bougainville, which had been underway since the beginning of November . Major General Geiger was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal for his ongoing commitment from November 9 to December 15, 1943, which ultimately led to the success of the operation . Geiger was born in April 1944 with the command of III. Amphibious Corps entrusted to take part in the Battle of Guam and the southern Palau Islands from July . For this work he was awarded a Navy Distinguished Service Medal . Subordinated to the 10th US Army under Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner, Jr. , Geiger's corps took part in the conquest of Okinawa , which began in April 1945 . After Buckner's death in mid-June, Geiger was given command of the entire army before General Joseph Stilwell could replace him. For this achievement he received the Army Distinguished Service Medal .

After the fighting for Okinawa ended, Geiger was appointed commanding general of the Fleet Marine Forces in the Pacific , headquartered in Pearl Harbor . In November 1946 he was transferred to the headquarters of the United States Marine Corps in Washington, DC

Lieutenant General Roy Stanley Geiger died unexpectedly on January 23, 1947 at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda , Maryland, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was posthumously promoted to general after a session of the US Congress . He left behind his wife Eunice Renshaw Geiger (born April 30, 1893, † January 4, 1982).

His awards include a .: the Navy Cross with two gold stars, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal with double oak leaves, the Army Distinguished Service Medal , the Presidential Unit Citation , the World War I - and World War II Victory Medal , and the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ History of Marine Corps Aviation - The Early Years (PDF; 500 kB), accessed on March 18, 2013.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Violinist, Roy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Geiger, Roy Stanley (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American military, general in the United States Marine Corps
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Middleburg (Florida)
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1947
Place of death Bethesda, Maryland