ONCE A MARINE, ALWAYS A MARINE

Major General H. Lloyd Wilkerson, U. S. Marine Corps (Ret.) is a decorated combat veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam.  He is in his 96^th year.  I first wrote about him in these pages in 2009.  We have visited and chatted often over the past six years.  The notes are piling up – 750 words weren’t enough in 2009, and woefully short in 2015.

Wilkerson, the son of a West Tennessee dirt farmer, was 14 when his father died.  He says he will never forget his mother’s pronouncement to him the day after the funeral on January 1, 1934, “You are now the head of the family.”

Formal education for Wilkerson and his younger sister seemed out of the question.  Eventually, the 67-acre family farm was lost.  Mrs. Wilkerson resorted to domestic work to keep the family afloat.

Per Wilkerson, “My mother was a super strong person -- her work ethic, coupled with support and assistance from Masonic brothers of my father, made it possible for both my sister and me to graduate from Erskine College in South Carolina.” 

Wilkerson was three semester hours short of graduation when Pearl Harbor was attacked.  Even though he had sufficient education to be commissioned, he enlisted in the Marine Corps as a private in January, 1942.

Over the next 36 years, Wilkerson advanced from private to major general.  His responsibilities grew from leading an eight-man squad on Guadalcanal to commanding the Corps’ largest post, Camp Lejeune.  Later, he concurrently commanded the 3^rd Marine Division and the III Marine Amphibious force while overseas.

While posted in Pocatello, Idaho, Wilkerson met and later married Jeanne Coffin, the daughter of a U.S. Congressman.  She was a descendant of the iconic Coffin family of Quakers which operated the Underground Railroad from Greensboro to Indiana before the War Between the States.

After 69 years of marriage, Jeanne Coffin Wilkerson passed away in 2014.  Three Wilkerson sons survive – Tom, Dick and Fred.  Appreciating that I wore three stripes and General Wilkerson wore two stars, I did not ask why the name, “Fred” was chosen instead of “Harry.”

Each of the three Wilkerson sons is worthy of their own column.  Fred is a retired chef and Richard is Chairman and President Emeritus of Michelin North America, the largest of the Michelin international companies.  But, the eldest son’s career path best fits our genre of writing about veterans.

Tom Wilkerson and his wife recently drove down from their Northern Virginia home to visit General Wilkerson.  I was with the general when he took his son’s approach call by speaker-phone, “Hello, my dad, we are 100 miles out, see you soon.” 

This call wasn’t atypical -- General Wilkerson talked often of his sons.  I knew Tom had graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in the Class of 1967.  I also knew Peter Pace (16^th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) was in the same class – and that Tom and Peter made brigadier general at the same time – fathers notice small details such as these.

I knew Tom Wilkerson and Peter Pace both chose to take their USNA commissions as Marine Corps officers.  While Pace leaned towards infantry, Wilkerson became an aviator and fighter pilot.  He was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun) and a weapons/tactics instructor early in his career.

Later, Tom Wilkerson was an exchange pilot with the Royal Air Force, commanded a Marine Corps Fighter Squadron and was a veteran of Operation Desert Storm.  At the time of his retirement in 1998, he led the largest command in the Marine Corps – over 100,000 Marines, located at over 200 sites.

Notes taken from my discussions with his father add to the remarkableness of Tom Wilkerson’s Marine Corps career, “When he was young, Tom did not always apply himself.  I think he would have been a zoot-suiter if I had allowed it!  Finally, I told him to shape up, work hard, or enlist in the military – but not as a Marine!  He followed my advice, and upon his graduation from the Naval Academy, he asked my permission to take his commission as a Marine – I said yes.”

A continuing thread of leadership in military and veterans’ advocacies began after Tom Wilkerson retired from the Marine Corps.  He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of both the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) and the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation.  He currently holds the same position with the National Association for Uniformed Services (NAUS). 

He has appeared on Meet the Press, CNN, NPR, BBC and Fox News as a commentator on military affairs.

Just before I posted that they are the only Marine Corps father-son combination who retired as major generals, they informed me they are not.  But, they are the only pair whose paths to Marine leadership were in different specialties – father as infantry and son as a fighter pilot.

MAJOR GENERALS TOM & LLOYD WILKERSON U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.)

Without argument, the Generals Wilkerson epitomize, “Once a Marine, always a Marine.” 

Ol'Harry 

FORD KNOWS THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA WELL

In 1942, Robert Ford and Virgil Toole were 17-year old high school seniors in Macon, Georgia.  A Marine Corps recruiting poster caught their eyes, “Uncle Sam wants you!” 

Ford recalls, “We were struck by the sharp-looking uniform and decided to sign up on the spur of the moment.  Since we were only 17 years old, our parents’ approval was required.  

My dad died when I was six years old, leaving five children in the home.  My mom had worked very hard to keep the family going. She reluctantly signed the approval form and I was in the Marine Corps.  Toole’s parents refused to give their approval, so I left for Parris Island by myself.

ROI-NAMUR, SAIPAN, TINIAN AND IWO JIMA VETERAN, ROBERT FORD

After boot camp, I was assigned to amphibian tractors.  I did well in training at Dunedin, Florida, and was assigned to the Boat Basin at Camp Pendleton, California as an instructor.”

Ford’s amphibian tractors, officially designated “Landing Vehicle Tracked,” was more commonly referred to as “amtracs.”  

PACIFIC ISLAND-HOPPING ERA AMTRAC

Except for an unauthorized joyride, he could have remained in sunny Southern California for the duration, “One Sunday afternoon, another instructor and I landed our students on an unoccupied strip of beach up the coast.  He got away with it, but my amtrac stalled and had to be trucked back to the base. 

The next day, I was assigned to the 10^th Amtrac Battalion, attached to the 4^th Marine Division, soon to deploy overseas.”

Robert Ford’s amtracs took assault-wave Marines ashore during the Invasions of Roi-Namur, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima.  As a crew chief, he was responsible for three amtracs.  Each one carried over a dozen Marines and/or assorted supplies and ammunition.

“We made two round-trips on D-Day at Iwo Jima, taking on Marines from the troopships and inserting them on the beach.  On our third and final trip, we carried ammunition and explosives.  Just as we pulled onto the beach an enemy mortar knocked the right-side track off my tractor – why the explosives did not detonate, I will never know – the good Lord must have been looking out for me,” exclaimed Ford from his Lake Jeanette, North Carolina home.

Ford spent the rest of D-Day and all night under his land-locked amtrac, even though that became problematic when the tide came in.  At daybreak, as the crew chief of a disabled amtrac, Ford was assigned to a machine gun platoon, where he remained until the island was secured.

He was in a machine gun emplacement when the flag went up on Mount Suribachi on the fourth day of combat, “I saw the flag go up and everybody gave a shout.  We got very busy after that.  It was a good while before I learned the first flag had been switched out for a larger one.”

While Iwo Jima was the deadliest and most iconic battle of the Marine Corps, Ford has his own reflections, “We took casualties and lost buddies on each of our four invasions – none of them was easy.” 

All through the war, Ford kept two thoughts in mind – to get his high school diploma and work for Twentieth Century-Fox Studios in Hollywood.  Before leaving for the war zone, Ford’s company was used as background Marines in Guadalcanal Diary, being filmed at Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California.  “Studio executives told the Company, if anyone was interested, to come see them after the war, they would give them a job.”

RICHARD CONTE, WILLIAM BENDIX AND LLOYD NOLAN STARRED IN GUADALCANAL DIARY.
ROBERT FORD LOOKS OVER CONTE’S RIGHT SHOULDER

His high school principal in Macon, Georgia had just returned from military leave himself.  He was quick to grant Ford his diploma, inasmuch as he had been a senior when he dropped out to join the Marine Corps.

“Hollywood seemed a long way from home, so I opted for college at Georgia Tech.  Classes there didn’t start for several months, so I took a few courses at Mercer University, which was two blocks from my home.”  Ford continued at Mercer until he graduated with a degree in civil engineering.    

After the war, Robert Ford and Virgil Toole resumed their friendship.  Ironically, Toole’s parents relented a few months after Ford left and Toole followed his buddy into the Marine Corps.  Although in another unit, Toole served on Iwo Jima until he was wounded in combat and evacuated to a hospital ship.

In 1949, Toole invited Ford to accompany him to a job fair at Robins Air Force Base.  While Toole was serious about a job on the base, Ford was not, and completed his application with borderline frivolous answers. 

Frivolity must have ruled – 36 years later, Ford retired from Air Force Reserve Headquarters as Deputy Director of Engineering and Services.

Ford married Jacquelyn Harp in 1950.  After she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, the Fords moved to Greensboro in 2005 to be near their son.  She died in 2014, after 64 years of marriage.

WW II MARINE ROBERT FORD RETIRED AFTER 36 YEARS WITH AIR FORCE RESERVE

Ford insists none of his war experiences were comparable to his journey as the caregiver for his wife.

Ol'Harry