The Marine Corps lost one of its greats on 21 June 2005 with the death of General Louis H. Wilson, the 26th Commandant. He was impressive in many ways, including that measure of leadership called command presence. Only three other commandants merited the wearing of the light blue, whitestarred ribbon of the Medal of Honor—Neville for Vera Cruz, Vandegrift for Guadalcanal, and Shoup for Tarawa. Wilson had his for Guam.
He had received his baptism of fire earlier at Bougainville in the 2d Battalion, 9th Marines, commanded by Lt. Col. Robert E. Cushman. At Guam, Cushman's battalion was ordered to take Fonte hill, high ground dominating the 3d Marine Division beachhead at Asan. The attack began on 25 July 1944. Captain Wilson's Company F took its portion of the ridgeline, then dug in for the night. When morning came, after fighting off seven separate counterattacks, Wilson, three times wounded, led a patrol forward to consolidate his company position. He was hospitalized until October. The residual effects, particularly in his lungs, plagued him for the rest of his life.
He was born in 1920 in Brandon, Mississippi. His father died when he was very small and his mother was left alone. He went to Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. There he met Jane Clark whom he married in 1944. To her, he was always "Louis," never "Lou." On graduating in 1941, he enlisted in the Marine Corps' Officers Candidate Course, receiving his commission in November.
As a major after the war, he was assigned to the Marine Barracks, Washington. Recruiting duty in New York City followed and then assignment as executive officer of The Basic School. He was with the 1st Marine Division when it returned to Camp Pendleton from Korea in 1955. After staff duty in Washington, he was given command of The Basic School as a colonel. After the National War College and more staff duty at Headquarters, he was with the 1st Marine Division when it deployed to Vietnam in 1966. Next came command of the 6th Marine Corps District in Atlanta. Promoted to brigadier general he returned to Headquarters, to serve as legislative assistant to the commandant. His southern roots served him well in the halls of Congress, where southerners held powerful posts.
After assignment as chief of staff at Headquarters, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, in Hawaii, and promotion to major general, he commanded the 3d Marine Division in Okinawa. In September 1972, as a lieutenant general, he took command of Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, fully expecting to retire from that assignment.
The Marine Corps had not yet emerged from the doldrums following Vietnam. The commandancy of his old battalion commander General Ciishman was in trouble. In April 1975 it was announced that Wilson would be the next commandant. General Cushman retired six months before the scheduled end of his tenure, and, on 1 July, Wilson took over. At his change-of-command parade he announced, "I call on all Marines to get in step and do so smartly."
An immediate objective was to improve the quality of Marine Corps recruits and to improve their training.
Wilson threatened,"If I see a fat Marine, he's got a problem, and so does his commanding officer." Training was sharpened and made more realistic throughout the Corps. He created the Air-Ground Combat Center at Twenty-nine Palms in the California desert.
Cushman had negotiated with the Navy for the replacement of the Marine Corps' aging F-4 Phantoms with the F14 Tomcat. Wilson canceled the deal, stating the Marine Corps would wait for the F/A-18 Hornet, which was better suited for the role of expeditionary fighter-attack plane—a wise decision. In his budget hearings before the Congress, Wilson stressed that the Corps was a global general-purpose force capable of going anywhere in the world. Later he said of his years as legislative assistant: "This was the best preparation I had for one of the most difficult jobs of being commandant. I felt comfortable on the Hill [and] knew a great many of the senators and congressmen ... I really enjoyed [the hearings and] did not mind testifying."
Wilson waited almost to the end of his four years before attempting his most ambitious political objective: full membership for the commandant on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Until then the commandant had a voice with the Chiefs only when matters of "direct concern" to the Corps were under consideration. Senator John Stennis of Mississippi, an old friend, said, "I'll do it for you," and it went through as a rider to the Appropriations Authorization Act of 1979.
Wilson retired on 1 July 1979, and the Wilsons returned to Jackson to live. He briefly considered entering politics. The unexpected inheritance of a lovely home in San Marino lured the Wilsons to Southern California. After several happy years, Lou's declining health caused them to move to Birmingham, Alabama, to be close to their married daughter Janet and their two grandsons. He died of neuropathy, a degenerative nerve disease.
His funeral with full military honors was held on 19 July 2005 at the Arlington National Cemetery followed by a reception at the Commandant's House.