James R. Garrett

James Rube Garrett Jr. (June 5, 1922 – March 6, 2011) was an author and United States Marine Corps officer. He is known for writing A Marine Diary: My Experiences on Guadalcanal.

Early life Garrett was born in Milligan, Florida, and raised in Edinburg, Texas, the son of James Rube Garrett and Bettie V. Skinner Garrett. He lived in Geneva, Alabama, with his widowed mother and two siblings after 1938.

Military career

Garrett joined the United States Marines in August 1940. He held the position of Ammo Chief for I Battery, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines, while serving as a corporal in the Marine Corps. He was also a charter member of the 1st Marine Division, which was established in Cuba in 1940. Garrett wrote diaries and letters during World War II, recording his experiences in the Solomon Islands during his four months of combat during the Guadalcanal campaign. He was discharged from the Marines in October 1945. The Garretts had three children and divorced in 1968. His widow was Ute Schwarzenburger Garrett. He died in 2011, at the age of 88, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.