Thomas Holcomb

General Thomas Holcomb (August 5, 1879 – May 24, 1965) was a United States Marine Corps officer who served as the seventeenth Commandant of the Marine Corps from 1936 to 1943. He was the first Marine to achieve the rank of general, and was a strong supporter of racial segregation in the Marine Corps. After retiring from the Marine Corps, Holcomb served as the U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to South Africa from 1944 to 1948. and Thomas Holcomb, an attorney and Speaker of the Delaware House of Representatives. He attended private schools there until 1893 when his father took a position in the Treasury Department of president Cleveland's second administration and moved the family to Washington, D.C. He graduated from Western High School in 1897. His curriculum included military drills in uniform; here Holcomb learned about military discipline.

Marine Corps career

Holcomb was appointed a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps from civilian life on April 13, 1900.

World War I From August 1917 to January 1918, Major Holcomb commanded the 2d Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, at the Marine Barracks, Quantico, Virginia, in preparation for overseas duty. From February 1918 to July of the next year, he served with the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France. He commanded the 2d Battalion from August 1918 and served as second in command of the 6th Marine Regiment, taking part in the Third Battle of the Aisne, Château-Thierry, Soissons (in the Aisne-Marne Offensive), the Marbache Sector, St. Mihiel, the Meuse–Argonne offensive, and the march to the Rhine in Germany following the Armistice.

In recognition of his distinguished services in France, he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star with three Oak Leaf Clusters, a Meritorious Service Citation by the Commander-in-Chief, AEF, and the Purple Heart, and was three times cited in General Orders of the Second Division, AEF. The French Government conferred on him the Cross of the Legion of Honor and three times awarded him the Croix de Guerre with Palm. He was appointed lieutenant colonel on June 4, 1920.

1920s–1936 From September 1922 to June 1924, he commanded the Marine Barracks, Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and on his return to the United States was ordered to the Command and General Staff School of the Army at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Upon completion of the course as a Distinguished Graduate, in June 1925, he was ordered to Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC) for duty in the Division of Operations and Training, where he remained until June 1927.

From August 1927 to February 1930, Col Holcomb commanded the Marine detachment, American Legation, Peking, China. He was promoted to colonel on December 22, 1928. In June 1930, he went to the Naval War College as a student, Senior Course. He graduated in June 1931. He was then ordered to the Army War College, graduating a year later.

From June 1932 to January 1935, prior to his appointment to brigadier general, he served in the Office of Naval Operations, Navy Department. He was promoted to brigadier general on February 1, 1935. He served as commandant of the Marine Corps Schools at Quantico, Virginia, until November 1936.

Commandant of the Marine Corps General Holcomb congratulated by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox after being awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1944. Looking on are Colonel Roosevelt and LtGen Vandegrift (right). On December 1, 1936, Holcomb returned to Headquarters Marine Corps to assume the office of the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

In April 1941 the US Navy convened its General Board to discuss expansion of the Corps. Holcomb said that African Americans had no right to serve as Marines. He said, "If it were a question of having a Marine Corps of 5,000 whites or 250,000 Negroes, I would rather have the whites." In 1943, he passed Letter of Instruction 421, which restricted African-American Marines' ability to be promoted and prevented them from serving as non-commissioned officers in charge of whites.

With his advancement to lieutenant general on January 20, 1942, he became the highest-ranking officer ever to command the Marine Corps up to that time.

On August 5, 1943, when Lt Gen Holcomb reached the regular retirement age, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced he was continuing LtGen Holcomb as Commandant of the Marine Corps, in recognition of his outstanding services in that capacity. Holcomb continued as commandant until December 31, 1943. He was succeeded by LtGen Alexander A. Vandegrift.

On April 12, 1944, Holcomb was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal for his outstanding work as commandant.

Retirement from the Marine Corps After nearly 44 years as a Marine, LtGen Holcomb retired on January 1, 1944. Because he had been specially commended for his performance of duty in actual combat, he was advanced one rank on the retired list in accordance with a newly passed Act of Congress. He thus became the first Marine ever to hold the rank of general.

Orders, decorations and medals

Navy Cross citation Citation:

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Holcomb (MCSN: 0-436), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving with the Second Battalion, 6th Regiment (Marines), 2d Division, A.E.F. in action in France. As Commander of the Second Battalion, and later as second-in-command of the 6th Regiment (Marines), Lieutenant Colonel Holcomb performed all of his duty in a most commendable manner, proved himself a brave, active, resourceful officer by his zealous and intelligent attention to duty as well as personal courage and fearlessness in the face of the enemy.

Minister to South Africa On March 9, 1944, President Roosevelt nominated Gen Holcomb for the position of United States Minister to the Union of South Africa. He resigned from this position on June 15, 1948.

Retirement In retirement, Holcomb lived in St. Mary's City, Maryland, where he managed the family farm until 1956. He then moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland. In 1962, he moved to Washington, D.C.

In 1944 Holcomb was elected an honorary member of the Delaware Society of the Cincinnati.

Following a serious illness in the spring of 1964, he returned to his native New Castle. General Holcomb died in New Castle, Delaware, on May 24, 1965, aged 85. He was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.