[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 86 (Friday, June 24, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7388-S7389]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      GENERAL LOUIS H. WILSON, JR.

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, this morning the Washington Post carries 
an article about the death of GEN Louis Wilson who was a former 
Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on June 21 at his home in 
Birmingham, AL. He was a native of my State of Mississippi and was a 
personal friend and a great soldier and a wonderful Commandant of the 
U.S. Marine Corps. He and his wife Jane lived here in Washington in the 
Marine barracks, the Commandant's residence, and befriended my wife 
Rose and me when I was a young Member of Congress before I was elected 
to the Senate. He was serving as Commandant of the Marine Corps.
  We enjoyed many opportunities to visit with them when they were 
resident in Washington. He was a very distinguished officer in the 
Marine Corps during World War II. He was given the congressional Medal 
of Honor for gallantry during his service in the battle in Guam on 
Fonte Hill. The description of his exploits and gallantry are contained 
in the citation that was issued when he was awarded the Congressional 
Medal of Honor.
  The article talks about his career in glowing terms, a well-earned 
tribute for a courageous and brave soldier, and the first Marine Corps 
Commandant to serve as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He 
established a tradition when he was selected to serve on the Joint 
Chiefs of Staff which is carried on today. It was because of his strong 
leadership and his example that there is no question that a good 
decision was made to include in the Joint Chiefs of Staff the 
Commandant of the Marine Corps.
  We mourn his passing, but we rejoice in the great life he lived and 
the inspiration that his career provided to marines in all of the 
succeeding generations of service in the U.S. Marine Corps.
  I ask unanimous consent that the article in today's Washington Post 
and a copy of the citation for Louis Hugh Wilson, Jr., upon his being 
awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               [From the Washington Post, Jun. 24, 2005]

             Gen. Louis Wilson Dies; Awarded Medal of Honor

                          (By Adam Bernstein)

       Gen. Louis H. Wilson Jr., 85, who received the Medal of 
     Honor for taking and holding a key position on Guam during 
     World War II and later served as commandant of the Marine 
     Corps, died June 21 at his home in Birmingham. He had a 
     degenerative nerve disorder.
       On July 1, 1975, Gen. Wilson became the 26th commandant of 
     the Marine Corps. He was the first commandant to serve full 
     time on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, providing the corps with a 
     greater say on defense matters.
       During his four-year tenure, he was credited with shaping a 
     post-Vietnam corps of strong expeditionary units ready for 
     ``high mobility and high-intensity combat.'' He made 
     personnel changes to raise morale and address disciplinary 
     problems.
       He increased academic enlistment standards (he wanted 75 
     percent of recruits to have high school diplomas); ordered 
     the discharge of thousands of Marines with discipline 
     problems; and offered tougher directives on weight 
     requirements. ``Obesity must vanish,'' he said and set for 
     himself a daily jogging regimen.
       As commandant, he had a reputation for being blunt, 
     thoughtful and refreshing. He publicly acknowledged the 
     brutal treatment of recruits by some drill instructors and 
     tried to change the policies that granted drill instructors 
     ``too much autonomy. ``
       In 1975, he told an interviewer that the Vietnam War had 
     been fought in vain from a military view-point.
       He also castigated draft laws that ``had been gerrymandered 
     so that only the poor, the blacks and disadvantaged were 
     really drafted. A great many fine young men came in. But many 
     draftees, thrown in with them, were the dregs of society 
     [and] many with continuing dissatisfaction with the war.''
       ``It's not like the old days,'' he added, ``when you could 
     leave your wallet on your sack.''
       The Mississippi native was an effective witness on Capitol 
     Hill, prepared and authoritative in his bearing. Earlier, he 
     had been a corps liaison to Congress. He was a favorite of 
     Sen. John C. Stennis (D-Miss.), head of the Senate Armed 
     Services Committee, who became his advocate for full 
     membership on the Joint Chiefs of Staff in October 1978.
       Previously, Marine Corp commandants attended meetings of 
     the Joint Chiefs only when there was business of pressing 
     concern to the corps.
       Louis Hugh Wilson Jr. was born Feb. 11, 1920, in Brandon, 
     Miss. His father was a farmer who died when Louis was 5. He 
     was raised by his mother, and her large, extended family 
     helped them through the Depression.
       As a young man, he sold vegetables from a goat cart. He 
     later studied economics at Millsaps College in Jackson, 
     Miss., where he played football and was on the track team. A 
     Marine Corps recruiter who came to campus persuaded him to 
     enter the service after his graduation in 1941.
       He landed at Guadalcanal, Efate and Bougainville and 
     received the Medal of Honor, the military's highest award for 
     valor, while fighting Japanese forces at Fonte Hill, Guam, on 
     July 25 and 26, 1944. At the time, he was a captain and the 
     commanding officer; of a rifle company.
       Launching a daylight attack against massive machine gun 
     resistance, he pushed his men 300 yards across open terrain 
     and captured a portion of a hill that contained the enemy 
     command post. That night, he took command of other 
     disorganized units and motorized equipment and fortified 
     defenses while risking exposure to enemy fire.
       Wounded three times within five hours, he briefly sought 
     treatment before volunteering to return to duty to defend 
     against counterattacks that lasted through the night.
       At one point, he dashed 50 yards through flying shrapnel 
     and bullets to rescue a wounded Marine beyond the front 
     lines. That was followed by hand-to-hand fighting over a 10-
     hour span, repelling Japanese troops that sought to overrun 
     the Allied lines through 11 full-fledged attacks.
       His Medal of Honor citation continued: ``Then organizing a 
     17-man patrol, he immediately advanced upon a strategic slope 
     essential to the security of his position and, boldly defying 
     intense mortar, machinegun, and rifle fire which struck down 
     13 of his men, drove relentlessly forward with the remnants 
     of his patrol to seize the vital ground.''
       He was credited with a pivotal role in the victory, which 
     included the deaths of 350 Japanese troops. President Harry 
     S. Truman presented him with the Medal of Honor on Oct. 5, 
     1945.
       After the war, he held recruiting and command assignments, 
     graduated from the National War College and served as 
     assistant chief of staff to the 1st Marine Division in 
     Vietnam during the war there.
       He was promoted to brigadier general in 1966 and, after 
     being appointed lieutenant general in 1972, assumed command 
     of the Marine force in the Pacific. His decorations included 
     three awards of the Legion of Merit.
       After retiring from the military in 1979, he served on the 
     corporate boards of such businesses as Merrill Lynch, the 
     financial services company, and Fluor Corp., an engineering 
     and construction company.
       Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Jane Clark Wilson, 
     and a daughter, Janet Taylor, both of Birmingham; and two 
     grandsons.
                                  ____


                        Wilson, Louis Hugh, Jr.

       Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Marine Corps, 
     Commanding Rifle Company, 2d Battalion, 9th Marines, 3d 
     Marine Division. Place and date: Fonte Hill, Guam, 25-26 July 
     1944. Entered service at: Mississippi. Born: 11 February 
     1920, Brandon, Miss. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and 
     intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call 
     of duty as commanding officer of a rifle company attached to 
     the 2d Battalion, 9th Marines, 3d Marine Division, in action 
     against enemy Japanese forces at Fonte Hill, Guam, 25-26 July 
     1944. Ordered to take that portion of the hill within his 
     zone of action, Capt. Wilson initiated his attack in mid-
     afternoon, pushed up the rugged, open terrain against 
     terrific machinegun and rifle fire for 300 yards and 
     successfully captured the objective. Promptly assuming 
     command of other disorganized units and motorized equipment 
     in addition to his own company and reinforcing platoon, he 
     organized his night defenses in the face of continuous 
     hostile fire and, although wounded 3 times during this 5-hour 
     period, completed his disposition of men and guns before 
     retiring to the company command post for medical attention. 
     Shortly thereafter, when the enemy launched the first of a 
     series of savage counterattacks lasting all night, he 
     voluntarily rejoined his besieged units and repeatedly 
     exposed himself to the merciless hail of shrapnel and 
     bullets, dashing 50 yards into the open on 1 occasion to 
     rescue a wounded marine lying helpless beyond the frontlines. 
     Fighting fiercely in hand-to-hand encounters, he led his men 
     in furiously waged battle for approximately 10 hours, 
     tenaciously holding his line and repelling the fanatically 
     renewed counterthrusts until he succeeded in crushing the 
     last efforts of the hard-pressed Japanese early the following 
     morning. Then

[[Page S7389]]

     organizing a 17-man patrol, he immediately advanced upon a 
     strategic slope essential to the security of his position 
     and, boldly defying intense mortar, machinegun, and rifle 
     fire which struck down 13 of his men, drove relentlessly 
     forward with the remnants of his patrol to seize the vital 
     ground. By his indomitable leadership, daring combat tactics, 
     and valor in the face of overwhelming odds, Capt. Wilson 
     succeeded in capturing and holding the strategic high ground 
     in his regimental sector, thereby contributing essentially to 
     the success of his regimental mission and to the annihilation 
     of 350 Japanese troops. His inspiring conduct throughout the 
     critical periods of this decisive action sustains and 
     enhances the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

  Mr. COCHRAN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________