MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2005 3rd Extraordinary Session
To: Rules
By: Senator(s) Kirby, Jackson (15th), Clarke, Flowers, Lee (35th), Pickering, Ross, Dearing, Posey, Burton, White, Thames, Michel, Wilemon, Gollott, Butler, Thomas, Morgan, Carmichael, Walls, Little, Jordan, Harden, Davis, King, Brown, Jackson (32nd), Frazier, Jackson (11th), Williamson, Chaney, Doxey, Robertson, Lee (47th), Hyde-Smith, Huggins, Hewes, Mettetal
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMENDING THE LIFE AND GALLANT SERVICE OF GENERAL LOUIS HUGH WILSON, JR., OF BRANDON, MISSISSIPPI, FORMER MARINE CORPS COMMANDANT AND DECORATED WORLD WAR II HERO.
WHEREAS, General Louis Hugh Wilson, Jr., 85, a native of Brandon, Mississippi, 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 on June 21, 2005, at his home in Birmingham, Alabama. He will be buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery; and
WHEREAS, on July 1, 1975, General 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; and
WHEREAS, 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; and
WHEREAS, the Mississippi native was an effective witness on Capitol Hill, prepared and authoritative in this bearing. Earlier, he had been a corps liaison to Congress. He was a favorite of Senator 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; and
WHEREAS, Louis Hugh Wilson, Jr. was born February 11, 1920, in Brandon, Mississippi. 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, Mississippi, 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; and
WHEREAS, 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. 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 October 5, 1945; and
WHEREAS, after World War II, 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 as a Four-Star General, he served on the corporate boards of such businesses as Merrill Lynch, the financial services company, and Fluor Corp., an engineering and construction company; and
WHEREAS, survivors include his wife of 61 years, Jane Clark Wilson (his college sweetheart) and a daughter, Janet Taylor, both of Birmingham, Alabama; and two grandsons; and
WHEREAS, it is with sadness that we note the passing of this most well-known Mississippi military hero, called the "Giant of the Marine Corps," whose chapter in the military history of the United States brings honor to his corps and to the State of Mississippi:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby commend the life and gallant service of General Louis Hugh Wilson, Jr., a native of Brandon, Mississippi, former Marine Corps Commandant and decorated World War II hero, and extend to his surviving family the sympathy of the Legislature on his passing.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to the surviving family of General Wilson, be forwarded to members of Mississippi's congressional delegation and be made available to the Capitol Press Corps.