Pat Dollard

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Marine Corps Times:

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. — He was small in stature but a tough warrior and visionary credited with helping fight off attempts in Washington to abolish the Marine Corps.

In his retirement, Lt. Gen. Victor H. “Brute” Krulak became an icon revered among Marines. So it was fitting that about 500 people, including former commandants and seasoned combat veterans, joined family members at the Marines Airmen Memorial Chapel here Thursday to remember Krulak, who died Dec. 29 in San Diego. He was 95.

Six noncommissioned officers — corporals and sergeants — carried the wooden, flag-draped casket from the hearse and into the chapel. Wearing ornate vestments, Victor Krulak Jr., a Navy chaplain and Episcopal priest, led the procession after honors by the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing band and presided over his father’s funeral.

Krulak’s other sons, William and Charles, the latter of whom served as Marine Corps commandant from 1995 to 1999, followed the casket escorted by Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, commanding general of I Marine Expeditionary Force and commander of Marine Corps Forces Central Command.

Victor Krulak Jr. thanked the mourners for coming to honor “my father, our friend, our mentor.” In his homily, he relayed personal, heart-warming tales of growing up in the rigid Krulak household, where punctuality was enforced and the three boys had to pen “thank you” notes for just about every occasion.

“Grief is a natural and normal emotion when we’re faced with the loss of a member of the family or a friend or a mentor, or, in the case of my father, an icon,” he said. “But that emotion cannot be for him, but for ourselves.”

“The strife is over, the battle done, the victory of life is won,” he added. “And the Marines who guard heaven’s streets had best be squared away.”

Victor “Brute” Krulak stood 5 feet, 4 inches tall and was considered one of the last of the “Old Breed.” After commissioning from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1934, his career spanned three wars, stretching from World War II’s Pacific island campaigns, where he earned a Navy Cross, to Korea and Vietnam, where he moved up to command Fleet Marine Forces-Pacific from 1964 to 1968.

In 1984, he published “First to Fight,” which ultimately became a regular on the commandant’s must-read list. The book reminds Marines of their proud past and makes an argument for why the nation needs the Corps.

Robert Coram, an author who is writing a book about the late Krulak, said he “was one tough Marine. He lived up to his nickname.”

“Colonels would retire rather than serve under him,” he said, prompting some laughs. Yet the late Krulak was compassionate, he added.

Victor Krulak is credited with helping fight a post-World War II effort pressed largely by Army officers to unify the military services, in effect eliminating the Marine Corps. He was one of 12 officers known as the “Chowder Society,” which successfully lobbied Congress to pass the National Security Act of 1947, setting the Corps’ roles, missions and existence into law.

“Take comfort in knowing the Marine Corps is most ready when the nation is least ready,” Coram said. “For all this, we can thank General Krulak.”

He was not one to withhold his honest opinion. In 1966, for example, he met with his President Lyndon B. Johnson to discuss the progress in Vietnam. The president asked: What is it going to take to win?

Krulak advocated devastating attacks on key ports in Haiphong that allowed supplies to reach the Ho Chi Minh Trail. But the president, who stood 6-foot-3, would hear none of that.

“As soon as he heard me speak of mining and unrestrained bombing of the ports, Mr. Johnson got to his feet, put his arm around my shoulder and propelled me firmly toward the door,” Krulak wrote in “First to Fight.” “It was plain to me then that the Washington civilian leadership was taking counsel with its fears.”

The incident is believed to be one reason why Krulak wasn’t appointed commandant. He retired in 1968, ending a 34-year career.

“He had everything to lose when he went to the White House and confronted President Johnson,” Coram said. “… But there is always a price to pay for doing the right thing. … He did not receive his fourth star. But he did receive something that had eluded President Johnson, a lasting reputation as a man of integrity.”