Leatherneck Warrior : General Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr.

"Retired Marine Colonel Camp presents an excellent biography of the twentieth commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps... Camp has a "just the facts" style that keeps the action moving. Leatherneck Warrior is a concise look at a marine whose life touched many important points in modern American military history." BooklistHero of Belleau Wood, Lemuel Shepherd was the living embodiment of a Marine Corps legend, for Belleau Wood was synonymous with Marine valor and sacrifice.At the age of just 22, after early graduation from Virginia Military Institute following the United Statesentry into World War I, Lemuel Shepherd was made a platoon commander in the 5th Regiment of Marines. His first challenge was to help screen and organize the many recruits needed to convert the company up to war strength. Within just a couple of weeks of reporting for duty, he was on a ship bound for Europe. He would participate in the Aisne-Marne offensive, facing machine guns at the famous battle of Belleau Wood, receiving the DSC and Navy

Marine Corps, introducing a number of important policies that increased military proficiency for the corps.This new biography utilizes Shepherdoral history, a wide range of archival records from the Marine Corps History Division and the Virginia Military Institute, and a personal interview conducted by the author with General Shepherd in the 1980s, to give a fuller picture of the consummate Leatherneck. [Publisher's Text]