Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr., 94; Ex-Marine Commandant

Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr., who fought in three wars during his 42 years of Marine Corps service and then became the corps’ commandant and only four-star general, died Monday in San Diego at the age of 94.

Shepherd attended Virginia Military Institute and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marines in May, 1917. Soon he was on his way to France as part of the 5th Marine Regiment.

He fought in two World War I campaigns, the Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Wood battles, and was twice wounded. He was decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross and the French Croix de Guerre.

Between the world wars, Shepherd held a number of assignments, including White House aide-de-camp, commanding officer of the Marine detachment aboard the battleship Idaho with U.S. forces then serving in Haiti, and at the Naval War College.

At the beginning of World War II, then-Col. Shepherd organized and trained the 9th Marine Regiment, which became part of the 3rd Marine Division.

In 1943, he was promoted to brigadier general and became assistant commander of the 1st Marine Division, taking part in the South Pacific campaigns at Cape Gloucester and New Britain.

In 1944, he took command of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade that spearheaded the recapture of Guam from Japanese forces.

Shepherd was then promoted to major general and led the newly organized 6th Marine Division during the battle for Okinawa. At the end of the war, he took the division to Tsingtao, China, where he accepted the surrender of Japanese forces in the region.

When the Korean War began, Shepherd was commanding general of the Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He participated in the Marine landing at Inchon, Korea, and in the evacuation of Marines from Hungnam after the Marine retreat from the Chosin Reservoir when Chinese troops entered the war.

Shepherd became commandant, the Marines’ only four-star general, on Jan. 1, 1952, and was the first commandant to become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Two months after his 1956 retirement, Shepherd was recalled to active duty to serve as the chairman of the Inter-American Defense Board, a post he held for 3 1/2 years.

Shepherd is survived by sons Lemuel C. Shepherd III, a retired Marine colonel, and Wilson E. D. Shepherd, also a former Marine officer, and daughter Virginia Ord, wife of a retired Marine colonel.

He will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.