Holland Smith

Holland McTyeire "Howlin' Mad" Smith, KCB (April 20, 1882 – January 12, 1967) was a general in the United States Marine Corps during World War II.

[1] On the eve of World War II, General Smith directed extensive Army, Navy, and Marine amphibious training, which was a major factor in successful U.S. landings in both the Atlantic and Pacific.

In April 1906, after completing the School of Application at Annapolis, Maryland, Smith sailed for the Philippines, where he served on expeditionary duty with the 1st Marine Brigade until September, 1908.

He returned to the United States the following month and was stationed at the Marine Barracks, Annapolis, until December 1909, when he embarked for expeditionary duty in Panama.

During that unit's operations against native insurgents, he saw action in the march to Santiago and engagements at La Pena and Kilometer 29.

Returning to the United States on May 30, 1917, he sailed for France and World War I just two weeks later as commander of the 8th Machine Gun Company, 5th Marines.

Smith was detached from the 5th Marines and sent to the Army General Staff College of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) at Langres, from which he graduated in February 1918.

He was then named adjutant of the 4th Marine Brigade, which was a part of the U.S. Army's 2nd Division, serving in a relatively quiet sector, southeast of Verdun.

His next four years included duty at Norfolk, Virginia; study at the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island; and service in Washington, D.C., with the War Plans Section of the Office of Naval Operations, where he was the first Marine officer to serve on the Joint Army-Navy Planning Committee.

From June 1933 to January 1935, he commanded the Marine barracks at the Washington Navy Yard, then and served the following two years at San Francisco, California, as chief of staff, Department of the Pacific.

[4] General Smith then assumed command of the 1st Marine Brigade at Quantico, taking that unit to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for extended amphibious training in October 1940.

He returned with the division to Quantico in April 1941, and in June of that year he was detached from it to take command of the organization that eventually became the Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet.

While planning for the 1945 assault on Okinawa, U.S. Navy Admirals Raymond Spruance and Richmond Turner wanted Smith to command the invasion forces.

He was interred with full military honors in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery overlooking San Diego harbor and North Island.

Brigadier General Charles A. Doyen (left), commanding the 4th Marine Brigade, and some members of his brigade staff, at Damblain , France, February 1918. To Doyen's right is Major Holland Smith, the brigade adjutant .
Brigadier General James Harbord , Doyen's successor as commander of the 4th Marine Brigade, and members of his brigade staff, including Smith, May 1918.
Smith in the "Commanding General's" tent in Guam, 1944
Smith's gravestone at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery , San Diego