Victor Harold Krulak (January 7, 1913 – December 29, 2008) was a decorated United States Marine Corps officer who saw action in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

[citation needed] While stationed as an observer in Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Krulak took photographs with a telephoto lens of a ramp-bowed landing boat that the Japanese had been using.

Recognizing the potential use of such a craft by the U.S. armed forces, Krulak sent details and photographs back to Washington, but discovered years later that they had been filed away as having come from "some nut out in China".

[citation needed] As a lieutenant colonel in the fall of 1943, he earned the Navy Cross and the Purple Heart on Choiseul Island, where his battalion staged a week-long diversionary raid to cover the Bougainville invasion.

[7] Later, he joined the newly formed 6th Marine Division and took part in the Okinawa campaign and the surrender of Japanese forces in the China area, earning the Legion of Merit with "V" device for valor and the Bronze Star.

Assigned the task of diverting hostile attention from the movements of our main attack force en route to Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville Island, Lieutenant Colonel Krulak landed at Choiseul and daringly directed the attack of his battalion against the Japanese, destroying hundreds of tons of supplies and burning camps and landing barges.

Although wounded during the assault on October 30, he repeatedly refused to relinquish his command and with dauntless courage and tenacious devotion to duty, continued to lead his battalion against the numerically superior Japanese forces.

His brilliant leadership and indomitable fighting spirit assured the success of this vital mission and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.The navy PT boat PT-59, captained by John F. Kennedy, helped evacuate Krulak's force from Choiseul at the end of the operation.

Krulak said that the situation was very good and supported President Ngo Dinh Diem, while Mendenhall claimed the opposite, leading Kennedy to famously ask the pair if they had visited the same country.

In late December 1963, the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, ordered an interdepartmental group to be headed by Krulak with the purpose of studying OPLAN 34A and selecting from it those targets the United States could hit in North Vietnam with the least amount of risk to its people.

Krulak's plans were eventually rejected as Westmoreland favored hammering the enemy into submission through superior firepower and the Johnson administration feared relentless bombing of the North would provoke Soviet and Chinese intervention.

Naval Academy's Distinguished Graduate award, which honors alumni who have "provided a lifetime of service to the nation or armed forces, have made significant and distinguished contributions to the nation via their public service and have demonstrated a strong interest in supporting the Navy or Marine Corps and the United States Naval Academy.

These individuals are the embodiment of the Naval Academy's mission to provide graduates who will be ready '…to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.