Chapter 19
The Golden Years of “Chesty” Puller
By Owen Linlithgow Conner, Chief Curator
Featured artifacts: Humidor with Pipe (2006.24.1 and 2006.24.3); Door Plate (2006.24.8a); Bulldog Figurine (2006.24.18); and Identification Card (2006.24.21a)
Throughout 250 years of U.S. Marine Corps history, there is one Marine most often cited as the greatest of all time—Lewis Burwell Puller. Best known by his nickname “Chesty,” he remains a legendary figure to this day, equally beloved by Marine officers and enlisted alike. Puller was a five-time Navy Cross recipient, and the tales of his heroism and bravery are encyclopedic in volume, with a corresponding collection of medals and awards to match.[1]
Aside from his battlefield heroics, there was more to the man, particularly in the later years of his life. After retiring from the Marine Corps in 1955, Lieutenant General Puller returned to his home state of Virginia. This phase of life did not come easily to the general, but he soon adapted, with all the hallmarks one might expect of the quintessential Marine. Always a devoted husband to his wife, Virginia, he promised her that he would be mindful of his failing health, in the same surprisingly uncharacteristic sensitive manner as he had done in correspondence with her during their first years of courtship.
Puller was a devoted father to his two daughters and son and never compromised in providing for their education and needs, despite his limited savings. From the early days of his marriage, he had promised to buy his devoted wife a home of her own with two chimneys. They found their idyllic cottage in Virginia’s hometown of Saluda, Virginia.[2]

Lewis B. Puller received numerous honors as a Marine. In retirement, he was also a loving father and husband.
Marine Corps History Division.
In 2006, the National Museum of the Marine Corps received a large donation of personal items and artifacts from the family of Lewis B. Puller. Among these were the general’s personal smoking pipes, favorite books from his beloved library, and Marine Corps-themed mementos. These artifacts are an important reminder of the humanity of this legendary Marine. The lore of the bulldog-faced general often portrays him as superhuman, but this is untrue. Lewis Puller was a simple enlisted Marine who rose through the ranks and met extraordinary challenges. He was also a loving husband and father who lived in retirement in a small town in Virginia.

Puller displayed this ceramic Marine bulldog prominently in his personal library in retirement.
Photo by Jose Esquilin, Marine Corps University Press.

Puller was a lifelong pipe smoker. This humidor and pipe stand was a gift to the general from his fellow Marines.
Photo by Jose Esquilin, Marine Corps University Press.

Puller’s official government identification card used in retirement.
Photo by Jose Esquilin, Marine Corps University Press.
The General Retires, 1955
Chesty Puller’s official retirement ceremony was an anticlimactic end to his amazing career. Already a major general, he received his third star during the ceremony, being promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. Puller refused to have a large celebration. The event was limited to two news correspondents, a Marine captain and gunnery sergeant, and Sergeant Major Robert L. Norrish. In a heartfelt gesture to his Marines, Puller had asked Norrish to pin his new rank insignia on his uniform. The sergeant major had served under Puller as a private in 1926. In the subsequent interview with the correspondents, Puller explained that he had chosen Norrish because he “wanted to show my great admiration and appreciation to the enlisted men in the Marine Corps and the junior officers.” When asked if there was any moment of his career that he regretted, Puller informed them that it was only the present moment, and the fact that he “won’t be present for the next war.” As the final photos were taken, his last official words were, “I hate like hell
to go.”[3]
Despite his reluctance to leave the Marine Corps, Puller regrouped and set about doing the best that he could for his family. Puller’s wife’s mother, Virginia Evans, had recently been in a serious traffic accident. He was fond of his mother-in-law and wanted to support her and his wife. So, he set aside his initial plans to move to Richmond, Virginia, to keep his family together and happy in his wife’s hometown of Saluda.[4]
The Puller’s Dream Home
About 160 kilometers from Quantico, Virginia, Saluda is adjacent to the lower Rappahannock River. During the 1960s, fewer than 200 people lived there. With his booming voice and diminutive stature, Chesty Puller was never one to blend in with a crowd—particularly when the town and surrounding area could barely form one. Interviews with local Saluda (and nearby West Point, Virginia) citizens recall Puller’s retirement fondly. In 1962, Marine correspondent Master Sergeant Robert S. Kinsman quoted the town’s treasurer as saying, “Lewis is around town just about every day. He never bothers to take his car and says people are getting too lazy to enjoy a walk these days.” Every Sunday, Puller attended Christ Church, where his occasional speeches to the congregation made them “sit up and take notice.” Chesty had grown up just 25 kilometers away in West Point. There he was a star football, baseball, basketball, and track athlete, despite weighing a mere 135 pounds.[5]

Lewis Puller with his wife, Virginia, on the front steps of their home in Saluda, VA.
Marine Corps History Division.
The Puller family home was a modest one-and-a-half story cottage. The land was neatly landscaped, with ample room for trees, hedges, and pathways, and the interior of the home held enough room for the family’s favorite antiques and Puller’s expansive military history library. The home’s most unique feature were the twin fireplaces and chimneys located on each side of the structure. Virginia Puller had always admired similar homes with dual chimneys, and Chesty was proud to finally have one for her after nearly 40 years of military service across the United States and the world.

Puller enjoys a walk at his family home in Saluda, VA.
Marine Corps History Division.
Puller was a prolific reader and treasured his personal library. Many of his books were about the American Civil War, in which his grandfather was killed. His books were often dated and inscribed with his personal notes or noted as gifts from the authors. A particular favorite was Douglas Southall Freeman’s Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command. This three-volume Civil War classic discussed the leadership and personal qualities of the various Confederate officers, and Puller took meticulous notes from it, neatly underlining specific qualities and attributes that caught his eye. Some of his most beloved books were gifts sent to him during World War II from his wife. These were dated and notated, showing that even while at war, Chesty Puller took time to study and learn from the past.[6]

Puller’s personal library was filled with military history. In retirement, he enjoyed hours of reading and relaxing with his customary pipe in hand.
Marine Corps History Division.
Caring Husband: Chesty’s Love for Virginia Puller
Puller’s sensitivity and affection for his wife may come as a surprise to those who have only heard the mythology of the spartan Marine. As a young Marine, Puller found little time for romance or any distraction from his profession. This all changed, however, when he was home on leave and attended a local cotillion in 1923. There, he encountered Virginia Montague Evans. She was the daughter of a Puller family friend and had grown from a freckle-faced child to a young woman. Puller was 27 years old, and she was just 16. Years later, Puller’s eldest daughter recalled that “winning her hand was his hardest battle.”[7] Despite numerous proposals, it would take nearly 14 years of tender letters and courtship before Virginia finally surrendered to the Marine captain. Chesty was 40 years old and Virginia 29 when they finally agreed to marry in 1937.

Lewis and Virginia Puller’s wedding invitation from Christ Church in 1937.
Marine Corps History Division.
Even when separated across vast distances, Puller never failed to write to his wife to express his love and admiration for her. In 1941, in the months immediately prior to the U.S. entry into World War II, Puller was assigned to the dwindling Marine Corps forces in China. Despite the constant fear of hostilities erupting, he still found time to write home. In his letters, Puller professed his continual love for Virginia and their newborn daughter. He requested that his wife send him monthly photos of their child and lovingly insisted that if she misbehaved, he could not bear the thought of punishing her; the baby girl reminded him too much of his beloved wife and it would break his heart to do so. By all family accounts, this remained true for the duration of Puller’s life with his children. The fierce old Marine simply loved his children too much to seriously punish them.[8] In the Puller household, it was Virginia who enforced the family rules and Marine Corps discipline.
Love of His Children
Puller became a father for the first time on 27 May 1940 with the birth of his daughter Virginia McCandlish Puller. She was born in Shanghai, China, while Puller was assigned to the 4th Marine Regiment, and he was immensely proud of the accomplishment. In letters to his family, he dutifully noted, “Ordinarily I don’t brag but I believe I have a right to now.” China in the summer of 1940, however, was not a good place or time to raise a family. Japanese aggression in the region had only increased since the Battle of Shanghai in 1937, and the U.S. military was in the process of relocating large portions of its forces in the area to avoid direct conflict. When Puller was notified that Marine Corps dependents were to return to the United States, it was one of the “happiest days of his life,” as he could rest easier knowing that his wife and daughter would be safe if war occurred. By January 1941, his daily letters home to both of his “Virginias” professed his attachment to both and how he missed them more and more each moment they were apart.[9]

The Puller family poses for a picture, ca. 1950.
Marine Corps History Division.
As his oldest child, Puller was always proud of Virginia McCandlish. She was his brightest child academically and a perennial straight-A student.[10] Shortly after she graduated from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1961, she married a young Marine officer, Second Lieutenant William H. Dabney. Dabney was previously a Marine sergeant who graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, in 1960.[11] Puller’s son-in-law was a proud addition to the family. He would eventually rise to the rank of colonel and received the Navy Cross and Silver Star for his heroism in commanding Marines on Hill 881 South during the Vietnam War.
In August 1945, Puller proudly welcomed the surprise dual birth of his daughter Martha Leigh Puller and son Lewis Burwell Puller Jr. The twins’ birth came at an uncharacteristically quiet time for the Puller family when Chesty had returned stateside during the last months of World War II. Puller celebrated having a son by purchasing the newborn an army of tin soldiers that same Christmas. Martha was Puller’s star athlete who excelled in swimming. Like her older sister, she would go on to marry another young Marine officer, Michael P. Downs.[12] Downs rose to the rank of brigadier general and served as the commanding officer of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Puller’s son Lewis Jr. always held a special place in his father’s heart. From an early age, Chesty encouraged his son’s love for the outdoors and baseball, often accompanying him in these hobbies. Despite some setbacks in the young man’s life (he had briefly attended the Virginia Military Institute for one year before transferring to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia), Puller always stood by and encouraged his son. The general made a concerted effort to not force Lewis Jr. into a path following in his own footsteps, but Lewis Jr. nevertheless joined the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. Lewis Jr. was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 1 February 1968. In recalling his father’s affection for him, Lewis Jr. told a story of their last talk before he deployed to Vietnam. Puller tried to encourage his son with a historical story, but the old general broke down and wept before finishing his speech. With his father’s embrace, Lewis Jr. noted that it was the first time he had ever seen his father cry.[13]

Lewis B. Burwell Jr. was commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1968.
Marine Corps History Division.
Lewis Jr. was deployed to South Vietnam in August 1968. He arrived as a replacement officer following the horrific Battle for Hue City during the Tet Offensive. He commanded a rifle platoon with Company G, 2d Battalion, 1st Marines, the same regiment his father had commanded during the Korean War. In short order, Lewis Jr. was lightly wounded by an enemy booby trap, receiving his first Purple Heart. On 11 October 1968, his company was conducting a cordon-and-search operation in a Vietnamese village. During the enemy’s subsequent attack, Lewis Jr. stepped on a booby trap constructed from a 105-millimeter artillery shell. The tremendous explosion severed the young lieutenant’s legs, removed portions of both hands, and caused severe internal injuries. Only the skill of the company’s corpsman was able to save Lewis Jr. from immediate death. He was taken to the military hospital in Da Nang before being sent to Japan for higher levels of treatment. The news of Chesty Puller’s son’s wounding became national news in the United States. Puller learned of his son’s fate in a call from the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Lewis W. Walt.[14] Deeply grieving, Puller immediately attempted to travel to Japan to see his son. Official correspondence within the Marine Corps documents the office of General Walt preparing to attempt to assist in Puller’s transportation.[15] Despite the doctor’s concerns, Lewis Jr. was soon transported back to the United States for continuing treatment. In Lewis Jr.’s later Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography Fortunate Son: The Healing of a Vietnam Vet, the young Marine recalled the first time his father saw him in the hospital. As Chesty stood by his son’s bed, his initial attempts to remain unshaken quickly failed, and the general wept silently. Lewis Jr. was unable to move to try to console him. As he remembered, “It was only the second time in my life that I had seen my father cry, and as the nurse led him from my room, I felt an aching in my heart that all but eclipsed the physical pain from my wounds.”[16]
Puller’s age, coupled with the strain of his son’s wounds, took a severe toll on his life from this point forward. Chesty would have a series of strokes in the following years. In 1970, he was hospitalized for months following an intense seizure. Pneumonia and kidney failure followed, with the general spending his last days in an assisted living facility. When Puller passed away on 11 October 1971, his devoted son Lewis Jr. was by his side.[17]

LtGen Lewis B. Puller’s fifth and final Navy Cross medal.
Photo by Jose Esquilin, Marine Corps University Press.
During his 37 years in the Marine Corps, Lewis B. Puller received five Navy Crosses, the Army Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, and two Legions of Merit. He received nearly 20 other campaign and service awards dating from the Banana Wars through the Korean War. However, despite his history as the most decorated Marine in the history of the Corps, he cherished one honor as much as all of these put together—his home and the title of loving husband and father to his beloved family.
Endnotes
[1] The Navy Cross was created in 1919. It is the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps’ second highest award for extraordinary heroism, second only to the Medal of Honor. Initially granted for both distinguished service and heroism in combat, the Navy Cross was limited to a combat-only valor medal in 1942.
[2] Col Jon T. Hoffman, USMCR, Chesty: The Story of Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller, USMC (New York: Random House, 2001), 503.
[3] Hoffman, Chesty, 500–1.
[4] Hoffman, Chesty, 501.
[5] MSgt Robert S. Kinsman, “Official U.S. Marine Corps Release no. 9-62” (Quantico, VA: Informational Services Office, Marine Corps Schools, n.d.), 1–2.
[6] National Museum of the Marine Corps Collection File 2006.24.
[7] Ellen Robertson, “Virginia Puller, General’s Widow, Dies at Age 97,” Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, 8 February 2006.
[8] Hoffman, Chesty, 128–29.
[9] Hoffman, Chesty, 126.
[10] Hoffman, Chesty, 468.
[11] Hoffman, Chesty, 522.
[12] Hoffman, Chesty, 531.
[13] Hoffman, Chesty, 532.
[14] Hoffman, Chesty, 533.
[15] 1stLt Lewis B. Puller Jr., Official Biographical File, Archives Branch, Marine Corps History Division, Quantico, VA.
[16] Lewis B. Puller Jr., Fortunate Son: The Healing of a Vietnam Vet (New York: Grove Press, 1991), 162.
[17] Hoffman, Chesty, 535.