17th Commandant of the Marine Corps
— 1936-1943 —
"You will be the first officer of the Corps to hold the rank of General - the highest rank in our Armed Forces. I know of no other officer to whom that distinction more fittingly belongs."- Secretary of the U.S. Navy, 1944On December 1, 1936, (then) Major General Thomas Holcomb was appointed to the office of Major General of the Marine Corps. Continued beyond the mandatory retirement age - by order of the President - and advanced to Lieutenant General on January 20, 1942, Lieutenant General Holcomb became the highest ranking officer ever to command the United States Marine Corps up to that time.
On January 1, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt - pursuant to an act of Congress - advanced Lieutenant General Holcomb one rank on the retired list. He thus became the first U.S. Marine ever to hold the rank of General.
General Holcomb came home to his native New Castle, Delaware in 1964.
In his honor and memorySemper Fidelis
HM Number | HM12Q5 |
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Tags | |
Year Placed | 1997 |
Placed By | City of New Castle and the U.S. Marine Corps Inspector-Instructor Staff of Wilmington, DE |
Marker Condition | No reports yet |
Date Added | Monday, September 8th, 2014 at 12:32pm PDT -07:00 |
UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 18S E 451578 N 4389835 |
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Decimal Degrees | 39.65695000, -75.56445000 |
Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 39° 39.417', W 75° 33.867' |
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 39° 39' 25.02" N, 75° 33' 52.02" W |
Driving Directions | Google Maps |
Area Code(s) | 302 |
Closest Postal Address | At or near 200 South Pl, New Castle DE 19720, US |
Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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