Preparing For Victory

A Nation going through an economic crisis, a military firmly in the crosshairs of a budget-constrained environment, and a commander who believes they are preparing for an existential fight against not only an imminent threat to the Nation, but also against the other Services. Are these statements pulled from the headlines? No, this was the operating reality of the 17th Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen Thomas Holcomb. The only thing more extraordinary than his contributions to the organization and marketing of the Marine Corps was his ability to transform an anemic Corps—18,000 in 1936—into a fighting force numbering more than 385,000 by 1943 equipped with the training, logistics, and fighting spirit to drive the Japanese from the Pacific Islands. The biographical history of the 17th Commandant could easily be titled From Belleau Wood to Iwo Jima as he served, and was instrumental, during arguably the most dynamic period in Marine Corps history.

The calm personality and unselfish leadership traits, which would help Thomas Holcomb become the Marine behind the scenes during World War II, emerged early in his life. Holcomb was raised in the Washington area to parents whose lineage went back generations prior to the Revolution. Despite his father’s education as a lawyer, when the family fortunes fell on hard times during the depression of the mid-1890s, Holcomb sacrificed his aspirations to attend the U.S. Naval Academy to work in a steel mill to help support the family. Although, at the time, work in a steel mill was not his preferred lot in life, the eye for detail and organizational structure that he learned in the mill were to stand him in good stead later in his Marine Corps career. He never did attain a bachelor’s degree, but due to his father’s Washington connections and his own performance on a difficult entrance exam, he was given an opportunity to become a Marine officer in 1900.

Holcomb entered a Marine Corps under assault and desperately searching for a mission and was almost immediately immersed in the omnipresent conversation about the future of the Marine Corps. Interestingly, it was not his family connections or his interest in the future of the Marine Corps that offered his first big break as a junior officer, but rather it was his skill with a rifle. As an avid marksman, his abilities with a rifle led him to be the aide to none other than Teddy Roosevelt. While on multiple tours in Washington, Holcomb would have the opportunity to rub shoulders with Col John A. Lejeune, Maj Pete Ellis, and even Franklin D. Roosevelt, experiences that would serve him well with 6th Marines at Meuse-Argonne, St. Mihiel, Chateau Thierry, and Soissons during “The Great War.” But rather than the past, it was “War Plan Orange,” or the war against the Japanese Imperial Navy in the Pacific Ocean, that would be the subject and the conflict that would dominate Holcomb’s career from captain to general. Although Holcomb had a respectable combat career, his greatest Marine Corps accomplishment was undoubtedly his ability to maneuver in the shark-infested political and bureaucratic waters of the capital while keeping his officer peers focused keenly on amphibious development and training for the imminent Pacific conflict.

The strength of the monograph is the way that Ulbrich weaves the interwar history of the Nation and the Marine Corps, the personal touch of a biographical story, and an organizational and management philosophy into a tightly bound and compelling story. He makes his case effectively that Holcomb was overlooked and should be considered a “mini-Marshall” who warrants historical reexamination for his role as an innovative interwar Commandant and an effective wartime leader. Ulbrich points out that Holcomb’s most significant contributions were as a bureaucratic, political, and logistical wingman who provided top cover for Gen A.A. Vandegrift and Gen H.M. Smith as they led the Marines grinding out victories in the Pacific. It may be tempting to consider Holcomb’s career simply through the prism of the war, but Ulbrich helps the reader understand the lasting and transformational changes cultivated by Holcomb, which created a bridge to the modern Marine Corps. Ulbrich explains in detail why Holcomb earned a place on a very short list of Marines who truly transformed the Marine Corps and were responsible for transformational, philosophical, and organizational change. The Corps is full of antiheroes and questionable characters, and if there was a single flaw in the otherwise unblemished character of Gen Thomas Holcomb, it was his views on race and women and their inclusion in the Marine Corps. However, Ulbrich even brings this untidy reality to a satisfactory conclusion by documenting Hol-comb’s work as minister to South Africa and his efforts to inform the world of the horrors of apartheid.

David Ulbrich’s offering is an excellent and worthwhile book for the casually interested reader, Marines interested in the organizational history of the Corps, and the ardent Marine Corps historian. At points the reader will look again at the front cover, wondering if he picked up a business strategy or management philosophy book by mistake. Far from being a distraction, this focus on the organizational transformation of the headquarters element during the late 1930s illustrated how, although the Marine Corps was not ready to fight during the opening days of World War II, Holcomb ensured that the structure was in place to get the Marines ready to fight . . . and win.

Ulbrich’s research is deep, detailed, and archive based, which adds a rich texture without undue focus on minutiae. In the end, Gen Thomas Holcomb was exactly what the Corps needed at that moment in history—a “rare combination of leadership talents and managerial skills combined with a strong intellect and calm temperament.” His efforts helped transform the Marine Corps of the 1920s from a vestigial arm of the U.S. Navy into a uniquely capable and powerful military instrument.

PREPARING FOR VICTORY: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of the Modern Marine Corps, 1936–1943.
By David J. Ulbrich.
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2011
ISBN 9781591149033, 285 pp.
$35.95 (Member $32.35)