World War II United States Marine Corps General. Nicknamed "Jiggs," he became the first US Marine officer to lead an American army in combat, which he accomplished during World War II. After completing high school, he attended Florida State Normal and Industrial College (now Florida Memorial University) in Miami Gardens, Florida and received a Bachelor of Law Degree from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. In November 1907 he enlisted in the Marine Corps as a private in St. Paul, Minnesota and was sent to Naval Station Norfolk for his initial training. He spent most of his enlisted time at the Marine Barracks, Washington, DC, where he was also promoted to the rank of corporal in June 1908. After a series of professional examinations and the passing of a Naval Medical Board, he was given a commission as a 2nd lieutenant in February 1909. Following attendance at the Marine Officers' School at Port Royal, South Carolina, he served as a member of the Marine detachments aboard the USS Wisconsin and Delaware. In August 1912, he was assigned to Nicaragua, where he participated in the bombardment, assault and capture of the hills called Coyotepe and Barranca. He was then sent to the Philippines and China with the First Brigade and with the Marine Detachment, American Legation, Peking, China, from 1913 to 1916. In March 1916 he joined Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, as a student naval aviator and successfully completed the course and was designated a naval aviator in June 1917. In July 1918, during World War I, he arrived in France and served with Number 5 Group, British Royal Air Force at Dunkirk, France. He commanded a squadron of the 1st Marine Aviation Force and was attached to the Day Wing, Northern Bombing Group. He returned to the US in January 1919 and from December 1919 to January 1921, he was a squadron commander with the Marine Aviation Force attached to the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade in Haiti. After returning to the US and following duty at the Marine Flying Field, Marine Barracks, Quantico, Virginia, he attended Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, graduating in June 1925. He then returned to Haiti to commanding Observation Squadron Two with the First Marine Brigade. In August 1927, he returned to Quantico as a squadron officer and instructor at the Marine Corps Schools, and in May 1928, he was assigned to duty in the Aviation Section, Division of Operations and Training, at Marine Corps Headquarters, Washington DC. After attending the US Army War College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and graduating in June 1929, he was ordered back to Quantico, where he was assigned duty as Commanding Officer, Aircraft Squadrons, East Coast Expeditionary Force. He returned to Washington DC for duty with Aeronautics, Navy Department as Officer in Charge, Marine Corps Aviation. In June 1935 he returned to Quantico again as Commanding Officer, Aircraft One, Fleet Marine Force, and from June 1939 to March 1941, he was a student at the Senior and the Advanced Courses, Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, followed by a brief tour of duty in the Office of the Naval Attaché, London. In August 1941 he became Commanding General, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, Fleet Marine Force, in which capacity he served upon the US entry into World War II on December 7, 1941. In September 1942, he was stationed at Guadalcanal to lead the Cactus Air Force during the early part of the Guadalcanal Campaign. Until November 4, 1942, he was commander of the combined Army, Navy and Marines Air Forces stationed here as well as the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. In May 1943 he returned to the US to become Director of Aviation at Marine Corps Headquarters. The following November, as a major general, he returned to the Pacific Theater as Commanding General of the 1st Amphibious Corps and led the Corps from November 9, until December 15, 1943, at the Battle of Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea. Redesignated 3rd Amphibious Corps in April 1944, he led this organization in the invasion and subsequent recapture of Guam during July and August 1944, and in the assault and capture of the southern Palau Islands in September and October of the same year. He then led this Corps into action for the fourth time as part of the Tenth Army in the invasion and capture of Okinawa. On June 18, 1945, he assumed command of the Tenth Army following the death in combat of Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. To this day, he remains the only Marine officer to ever hold command of a field army. In July 1945, he was promoted to lieutenant general and assumed duties as Commanding General of the Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, until he was called back to Headquarters Marine Corps in November 1946. He died at the age of 61 shortly before he was scheduled to retire, having continuously served 40 years in the US Marine Corps. He was promoted to the rank of four-star general posthumously by the 80th Congress, effective the date of his death. Among his military decorations and awards include the Navy Cross with one award star, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal with two award stars, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy Presidential Unit Citation with one service star, the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal with two service stars, the Nicaraguan Campaign Medal (1912), the World War I Victory Medal, the Haitian Campaign Medal (1921), the Nicaraguan Campaign Medal (1933), the American Defense Service Medal with base clasp, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with five service stars, and the World War II Victory Medal. Marine Corps base Camp Geiger in North Carolina is named in his honor.