Carl Epting Mundy Jr. (July 16, 1935 – April 2, 2014) was a

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

four-star general who served as the 30th

Commandant of the Marine Corps The commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) is normally the highest-ranking officer in the United States Marine Corps and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Joint Chiefs of Staff: composition; functions. The CMC reports directly to the secr ...

and a member of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...

from July 1, 1991 until his retirement on June 30, 1995, after 42 years of service. He was notable for his opposition to military service by gay people and for helping to shape the military's "

don't ask, don't tell "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on military service of non-heterosexual people, instituted during the Clinton administration. The policy was issued under Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 on December ...

" policy of 1993. From 1996 to 2000, Mundy served as president and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the United Service Organizations. He was also the chairman of the Marine Corps University Foundation, and served on a number of corporate boards.

Early life and education

Mundy was born on July 16, 1935 in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia. His family moved frequently when he was a young child, settling in

Waynesville, North Carolina Waynesville is a town and the county seat of Haywood County, North Carolina. It is the largest town in North Carolina west of Asheville. Waynesville is located about southwest of Asheville between the Great Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains. As ...

when Mundy was about 10 years old. He graduated from

Sidney Lanier High School Sidney Lanier High School is a public high school in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. History Established in 1910 on the southern outskirts of downtown Montgomery, Alabama, the school was named for a Southern poet, Sidney Lanier, who lived in ...

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

. At age 18, he enlisted in the

U.S. Marine Corps Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned pe ...

Marine career

DD-SD-00-00989 US Marine Corps Commandant, GEN Carl Mundy in 1993

Randy Norfleet with USMC commandant, 1995

Mundy enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve and enrolled in the Platoon Leaders Class Program in December 1953 while attending college – serving in the 38th Special Infantry Company,

and rising to the rank of

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

. He was commissioned a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in June 1957, following graduation from

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

. His later military education included the

Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

and the Naval War College. Mundy's early assignments included service in the

2nd Marine Regiment The 2nd Marine Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps. They are based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and fall under the command of the 2nd Marine Division and the II Marine Expeditionary Force. C ...

2nd Marine Division The 2nd Marine Division (2nd MARDIV) is a division of the United States Marine Corps, which forms the ground combat element of the II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF). The division is based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina ...

; duty aboard the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

and the

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

; instructor at The Basic School; and as

Officer Selection Officer A Marine Corps Officer Selection Officer (OSO) leads a team of Marines and civilian employees in the recruitment of college students and graduates for a Commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. Responsibilities An OSO is r ...

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

. In 1966–67, Mundy served in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

as operations and

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer, o ...

of the 3rd Battalion,

26th Marines The 26th Marine Regiment (26th Marines) is an inactivated infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps. The 26th Marines were activated in 1944 and fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II and were activated again on 1 March ...

3rd Marine Division The 3rd Marine Division is a division of the United States Marine Corps based at Camp Courtney, Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler in Okinawa, Japan. It is one of three active duty infantry divisions in the Marine Corps and together with th ...

, and as an

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

officer in the Headquarters,

III Marine Amphibious Force III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) is a formation of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force of the United States Marine Corps. It is forward-deployed and able to rapidly conduct operations across the spectrum from humanitarian assistance and d ...

. After the Vietnam War, Mundy's principal assignments were: * Aide de Camp to the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps *Inspector & Instructor, 4th Air-Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, Miami, Florida *Commanding Officer,

2nd Battalion, 4th Marines 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines (2/4th Marines) is an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. The battalion, nicknamed the ''Magnificent Bastards'' from the Vietnam War, is based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California and ...

, 3rd Marine Division *Plans Officer, Headquarters Marine Corps *Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence,

*Chief of Staff, Sixth Marine Amphibious Brigade *Commanding Officer,

, 2nd Marine Division from 27 March 1981 - 30 April 1982 and 36th and 38th Marine Amphibious Units. Following advancement to

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

in April 1982, Mundy's assignments were: *Director of Personnel Procurement, Headquarters Marine Corps *Commanding General, Landing Force Training Command,

U.S. Atlantic Fleet The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFF) is a service component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as United Stat ...

, and Commanding General, 4th Marine Amphibious Brigade *Advanced to Major General in April 1986 *Director of Operations, Plans, Policies and Operations Department, Headquarters Marine Corps *Advanced to Lieutenant General in March 1988 *Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans, Policies and Operations, Headquarters Marine Corps; Operations Deputy to the

*Commanding General of the

Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic (FMFLANT) is an American maritime landing force that is spread across the Atlantic Ocean. It is headquartered at Naval Station Norfolk and directs and commands all the subordinate elements of the Navy Expeditiona ...

, the

II Marine Expeditionary Force The II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force consisting of ground, air and logistics forces capable of projecting offensive combat power ashore while sustaining itself in combat without external assistance for a ...

, the Allied Command Atlantic Marine Striking Force, and designated to command Fleet Marine Forces which might be employed in Europe *Promoted to General on July 1, 1991 *

from July 1, 1991 to June 30, 1995

Remarks on minority officers

In an October 31, 1993 segment on the CBS program ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

'' on the dearth of minority promotions in the U.S. Marine Corps, General Mundy was quoted as saying, "In the military skills, we find that the minority officers do not shoot as well as the non-minorities. They don't swim as well. And when you give them a compass and send them across the terrain at night in a land navigation exercise, they don't do as well at that sort of thing." Mundy, noted for being blunt, though possibly the "victim of selective editing", apologized for "any offense that may have been taken" from his remarks. According to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', the general elaborated on this question at a 1993 commemoration of the

Battle of Iwo Jima The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945) was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and United States Navy (USN) landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJ ...

, when commenting on Ira Hayes, he said "Were Ira Hayes here today ... I would tell him that although my words on another occasion have given the impression that I believe some Marines ... because of their color ... are not as capable as other Marines ... that those were not the thoughts of my mind ... and that they are not the thoughts of my heart.

Position on married Marines

Mundy issued an order in 1993 to cut down (and eventually eliminate) the recruitment category for married Marines; the order was rescinded following a public outcry.

Opposition to gay people serving in the military

Mundy was an outspoken opponent of allowing gay people to serve in the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

. As a compromise with others who were less strongly opposed, Mundy shaped the "

Don't ask, don't tell "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on military service of non-heterosexual people, instituted during the Clinton administration. The policy was issued under Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 on December ...

" (DADT) policy, a 1993 law stating that self-identified homosexuals are not eligible for military service. Mundy distributed copies of ''

The Gay Agenda "Gay agenda" or "homosexual agenda" is a term used by sectors of the Christian religious right as a disparaging way to describe the advocacy of cultural acceptance and normalization of non-heterosexual sexual orientations and relationships. The ...

'', a 1992 video asserting that homosexuality is an unnatural sickness, to the other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in an effort to persuade them. In a January 1993 meeting with President Clinton and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mundy said that those who admit to being gay or who associate with Gay Pride "will have a negative effect" and that it "fractures teamwork." For a person to "proclaim: I'm gay" is the "same as I'm KKK, Nazi, rapist." Mundy was signatory to an open letter delivered to

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

and Members of Congress expressing continued support for DADT. The letter said in part, "We believe that imposing this burden on our men and women in uniform would undermine recruiting and retention, impact leadership at all echelons, have adverse effects on the willingness of parents who lend their sons and daughters to military service, and eventually break the All-Volunteer Force." However unlike the 34th commandant, General

James T. Conway James Terry Conway (born December 26, 1947) is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general who served as the 34th Commandant of the Marine Corps. Among his previous postings were Director of Operations (J-3) on the Joint Chiefs of S ...

, Mundy has said that if the restriction were repealed the troops should not be segregated.

Awards and decorations

Mundy's awards include: *Mundy also held several awards of both the Rifle and Pistol Expert Badges. *Note: The gold US Navy Parachute Rigger badge was worn unofficially by USMC personnel in place of US Army parachutist badge from 1942 to 1963 before it officially became the Navy and Marine Corps Parachutist insignia on July 12, 1963 per BuPers Notice 1020. Members of the Marine Corps who attended jump school before 1963 were issued the silver Army parachutist badge but may be depicted wearing the gold Navy Parachute Rigger badge as it was common practice during this time period.

Personal life

Mundy was married and had three children – two sons and a daughter. Both sons were United States Marine Corps officers. One,

Carl E. Mundy III Carl Epting Mundy III (born 1960) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Marine Corps, who last served as commander of the United States Marine Forces Central Command. He previously served as commander of the United States Marine Fo ...

, is a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general.

Death

Mundy died of Merkel cell carcinoma at his home in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

, on April 2, 2014 at the age of 78. A memorial service was held for Mundy on April 12 at the

Marine Corps War Memorial The United States Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) is a national memorial located in Arlington County, Virginia. The memorial was dedicated in 1954 to all Marines who have given their lives in defense of the United States since 177 ...

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

. His funeral and burial service, at First United Methodist Church and Greenhill Cemetery respectively, were held on April 19 in

.. Published April 27, 2014. Accessed 2018-02-28.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mundy, Carl E. Jr. 1935 births 2014 deaths General Dynamics Recipients of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Recipients of the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War United States Marine Corps Commandants United States Marine Corps generals Auburn University alumni Naval War College alumni Recipients of the Gallantry Cross (Vietnam) Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Grand Crosses of Naval Merit Grand Crosses of the Order of the Liberator General San Martin Recipients of the Decoration of Merit People from Atlanta United States Army Command and General Staff College alumni Deaths from Merkel-cell carcinoma