George Brainard Crist (born January 23, 1931) is a retired four-star general of the United States Marine Corps and was the first Marine to be designated as a Unified Commander — serving as Commander in Chief, United States Central Command from 1985 to 1988

Biography

George B. Crist was born on January 23, 1931, in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

. His father was a career Navy officer. Crist graduated

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

from Villanova University in 1952, where he was in the

NROTC The Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) program is a college-based, commissioned officer training program of the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Origins A pilot Naval Reserve unit was established in September 19 ...

. Later, he received an honorary doctorate from Villanova; and he was honored with Villanova's Alumni Medallion in 1981.

Marine Corps career

Crist was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1952. While a lieutenant, he served in all three active duty Marine divisions. During the Korean War, he served with the

1st Marine Division The 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) is a Marine division of the United States Marine Corps headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the ground combat element of the I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF). It is the ...

in Korea. He returned to the United States in 1955, was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and ordered to

Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. is located at the corner of 8th and I Streets, Southeast in Washington, D.C. Established in 1801, it is a National Historic Landmark, the oldest post in the United States Marine Corps, the official residence of t ...

, where he served as a White House aide under President Eisenhower. In 1959, he graduated from the Advanced Infantry Officers' School,

Fort Benning Fort Benning is a United States Army post near Columbus, Georgia, adjacent to the Alabama–Georgia border. Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees and civilian employees ...

, Georgia, and joined the newly formed U.S. Naval Mission to the Republic of Haiti. By 1963, Crist had returned to the

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 ...

, where he deployed with an infantry battalion to the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

during the 1962

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

. Later, as Assistant Division G-3, he completed airborne training at Fort Benning. His first tour in Vietnam came in 1965. As an advisor to the Vietnamese Joint General Staff, he participated in combat operations throughout the Republic of Vietnam. In 1966, he became aide-de-camp to the

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces Chairman: app ...

. While in that assignment he was promoted to

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. Following his graduation from the Armed Forces Staff College in 1968, he commanded the

2nd Battalion, 6th Marines 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines (2/6) is an infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps based out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Also known as "The Ready Battalion" or "2/6 Spartans", it consists of approximately 800 Marines and Sailors and ...

at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. In 1971, he completed the Air War College as a distinguished graduate, concurrently receiving a master's degree in Political Science 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 ...

. The next year, he returned to the Far East, serving first as a battalion commander in the

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 then with the 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade, assisting in the defense of South Vietnam during the 1972 North Vietnamese Easter Offensive. When he returned to the U.S., he spent three years at Headquarters Marine Corps in Plans and Programs. While in Washington, he was promoted to colonel. In the summer of 1975, Crist was ordered to Headquarters, Fleet Marine Force (FMF), Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, where he served as Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, Chief of Staff, and following his promotion to brigadier general, as Deputy Commander. In 1978, he was transferred to Europe as the deputy director of Operations (J-3),

U.S. European Command The United States European Command (EUCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States military, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Its area of focus covers and 51 countries and territories, including Europe, Russia ...

, where he was actively involved in a series of crisis actions ranging from Iran to Africa. In 1980, Crist was promoted to major general and returned to the United States as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Reserve Affairs. This was followed two years later by a tour with the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the Vice Director, Joint Staff. On Oct. 23, 1983, during a weekend of international crises at the White House, Crist was secretly dispatched from Washington to assist six Caribbean states organize a 300-man Caribbean Peace Force to support the surprise, U.S.-led

invasion of Grenada The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, ...

on Oct. 25. For the next five days, Crist served as the on-scene military liaison between the regional peacekeepers and the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and the CIA. After his return to Washington, Crist on Nov. 2 testified before a Congressional subcommittee on the weapons that were captured from Cubans and Grenadians by American troops in the course of the eight days of hostilities. In 1984, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Installations and Logistics and Quartermaster General and then as Chief of Staff, Headquarters Marine Corps. Crist was promoted to the grade of general in November 1985—the first active-duty Marine to achieve that rank without serving as Commandant or Assistant Commandant of the Corps—and on November 27, 1985, he assumed command of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. At CENTCOM, he helped to run Operation Earnest Will, the escort of reflagged Kuwaiti tankers; Operation Prime Chance, the secret actions against Iranian naval forces; and Operation Praying Mantis, the April 18, 1988, retaliation for the Iranian mining of the USS ''Samuel B. Roberts''. General Crist retired from active duty in December 1988 after more than 36 years of service. Following retirement, he became a military consultant for CBS news in 1990, appearing on national television and radio throughout the Gulf War and during subsequent crises in Africa and the Middle East. The general and his wife Barbara moved to Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1990 after they restored an old house in the Historic District He has earned a BA, cum laude, from Villanova University, an MS in political science from Auburn University, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Military Science by Villanova University. His military decorations include two awards of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the

Defense Superior Service Medal The Defense Superior Service Medal (DSSM) is a military decoration of the United States Department of Defense, which is presented to United States Armed Forces service members who perform superior meritorious service in a position of significant ...

, the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

, the

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

, two individual awards of the Air Medal, and the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Foreign decorations include the Egyptian Meritorious Badge of Honor of the First Degree, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with silver and bronze stars, and the

Vietnamese Honor Medal Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

. General Crist is married to Barbara Clay and they have two sons, William and David.

Awards and decorations

His military decorations include:

Notes

References

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External links