George C Reid
George was born on the 9th of December 1876, in Lorain, Ohio, and he was named after his father’s brother who was a veteran of the American Civil War. George joined the US Marine Corps in 1898, receiving a commission to Second Lieutenant on the 20th of May, and had assignments during the Spanish-American War and the Boxer Rebellion before deploying to Nicaragua in 1912. When the US sent troops into Veracruz, Mexico, George was a Major and his actions during the two days of fighting earned him the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:
For distinguished conduct in battle, engagements of Vera Cruz, 21-22 April 1914; was eminent and conspicuous in command of his battalion; was in the fighting of both days and exhibited courage and skill in leading his men through action. His cool judgment and courage and his skill in handling his men in encountering and overcoming the machine-gun and rifle fire down Cinco de Mayo and parallel streets account for the small percentage of the losses of marines under his command.
George received the Medal of Honor the following year on the 4th of December 1915, and he was then assigned to the Dominican Republic in command of the Dominican National Guard, until 1921. He then attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, before commanding the Marine barracks at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. George was married to Mary in 1904 and I saw no records of the couple having any children. His final command, after graduating from the Army War College in 1925, was of the Marine Corps Recruiting Division in Chicago, and George retired at the rank of Brigadier General on the 1st of September 1930, after thirty-two years of service. Coincidentally, his uncle, for whom he shared the exact same name, also had retired from the Marine Corps at the rank of Brigadier General: his uncle’s photo is commonly mislabeled as the younger George. George Croghan Reid died on the 19th of February 1961, at the age of 84. He is buried with his wife in Arlington National Cemetery: Section 2, Lot 1096-A-LH.
