Marine Corps Recruit Depot - Yearbook (San Diego, CA)

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MAJOR GENERAL JOHN N. McLAUGHLIN, USMC COMMANDING GENERAL, MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT MAJOR GENERAL JOHN N. McLAUGHLIN. a veteran of World War II. the Korean Conflict, and action in the Republic of Vietnam, assumed command of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California, on September 30. 1969. Following his graduation from Emory University in 1941, he attended Officer Candidate School and was commissioned a second lieutenant. As a captain on Peleliu. he was awarded the Silver Star Metal for gallantry. Following the outbreak of the Korean Conflict, he was assigned as advisor to the 5th Cavalry Regiment (U S. Army) and later as Assistant C-3. X Corps Headquarters, in Korea. While serving in this capacity, he was captured bv the Chinese communists and remained a prisoner for almost three years. Liberated in September 1953. he was awarded the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct. In 1959. following assignments as Marine Corps Schools. Quantico. Va., and Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion. 5th Marines, he was promoted to colonel. Later, he was assigned as the Marine Corps Aide to the Under Secretary of the Navy, and then was named Marine Corps Liaison Officer to the Chief of Naval Operations. In 1965. lie graduated from the National War College. Washington. D C., obtained a Master's Degree in International Affairs at George Washington I niver-sitv. Next' he became Commanding Officer of the 6th Marines. 2nd Marine Division, and subsequently Chief of Staff of that division Promoted to brigadier general in 1967. he was assigned to the United States Strike Command. He earned a Gold Star in bcu of a second Legion of Merit for service in this capacity. lie became Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Marine Division in Vietnam in February 1968. then transferred to the staff of the Military Assistance Command. Vietnam, in Saigon, where he served as Director. Combat Operations Center. For his service in Vietnam, the general earned the Distinguished Service Medal and three other decorations. He was promoted to major general in September 1969. and later designated Commanding General. Marine Recruit Depot. San Diego.

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 DEPOT PANORAMA. The Marine Corps Recruit Depot. San Diego. California, as seen from the air. The large structure in the foreground is the Administration Building; the Quonset huts and H” shaped buildings on the right are recruit barracks. Center is the gigantic parade ground. The Depot s 482 acres comprise one of the show places' of the Marine Corps.

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COLONEL EDMUND G. DERM NC COMMANDING OFFICER, RECRUIT TRAINING REGIMENT COLONEL EDMUND G. DERNING. a native of Chicago, Illinois, enlisted in tlu Marine Corps in 1942 following graduation from North Park Junior College. He served three years as a member of the 4th Marine Raider Battalion before he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant at Quantico, Virginia in 1945. After initial assignments as a platoon commander and rifle company commander in such places as Peiping and Shanghai, China, on the island of Guam, and at Camp Lcjeune. North Carolina. Colonel Doming served as Officer-in-Charge of the Marine Detachment in Ixmdon, England, from 1951 to 1953. Following a tour in Japan with the Fourth Marines, and a year in Korea with the Fifth Marines, lie next served with Marine artillery units at Twenty-Nine Palms, California. From 1958 to 1961 Colonel Deming was the Inspector-Inst motor, 54th Rifle Company, Marine Corps Reserve, at New Castle, New Hampshire. Returning to Camp Pendleton, he served with the First Marines and deployed with that unit to the Caribbean during the Cuban Crisis in 1962. fie was transferred to the Western Pacific in 1964 where he commanded the Second Battalion. Ninth Marines in amphibious operations on the coast of Vietnam. Following a tour at Headquarters Marine Corps, he served on the Staff of Commander Amphibious Group Two. Upon a second deployment to Southeast Asia in 1969. he was initially assigned to the staff of the Third Marine Amphibious Force Headquarters and later to the First Marine Division. Colonel Deming has attended several major military schools, including the Field Artillery Transition Course at Fort Sill. Oklahoma, as well as the Special Warfare Staff Officers Course and Counterinsurgency Course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He also is a graduate of the Marine Corps Staff and Command College in Quantico. Virginia and the Naval War College in Newport Rhode Island Colonel Deming was promoted to his present rank in May of 1969 and commanded the Seventh Marine Regiment in combat in the Republic of Vietnam from March 1970 until his transfer to the Recruit Depot and assumption of command of the Recruit Training Regiment on September 18, 1970. He has been awarded the Legion of Merit with combat distinguishing device for his exceptionally meritorious service in the Republic of Vietnam.