page_title: Edward A. Craig
section_title: Inter-war period
hierarchical_section_title: Edward A. Craig / Military career / Inter-war period
caption_attribution_description: English: USS South Dakota.
context_page_description: Edward Arthur Craig was a commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps, and a decorated combat veteran of World War II and the Korean War who eventually attained the rank of lieutenant general. Craig is best known as the general who commanded the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade during its actions in the Korean War.
context_section_description: In February 1924, Craig met a former commanding officer in a chance encounter and was able to trade places with an officer aboard the Pennsylvania-class cruiser USS Huron, part of the detachment of Marines on that ship. He spent the next two years aboard the ship, traveling throughout the Pacific Ocean. He later said he looked fondly on these years. During the duty, he also participated in several landings in Asia. Troops from the Huron were among an international force that landed in Shanghai, China, in 1924 to protect the Shanghai International Settlement from rival Chinese armies fighting nearby. This duty lasted a month and Craig's force never saw combat. As it was in the midst of its Warlord Era, China's scattered international interests were frequently threatened, and Craig again landed in China, and the force was sent to protect the Peking American Legation from an offensive by the warlord Wu P'ei-fu. He remained in Peking for around a month as part of another international force before returning to the Huron.
  Craig returned to the United States in March 1926, and was assigned to the 4th Marine Regiment at San Diego, California, briefly, before being assigned in June of that year as aide-de-camp to the Major General Commandant at Headquarters Marine Corps, John A. Lejeune, in Washington, D.C.. This post entailed numerous inspection trips and civilian duties with the general, whom Craig later said he liked. Craig remained in this post until Lejeune's retirement in 1929.
  In May 1929, Craig requested to be moved to Nicaragua for duty with the Nicaraguan National Guard. Craig was subsequently sent to serve at Jinotega as one of the staff officers for the local battalion; Craig later said this entailed numerous routine inspections of local outposts and training local troops. Near the end of 1931, Craig joined the Marine Corps Base at San Diego, California, where he remained until June 1933. During this period, he was on temporary duty in Nicaragua under the State Department from June to November 1932. Following a short interval of three months, during which Craig commanded a Marine detachment at Disciplinary Barracks, San Diego, he returned to the Marine Corps Base where he was assigned as a company commander in the 6th Marine Regiment, Fleet Marine Force. In July 1936, he was detailed as the personnel officer in the 2nd Marine Brigade under Colonel Emile P. Moses. Craig joined the Marine Corps Schools at the Marine barracks in Quantico, Virginia, in July 1937, as a student in the Senior Course. Upon graduation in May the following year, he again returned to the Marine Corps Base at San Diego, where he served as instructor in the Platoon Leaders' Course, Inspector-Instructor of Reserve Battalion Field Training, and Base Adjutant.
  From June 1939 to June 1941, he was Marine officer and intelligence officer for Admiral Ernest King aboard the aircraft carriers USS Yorktown and USS Enterprise, and for an interval of four months was stationed at the Naval Air Station at Pearl Harbor. Here, Craig was often on the move with King's staff as they moved and exercised throughout the Pacific Ocean. During this time, he also served under Charles Adams Blakely and William Halsey Jr., each of whom commanded the force for a short time.
caption: The USS Huron, where Craig spent two years as part of the Marine detachment.
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