Henry Louis Larsen Henry Louis Larsen ( December 10 , 1890 – October 2 , 1962 ) was a United States Marine Corps Lieutenant General , the second Military Governor of Guam following its recapture from the Empire of Japan , and the first post - World War II Governor of Guam . He also served as the Military Governor of American Samoa alongside civilian Governor of American Samoa Laurence Wild . Larsen was among the first troops overseas in both World Wars . During World War I , he commanded the 3rd Battalion 5th Marines . He participated in numerous battles in France , earning him three Silver Star s , the Navy Cross , the Croix de guerre with palm , and the French Legion of Honour . In between the World Wars , he served during the United States occupation of Nicaragua , where he earned his second Navy Cross , the Presidential Medal of Merit from President of Nicaragua José María Moncada Tapia , and his first Navy Distinguished Service Medal . He served as the Director of Plans and Policies for the Marine Corps until the United States became involved in World War II . He commanded the first troops to leave the United States - the 8th Marine Regiment . During the war he served as military governor of both American Samoa and Guam . On Guam he faced an island with large infrastructure damage from the two battles that had taken place there and undertook a project to transform Guam into a forward military base housing large numbers of troops . In the single largest construction project ever undertaken by the United States Navy , Larsen converted the island into an air and sea base that frequently launched attacks on the main Japanese islands . He also oversaw the capturing of remaining guerilla Japanese forces and contended with race rioting between White and African American sailors and marines . Life . Larsen was born on December 10 , 1890 in Chicago to Andrew A . Larsen , a builder , and his wife . He moved with his family to Denver , Colorado when at the age of 16 . He attended the Army and Navy Academy boarding school . In 1913 , he married Elizabeth Ammons , who was the daughter of Colorado Governor Elias M . Ammons and the sister of another Colorado Governor , Teller Ammons . He was fluent in French , Spanish , and Norwegian and served as a certified interpreter for all three . He died on October 2 , 1962 of a heart attack at his home . He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery . Military service . Larsen joined the United States Marine Corps at the age of 23 ; he earned top marks in a class of 75 at Officer Candidates School . He commanded the 3rd Battalion 5th Marines during World War I . Shortly after being field promoted to the rank of Major , he led a liaison mission on June 25 , 1918 during the Battle of Belleau Wood , for which he received a Citation Star . On October 4 , 1918 , the battalion ' s flanks became exposed while operating alongside the Fourth French Army near Rheims . The Germans attacked multiple times , but despite this the battalion managed for maintain all of the ground they had taken . For Larsen ' s command during the two day defense he was awarded the Navy Cross and a second Citation Star . He received a third Citation Star during the war ; all three were later converted to Silver Star s , making him the recipient of three Silver Star awards . He participated in every major action undertaken by the Marine Corps during the First World War , and was the only member of the 3rd Battalion to serve during the war without being wounded . In 1919 , he French awarded him the Croix de guerre with palm and the Legion of Honour for his actions during the war . After the First World War , he served in a number of posts on both American Samoa , United States holdings in the Caribbean , and in Mexico . He participated in the United States occupation of Nicaragua from April 1 , 1928 to March 26 , 1929 as the Brigade Inspector of the 2nd Brigade and commander of the 3rd Battalion 11th Marines . He earned his second Navy Cross while in this position . He earned the Presidential Medal of Merit from President of Nicaragua José María Moncada Tapia and his first Navy Distinguished Service Medal in 1929 . He was among a few Marine officers who were instructed at the École Militaire in France as part of an officer training exchange program in the 1930s From 1938 to 1940 , Larsen served as the Director of Plans and Policies at the Headquarters Marine Corps in Washington , D . C . . He oversaw the immediate expansion of the Marine Corps following the attack on Pearl Harbor and soon after preceded to American Samoa as the commander of the 8th Marine Regiment , the first combat troops to leave the Continental United States during the war . On June 1943 he assumed command of the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina . He left the post to become Island Commander of Guam on July 21 , 1944 , shortly before becoming governor of the island . Following the war and his governorship , Larsen assumed the position of Commanding General of the Marine Corps Department of the Pacific . He retired a Lieutenant General on November 1 , 1946 . He wrote several military texts on amphibious warfare , a style of warfare that he helped pioneer , and other topics . He earned the Navy Distinguished Service Medal twice , and the Bronze Star Medal once . Governorships . American Samoa . President Franklin D . Roosevelt appointed Larsen the first and only Military Governor of American Samoa on January 15 , 1942 . He served alongside the Naval Governor Laurence Wild . This led to an odd situation where Larsen outranked Wild militarily while , at the same time , Wild held a position of senior authority to Larsen . Larsen negotiated the American occupation of Western Samoa with New Zealand during World War II . Guam . Larsen served as Governor of Guam from August 15 , 1944 to May 30 , 1946 . Larsen mainly concerned himself with military and construction affairs , leaving the day - to - day administration of the island to Commander James Barton , the Deputy Chief Military Government Officer . The government was restructured into a martial one with ten departments to oversee things like education , labor , and public wealth . Much of this remained similar to the naval government in place before the Japanese invasion of the island , though Larsen had increased power to change governmental organization or law by decree . During his tenure , the term " Guamanian " first became popular as opposed to referring to the natives as " Chamorro " as the Chamorro people of Guam and the Japanese held island of Saipan had to be differentiated . He oversaw an effort to round up the remaining Japanese forces who remained on the island . This included a plan in which some senior Japanese prisoners were released under the promise that they would round up other hidden forces and order them to surrender . A number of altercations involving the service of African American serviceman alongside whites ensued while Larsen commanded the island ' s forces . These included the shooting of an African American marine by a white sailor and attacks on African American barracks by whites with smoke grenade s . Despite Larsen issuing a statement calling for respect toward military members of " various races and colors " , the violence continued . It culminated in the commandeering of automatic weapons and trucks by 43 African American sailors in the short - lived Agana race riot , prompting their arrest by Marine Military Police and sentencing of up to four years in prison each . The men eventually obtained their freedom after Walter Francis White , a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People leader , advocated for them by claiming the situation was created by discrimination toward the men mixed with poor leadership in their unit . During the war , he commanded over 215 , 000 personnel on the island and oversaw the development of the island into a major air and sea military base in the single largest construction project in the history of the United States Navy . By the time the war ended , the island contained five air bases and eight air strips , from which many planes made bombing runs on the Japanese mainland . The medical facilities on the island were also revamped , and many of the wounded from engagements like the Battle of Iwo Jima were routed through Guam before returning home . Larsen planned to convert the heavily damaged capital of Agana into a more modern American city with a grid plan similar to Santa Monica , California , but never achieved his " New Agana " . Larsen contended that these improvements also provided easily discernible living condition improvements for the native Chamorro people of the island . Post - military career . After Larsen retired from the Marine Corps , Governor of Colorado Daniel I . J . Thornton appointed him Colorado Civilian Defense Director , a position he held from 1949 through 1959 . Larsen also served as the president of the National Association of State Civil Defense Directors . He used the position to advocate for greater civil defense spending , accusing President Harry Truman of neglecting to fully prepare the nation for war should it come again . Decorations . Lieutenant General Larsen´s ribbon bar :