William O . Brice William Oscar Brice , CBE , ( December 10 , 1898 – January 30 , 1972 ) was a United States Marine Corps General and a veteran of the Korean War , the World War II fight for the Solomon Islands and pre - war expeditionary duty in Haiti and China . He last served at Pearl Harbor as Commanding General , Fleet Marine Force , Pacific , after more than three years at Headquarters Marine Corps , Washington , D . C . , as Director of Marine Aviation , Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps for Air and Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Marine Aviation . The general served in Korea as Assistant Commander of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing from April to October 1951 . In World War II , when the Marines were fighting at Guadalcanal in America ' s first offensive against Japan , he commanded all United States Army , Navy , Marine and Royal New Zealand Air Force search , bombing and torpedo planes based on that island . He also headed Marine Aircraft Group 14 during its support of the New Georgia and Bougainville invasion s and directed all Solomons - based Army , Navy , Marine and New Zealand fighter operations against Rabaul , Japan ' s biggest base in the Southwest Pacific . Brice was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for actions at Guadalcanal , the Legion of Merit with Combat " V " as head of the Fighter Command , the Air Medal for combat flights in the Solomons between December 1942 , and February 1944 , and the Order of the British Empire ( with rank of Honorary Commander , Military Division ) for his service with the New Zealand Air Force . In addition , he earned the Bronze Star with Combat " V " in the final months of the war as Chief of Staff , Air , Fleet Marine Force , Pacific . Biography . William Brice was born on December 10 , 1898 , in Columbia , South Carolina . He attended Mt . Zion Institute at Winnsboro , South Carolina from 1913 to 1917 . He then served in the U . S . Army in the latter part of World War I . After the war , he resumed his education , graduating from The Citadel at Charleston , South Carolina in 1921 . On September 25 of that year , he reported for active duty as a U . S . Marine second lieutenant and was assigned to the Company Officers School at Quantico , Virginia . Graduating from the school in July 1922 , he was stationed at the Marine Barracks , Parris Island , South Carolina until May 1923 , when he joined the 1st Marine Brigade in Haiti . He returned from that country in February 1924 , to enter flight training at Pensacola , Florida , where he was designated an aviator that August . In June 1925 , after further instruction at Pensacola and service with Observation Squadron 3 at Quantico , the Brice began another overseas tour of duty , this time with Scouting Squadron 1 on Guam . From Guam he was ordered to China in April 1927 , when most of the squadron was sent there to help protect Americans and other foreigners during the Chinese Civil War . The squadron was withdrawn to the Philippines in May while arrangements for a flying field were made with the Chinese government , and the next month it returned to China to begin operating from Hsin Ho in support of the 3rd Marine Brigade . Returning to the United States in December 1927 , Brice was assigned the following month to Fighter Squadron 9 - M at Quantico where he remained until October 1931 . On November 2 of that year , he reported aboard the aircraft carrier in command of Scouting Squadron 15 - M , which thus began its service as one of the first two Marine squadrons to be based on Navy carriers . ( The other unit , Scouting Squadron 14 - M , boarded the " Saratoga " the same day . ) Brice remained on the " Lexington " until January 1933 . In June 1933 , after six months at San Diego , he returned to Quantico . There , during the next three years , he served on aviation duty , completed the Junior Course and was a member of the War Plans Section . He entered the Army Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field , Montgomery , Alabama in August 1936 , and upon graduation in June of the following year , returned to Quantico to serve as Executive Officer and later , Commander , of Scouting Squadron 1 . After that he was an instructor at Pensacola from June 1939 to August 1941 , when he returned to Quantico , this time as Operations Officer of Marine Aircraft Group 11 ( MAG - 11 ) . Brice moved with MAG - 11 to San Diego in December 1941 , and there , in March 1942 , he assumed command of Marine Aircraft Group 12 . He headed that unit until September 1942 , when he rejoined Marine Aircraft Group 11 as its commander , and the following month he sailed with it ( via New Caledonia ) for the New Hebrides Islands , where the group began feeding planes and pilots into Guadalcanal . In December 1942 , he moved to Guadalcanal to take command of Marine Aircraft Group 14 and all the search , bombing and torpedo planes based there , remaining until April 1943 , when he departed for New Zealand with the group . Brice returned to the Solomons with MAG - 14 in August 1943 , to support the New Georgia and Bougainville operations . The group became the nucleus of the Solomons Fighter Command , and that October Brice was assigned additional duties as head of that organization . He relinquished his command of the group in January 1944 , but continued to head the Fighter Command until he returned to the United States in March 1944 . In September 1944 , after service in various capacities at the Marine Corps Air Station , Cherry Point , North Carolina , General Brice reported to Marine Corps Headquarters , where he served as Executive Officer of the Division of Plans and Policies until June 1945 . The same year he was promoted to brigadier general at the age of 46 , which made him the youngest general officer then in the Marine Corps , and that July he arrived in Hawaii to take over as Chief of Staff , Air , Fleet Marine Force , Pacific . He held that post until May 1947 , and the following month , returned to Marine Corps Headquarters as Assistant Director of Marine Aviation . Leaving Headquarters in May 1949 , the general ' s next tour of duty was at Glenview , Illinois , as a Commander of Marine Air Reserve Training from that July until April 1951 , when he left for Korea to become Assistant Commander of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing . Promoted to major general that August , he returned to Hawaii in October as Deputy Commander , Fleet Marine Force , Pacific , serving in that capacity until March 1952 , when he returned to the United States . He became Director of Aviation the following month , and in August 1953 , when that post was elevated to a lieutenant general ' s billet , he was promoted to that rank . He left Washington , D . C . in July 1955 , and assumed his final command on September 9 of that year . He retired in 1956 and was advanced to the rank of General . General Brice died on January 30 , 1972 at the U . S . Army Hospital , Ft . Jackson , South Carolina . Awards . General Brice has been awarded :