William K . MacNulty U . S . Marine Corps Brigadier General ( United States ) William Kirk MacNulty ( May 22 , 1892 - August 3 , 1964 ) was a U . S . war hero , first as a U . S . Marine Corps Captain during the Second U . S . Nicaraguan Campaign ( 1926 - 1933 ) , and , later , again , as the , then , Lieutenant Colonel , who commanded the U . S . Marine Corps defense of Guam against overwhelming Imperial Japanese forces during the Second World War ’ s First Battle of Guam and who was , there , following , incarcerated by the Japanese as a P . O . W . Brig . Gen . William MacNulty is buried at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno , San Mateo County , California . Battle of Guam . At the very outbreak of WWII , during the Battle of Guam on December 8 , 9 and 10 , 1941 , then , Lt . Col . MacNulty ’ s 153 man U . S . Marine barracks of a tiny U . S . Armed Forces island garrison of 424 , outfitted with only small arms and mounted . 30 caliber machine guns , defended Guam against the successful attack of then Japanese Maj . Gen . Tomitarō Horii ’ s 5 , 500 man ground force , supported by the Japanese Fourth Fleet ’ s heavy cruiser Japanese cruiser " Aoba " , destroyers " Yuzuki " , " Kihuzuki " , " Uzuki " and " Oboro " , 12 naval transports , 4 gunboats , 5 subchasers , a minesweeper squadron and other auxiliaries , which under command of Japanese Adm . Shigeyoshi Inoue , prior , surrounded Guam , and , also , air forces from then Japanese Saipan . Guam was the first piece of American soil surrendered during the war . MacNulty ’ s 153 Marines suffered 13 dead and 37 wounded ( losses and other casualties of near one third their compliment ) before ordered to surrender by a beleaguered U . S . Naval Captain and Guam Governor George Johnson McMillin , who was , then , himself , confronting 400 armed Japanese ground troops with defense of only an 80 man native Insular Force Guard . MacNulty ’ s U . S . Marines , however , could take comfort that with the Japanese attack forces preparations , deployment and predominant withdrawal , the U . S . Marines ’ tiny , otherwise , insignificant , presence at Guam , because of a Japanese intelligence mistake , had tied down 6 , 000 first - class Japanese enemy combat troops , a cruiser and support ships and aircraft for well over a month . Heroism as young officer in Second U . S . Nicaraguan Campaign ( 1926 - 1933 ) . Earlier , as a U . S . Marine Corps Captain , MacNulty had , already , been awarded the Navy Cross for heroic action in combat during the Second U . S . Nicaraguan Campaign . " “ Navy Cross is presented to William K . MacNulty for distinguished service in the line of his profession as commander of a patrol operating in the vicinity of Bromoderos , Nicaragua , on 27 February 1928 . Captain MacNulty , while on a mission assigned by his Battalion Commander , upon receiving word that a platoon of the 57th Company had been ambushed by a numerically superior force , immediately upon his own initiative proceeded to the scene , made a night march over unknown , most difficult terrain , in a bandit - infested area . Upon arrival at the spot , Captain MacNulty disposed his patrol with such military ability and strategy as to successfully defeat and put to rout the bandit force , thereby saving the lives of the remaining few of the beleaguered patrol , which were at that time greatly outnumbered . " Promotion as and , subsequent , retirement . MacNulty , who rose through the enlisted and , then , commissioned officers ’ ranks , was promoted to brigadier general in 1942 . He retired from military service in 1946 . As earlier noted , he died in 1964 in much later life at the age of 72 .