Donald Schmuck Brigadier General Donald M . " Buck " Schmuck , ( USMC ret . ) ( August 16 , 1915 – January 24 , 2004 ) was a United States Marine Corps brigadier general who served with distinction during World War II — and was awarded the Navy Cross and two Silver Star s for his heroic actions . Biography . Schmuck grew up in Denver and on the family ranch near Walden , Colorado . He attended the University of Colorado and the U . S . Coast Guard Academy having enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1935 and was later commissioned a second lieutenant in 1938 following graduation from university . After basic training , he served as a platoon leader at San Diego Marine Corps Base , then served in the South Pacific with the 2nd Marine Brigade during World War II , seeing action in Guadalcanal , Vella Lavella , and Bougainville as a rifle company commander . He was hospitalized briefly from injuries sustained in Bougainville and then joined the 1st Marine Division in time for landings on Peleliu and , later , Okinawa , where he was again wounded in action . He was a lieutenant colonel commanding an infantry battalion training for the invasion of Japan when the war ended . Donald Schmuck attended the Amphibious Warfare School at Quantico , Virginia , and the Army Airborne School at Fort Benning , Georgia , then did a short tour with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg , North Carolina , before returning to Quantico as an instructor in the Marine Corps Schools . In 1949 he was ordered to the United Nations Middle Eastern Commission and was active in Lebanon , Israel , Jordan , Syria , Egypt , and Iraq . Schmuck joined the 1st Marine Division at the start of the Korean War in 1950 , assigned as commander , 1st Battalion , 1st Marines under the regimental command of Col . Chesty Puller . He led the 1st Battalion in action during 1950 and 1951 , including the Chosin Reservoir operation and the Spring Counter Offensive . He served as regimental executive through the Summer Offensive and served with the Fleet Marine Force Pacific at Pearl Harbor after Korea . During that duty , Schmuck was charged with producing a number of contingency war plans covering national objectives in Asia , including several locations in Vietnam , and he conducted the in - country reconnaissance required for those plans . In 1959 he attended the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks , Pennsylvania . Schmuck retired from the Marine Corps in 1960 with the rank of Brigadier General , continuing to be active in special missions in Central America , Vietnam , and Laos . He completed a PhD in nuclear physics at CU – Boulder in the early 1960s , and was a military observer during Desert Storm in February 1991 in the Gulf War . He was active with the Marine Corps League in Wyoming and Hawaii , and was a founding member of the Viet Nam Vets Motorcycle Club http : / / www . texasvnvmc . com . He purchased the Triangle - S ranch between Buffalo and Sheridan , Wyoming . He died , aged 88 , in Honolulu and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery . He never married and is survived by his brother , retired Cmdr . Carl Schmuck of Anacortes , Washington , and numerous nieces and nephews . Awards . General Schmuck ' s decorations include :