Earl Hancock Ellis Lieutenant Colonel Earl Hancock " Pete " Ellis ( December 19 , 1880 – May 12 , 1923 ) was a United States Marine Corps Intelligence Officer , and author of " Operations Plan 712 : Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia " , which became the basis for the American campaign of amphibious assault that defeated the Japanese in World War II . Ellis ' prophetic study helped establish his reputation as one of the forefront of naval theorists and strategist of the era in amphibious warfare , foreseeing the imminent attack from Japan leading to the island - hopping campaigns in Central Pacific . Earl Ellis became the Marine Corps ' first spy whose mysterious death became enclosed in controversy . Biography . Lieutenant Colonel Ellis was born on December 19 , 1880 in Iuka , Kansas , a small farming community . His parents , Augustus and Catherine Axline Ellis migrated from southeast Iowa to Kansas following the Homestead and Preemption Act . He is the 2nd oldest sibling out of six surviving children , Ralph Ellis being born the oldest son ; Nellie Ellis who was the first born died of infantile cholera . He was interested in baseball and was an avid reader , enjoyed Rudyard Kipling ' s stories and poems . His inspiration of enlistment was noted by reading magazines and newspapers on the Spanish - American War . Such tales further lured him into enlisting . As a teenager , Ellis read of Robert W . Huntington commanding the First Marine Battalion ( Reinforced ) , known as " Huntington ' s Battalion " , the action at Cusco Well , and the Marine landing parties serving with Admiral George Dewey in the Philippines . Military service . Ellis began his career in the United States Marine Corps by enlisting on September 3 , 1900 as the rank of Private in Chicago , Illinois ; arriving to the Navy Yard in Washington days later aboard a train inbound to Washington ' s Union Station . During this course , he learned about the Marine Corps by other war veterans still in service , many from the American Civil War era . By February 20 , 1901 , he was meritoriously promoted to Corporal . Subsequently a year later , Ellis ' s parents questioned Chester I . Long , the Kansas State Representative living in nearby Medicine Lodge , concerning a possible commission of Earl Ellis . Long submitted in a letter of request to Marine Corps Commandant Charles Heywood . As candidates were garnered by the permission of the Commandant , written examinations followed with tests in academic studies that were based on the Commandant ' s criteria on education . Thus , Earl Ellis was tutored by an Army Colonel , earning a satisfactory grade . Ellis was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on December 21 , 1901 . He reported to Colonel Percival C . Pope , Commanding Officer of Marine Barracks , Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston as his first duty station as an officer on January 11 , 1902 . Here , newly commissioned officers were taught rudimentary lessons on how to perform inspections of Marines and their weapons . Most of these lessons were done informally by discussions and observation until March 1 , 1902 when he was given orders to report to Marine Barracks , Washington , D . C . on March 7 , 1902 for further assignment in the western Pacific . He departed on a troop train to San Francisco , California on April 1 , 1902 to board a steamboat named the " Sheridan " . On April , 13 he arrived in Manila , Philippine Islands on a naval base along the Cavite Peninsula and was assigned as adjutant for the 1st Regiment . During this period , boredom and monotonous duty began to affect him . Earl Ellis had maintained a good relationship with the Commanding Officer of the 1st Regiment that he was assigned as a nominal relief aboard the battleship " Kentucky " , the fleet flagship of the United States Navy , assuming command as the Marine Detachment Commander on January 21 , 1903 , detaching from the 1st Marine Regiment . During his embarkation on board the battleship , the crew conducted exercises in Manila Bay and entertained the British Fleet stationed in the Far East . By late February , he sojourned to Singapore , China , and then to Yokohama , a port in Japan until the United States Secretary of the Navy ordered the " Kentucky " home to New York . By March , he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant . It was during this tenure that he became acquainted with George Barnett who was a major at the time . On May 25 , 1904 , he stood detached from the " Kentucky " and was directed to report to the Commandant on June 12 , 1904 serving at the Marine Barracks in Washington , D . C . then at Mare Island , California on September 25 , 1904 ; he assigned as the Quartermaster until December 31 , 1905 . For the next couple of years , he was on temporary duty as a recruiting officer , in Oakland , California during the summer of 1906 and in Des Moines , Iowa from July 31 , 1906 to April 19 , 1907 . By spring of that year he returned to Mare Island until November 18 , 1907 , when he was ordered to report to the Brigade Commander Colonel William P . Biddle , who then assigned him to Olongapo , Philippine Islands as the adjutant of the 2nd Regiment , which was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel " Hiking Hiram " Bearss . On February 14 , 1908 , Earl Ellis was detached from the regiment headquarters to assume command of Executive Officer of Company " E " . By May 18 , 1908 , Earl Ellis was promoted to Captain in the Marine Corps . During which this time , Major John A . Lejeune arrived to Olongapo to relief William Biddle , assuming command of the brigade in the Philippine Islands . He selected Earl Ellis to command Company " F " , the advanced - base force on the island from July , 1 to September 30 , 1908 . Ellis also performed special duty assignments involving disputes about land claims amongst the local Filipinos . He continued to command Company " F " from January , 1 through May 31 , 1909 . For a brief period in the month of June , he commanded Company " E " as he was required to direct fortification and management of the local post exchange located on Grande Island , as well as commanding the Marines under the company . During this period , Earl Ellis supposedly shot the glasses of a table to lighten the mood of a ' boring ' dinner while visiting a Navy chaplain . He returned to Olongapo in early spring of 1910 ( John A . Lejeune has already left the previous summer ) and re - assumed the duties as the 2nd Regiment ' s adjutant , until he was ordered to stand detached and report back to the United States on January 12 , 1911 . Earl Ellis reported to the Barracks at the Washington Navy Yard on March 22 , 1911 . At this time William P . Biddle was appointed Commandant . Ellis had originally requested aviation duty ( which was being introduced as the time ) but was deterred by Biddle , by suggestion that he attend the Naval War College . He detached from the Marine Barracks on May , 27 ; Captain Ellis already had been strongly influenced by his involvement in ' offensive ' advance base operations ( due to his assignments in the Philippines ) and felt obligated in the three - year enrollment at Newport , Rhode Island for a full - year curriculum . During his involvement , he submitted papers in relation to the strategic importance of naval bases . Thus prompting him to report to the Advanced Base Force ( which later forms the Fleet Marine Force at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in the east coast , while the west coast was set aside in favor of the existing forces in Olongapo . He remained at the College as a lecturer and seminar leader from October 29 , 1912 to October 16 , 1913 . Captain Ellis reported to the Philadelphia Navy Yard just 4 days after his departure from the College , assigned to its headquarters as their Intelligence Officer reporting under George Barnett . Ellis played a significant role in his input of planning of the exercises that took place in Culebra of Puerto Rico . On February 9 , 1914 , Ellis and the Advance Base Force embarked to New Orleans for a possible deployment to Mexico in case of tensions in the area . At this point , George Barnett was to succeed William Biddle as Commandant as Captain Ellis had orders for special assignment as a member of a special committee established by the Joint Army - Navy Board to study the defense of Guam . Since World War I has started in Europe , both German and Japanese warship s have been sighted in the nearby Mariana Islands , there was a concern for the security of Guam . He reported on March , 3 to governor - designate Captain William J . Maxwell . Earl Ellis was assigned as the secretary and aide - de - camp , including duties as the chief of police , registrar of the civil government , and Intelligence Officer . It was during this period that Earl Ellis ' s health began to deteriorate . Medical Records have shown that it was due to uncontrollable alcohol abuse . On August 27 , 1915 , he had orders to return to Marine Barracks , Washington , D . C . for duty as one of the three Aide - de - Camp s to Major General Commandant George Barnett ; whereas Colonel John A . Lejeune ( who became the assistant to Major General Barnett ) had assigned as his " ad hoc " staff . It was at this moment that Lejeune founded the Marine Corps Association and the first publication of the " Marine Corps Gazette " . By August 29 , 1916 , Ellis was promoted to Major , a week before United States ' involvement in World War I . Commandant Barnett persuaded Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels for the participation of his Marines of 5th Marines to join General John J . Pershing in the American Expeditionary Forces ( AEF ) . Despite Major Earl Ellis ' s request for France , he was assigned to assist in the establishment of the new installation , Marine Corps Base Quantico on May 14 , 1917 . He later served as an instructor in a school for Commissioned Officers , which became the Officer Candidate School . Originally , new Commissioned Officers were attending the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis , Maryland . However , Commandant Barnett was curious of the formation of the AEF and sent Ellis as a liaison to France to observe and report back to him . Ellis embarked on the " Von Steuben " on October 25 , 1917 returning shortly after the first of the year . The War Department afterward directed the 6th Marines to France and assemble with 5th Marines , along with a small to form as the 4th Brigade ( Marine ) , 2nd Division , AEF . By May 23 , 1918 , Col . Lejeune received orders to France , taking Earl Ellis along with him , detaching from Quantico . Furthermore , Col . Lejeune was assigned to the 64th Brigade , 32nd Division while Maj . Ellis attended him as the adjutant to the Wisconsin National Guard , then eventually to a French division that was built - up between the Swiss border and the Rhône . As Col . Lejeune assumed command of the 4th Brigade on July 25 , 1918 , Ellis became the brigade ' s adjutant by August 9 , 1918 , in charge of preparing and supervising the orders of operations for the 4th Brigade ( Marine ) . Also , during this time , he served as the 2nd Division ' s inspector . As Maj . Ellis was back at the lines , he was responsible in the planning of the St . Mihiel ( Champagne ) Offensive ( 12 – 16 September 1918 ) and in the Meuse - Argonne ( Champagne ) Offensive from 29 September to 10 October 1918 ) including the attack on and capture of Blanc Mont , and in the Meuse - Argonne Offensive from 31 October to 11 November 1918 . During these heroic efforts by the 5th and 6th Marines , the French bestowed them their third Croix de guerre entitling the brigade to wear the " fourragére " . Nonetheless , his reputation as a brilliant strategist and planner was in effect ; the brigade commander , Brigadier General Wendell Cushing Neville recommended Ellis for an accelerated promotion to Colonel . Despite that Earl Ellis never saw the promotion , he was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal and the Navy Cross ( which he received both later on November 11 , 1920 ) while France awarded him the Croix de guerre and Légion d ' honneur ( Grade of Chevalier ) . Ellis was awarded the French Croix de guerre with Gold Star , and was cited by the Marshall of France commanding French Armies of the East as follows : He served with the Fourth Brigade ( Marine ) in France from April to 11 December 1920 . On 11 November 1920 , he was awarded the Navy Cross for his planning of the attack and capture of Mont Blanc , and in the Meuse - Argonne Offensive . His citation reads : By November 11 , 1918 , the 4th Marine Brigade recuperated ; on November , 17 , the 2nd Division , AEF marched north , reaching German territory by November , 25 , and eventually reaching the Rhine on December 10 , 1918 . For the remainder of the occupation , the 4th Marine Brigade stayed along the Rhine until Germany ' s surrender . As the 5th Regiment ' s commander , Logan Feland was promoted to Brigadier General , Col . Harold Snyder assumed command ; Earl Ellis was appointed as the Executive Officer of the regiment . On July , 1 , he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel . By August 1919 , the 4th Marine Brigade embarked back home to the United States with Earl Ellis returning to Quantico . By this time , the Secretary of the Navy informed him that he is no longer the adjutant and inspector of the brigade . On August 3 , 1919 , Commandant Barnett instructed him to report to a Marine regiment that was stationed near Galveston , Texas on an intelligence - gathering mission by the decree of the Office of Naval Intelligence , concerning the fear of German ' s seizing Mexico ' s oil fields . He returned to Quantico and stood detached from the 5th Marines as of November 25 , 1919 for duty at Headquarters Marine Corps . On New Year ' s Day , he was admitted into the United States Naval Hospital , Washington , D . C . , diagnosed with depression , exhibiting " delirium tremens " and neurasthenia , symptoms that arose from his abuse of alcohol . He remained on convalescent leave until April 17 , 1920 , he stood discharged from the hospital and was to report to Brigadier General Logan Feland in the Dominican Republic for intelligence - gathering . He embarked on a troop transport ship " Kittery " from Charleston , South Carolina on April , 20 ; he reported to BGen . Feland on May 10 , 1920 . He contributed in forming the Guardia Nacional in Santo Domingo , in which the Marines had attempted since their occupation in 1916 ; BGen . Feland lauded Ellis ' s performance : During the fall of 1920 , Ellis and BGen Feland stood detached from their Caribbean duty and returned to Washington , D . C . reporting on December 11 , 1920 to Major General Commandant John A . Lejeune . Lejeune entrusted Ellis to head the intelligence section of the newly established Division of Operations and Training ( DOT ) at the Headquarters Marine Corps ( HQMC ) , officially holding his billet on December 23 , 1920 . In his tenure , he had prepared an essay regarding the details of military and civil operations that are required in eradicating the subversion and insurgency , titled " Bush Brigades " ' . Although it was printed , it was considered controversial due to the incidences pertaining to Major General Littleton Waller ' s execution of 11 Filipino porters that occurred just before Ellis was posted in Cavite , and in Les Cayes when Marines killed ten peasants in Haiti . Thus , " Bush Brigades " was never officially published due to the sake of tarnishing the U . S . and President Warren G . Harding . It was towards the end of 1920 that Major General John A . Lejeune and his senior officers of his staff focused on war planning in the event of any hostilities that may occur in the Pacific against Imperial Japan , revising War Plan Orange ; which implemented the study of the Marine Corps ' role in amphibious operations . Ellis produced the prophetic document , " Operation Plan 712 - Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia " , which underlined that in the event of hostilities with Japan , advanced bases would be required to support the fleet . The Territory of Hawaii constituted the ' only ' support for the United States Navy due to the lack of facilities in the Philippines and Guam . Japan had already occupied the Marshall , Caroline , and the Palau Islands , which flanked the U . S . lines of communications in the region by more than 2 , 300 miles . Ellis ' s conclusion in his document predicted that Japan would initiate the war , and furthermore indicated that Japan would stay near their own territorial waters until encountered by the U . S . fleet . He also added that great losses to the Marine forces would occur during the amphibious assault in what he termed the " ship - shore belt " . He advised the war planners to avoid ' blue - water ' transfers , to form task forces prior to leaving base ports , and not to divide units up among several transports . On April 9 , 1921 , Ellis submitted a pro forma request to the Commandant to conduct a clandestine reconnaissance mission to the Central Pacific to examine the Marshall and Caroline Islands . He requested that he will have to obtain an ' undated resignation ' , to travel as a civilian , and whatever may deem necessary to ensure that the United States will not become embarrassed by such operations , if he were to be apprehended as a spy . However , shortly after , he suffered another occurrence of neurasthenia and eventually recovered . On May 4 , 1921 , Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt , Jr approved the request as the acting [ Secretary of the Navy , Ellis stood detached from the hospital the same day , reporting to the Commandant at Headquarters Marine Corps . The request came about when Ellis first submitted it to his ' first ' of his chain - of - command , Brigadier General Logan Feland , whose approval was sine qua non before it even reached the desks of Major Generals Asst . Commandant Wendell C . Neville and Commandant John A . Lejeune . The submittal corresponded ostensibly that he were to travel to Europe on a 3 - month leave . Such approval had to be sought out by the higher echelon of Headquarters Marine Corps by the Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William Veazie Pratt , who in turn brought the matter to the Office of Naval Intelligence . To cover the identify of having an Intelligence Officer abroad on such a mission , Ellis turned to John A . Hughes , who was commissioned among the ranks with Ellis back in 1902 . Hughes was medically retired in 1920 due to injuries sustained in combat and joined his father ' s business in the import - export business , Hughes Trading Company . Ellis became a representative of the company to suit the convenience of his mission . After a brief visit home in Kansas , he traveled to San Francisco on May 28 , 1921 inbound to New Zealand ] and Australia via American President Lines , arriving on September 28 , 1921 . Subsequently , he was hospitalized in Manila , Philippines due to acute " nephritis " , an inflammation of the kidneys . After his discharge from the hospital , he departed to Yokohama , Japan to arrange a visa and authorization to travel to the mandated islands of the Carolines and the Marshalls , following a request he had sent to the Japanese Consulate at the Japanese Foreign Office in Tokyo , Japan . As Ellis ' s drinking habits continued to grow , he had impulsively disclosed to civilians his apparently classified mission , to include the physicians when he was hospitalized again on September 1 , 1922 while his debilitating illness of neurasthenia recurred . Orders by the local naval attaché were issued to Ellis to return home on the next available transport back to the states . He deliberately ignored them and cabled for a draft of one thousand dollars and departed to Saipan . As he arrived to Saipan at the Tanapag Harbor , he checked into a hotel in Garapan with intentions that he was to stay for a while as he would scout the Mariana Islands , which at that time Japan was using as a central hub of their activities in Micronesia . All the while , the Office of Naval Intelligence tracked his whereabouts by the withdrawals Ellis made from a special bank account that they established to fund his covert objectives . His presence began to gain attention by the Japanese authorities who tailed his move from this moment on . A friend of Ellis , Kilili Sablan , whom he contacted upon his arrival to the island , suggested that he should check out of his hotel and live with his family . For the next three weeks traveling in and through Saipan , he produced detailed maps and charts . By December 3 , 1922 , he boarded the ship " Matsuyama Maru " to the islands of the Carolines , Marshalls , Yap , and the Palaus . He checked into a hotel in Koror then aboarded the " Matsuyama Maru " once again to Truk , although he was unable to survey this island due to the Japanese authorities denying foreigners passage . The Japanese authorities continued to remain suspicious of Ellis . During a trip from Kusaie to Jaluit , Ellis became ill aboard the " Matsuyama Maru " and was again hospitalized . After his recovery in January 1923 , he continued to survey the Marshalls , Kwajalein , Ponape , Celebes , and New Guinea . While staying on Koror , he met a Palauan woman named Metauie , who became his wife . By then , he had a coterie of native boys who would obtain his alcohol for him . One day , he looted the home of William Gibbons , a local friend who introduced him to Ellis ' s wife , in search of alcohol . The Japanese police resolved the problem by delivering two bottles of whiskey to the Marine to which he profusely drank ; later the same day , Ellis died on May 12 , 1923 . Ellis ' death . Lieutenant Colonel Ellis died under mysterious circumstances on the Japanese - held island of Palau in the Caroline Islands . In contemporary newspaper accounts and in later years , numerous alleged that Ellis was assassinated by Japanese military authorities ; however , detractors of such theories note that Ellis was known to have a severe drinking problem and likely died from an alcohol - related illness such as cirrhosis of the liver . Ellis ' s official medical records indicate that not long before his death , he was admitted to a naval hospital for treatment of " delirium tremens " and hallucinations . Ellis had also tendered his undated resignation as a Marine officer shortly before leaving for Palau , in order that he might prevent embarrassment or undue suspicion from falling upon the United States or the Marine Corps should his mission be compromised . An alternate opinion , expressed by researcher Dirk Anthony Ballendorf , is that Ellis ' resignation , along with the tremors and hallucinations , are attributable to depression and alcoholism . Ballendorf writes : Complicating the matter further , the agent sent to investigate the circumstances of Ellis ' demise died in a freak accident , and with him expired the only outside eyewitness knowledge as to the state of Ellis ' s corpse before it was cremated . Chief Pharmacist Lawrence Zembsch — who had treated Ellis during his hospitalization — travelled on a Japanese steamer to Palau , where he stayed at the Japanese officer ' s barracks ( Ellis had stayed with native Palauan nobility and married a young Palauan " chefress " ) . After talking to Japanese authorities who had dealings with Ellis ( including the medical officer ) , Zembsch witnessed and photographed the exhumation of Ellis ' s body and its cremation , taking custody of the remains when this was completed . Zembsch suffered a nervous breakdown on the return voyage and was admitted to a hospital in Yokohama , which was soon after buried by falling rubble in the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake . In the end , Ellis ' s maps and papers were confiscated by Japanese authorities . An inquiry undertaken at the behest of General Douglas MacArthur after the war found no trace of any of Ellis ' s effects , nor a report on Ellis ' s activities by the Japanese governor of the island . It is not clear how competently Ellis performed his map - making and analysis , given his demonstrated instability in the final months of his life . The Japanese had not yet begun fortifying Palau during his sojourn there , but had Ellis survived , it is surmised that he would have completed addenda to " Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia " that would have presumably provided military authorities with information on the potential military uses of the islands . In any case , Ellis ' s overall strategic concerns remain valid in the light of later events . Ellis is remembered today for his military intelligence work and for accurately predicting the bloody Pacific War two decades before it began .