Lt. General Lewis "Chesty" Puller (USMC)

Lt. General Lewis "Chesty" Puller (USMC). . Named for his "barrel chest," and having a bulldog face and gruff voice, West Point's native son remains the most decorated United States Marine in American history, known as "the Marine's Marine." He received five Navy Crosses for Valor, and was a hero in many campaigns in the Pacific theater in World War II and the Korean War., Lewis Puller was born in this home you see before you in 1898 and lived in West Point graduating from West Point High School in 1917., At the outset of World War I when the US declared war on Germany, rather than enlist, Chesty accepted an appointment to Virginia Military Institute (VMI), motivated by a history of ancestors who were officers - Puller's distant cousin was General George Patton. He remained at VMI until the age of 20 when he qualified by age for a Marine commission (the Army had a higher minimum age!)., Puller's father, Matthew Puller, a modestly successful salesman for a wholesale grocer, had been living in Gloucester County where the family had been for several generations. He settled in West Point, a transportation hub at the time, and lived in this two-story white house. The family prospered having the house, a stable, a carriage, two horses, and three servants., Puller's father died in 1908 from cancer. To survive and remain in the home, Puller's mother, Martha "Pattie" Richardson Leigh, sold the horse and carriage and let the servants go., Chesty was like his mother, a strong woman, from whom Puller developed his own character as a strong and determined person. His mother ruled with discipline without physical punishment, something the future Lt. General emulated for the rest of his life., Young Puller hunted, fished, and crabbed, selling crabs to tourists at a time when West Point was a well-known recreation destination. Puller loved sports, football, baseball, and boxing. During high school he worked in the summer as a laborer in the new pulp mill., (captions) , Puller at West Point's Centennial Celebration (1970) , Puller as fullback (standing second from left) on West Point football team circa 1917-18.