Robert Coram - Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine

Copyright 2010 by Robert Coram

Cover design by Julianna Lee

Cover photograph by Bill Ray / Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images

Cover 2011 Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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Second eBook Edition: November 2011

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ISBN: 978-0-316-12853-7

E2-20210412-PDJ-PC-VAL

Robert Coram has written a long-needed biography of Lieutenant General Brute Krulak that captures the critical role he played in some of the seminal events in the history of the Marine Corpsthe development of amphibious warfare prior to and during World War II, the struggle for institutional survival in the late 1940s, and the introduction of helicopters into combat during the Korean War. Corams masterful portrayal of Krulaks complex personality accurately depicts a leader who drove both himself and his Marines to excel, no matter what the cost.

Colonel Jon T. Hoffman, USMCR (Ret.), author of Chesty:
The Story of Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller, USMC

A great booka compelling and insightful look at one of Americas greatest heroes. Like the man himself, it tells the truth, blemishes and all, about this pivotal figure in American history. Brute Krulaks intelligence, courage, and tenacity saved countless lives in three wars and perhaps saved the Marine Corps itself.

Jim Proser, author of Im Staying with My Boys

Splendid. Robert Coram is one of Americas premier military biographers, both a gifted storyteller and adept at putting a life into historical context. In an age when biography and lets trash this guy too often seem synonymous, he still works in the life and times genre of men whom he admires. If youre a present or future Marine; if you once wore the uniform; if you wish you still did (or could fit into it); if you think you once wore the uniform; if you love a Marine or care about the Marines; if you care about Americaget it.

Philip Gold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

A brisk, highly readable, and strongly reported biography.

Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times

Brute is plainspoken and absorbing. Brute captures its subject in strokes that are sharp, simple, and often funny. Coram is a meticulous investigator of the things that drove Brute Krulak.

Dwight Garner, New York Times

Mr. Coram has produced a valuable work that significantly revises our understanding ofbut does not diminish our respect forone of the all-time great Marines.

Max Boot, Wall Street Journal

Brute is a must-read for all Marinesno matter your branch of the service or level of interest in the military, this is a great and important story. The author takes you on a biographical, historical, and emotional journey that is tantalizing from the very beginning. Strategy, technology, power, and politics are abundant. The Veterans Hour easily rates Brute four stars. Robert Coram has produced a work that will stay fresh in our minds for a very long time.

Veterans Hour

Coram shows us the man he considers the most influential Marine to wear the eagle, globe, and anchorand, perhaps, the most conflicted.

Bo Emerson, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A masterful biography. Brute is an intriguing book about a man of extraordinary contributions to America and its Corps of Marines. Many of his initiatives, together with the battlesinterservice, bureaucratic, and combatfought and won by him and a few others of his generation, are largely unknown or forgotten in modern times. This book is more than well worth reading, to learn not only about the man and his enormous accomplishments but also about the events of the time. I have no doubt that it will be read widely and appreciatively.

General Carl E. Mundy, Jr., 30th
Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.)

A well-written tale about a complicated yet admirable man.

James Srodes, Washington Times

A fine biography.

Roland Green, Booklist

Brute is a well-told talea gritty but fair reflection of a hard, cerebral man heeding his own code of honor while managing to thrive in the hardball arenas of war and politics.

Mel Baughman, AARP

Brute is a remarkably candid and honest biography of a truly great legend of our Corps. The honesty and frankness make the story of this brilliant and courageous man a superb read. It makes this hero human. My fondest memory of General Victor Krulak will always be his coming aboard our Vietnam medevac plane refueling in Hawaii. He came to each of our stretchers, with moist eyes, and knelt down to quietly thank and encourage each Marine, some badly wounded with missing limbs. He came, as his sergeant major told me, to every plane carrying sick and wounded, regardless of the time of day or night. I knew his reputation as a tough disciplinarian and as a brave, highly intelligent senior officer, but this moment of compassion for his Marines will be how I remember this giant of the Marine Corps.

General Anthony C. Zinni, USMC (Ret.)

Despite Corams high regard for Krulak and worshipful view of the Marines, he reveals innumerable details that Krulak suppressed, distorted, or invented in oral histories. Coram portrays a driven, fiercely outspoken but creative warrior who probably deserves his legendary status.

Publishers Weekly

In this admiring biography, novelist and biographer Coram traces the life of Lieutenant General Victor Krulak. A revealingand troublingportrait of a much-revered figure.

Kirkus Reviews

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This book is dedicated to the Sarge.

T HE story of every Marine must begin at Belleau Wood.

Lieutenant General Victor Harold Krulak was not presenthe was five years old at the timebut neither he nor any other Marine can be understood without appreciation of this battle, which took place thirty-nine miles east of Paris in the early summer of 1918. The battle was a turning point not just for World War I, but for American military history. The modern Marine Corps was born at Belleau Wood, and the motivation for every accomplishment of every Marine since then has been to build upon what happened in this dark copse surrounded by a sea of wheat punctuated with bloodred poppies.

The U.S. Army would never forgive the Marines for what happened at Belleau Wood. George C. Marshall and Douglas MacArthur were Army officers in France in 1918, and they seethed with anger toward the Marines. Both men would become generals and achieve great prominence in World War II, and their resentment toward the Marine Corps would color American military history up through Korea and even to Vietnam and beyond.