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Under Larsen's command, Seabees of the 76th Construction Battalion build a giant seawall at Apra Harbor, Guam, in 1945. (National Archives)
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Lt. Gen. Henry Louis Larsen
Marine General Helped Turn Undeveloped Guam Into Major Fleet And Air Base
By Bethanne Kelly Patrick
Military.com Columnist
On July 21, 1944, U.S. Marines landed on Guam to recapture the island from Japanese rule. Gen. Henry Louis Larsen began his assignment as island commander (Adm. Chester Nimitz was military commander) on what has come to be known as Liberation Day. He left in May 1946 to assume his final assignment as commanding general of the Department of the Pacific.
It was a fitting final post for a man whose Marine career took him from the trenches of Europe in World War I to posts around the world, including Haiti, Santo Domingo, Panama, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, to name a few. Larsen landed in France with the first convoy in June 1917 and participated in every Marine engagement there, from Belleau Wood to Meuse-Argonne.
As a member of the Second Marines, Larsen served as inspector of the brigade in Nicaragua, where he was also a member of the 1930 U.S. Electoral Mission. After several years at Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he supervised the Corps' wartime expansion, he rejoined the Second Marines as commander of a reinforced brigade ordered to Samoa. They were the first combat troops to leave the continental U.S. after the attack on Pearl Harbor. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Larsen the first military governor of American Samoa on Jan. 15, 1942.
In June 1943, Larsen was given command of Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he unfortunately clashed with the "Montford Point Marines," a new unit of African-American men. However, on Guam, Larsen showed his talent for organization. There, he directed the largest single construction project in the history of the U.S. Navy. He oversaw 215,000 men during the transformation of the then-undeveloped island into a major fleet and air base.
Following his 1946 retirement and third star, Larsen spent 10 years as director of Colorado's Civil Defense. He died in October 1962 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
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