the following month became Staff Special Assistant to the Joint Chiefs of Staff for National Security Council Affairs. Prior to his departure from Washington, he was promoted to brigadier general on September 1, 1955. Later that September, Greene assumed duty as assistant commander, 2nd Marine Division, Camp Lejeune. In May 1956, he was transferred to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, where he served as commanding general, Recruit Training Command, until March 1957, when he became commanding general of the Recruit Depot. That July, he became commanding general of the Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune. In January 1958, Greene reported to HQMC as assistant chief of staff, G-3. While serving in this capacity, he was promoted to major general in August 1958. Following this assignment, he served from March through December 1959 as deputy chief of staff (plans) – an assignment for which he earned his first Navy Distinguished Service Medal. On January 1, 1960, he was designated as chief of staff, with the rank of lieutenant general. Greene was nominated by President John F. Kennedy on September 24, 1963, to become the 23rd Commandant of the Marine Corps for a four-year term. Upon assuming his post as commandant on January 1, 1964, he was promoted to four-star rank. During his tenure, there was a proliferation of troops in Southeast Asia. In 1964, there were fewer than a thousand Marines in Vietnam but by 1968, the III Marine Amphibious Force in Vietnam numbered more than 100,000 Marines and sailors. During his tour as commandant, he was awarded a second Navy Distinguished Service Medal in December 1967. Post-military and legacy Greene retired on December 31, 1967. He was a founding member of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. Greene died on March 8, 2003, in Alexandria, Virginia, at age 95. He was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. Beginning in 1987, the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation awarded the General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award to an author of a nonfiction book, published during the preceding three years pertinent to Marine Corps history. Decorations and awards Personal Greene was married to the former Vaughn H. Emory (d. 2001) in 1931. They had two children, a son, retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel Wallace M. Greene III and a daughter, Vaughn. Education University of Vermont, 1925. U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, graduated June 5, 1930. Marine Officers Basic School, Philadelphia