John Edson Greenwood

Col John E. Greenwood, USMC (Ret.) John Edson Greenwood, a Marine Corps Colonel who retired in 1980 after 30 years commissioned service and subsequently spent more than 20 years as Editor of the Marine Corps Gazette, passed away on 5 April 2015. He was 87. Born in 1927 in Warren, Ohio, a graduate of the Manlius School in Manlius, NY, Col. Greenwood enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of 17 shortly before the end of World War II. He served briefly in the Marine detachment on the USS Alabama. In 1946 he received a Fleet appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. He graduated in the class of 1950 and accepted a commission in the Marine Corps. As a junior officer, he served with the 2d Marine Division, with the 3d Battalion, 5th Marines in the Korean War. During his tours in Vietnam he was on the staff of both the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade and III Marine Amphibious Force and later commanded the 1st Battalion, 27th Marines and then the 4th Combined Action Group. In the mid-1970s he commanded 2d Marine Regiment at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and deployed as the Commanding Officer of two Marine Amphibious Units, one to the Caribbean, one to the Mediterranean. Among other duties, he taught at the U.S. Naval Academy, served on the project to incorporate helicopters into amphibious doctrine and was aide to the Commanding General Fleet Marine Force Pacific, Lieutenant General Victor H. “Brute” Krulak and military assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable John W. Warner, Jr. In the later assignment he was a catalyst for the United States Naval Academy incorporating the Marine Corps flag into the Academy color guard. Upon retirement from active duty in 1980, he was appointed as the Editor of the Marine Corps Gazette and for more than 20 years focused on keeping that professional journal a candid, open forum for the exchange of ideas concerning the continuous evolution of Marine Corps capabilities. He encouraged writers to challenge conventional military wisdom and established the MajGen Harold W. Chase Essay Contest to that end. He ensured the Gazette fostered an intellectual debate on maneuver warfare, which ultimately became the Marine Corps’ official warfighting doctrine. He chaired the selection committee for the General Wallace M. Greene, Jr. Award for distinguished non-fiction book dealing with U.S. Marines and Marine Corps life and he mentored scores of young Marine authors who wanted to enter the discussion on topics affecting the Corps. For all his adult life Col. Greenwood was a member of numerous military groups and societies to include; the Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy; the Order of St. Crispin, an honorary association of combat Marine Corps Infantry officers; a Golden Knight of the Army and Navy Club in Washington DC; the Marine Corps Association; the U.S. Naval Institute; and the U.S. Handball Association. He was also a founding member of the Marine Corps Historical (now Heritage) Foundation and a member of the Marine Corps University Foundation. An avid gardener, he believed in “keeping close to the soil.” For more than 30 years, he grew a diverse variety of vegetables in plot 5 at the Key Boulevard Community Garden in Rosslyn where he shared liberal amounts of his produce with neighboring residents and the prolific rabbit community. His life was shaped by these interests, his family, and the Marine Corps. Survivors include his wife Margaret Anne Barnes Greenwood whom he knew from the second grade; their five sons who have or continue to serve as Marine Corps or Coast Guard officers; John Eric, Thomas Clay, Paul Edson, Alan Morgan, Daniel Quentin; five daughters-in-law; and 17 grandchildren, one who preceded him in death; and his nieces and nephew of his late sister Marcia Ann of Warren, Ohio. The family will receive friends at Murphy Funeral Home, 4510 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA on 15 April 2015 during the hours of 5:00pm to 7:00pm. The internment will be at Quantico National Cemetery on 16 April 2015 at 12:00pm. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The Marine Corps Heritage Foundation at 3800 Fettler Park Dr. Suite 104, Dumfries VA 22205 or the Marine Corps University Foundation at P.O. Box 122, Quantico, VA 22134.