List of historically notable United States Marines 

The following is a list of the essential names in U. S. Marine Corps lore - the people who make up what the Marines call "Knowledge". Names in this list are notable for actions made as a Marine; individuals whose notability is unrelated to service in uniform can be found at List of United States Marines.

• Vernice Armour - first female African-American combat pilot in United States military
• John Basilone - only enlisted Marine Medal of Honor recipient to return to combat and be killed
• John Bolt - only Marine aviator to achieve the title of ace in both WWII and the Korean War; remains to this day the only Marine jet aircraft ace
• Gregory "Pappy" Boyington - Medal of Honor recipient who commanded the famous "Black Sheep Squadron" (VMA-214) during WWII
• Frederick C. Branch - first African-American Marine officer
• Smedley Butler - awarded two Medals of Honor for two different acts of heroism; outspoken critic of war profiteers, testified in Congress regarding a plot to overthrow the government
• Evans Carlson - commanded the WWII Marine Raiders
• Alfred Cunningham - patron of Marine Corps aviation; innovative thinker in introducing air support; helped create the Advanced Base Force
• Louis Cukela - awarded both Navy and Army Medals of Honor
• Dan Daly - awarded two Medals of Honor for two different acts of heroism
• Pedro del Valle - played an instrumental role in defeating Japanese forces during the Battle of Okinawa (1945)
• Lou Diamond - "Mr. Leatherneck," namesake of the actor Lou Diamond Phillips
• Merritt A. Edson - Medal of Honor recipient and commander of the 1st Marine Raiders Battalion
• Earl H. Ellis - conducted espionage missions in Micronesia that influenced the planning of the island-hopping campaigns of World War II
• John L. Estrada - the first person of Hispanic descent promoted to Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps.
• Guy Gabaldon - captured (or persuaded to surrender) about 1,000 Japanese soldiers and numerous civilians during the Battle of Saipan (1944)
• Annie Neal Graham - first African American female Marine
• Carlos Hathcock - renowned Marine sniper with 93 confirmed kills during the Vietnam War
• Ira Hayes - Iwo Jima flag raiser
• Archibald Henderson - "Grand old man of the Marine Corps," longest-serving Commandant of the Marine Corps (1820-1859)
• Opha Mae Johnson - recognized officially as the first female Marine
• James L. Jones, Sr. - commanded the Observer Group, the first amphibious reconnaissance unit in the United States; father of James L. Jones, Jr., the 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps.
• Victor H. Krulak - developed new concepts in expeditionary warfare, such as use of Higgins landing craft and helicopters; father of Charles C. Krulak, 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps
• John A. Lejeune - 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps and author of the birthday message read aloud at every Marine Corps Birthday Ball ceremony
• John F. Mackie - first Marine awarded the Medal of Honor
• Alford L. McMichael - first African American Marine to serve as Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps
• Samuel Nicholas - first Commandant of the Marine Corps
• Presley O'Bannon - famous for his exploits in the First Barbary War
• Peter J. Ortiz - parachuted into France to aid the Resistance, Recipient of two (2) Navy Cross Medals.
• Abigail D. Olmos - the first female Master Gunnery Sergeant in the history of the Marine Corps.
• Peter Pace — first Marine to become the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (2005-2007), previously the Vice Chairman (2001–2005)
• Chuck Mawhinney - Marine sniper with most confirmed kills, all occurring during the Vietnam War
• Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller - most-decorated Marine in history including five Navy Crosses and the Army Distinguished Service Cross
• Félix Rigau Carrera - first Hispanic Marine fighter pilot
• John Ripley - highly decorated Marine, only living person (at the time) to be memorialized in the Naval Academy's museum, first "all-Marine" inducted into the Ranger hall of fame.
• Angela Salinas - the first Hispanic female to obtain a general rank in the Marines.
• France Silva - the first Marine of Hispanic descent to be awarded the Medal of Honor
• Dion Williams - patron of naval and amphibious reconnaissance; hoisted the first American flag raised over Spanish soil in the Spanish-American War

Roy P. Benavidez

United States Army

Recipient Of Medal of Honor

Roy P. Benavidez, a former Green Beret sergeant who received the Medal of Honor from President Ronald Reagan for heroism while wounded in the Vietnam War, then fought to keep the Government from cutting off his disability payments, died on November 29, 1998 at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. He was 63.

Mr. Benavidez, who lived in El Campo, Tex., suffered respiratory failure, the hospital said. His right leg was amputated in October because of complications of diabetes.

On the morning of May 2, 1968, Mr. Benavidez, a staff sergeant with the Army's Special Forces, the Green Berets, heard the cry ''get us out of here'' over his unit's radio while at his base in Loc Ninh, South Vietnam. He also heard ''so much shooting, it sounded like a popcorn machine.''

The call for aid came from a 12-man Special Forces team -- 3 Green Berets and 9 Montagnard tribesmen -- that had been ambushed by North Vietnamese troops at a jungle site a few miles inside Cambodia.

Sergeant Benavidez jumped aboard an evacuation helicopter that flew to the scene. ''When I got on that copter, little did I know we were going to spend six hours in hell,'' he later recalled.

After leaping off the helicopter, Sergeant Benavidez was shot in the face, head and right leg, but he ran toward his fellow troops, finding four dead and the others wounded.

He dragged survivors aboard the helicopter, but its pilot was killed by enemy fire as he tried to take off, and the helicopter crashed and burned. Sergeant Benavidez got the troops off the helicopter, and over the next six hours, he organized return fire, called in air strikes, administered morphine and recovered classified documents, although he got shot in the stomach and thigh and hit in the back by grenade fragments.

He was bayoneted by a North Vietnamese soldier, whom he killed with a knife. Finally, he shot two enemy soldiers as he dragged the survivors aboard another evacuation helicopter.

When he arrived at Loc Ninh, Sergeant Benavidez was unable to move or speak. Just as he was about to be placed into a body bag, he spit into a doctor's face to signal that he was still alive and was evacuated for surgery in Saigon.

Sergeant Benavidez was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1968, but a subsequent recommendation from his commanding officer that he receive the Medal of Honor, the military's highest award for valor, could not be approved until a witness confirmed his deeds.

That happened in 1980, when Brian O'Connor, the Green Beret who had radioed the frantic message seeking evacuation, was found in the Fiji Islands. Mr. O'Connor told how Mr. Benavidez had rescued eight members of his patrol despite being wounded repeatedly.

President Reagan presented the Medal of Honor to Mr. Benavidez at the Pentagon on Feb. 24, 1981.

Shortly before Memorial Day 1983, Mr. Benavidez came forward to say that the Social Security Administration planned to cut off disability payments he had been receiving since he retired from the Army as a master sergeant in 1976. He still had two pieces of shrapnel in his heart and a punctured lung and was in constant pain from his wounds.

The Government, as part of a cost-cutting review that had led to the termination of disability assistance to 350,000 people over the preceding two years, had decided that Mr. Benavidez could find employment.

''It seems like they want to open up your wounds and pour a little salt in,'' Mr. Benavidez said. ''I don't like to use my Medal of Honor for political purposes or personal gain, but if they can do this to me, what will they do to all the others?''

Click: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=RZ7968BbMnU&vq=medium