Before World War I, the U.S. Marine Corps had no general officer corp. From 1899 to 1914, three line officers served in the office of commandant as temporary generals, and though their policies shaped the Corps during this formative period, none was ever permanently promoted above the rank of colonel. With the Naval Personnel Act of 1916, the rank of brigadier general was established and 39 Marines were promoted from 1916 through 1936. Among them, five received the Navy Medal of Honor, 14 were awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism, seven were suspended from duty as non-judicial punishment and three were found guilty by courts-martial. In the years just prior to the Marine's mobilization against Japan in World War II, 14 of these generals were still on active duty and headed the Corps' expansion from its peacetime strength of 17,248 to a wartime strength of 474,680. This book tells the story of the generals who gave the modern Marine Corps its vision, molded its forces, capabilities and culture, and commanded its soldiers in combat, at sea and in garrison.