This Military Service Page was created/owned by
SSgt Michael Frederick
to remember
Marine BGen William Ashurst.
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Contact Info
Home Town Green Ridge
Date of Passing Feb 18, 1952
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
C.O. of North China Marines (Peiping & Tientsin) guard detachments. Taken prisoner by Japanese, Dec. 1941. Held in Woosung, Kiangwan, Fengtai, Hakodate #4 POW camps from 1941 until 1945.
Colonel William H. Ashurst, his executive officer, Major Luther A. Brown, and Major Devereux ensured that their fellow Marines would never succumb to their captors. Ashurst and Brown, using Brown?s battered copy of the Army field manual, The Rules for Land Warfare, repeatedly confronted Japanese officers with their violations of the Geneva Convention of 1929, prescribing proper treatment of prisoners of war.
Liberated from Hakodate No. 4 POW Camp, Japan, Sept. 1945
Winner of National Trophy Individual Rifle Match (Daniel Boone Trophy) - 1924
Winner of National Rifle Match at Camp Perry Ohio (Wimbledon Cup) with a perfect score of 100 - 1925
Author of "A Study of Naval Gunfire Support for Infantry in a Landing on a Hostile Shore" at Command and General Staff College, 1935
Served on the board toXevalXuate the M-1 Garand rifle for USMC use. He and LtCol. Edson preferred the '03 Springfield.
SCHOOL NAMED FOR GENERAL ASHURST W.W. Ashurst Elementary is one of the four Virginia Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools aboard the Quantico Marine Corps Base. Educational opportunities for pre-kindergarten through grade twelve are available to all families who reside aboard the Base.
Named in honor of Brigadier General William Wallace Ashurst, W.W. Ashurst Elementary School was opened in 1965.
