Breckinridge, James, LtGen

LtGen Breckinridge retired from the USMC on October 1, 1941.  He returned to his home in the Shenandoah Valley.  Upon his death in 1942, as per his wishes, he was buried in the Breckinridge family section at Lexington National Cemetety in Lexington, Kentucky. 

In 1945 the U.S. Navy launched the USS General J.C. Breckinridge (AP-176) in his honor.  The USMC named Breckinridge Hall at Marine Corps Schools, Quantico and later the James Carson Breckinridge Professional Library at the Marine Corps University as a tribute to his efforts to prepare the next generation of Marines for World War II.

LtGen Breckinridge was from a very wealthy and historically noteable family.  His father, Clifton Rhodes Breckinridge, was a former U.S. Congressman (1888-1897) and U.S. Minister to Russia (1894-1897).  His grandfather, John C. Breckinridge, was the former Vice President of the United States (1857-1860) and Secretary of War for the Confederate States of America.  His great-great grandfather, John Breckinridge, had served as a U.S. Senator (1800-1805) and as the U.S. Attorney General (1805-1806).

LtGen Breckinridge, like Maj. Earl  "Pete"  Ellis, foresaw the coming hostilities in the Pacific and used his position at the Marine Corps Schools to write and develop training programs to enhance U.S. Marine Corps amphibious warfare capabilities.