Retired Gen. Paul X. Kelley, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran who served as commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps during President Ronald Reagan's administration, died Sunday at a McLean care facility at the age of 91.
His widow, Barbara Kelley, to whom he'd been married since 1951, said he died as the result of complications from Alzheimer's disease, reports The New York Times.
Kelley, who as commandant 1983 to 1987, was trusted by Reagan's inner circle, the Times reports, but the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon that killed 241 service members shortly after he took office left him facing sharp questioning about the incident.
The Marine Corps, under his command, was also embarrassed by Lt. Col. Oliver North and the Iran-Contra affair, as well as a spying scandal involving guards at diplomatic outposts in the then-Soviet Union.
He was the first commander of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force in 1979, which later grew to become Central Command, which later oversaw the 1991 Persian Gulf war and the wars in Iraq and Afganistan.
The general, best known as "P.X." was seen by many of his peers as the Corps' embodiment.
"He was a tough Boston Irishman,” said retired Marine lieutenant general Bernard Trainor, a trusted deputy when the Beirut bombing occurred, and later a New York Times military correspondent. "He was vigorous and very open, but he could charm birds out of a tree.”
Kelley completed two tours in Vietnam, as a battalion commander in the 1960s and later as a regimental commander, and his combat decorations included the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and two Legions of Merit.
After the Beirut bombing, Kelley faced scrutiny, particularly when it became known that Marines who were guarding a checkpoint at the facility did not have bullets in their guns' chambers.
Eventually, the regional commander in chief, Gen. Bernard Rogers, took responsibility for what had happened and a Pentagon commission reviewing the bombing did not mention Kelley in its report.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.