Victor John Croizat (1919 - 2010)

Born 27 Feb 1919 in Tripoli, Ţarābulus, Libya

Ancestors

Died 8 May 2010 at age 91 in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California, United States

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Biography

In "Journey Among Warriors," his autobiography, Victor wrote:

"My first recollection dates from January 1922, when our home in a Turin suburb was thrown into confusion by the birth of my sister Georgette. Other memories of that year are of pleasant walks with my father to the river for a swim before supper and the welcome of local merchants. Vivid among these was an ample lady who owned a lumberyard where the marvelous resinous smells were matched by those of her cooking, which I was always invited to sample. For me, life was good; for my father, his opposition to the tightening grip of Mussolini's fascists was becoming too vocal.

"By the fall of 1923, the worsening political climate convinced him to emigrate, and he left for New York. While waiting to join him, my mother, sister and I moved to my paternal grandmother's family home in Céyzerieu, a village at the head of the Lac du Bourget, the largest of the French lakes below Geneva. The cross-border move from Italy to France was nothing new, for my family comes from the old Duchy of Savoy, whose lands are now shared by France and Italy. My father's antecedents come from the French side, my mother's from both. My paternal grandfather, Victor, an engineer born and raised in French Chambery, moved to Turin shortly before the turn of the century to design and build the lighting system for that Italian city."

[...]

"I had no problem shifting from Italian to French when we moved to Céyzerieu, since the latter was the language we favored at home. I did, however, have trouble adapting to the formalities of a household presided over by an imposing great-aunt. Equally imposing was the 17th century house with its inviting grounds, endless rooms, huge fireplaces, and a grand brick-floored kitchen. When I returned twenty-five years later and asked where the Chaley house was located, the shopkeeper looked at me quizzically for a moment and exclaimed 'Mais vous etes le petit Victor.'"

Croizat spent the latter part of his childhood in Massachusetts, then attended Syracuse University. He joined the Marines directly out of Syracuse; as a second lieutenant, he commanded a company of Marines that landed at Guadalcanal on Aug. 7, 1942. In one two-hour stretch, Japanese battleships hit Marine positions with 918 rounds from 14-inch guns.

"It seemed like it lasted forever, day after day of getting bombed, shelled, shot at," Croizat recalled in 1992. "You never got any real sleep, never got any real food.

"But nobody was going to drive us out…. We were there to stay. You're damned if you're going to let the Marine Corps down and damned if you're going to let your outfit down."

As a battalion commander, he led Marines in the assault on Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima. He ended the war as a 26-year-old major.

In his 1997 autobiography, "Journey Among Warriors: The Memoirs of a Marine," Croizat downplayed his own bravery and instead provided insight and anecdotes about some of the more colorful Marines from World War II: Merritt "Red Mike" Edson, Lewis "Chesty" Puller, Evans Carlson and Walter "Tabasco Mac" McIlhenny.

Marine historian Col. Joseph H. Alexander said the book "is most valuable as a perceptive window on the Corps during its most dramatic growth, downsizing [after World War II] and regeneration."

During the Korean War, he was an instructor at the Marine Corps headquarters in Quantico, Va. Then came stints as an advisor to the French military in Indochina, an official observer during the Algerian War, and an observer/advisor/diplomat in Haiti, Thailand, Laos, Turkey, sub-Saharan Africa and, finally, an advisor to the military in South Vietnam. In 1964, he commanded the Camp Pendleton-based 5th Marine Regiment and helped devise a strategy for river operations in Vietnam.

After retiring from the Marine Corps, he earned a master's degree at UCLA and worked as an operations analyst for the Rand Corp. and an international marketing representative for Grumman Aircraft.

Among his other books are "Across the Reef: The Amphibious Tracked Vehicle at War" (1989), considered one of the definitive texts on the evolution of amphibious warfare.

Military Service

Military Service:

Date: 08 DEC 1941

Place: 1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion/New River, NC

Note

Sources

• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=80282401&ref=acom

See also:

• "New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JN8S-LY6 : 2 March 2021), Vittorio Croizat, 1924.

• "New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24XC-NKB : 2 March 2021), Victor Croizat, 1928; citing Immigration, New York, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

• "Washington, County Marriages, 1855-2008", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPMP-P8HM : 24 April 2021), Victor J Croizat and Meda M Fletcher, 1947.