CHESTY PULLER Lewis Burwell Puller was born on June 26th, 1898 (HICKMAN,2009). He was born in West Point, Virginia to his mother Martha, and his father Matthew Puller. Lewis Puller grew up listening to old Civil War Veterans talk about the military because his father died when he was only ten years old. He soon wanted to join the United States Army in 1916, but could not join, because he was too young, and his mother would not sign his waiver. A year later he began to attend Virginia Military Institute, but left a year after enlisting in the institute. Lewis left because he went to enlist in the United States Marine Corps in Paris Island, South Carolina. Although, Lewis joined the Marines towards the end of World War I, he did not go into battle (HICKMAN,2009). Soon after graduating boot camp, Lewis attended Officer Candidate School (OCS), in Quantico, Virginia. After, graduating OCS on June 16th, 1919, Lewis was promoted to Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserves (BLASHEK,2009). The amount of Marines in the force reduced from 73,000 to 1,100. After being inactive for ten days, every soldier that was inactive was promoted to Corporal. When Lewis was a Corporal he was ordered to serve in the Gendarmerie d'Haiti as a lieutenant (BLASHEK,2009). He was involved in forty encounters in Haiti. He tried to regain his office rank twice, but in 1922 he was appointed to the assistant of Major Alexander Vandegrift . Lewis Puller soon returned home to the United States and was promoted to Second Lieutenant. In Lewis's first years of the Corps, Lewis was nicknamed "Chesty," because of his perfect body structure. This means he had an iron chest, and he was an extremely strong man. Lewis was assigned a variety of jobs to do in Norfolk, Virginia, at the Marine Corps Barracks, and the 10th Marine Artillery Regiment in Quantico, Virginia. In July of 1926 Chesty was assigned