Extracted from The News-Star (Monroe, LA)
Wednesday, May 23, 1973

General Erskine, Area Native, Dies In Washington

Funeral services will be Thursday at Arlington National Memorial Cemetery in Washington, D.C., for U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Graves Erskine, 76, a resident of Washington and a native of Northeast Louisiana.

A native of Columbia, Erskine died Monday night at the Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md.

He was educated in Caldwell Parish schools and later graduated from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

Joining the Marine Corps, he later served as chief of staff of the amphibious training staff, amphibious corps, Pacific fleet, Fleet Marine Force, San Diego area and the Fifth Amphibious Corps, and was awarded the Legion of Merit for exceptional meritorious conduct in performance of services.

General Erskine was also chief of staff of the landing forces at Saipan and in the seizure of Tinian and launched combat assaults on Bougainville and Guam.

Later he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal from the late Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox.

Serving many years in Haiti, Santo Domingo, China, and Nicaragua, he was in France and Germany in World War I. He led the landing and was commander of the unit which raised the flag at Iwo Jima for which he received the Bronze Medal.

For a number of years, he was commander of Camp Pendleton at Oceanside, Calif., largest of the Marine bases.

General Erskine's memoirs will be placed in the Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Mo., by request from President Truman.

Survivors include his widow, Mrs. Connie Erskine of Washingon, D.C.; three daughters, Mrs. Larry Hays of Waverly, Ala., Mrs. Maurine Lammers of Canton, N.Y.; and Mrs. Bonnie Daugherty of Nashville, Tenn.; one sister, Mrs. Jeff Caldwell Sr. of West Monroe; six nephews and two nieces.