Could General John Basilone have won the Vietnam War?

I mean if John Basilone had survived WW2 and stayed during Korea and later becoming a General. Could we have seen LBJ og Kennedy letting General John Basilone play an important role during Vietnam?
 
If final decisions are still taken in Washington DC and not on the field, history won't change a single comma.

That if he manages to be senior enough. Or rising so high.
 
This is one of those definition-of-is-is things. If you could clearly define a victory in Vietnam, then prehaps I could give you an answer. I'm not even entirely certain what Johnston had an idea of victory in his head. Stop the Commies? Could you be a little more specific? Preserve South Vietnam then? That would be an indefinite battle since the Vietcong might be willing to take decades to achieve ultimate victory. Unite Vietnam under the Saigon government? Same problem, but with constant guerilla warfare in the north.
 
Given that at the time of Basilone's death he was a gunnery sergeant, I think it would be at the very least extremely difficult to predict how well he would have done as a general.
 

CalBear

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I mean if John Basilone had survived WW2 and stayed during Korea and later becoming a General. Could we have seen LBJ og Kennedy letting General John Basilone play an important role during Vietnam?

Well, first he would have to advance to General Officer from Gunnery Sargent (without ever graduating, or even really attending, High School), which would be one hell of a mean feat. After that he would have to push past Brigadier to at the least Lt. General, probably all the way to Commandant. Then he would have to actually be able to get the DoD to listen to a MARINE (it isn't a coincidence that their wasn't a Marine Chairman until the 21st Century).

He would then have to get authorization to serve past 30 years to be around for the end game in the 1970s.

Easier to get a second Medal.
 

wormyguy

Banned
He also declined to receive a commission after Guadalcanal, so it's doubly unlikely he would become an officer later.
 

The Vulture

Banned
This is extremely unlikely.

While he did show extraordinary bravery, that doesn't necessarily mean he would be a fantastic leader.
 
Or that he would be able to command big formations. Wonderful company leaders were awfull batallion commanders, etc, etc, etc.

I guess that the next similar question will featurize Dick Winters. :D
 
Without meaning any disrespect to John Basilone or what he could have accomplished if he had survived Iwo Jima, I believe that the OTL experiences of Lewis "Chesty" Puller and David Shoup indicate that heroes of the island campaigns of WW II, even if they became senior generals of the USMC in the Viet Nam War era, had little or no influence on the outcome of that war.

AH
 
Or that he would be able to command big formations. Wonderful company leaders were awfull batallion commanders, etc, etc, etc.

I guess that the next similar question will featurize Dick Winters. :D

well at least Winters had real chance to ascend if he had stayed in the army post war, being a Major. A Marine Sargent had nil chances ...
 
IMO the only general that might have won the war in Vietnam was Lattre de Tassigny.
He was quite succesful against the Vietcong and was against the battleplan that led to Dien Bien Phu. And then he got ill and died of cancer. The VC should be crushed before they get there own state in the form of North Vietnam. After that, they'll have the support of the USSR and PRC and decisive action is diplomatically impossible, as we saw OTL.

American generals will never be able to influence the war: if target lists are made in the Pentagon or the White House, you're just a glorified clerk with stars on your epaulets.
 
I saw the ep on the Pacific yesterday were Basilone died on Iwo. It seemed that John only decided to remain in the marines so he could be sent out again. He didnt want to be a posterboy back home, he wanted to be in the thick of action. Had he survived Iwo and survived to the end of the war he would either live a quiet life with Lena for the rest of his life.
 
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