Captain Jim ("Captain Mustache") Carstairs, USMC: Pick Pickering & Dick Stecker's IP (Instructor Pilot) in Pensacola. He reappears in Close Combat, where he got Pickering and Billy Dunn out of a jam with an officious colonel at Pensacola by having them appear at a morale boosting formation and a mock dogfight in which they whip two of the instructor pilots and their gun camera film teaches the student pilots the reality of combat shooting. Brigadier General (previously Lieutenant Colonel) Clyde ("The Dawk") Dawkins, USMC: Commanding Officer, MAG 21 on Guadalcanal. Later Deputy Commander of USMC Camp Pendleton during the early days of the Korean War. Dawkins was loyal to the officers who flew for him in the Cactus Air Force, and to officers and senior noncoms he worked with on classified projects. The Dawk had a soft spot in his heart for Pick Pickering, Billy Dunn, and Ken McCoy, going out of his way to assist them when they had difficulties dealing with higher authority, or (especially in Pick's case) found themselves in trouble. Major Jake Dillon, USMCR: former enlisted China Marine sergeant; a Vice President of Metro Magnum Studios in peacetime with a wide circle of friends, from stuntmen to major movie stars. He returns to wartime duty in the Corps as a Major in the Public Affairs office. Major Dillon led a team of Marine combat correspondents during the Guadalcanal Campaign, and put together a documentary short subject from the footage shot by his men, from the preparations for the invasion to the Marines turning the island over to the U. S. Army to mop up the few remaining Japanese. Following the Guadalcanal campaign, Jake was dragooned into running the second "Marine Heroes" war bond campaign. While back in the United States, he proposed to and was accepted by Veronica Wood, one of Metro Magnum's biggest movie stars. Dillon was co opted by General Pickering into the OSS because of his renowned skills as a problem solver and troubleshooter. His resourcefulness was essential to the successful staging of the relief of the Buka Coastwatcher station, and Operation Gobi. Major (previously Lieutenant) Hon Son "Pluto" Do, USA: Signals & Cryptographic officer attached to MacArthur's headquarters in Australia. A graduate and PhD out of MIT, he was recruited into the Signal Corps by Brigadier General H. A. Albright, a cryptographic genius who reverse engineered the German Enigma machine and set up the Special Channel communications system. Pluto is a gifted intelligence analyst as well as a crypto officer; and frequently is invited to play bridge with General and Mrs. MacArthur, much to the displeasure of the Bataan Gang at SWPOA headquarters. Lieutenant Colonel (previously Lieutenant) William Dunn, USMC: Executive officer, and later Acting CO, of VMF 229. After transitioning into F4U Corsairs, Dunn became the CO of VMF 262. In the Korean War, Lieutenant Colonel Dunn becomes the group commander of the three Marine fighter squadrons embarked in the escort carrier Badoeng Strait. Billy is a fighter ace, a superb combat commander, and frequently despairs of his scapegrace friend, former wingman, and subordinate aboard the Badoeng Strait, Pick Pickering. Eric Feldt, Lieutenant Commander, RAN: director of the Coastwatcher organization. Ellen Feller: wife of a Christian missionary in China, married to a homosexual minister. Ellen enters the story when she accompanies McCoy on a convoy sent out to seek intelligence on the Japanese. She seduces and uses McCoy for her own ends, then dumps him. She reappears as a civilian linguist & analyst, first attached to Naval Intelligence in Washington; later attached to MacArthur's Australia headquarters in connection with MAGIC. As a result of her sexual appetites and the military secrets she knows, when her actions threaten the security of MAGIC she is shipped back to the United States and confined to an insane asylum, presumably St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, DC. Richardson Fowler: Junior Senator from California. Longtime friend of Fleming Pickering, President Roosevelt describes Richardson, who owns several newspapers and radio stations, as "the chief of my more or less loyal opposition." Captain (previously Technical Sergeant) Charles Galloway, USMC: Commanding Officer, VMF 229. Gets into serious trouble when he flies a fighter assembled from pieces of several wrecked F4F Wildcats at Pearl Harbor to the USS Saratoga enroute to Wake Island, that is not expecting him. Directly commissioned by Marine Commandant Holcomb personally, he is put in command of VMF 229. Flying Wildcats off Guadalcanal, Galloway became an ace. While there, he flew a modified C 47 Gooney Bird as part of the Buka rescue operation. Following transitioning into Corsairs, VMF 229 becomes the Corps' dumping ground for Marine Aviators regarded as screw ups, including Pick Pickering. It was said Galloway took pilots no one else could handle and made superb pilots and officers out of them. Captain David Haughton, USN: Executive Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy. While his main function is to act as the gatekeeper to those wishing access to Frank Knox, he also is a sort of liaison officer to the Office of Management Analysis and the Office of Strategic Services via General Pickering. His performance in this role is superlative, though he would much rather be at sea in command of a ship, as he wistfully mentions from time to time. Lieutenant General (previously Major General) Thomas Holcomb: Commandant of the Marine Corps; later relieved by Lieutenant General Alexander Archer Vandegrift. Caroline Howell: Ed Banning's love interest after returning from the Philippines. A rich divorcee, she met Banning at the New York Public Library when he requested all the Shanghai newspapers and magazines from the date the Fourth Marines sailed for the Philippines until the city fell to the Japanese. Despite Banning's telling her at the beginning that he was married and searching for news of his wife, the two begin a friends with benefits relationship that develops into a love affair. Had Ludmilla not survived, it seems likely Caroline and Banning would have married. However, when Banning is transferred to USMMCHI in connection with Operation Gobi (with the possibility of learning the fate of his wife), Caroline angrily breaks up with him. Frank Knox: wartime Secretary of the Navy. Staff Sergeant Thomas McCoy, USMCR: Ken McCoy's ne'er do well younger brother. A Marine Raider, he was promoted to sergeant, possibly as a reward for shooting up a Kawanishi H8K seaplane with a Boys anti tank rifle so badly it crashed on takeoff during the Makin Island Raid. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for valor above and beyond the call of duty on Guadalcanal at the Battle of Bloody Ridge. After Guadalcanal, he was nicknamed "Machinegun McCoy" by the press and sent back to the United States for a war bond tour, with two tough Marine gunnery sergeants to keep him in line. (Thomas McCoy is possibly based on Staff Sergeant "Manila John" Basilone, the hero of the Battle for Henderson Field, whose actions in that battle were very similar to McCoy's on Bloody Ridge as described in the books.) There is no further information presented in any of the later books. It is not known if Sergeant McCoy survived World War II. If he was in fact based on Manila John Basilone, the chances are he did not. Carolyn McNamara: Girlfriend of Charles Galloway. An upperclass divorcee who dumped her banker husband after he was caught in flagrante delicto with his chippy of a secretary, she meets and immediately falls in love with Galloway in much the same way Ernie Sage fell for Ken McCoy. Although it is plain the two are in love, it is not clear when or if they will marry. As there is no mention of Galloway following the successful staging of Operation Gobi, the question remains open. Major General (previously Brigadier General) D. G. "Doc" McInerney, USMC: Director of Marine Corps Aviation. He and Fleming Pickering were two of Sergeant Jack Stecker's corporals in World War I, and were present when Stecker earned his Medal of Honor. Offered an appointment to Annapolis following the war, he accepted it and graduated (probably in the Class of 1922). He got into Marine Aviation early, and fought alongside then Sergeant "Big Steve" Oblensky in Nicaragua during the Banana Wars. He kept in touch with both Stecker and Pickering over the years, eventually becoming Director of Marine Corps Aviation. In that role, he rescued Pick Pickering from the role Personnel had had in mind for him, which was as a mess and officer's club officer, arranging for him to become a pilot. After advising Fleming Pickering there was nowhere in the Corps his skills could be put to good work, he was pleased when Pickering became Secretary of the Navy Knox's eyes and ears. He worked with General Pickering on a number of occasions, most notably in connection with the Buka rescue operation and Operation Gobi. Following the events of In Danger's Path, nothing more is known of General McInerney's life and career. Lieutenant John Moore, USMCR: cryptographic & analysis officer attached to the Office of Management Analysis. The son of Christian missionaries, he was born and raised in Japan. He speaks fluent Japanese and knows the Japanese culture and mind as only someone immersed in it for years can know it. Pulled from boot camp and promoted to sergeant, Moore is sent to Brisbane to assist Pluto Hon, he deduces what MAGIC is and becomes a cryptographic analyst. He is seduced by Ellen Feller, who has also been sent to assist Pluto. When their relationship becomes inconvenient to Feller, she fails to prevent his transfer to Guadalcanal (where, as someone with knowledge of MAGIC, he should never have been sent) as an intelligence analyst to replace a lieutenant killed in action. He suffers shrapnel wounds while on a patrol to gather information about enemy intentions. When General Vandegrift learns Moore knows what MAGIC is, he is immediately medevacked to Australia. He is treated for his wounds by a nurse who falls for him, and he for her. Given the affectionate nickname of "Gimpy" by his fellow dungeon dwellers because he walks with a limp, he is a valuable member of the intelligence staff. When the decision was made to provide Chiang Kai Shek with MAGIC capability, Moore is reassigned to Chungking under Colonel Ed Banning as an cryptographer and analyst. Nothing further is known of Moore's career, although it may be presumed he married his nurse/lover. While stationed in Australia, they could not marry because their wedding would have resulted in her being transferred Stateside due to the regulations in effect at the time. Brigadier General (previously Lieutenant Colonel) Fritz Rickabee, USMC: Commanding Officer, Office of Management Analysis. Appropriately for a senior intelligence officer, Griffin gives the reader little background information on Rickabee. Presumably a graduate of the Naval Academy, when the readers meet him he is already the head of Management Analysis, a cover name for a secret intelligence gathering and analysis organization which reports directly to the Secretary of the Navy. Although their existence is known to the head of Marine Intelligence and Management Analysis works with them, they answer directly to the Secretary. Rickabee built the organization up from nothing and is very careful who is recruited into it. He was one of the officers who press ganged Ken McCoy into OCS, because he could do more for the Corps as an officer than an enlisted man. When Fleming Pickering was transferred from the Navy back into the Marines at the direction of President Roosevelt and assigned to head up the Office of Management Analysis, Rickabee was seriously annoyed. His annoyance did not last long, however, once he got to know Pickering and realized that despite the fact he was a general he still thought like a Marine sergeant. The two achieved mutual respect. Pickering was responsible for Rickabee's promotion to Brigadier General, succeeding him as the head of Management Analysis, and for maintaining the independence of Management Analysis. William Donovan of the OSS wanted the organization subsumed into the Office of Strategic Services, reasoning that all responsibility for worldwide intelligence belonged to him; and was a longtime friend of FDR. Pickering convinced the President that Management Analysis would be more use to the nation as an independent group than it would as cogs in the OSS. The office retained its independence, continuing to report directly to the Secretary of the Navy. Following the successful establishment of Station Nowhere in the Gobi Desert, Rickabee is not seen again in the series. Major (previously Lieutenant) Edward Sessions, USMC: officer attached to the Office of Management Analysis. A graduate of the Naval Academy, we first meet him as a lieutenant in Semper Fi. He is an intelligence officer masquerading as a Christian missionary who is given the standard Japanese humiliate the round eyes treatment before coming under Ken McCoy's wing and successfully completing his mission. Promoted to captain, he returns to the United States. After McCoy's graduation from OCS and assignment to the Office of Management Analysis, Sessions helps him with the transition to commissioned status. Over the course of the World War II portion of the series, he assists McCoy in preparation for a number of his assignments, working behind the scenes. He is married with one son. This sometimes bothers McCoy, as Sessions and his wife Jeannie are the epitome of family bliss that Ernie Sage frequently throws up at him as arguments in favor of their getting married. Nevertheless, Ed and Ken are close. First Lieutenant Dick Stecker, USMC: Jack Stecker's son and Pick Pickering's buddy. The second son of Jack and Elly Stecker (his older brother died aboard the Arizona on December 7, 1941), he chose to attend West Point instead of following his brother to Annapolis. (Qualified children of recipients of the Medal of Honor are entitled to admission to any of the service academies without an appointment and with no regard for quota requirements.) Following his commissioning as a second lieutenant, USMC, he reported to NAS Pensacola, where he met and roomed with Pick Pickering. The two were rated as Naval Aviators in F4F Wildcats and flew with the Cactus Air Force on Guadalcanal. All of the Marine pilots were aware of the shortage of fighter planes on Guadalcanal and went to extremes to bring their planes back to Henderson Field. Stecker tried to stretch a glide in a crippled Wildcat, and the airplane tumbled when a tire blew. Seriously injured in the crash, Stecker was repatriated to the States and sent to a naval hospital specializing in orthopedics in the Philadelphia area. When last seen, he had improved to the point he could walk with a cane, and was working to get physically fit and pass the flight physical. It is not clear whether he returned to flying duty. Major General Alexander Archer Vandegrift: Commanding General, 1st Marine Division; later served as Commandant of the Marine Corps. Captain (previously Lieutenant) James Weston, USMC: A Catalina pilot who was stranded in the Philippines just after the war began. With the tacit permission of his commanding officer, Weston escaped to Mindanao before the fall of Corregidor to fight as a guerrilla. Picking up other soldiers who had refused to surrender along the way, he links up with Brigadier General Wendell Fertig and becomes the Intelligence Officer of the U. S. Forces in the Philippines. Sent out of the Philippines to brief Generals Pickering and MacArthur by Killer McCoy (acting on Pickering's orders), he is decorated with the Silver Star. While on leave in Hawaii, he meets Charley Galloway and is rated in the Corsair. He is then caught up in the military system and sent to be evaluated before being sent on leave in accordance with standard procedures for repatriated prisoners of war. He meets and falls for a Navy nurse, and while being requalified in Catalinas meets the widow of an old friend, the daughter of an admiral, and they fall in love as well. Torn between the two, Weston volunteers for Operation Gobi, where he serves as the pilot of one of the two Cats used on the operation. His women troubles are exacerbated by Pick Pickering, his copilot, who is in love with the admiral's daughter but was spurned. Following the success of Operation Gobi, Weston is repatriated, his women problem unresolved. (Pick Pickering, prior to learning the second woman in Weston's life was the same one at Pensacola he was in love with, advised him to break it off with the nurse, accepting the screaming and probably face slapping this would cause as the price to be free to marry the one in Florida. It seems probable this is how he solved the problem.) We learn nothing further of Weston's career following Operation Gobi. Ludmilla Zhivkov: Ed Banning's White Russian wife. Daughter of a former Imperial Russian general who is also a count of the Russian aristocracy. After the collapse of the White Army following the Russian Civil War, she and her parents had to flee what was now the Soviet Union to Shanghai, China, becoming stateless persons. She inherits the title and rank of countess upon the death of her father. She earns her living as a private language teacher, and met Ed Banning when he wished to improve his Chinese and learn Russian. Following her escape from Japanese occupied China after marrying Banning, she and their son Edward Edwardovich settle in with Banning's parents in Charleston, South Carolina. After the war, while Banning was Commandant of the Marine Barracks in Charleston and also instructing at The Citadel, she assists one of Banning's cadets with a report on the Imperial Russian General Staff, and points out her father in a photo in one of his books to him. Shortly afterwards, Ludmilla Banning becomes known to the entire Corps of Cadets, with profound respect, as "the Countess". We learn in Retreat Hell! that Mrs. Banning has been diagnosed with, and is being treated for, breast cancer. General Joseph Stilwell, Chief of the U. S. Military Mission to China and Chief of Staff to Generalissimo Chiang Kai shek. Lieutenant (previously Corporal) Robert Easterbrook, USMC: a short, skinny enlisted combat correspondent on Guadalcanal, fresh from Parris Island and forced to grow up fast in the heat of combat while assigned to the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion. His ears redden with anger or embarrassment, earning him the nickname "the Easterbunny" among his peers (much to his irritation). After he returns to the US for a war bond tour, he is directly commissioned by the USMC Director of Public Affairs for the incredible combat footage and photos he took on Guadalcanal. He was also identified in a national news story by Thomas "Machinegun" McCoy as "the bravest man on Bloody Ridge," whom McCoy had believed to be dead, for his attempt to carry his mortally wounded captain to an aid station, in the words of Gunny Zimmerman, while "trying to carry his officer down that fucking hill with every fucking Jap this side of Tokyo shooting at him." Taken onto General Pickering's staff, Easterbrook is qualified as a MAGIC cryptographer and accompanies Colonel Banning to USMMCHI to assist him with the heavy workload of MAGIC traffic at General Stilwell's headquarters, where it is implied he remains for the rest of the war. Lieutenant General Edward Mallory "Ned" Almond, USA: Commander of X Corps in Korea.