"It is inconceivable to me.'' cried crusty U.S. Navy Captain Douglas Dismukes in 1925, "that an officer with my record should be passed over for promotion to admiral." Largely to appease Sea Dog Dismukes, who, although credited with saving the torpedoed transport Mount Vernon in World War I, was being forced into retirement because of age, Congress that year passed the so-called "Tombstone Law." Under it, all battle-cited Navy, Marine and Coast Guard officers are promoted one grade upon being piped out of service. This allowed a generous wash of war-decorated four-stripe captains, for example, to engrave "Rear Admiral" across their business cards, social invitations—and tombstones.
Several weeks ago Congress, in a tidy-up move, voted to scuttle the Tombstone Law, and the special privilege it gave to the Navy Department. Since then, a couple of dozen Navy captains and five rear admirals have put in for retirement before Nov. 1. when the Tombstone Law goes out of operation. And last week three of the U.S. Marine Corps' four top officers decided that they too should depart before the deadline. The three, all lieutenant generals: Vernon E. Megee, 59, commanding the Fleet Marine Forces in the Pacific; Edwin A. Pollock, 60, commanding the FMF in the Atlantic, and Merrill B. Twining, 56, commandant of the Marine Corps School at Quantico (and younger brother of Air Force General Nathan Twining, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff). Upon retirement under the Tombstone Law, all three will achieve four-star rank (but not necessarily an increase in retirement pay).
Although the ending of the Tombstone Law dictated the precise timing of the marines' departure, all three had another reason for retiring before the mandatory age of 62: they had been passed over when President Eisenhower named Major General David Shoup, 54, to become Marine Corps commandant effective Jan. 1, 1960. Explained General Megee in Honolulu: "I am retiring because of the feeling that when the Defense Department selects a junior officer for the top spot, it is best to show loyalty by stepping aside."