Ladies & Gentlemen:

I regret to inform you of the death of Brigadier General Harold Osborne Deakin, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.). General Deakin passed away on 3 November
2003.

A funeral service will be held at 1100, 10 November 2003, in Los Altos,
California. General Deakin will be buried in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery,
Los Altos. I will provide further information as it becomes available.

v/r, LtCol Van Steenbergen

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United States Marine Corps (Ret.)
Brigadier General
Harold O. Deakin
<> Brigadier General Harold Osborne Deakin, a 1934 graduate
of the Naval Academy and veteran of four World War II campaigns.

General Deakin was born on January 18, 1913, at Salt Lake City, Utah, where
he graduated from West High School in 1930. He entered the Naval Academy at
Annapolis, Maryland, the same year, graduating with his commission as a
Marine second lieutenant. After completing the Marine Officer's Basic School
at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, he began a year of sea duty in June 1935 with
the Marine Detachment aboard the USS IDAHO.

Returning from sea duty in June 1936, he was ordered to the Marine Barracks
at the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island, where he remained until
May 1937. He then served again with the Marine Detachment aboard the IDAHO
from June 1937 until May 1939. He thereafter reported to Quantico,
Virginia, where he completed the Junior Course in the Marine Corps Schools
in May 1940. That June he began a two-year tour of duty as an instructor in
the Basic School at Philadelphia. He was serving there as a captain when
the United States entered World War II.

Leaving Philadelphia in June 1942 General Deakin reported the same month to
Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, where he was named Assistant
Operations Officer in the Operations and Training Section, Division of Plans
and Policies. In that capacity, he was sent to Europe and North Africa as
an observer in August and September 1943. That December, he embarked for
the Pacific theater to take command of the 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st
Marine Division, which he lead in the New Britain operation. He then
commanded the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, from April until June 1944. After
that, he served as Planning Officer with the 1st Marine Division from July
until September 1944, and as Assistant Chief of Staff, G-1, from then until
he returned to the United States in July 1945. He was a lieutenant colonel
by the end of the war. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V"
for his service in the Peleliu operation and the Legion of Merit with Combat
"V" for outstanding service in Okinawa.

In September 1945, Lieutenant Colonel Deakin was assigned to Quantico as an
Instructor in the Senior Course of the Amphibious Warfare School. He was
temporarily detached the following month to enter the General Staff Course
at the Army Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,
which he completed in February 1946. Upon his return to Quantico, he again
served as an instructor until March 1947. He departed for Athens the
following month to become Assistant Naval Attaché for Air to the American
Embassy in Greece. He served in that capacity until July 1947, and was
Planning Officer of the U.S. Navy Group, American Mission to Aid Greece,
from then until he returned to the United States in June 1949. He was
promoted to colonel that August with date of rank of July 1, 1949.

After his return from Greece, Colonel Deakin served for two years as
Commander of the Marine Barracks at the Naval Gun Factory, and U.S. Naval
Activities in Washington. Thereafter, he then entered the National War
College at Washington in August 1951 and, after graduating the following
June, he served in Norfolk, Virginia, from July 1952 until June 1954 as
Assistant Chief of Staff, G-1, Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic. He was on loan
to the U.S. Department of State as Special Assistant to Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles and Under Secretary Herbert Hoover, Jr., from July 1954
until August 1956.
In addition to the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star Medals, both with Combat
"V", the General's medals and decorations include the Presidential Unit
Citation with two bronze stars; the Navy Unit Commendation with one bronze
star; the American Defense Service Medal; the European-African-Middle
Eastern Area Campaign Medal with one bronze star; the American Area Campaign
Medal; the Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal with three bronze stars; the
World War II Victory Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. He also
was awarded the Gold Cross of the Order of King George the First by the
Government of Greece.

General Deakin and his wife the former Sonya Bychowski, of Baltimore,
Maryland, have a daughter Valerie (born March 8, 1938).