Marine Corps Career
Krulak was commissioned a U.S. Marine Corps second lieutenant upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy on May 31, 1934. His early Marine Corps service included: sea duty aboard USS Arizona, an assignment at the U.S. Naval Academy; duty with the 6th Marines in San Diego and the 4th Marines in China (1937–39); completion of the Junior School, Quantico, Virginia (1940); and an assignment with the 1st Marine Brigade, FMF, later the 1st Marine Division.
While stationed as an observer in Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Krulak took photographs with a telephoto lens of a ramp-bowed landing boat that the Japanese had been using. Recognizing the potential use of such a craft by the U.S. armed forces, Krulak sent details and photographs back to Washington, but discovered years later that they had been filed away as having come from "some nut out in China". Krulak built a model of the Japanese boat design and discussed the retractable ramp approach with boat builder Andrew Higgins who incorporated elements of Krulak's input into the Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) or "Higgins boat", which played critical roles in the Normandy Landings and amphibious assaults in the Pacific.
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