Presley Marion Rixey – Colonel, United States Marine Corps

Having researched the Colonel for more that thirty years – I have come up with a little (not a complete biography):

  • Second Lieutenant, 1900
  • Major, 1916
  • Lieutenant Colonel, 1918
  • Colonel, Date Unknown
  • Served at Marine Barracks, Washington D.C. Navy Yard, 1919-21
  • Chief of Policia, Dominican Republic 1921- ( served until either 1922 or 1923 – 1923 is the best guess)
  • Commanding Officer, 2nd Marine Regiment, 1927-29
  • Commanding Officer, 1st Marine Brigade, 1928
  • Director of War Plans, Headquarters, USMC, from ? until 1933
  • Commander, Legation Guard, Peking, 1933-36

Born: 17 NOV 1879
Married: Lillian Tillinghast Stearns, 9 January 1903, at Farley, Brandy Station, Culpeper, Virginia
His Father: Charles Jones Rixey
His Mother: Elizabeth A. (Lizzie) Herndon


Presley Marion Rixey received his early education at Culpeper, Virginia, schools.  He later attended the University of Virginia. He served in the Spanish-American War with an honorable discharge at the end of the war.

He was appointed by President McKinley (at the request of his Uncle Dr. Presley
Marion Rixey – the President’s physician) to fill the first vacancy in the U.S.
Marine Corps subject to examination.

He has had many years of service in the Marine Corps, where he in 1932 was a Colonel.

NOTE: His son, Presley Morehead Rixey, was born 17 August 1904 at Yokohama, Japan .

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