23 Feb COLONEL DAVID “MICKEY” MARCUS’ “TEAMWORK, TONE, TENACITY” (T3) LEADERSHIP: “A SOLDIER FOR ALL HUMANITY”

David “Mickey” Marcus was born on this date in 1901. He was the youngest son of Romanian Jewish immigrants in New York City. A U.S. Army Colonel in WWII, he later became Israel’s first General, fighting for the new Jewish State during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.  Whenever I reference “Servant Leadership” during one of my keynote presentations, I highlight Mickey’s devotion to his colleagues and the American public.  Marcus was portrayed by Kirk Douglas in the highly acclaimed 1966 movie “Cast a Giant Shadow.”  His amazing story and inspirational leadership style included:

• TEAMWORK:  Mickey graduated West Point with the Class of 1924. He lettered in boxing and football. After completing active duty, became a lawyer and spent most of the 1930s as an Assistant US Attorney in New York City, prosecuting gangsters such as Lucky Luciano. He later became Commissioner of the NYC Department of Corrections.  Returning to active duty following Pearl Harbor, in 1944, Marcus was permitted by his West Point classmate, General Maxwell Taylor, to parachute into Normandy on D-Day with the first wave of Taylor’s 101st Airborne Division, despite having no paratrooper training. He took informal command of some of the scattered paratroopers and was in combat for a week. He was then returned to the U.S. where he became principal architect of WWII civil affairs policies, including the organization of War Crimes trials in Germany and in Japan.  In 1947, David Ben-Gurion, first President of Israel, asked Marcus to recruit an American officer to serve as military advisor to the nascent Jewish army, the Haganah. He could not recruit anyone suitable, so Marcus volunteered himself. In 1948, Marcus was appointed General (“Aluf” in Hebrew – a title not used in Israel since the Maccabees) and given command of the Jerusalem front (his Operations Officer was Yitzak Rabin), where he achieved a great victory and was tragically Killed in Action. His body was returned to the U.S. for burial at West Point, accompanied by Moshe Dayan.  The burial, with military honors, was attended by the Governor of New York, Thomas Dewey, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, and General Maxwell Taylor, then West Point Superintendent

• TONE:  Marcus’ grave is the only one in the West Point Cemetery for an American killed fighting under the flag of another country; he was eligible for interment because he was a graduate of the Academy who served honorably. His paratrooper helmet and Walther Model 9 pistol are displayed at the West Point museum. His gravestone reads, “Colonel David Marcus—a Soldier for All Humanity”

• TENACITY:  Mickey was tireless in his pursuit of achieving his goals and serving others throughout his life; in and out of uniform. All who knew hime were awed by his magnetic personality, quick grasp of situations, phenomenal memory and enormous capacity for work. His biographies are full of eyewitness praise for his courage, humanity, integrity, unwavering optimism and ability to motivate and inspire confidence in others.  “I may not be the best man for the job, but I’m the only one willing to go.” Reminds me of Isaiah 6:18:   “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”  

Mickey’s wife Emma said of her beloved husband, “He just never knew how to say ‘no’ when he thought he was needed.”  May his memory be a blessing.  

– Rear Admiral Paul Becker, USN (Ret) is a leadership expert.  He is the CEO of The Becker T3 Group, a platform for his motivational and national security keynote speaking. A former Naval Intelligence Officer, he’s successfully led large, diverse, high-performing teams afloat and ashore in peace, crisis and combat.  In 2016, The Naval Intelligence Community established “The Rear Admiral Becker ‘Teamwork, Tone, Tenacity Award for Leadership” in his honor.  He is the President of the U.S. Naval Academy’s Non-Profit “Friends of the Jewish Chapel”