SALT LAKE CITY -- Retired Marine Maj. Gen. William T. Fairbourn, a World War II hero who spent his retirement as an active foe of the nuclear arms race, died Saturday and will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Memorial services will be held Wednesday in Salt lake City for the 72-year-old native of Crescent, Utah.
Interment will be March 2 in Virginia.
Fairbourn took part in numerous World War II battles, including the Marshalls-Gilbert raid, the Midway and Coral Sea naval battles, the Tulagi, Bougainville, Guam and Iwo Jima engagements and the occupation of Okinawa and Japan.
After the war, he was head of the Department of Strategy and Tactics, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, R.I. He commanded the 1st Marine Division from 1962-65 and commanded the Southern Landing Force and Fifth Marine Expeditionary Brigade during the Cuban missile crisis in 1963.
After his retirement, he toured the country warning of the dangers of nuclear war. He was a member of the Executive Committee of Utahns Against the Nuclear Arms Race.
He is survived by his wife, Laura, and a son.
