Description
Colonel George Williams Carrington was
a United States Marine who served in China following World War II in 1946, and became the
aide to Oscar Badger, the Commander of Naval Forces in the Far East. With a military career
spanning from 1942 to 1968, he saw active duty during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He
also spent time in Taiwan as an assistant naval attaché, and was the aide to General Maxwell
Taylor, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Kennedy and Johnson
administrations. In addition to his military career, Carrington also attended Yale, American
University, and Oxford University, and has written multiple books on his life and on the
history of foreigners in Taiwan (Formosa). The collection contains items mostly related to
Carrington's military career, including photographs, correspondence, newspaper and magazine
clippings, and a NATO organizational chart. Also included is a program for the Chinese
language course Carrington took at UC Berkeley and publicity materials for two books
Carrington authored or edited.
Background
George Carrington was born in New York in 1921. He attended Yale and received his Bachelors
degree in 1942, whereupon he joined the United States Marine Corps and was sent to the
Pacific campaigns. While in the Pacific, he learned from a friend about the Chinese language
program offered by U.C. Berkeley. He asked his superiors if he could enroll, and once given
permission he began taking courses in Chinese in the summer of 1945. He was then sent to
China, where he was stationed in Tientsin, Peking, Tsingtao, and Shanghai. While in China,
he served as the aide to Oscar Badger, the Commander of Naval Forces in the Far East, and
negotiated the release of a downed American pilot captured by communist forces.
Restrictions
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Availability
The collection is open for research use.