Laurence E. Bunker

Laurence Eliot Bunker (June 27, 1902 - October 10, 1977) was an American Army Colonel, who served as aide-de-camp to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, from 1946 - 1952.

Laurence E. Bunker
Col. Bunker in 1970
BornLaurence Eliot Bunker
(1902-06-27)June 27, 1902
Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts
DiedOctober 10, 1977(1977-10-10) (aged 75)
Boston, Massachusetts
Alma materHarvard University
New York Law School
Notable awardsArmy Distinguished Service Medal
Legion of Merit

Early life and education

Bunker was born and raised in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, where he lived his entire life at the family home on Chestnut Street. His parents were Clarence Alfred Bunker, an attorney at the prominent Boston law firm of Fish, Richardson, & Storrow, and Cordelia Mitchell (Barker) Bunker. He attended Roxbury Latin School, and later graduated from Harvard University in 1926. He subsequently received a juris doctorate from New York Law School in 1938. During the interim, he also obtained degrees at Cambridge University in England.[1]

Career

Bunker joined the Army in 1942, shortly after the American entry into the Second World War. His first assignment was as aide-de-camp to Gen. Richard Marshall in Australia. In April 1946 he then joined the staff of Gen. MacArthur, serving through most of the Occupation of Japan and the Korean War. Shortly after leaving MacArthur's staff in November 1952, Col. Bunker retired from the armed forces.

He went on to practice law in Wellesley Hills. In 1958, he was one of the eleven original founding members of the John Birch Society, alongside Robert W. Welch Jr., Fred C. Koch, and Revilo P. Oliver, among others.[2] He remained a member of the National Council of the JBS, the society's top governing body, through the end of his life.[3]

Death

Bunker died of cancer at New England Baptist Hospital, on October 10, 1977.

He is buried, with other members of the Bunker family, at Woodlawn Cemetery in Wellesley Hills.[4]

References
  1. Wellesley Historical Society, "Bunker Family Collection" (retrieved on December 20th, 2020)
  2. The Harold Weisberg Archive, "John Birch Society Membership" (retrieved on December 20th, 2020)
  3. New York Times archive, "Laurence Bunker, Was Aide to And Charter Member of John Birch Society" (retrieved on December 20th, 2020)
  4. FindAGrave.com, "COL Laurence Eliot Bunker" (retrieved on December 20th, 2020)
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