---
title: "Farewell To Lt. Gen. Bernard Trainor, The Marine Who Chronicled Iraq As A Journalist"
date: "2018-06-04"
modified: "2018-06-04"
authors:
  - name: "Tom Ricks"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/tom-ricks/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/farewell-lt-gen-bernard-trainor/"
categories:
  - "History"
  - "Iraq War"
  - "Opinion"
  - "Past Conflicts"
---

# Farewell To Lt. Gen. Bernard Trainor, The Marine Who Chronicled Iraq As A Journalist

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/02/18988656-1.jpg>)

Bernard Trainor, or "Mick," was a decent man, a good person to talk to, and had a couple of memorable careers.

He enlisted in the Marines in 1946 and led an infantry platoon in the Korean War. He commanded a Royal Marine commando company on Malta. In the Vietnam War, he advised Vietnamese special operators and later commanded two battalions—1/5 Marines, and 1st Recon Btln. He retired in 1985.

Then, he became a military correspondent for the *New York Times* and, with co-author Michael Gordon, wrote a couple of fine books on the war in Iraq.

He will be missed.

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/02/image-placeholder-title-177.png>)