Richard Malcolm Cutts III – Brigadier General, United States Marine Corps

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The son of Richard Malcolm Cutts, Colonel, United States Marine Corps, and a member of a family with a long tradition of military service to the United States.  He was born on June 9, 1903 and died on June 9, 1973.  He is buried in Section 2 of Arlington National Cemetery in his father’s plot.

BRIGADIER GENERAL RICHARD CUTTS DEAD;
MARINE INVENTED A RIFLE DEVICE

WASHINGTON, June 15, 1973 – Brigadier General Richard Malcolm Cutts, USMC, retired, whose 23-year career encompassed inventing, serving in the White House and battlefield combat, died yesterday at Bethesda Naval Hospital.  He was 70 years old.

Following his graduation from the United States Naval Academy in 1923, General Cutts, a descendant of Francis Scott Key, spent much time overseas, and achieved distinction by winning both in 1926 and 1927 the United States national rifle championship.  Upon the election in 1932 of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he was attached to the White House as an aide to the President, serving there until his marriage in 1934.

During those early years of his military career, General Cutts gained recognition as an inventor, particularly of the Cutts Compensator, a device that lessens the recoil of a rifle or submachine gun.  The compensator, which he developed with his father, Colonel Richard Cutts, had a great impact on firing concepts in weapon development.  General Cutts also helped foster advances in ordnance, lubrication and the photography of projectiles in flight.

Among his posts, following White House duty, he was stationed in China during the Sino-Japanese War.  In 1944 he was with the 2nd Marines during the final stages of fighting in the Pacific, seeing action in Saipan, Okinawa and the in the initial occupation of Nagasaki.  He retired from active duty in 1936.

General Cutts is survived by his widow, the former Dorothea Lane of the Plains, Virginia; a daughter, Dorthea, and a sister, Mrs. John T. Wainwright.

From a contemporary press report:

Dorthea Lane Cutts, 91, a member of the Colonial Dames, North American Lily Society and the Garden Club of America, died of pneumonia December 9 , 1998 at the Fauquier Hospital in Warrenton.

Mrs. Cutts, who was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, grew up in Washington,  where she graduated from the Holton-Arms School. She then accompanied her husband, Marine Corps Brigadier General Richard M. Cutts, to military bases in the United States, China and the Philippines.

They settled in The Plains in 1941, and remained residents there.

Her husband died in 1973 and a daughter, Dorothea Cutts, died in 1978.

She leaves no immediate survivors.

CUTTS, RICHARD MALCOLM

  • BG USMC
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 01/09/1903
  • DATE OF DEATH: 06/14/1973
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 2  SITE 4798 LH
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

CUTTS, DOROTHEA LANE

Of The Plains, Virginia, died of pneumonia on Wednesday, December 9, 1998. Services will be held at Grace Episcopal Church, The Plains, Virginia, on Monday, December 14 at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Grace Episcopal Church, The Plains, Virginia.

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