Editing Frank Sturgis (section)

==Military Service and Early Career==
On October 5, 1942, at age 17, Sturgis joined the United States Marine Corps, serving in the First Marine Raider Battalion under Colonel Merritt A. “Red Mike” Edson in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He saw combat in New Georgia, Guam, and Okinawa, rising to corporal and earning a Purple Heart for wounds sustained, though claims of fighting at Guadalcanal with Edson’s Raiders are unverified and disputed. Honorably discharged in 1945, he joined the Norfolk Police Department in 1946, uncovering a corrupt payoff system but was rebuffed by superiors, prompting his resignation.

In 1948, Sturgis managed the Whitehorse Tavern in Norfolk, followed by owning the Top Hat Nightclub in Virginia Beach. He served in the U.S. Army (1950–1952) during the Korean War era, though not in combat, and worked as a private investigator. His early career was marked by restlessness, setting the stage for his later covert activities.