ISC Founder Green Honored as Veteran

The Missouri Athletic Club named World War II veteran ISC Contracting founder George Green of Webster Groves its "Honored Veteran of the Year" at its joint Veterans Day Celebration with the Rotary Club of St. Louis on Nov. 10.

Green, 89, is one of two million surviving World War II veterans. More than 16 million men and women served in active duty during the war years.

Green enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve on November 1939 and served until he was honorably discharged in June 1946 with the rank of Chief Warrant Officer. During this seven-year period, he crisscrossed the U.S. several times, saw the world, served his country in the European and Asian Theaters, survived a World War, got married and became a father.

Green is one of very few Marines or any World War veteran to be awarded both a Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal for serving on both fronts during the war. He guarded a British Naval Air Station in Iceland while the Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbor and was a leader of a forward observer team during the assault on Iwo Jima.

In all, he served in 17 different locations during his Marine Corps career, including Iceland, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Guadalcanal, Kwajalein Marshall Islands, Bougainville, Guam and Iwo Jima, as well as six U.S. states. His many awards and decorations included a bronze star and a purple heart (with a gold star) received for two injuries he sustained in the battle on Iwo Jima.

After his discharge, Green returned to his family's home in Chicago where he attended college in the mornings, thanks to the G.I. bill, and then worked part-time in the afternoons as an usher at Wrigley Field, for which he was paid $2 a game. He then worked nights as a Freight Agent for Delta Airlines.

After completing a degree in architectural engineering, Green later moved to Webster Groves and spent most of his career working as a construction industry executive. In 1982, at age 60, Green convinced his son Dan to found a contracting firm with him. Now celebrating its 30th year in business, ISC Contracting is today a $25 million company, one of the Midwest's leading tenant finish contractors and a nationally known retail contractor. As president emeritus, Green, age 89, still goes to the office when he is able.

Green has been active in numerous veterans organizations, including The Iwo Jima Survivors Association, The American Legion, The Military Order of the World Wars, and The Military Officers Association of America.

At the awards ceremony, which was held at the Missouri Athletic Club, Green received proclamations from The Missouri Athletic Club and the U.S. Marine Corps. More than 350 guests, representing the Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, attended the luncheon and awards ceremony.

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