General Merrill B. Twining, USMC (ret.) “was commissioned a Marine second lieutenant upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in June 1923. During the next two years, the lieutenant completed the Marine Officers' Basic School, served at Quantico, participated in Caribbean maneuvers with the 10th Marines, and was stationed at the Marine Barracks, Pensacola, Florida.

During the planning phase, Lieutenant Colonel Twining and Major William B. McKean were flown over the then Japanese-held island on 17 July 1942, for the first sighting of Guadalcanal by U.S. Marines in World War II. Following the Guadalcanal campaign, he served as Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, of the 1st Marine Amphibious Corps, then commanded by General Alexander A. Vandegrift.

General Twining returned to Korea in January 1955 as Commander of the 1st Marine Division. In March of that year, he accompanied the division to Camp Pendleton, where he served until August 1956. In September 1956, he was promoted to lieutenant general and assumed duties as Commandant, Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, the twenty-fifth Marine officer to head the Schools. He served in that capacity until his retirement 31 October 1959.” (Marine Corps Legacy Museum) General Merrill B. Twining is the author of No Bended Knee: The Battle for Guadalcanal.

Publisher’s Weekly said of No Bended Knee: The Battle for Guadalcanal, “The author of this candid and revealing memoir served as the 1st Marine Division's operations officer during the 1942 battle for Guadalcanal, one of the major campaigns of WWII. The literature of the campaign is based largely on his after-action report, which, as he now discloses, was written under severe handicaps, including malaria and the lack of an operations log. Setting straight the historical record, Twining here reveals that the division's commanding officer, Maj. Gen. A.A. Vandergrift, ordered the log to be burned when he thought the unit was going to be forced into the island's interior for a last-ditch stand. Twining expresses resentment over the faintheartedness of the operation's overall commander, Vice Adm. Frank Jack Fletcher, for his decision to withdraw the fleet only two days after the Marines' amphibious landing, leaving them stranded and taking with him a large part of their supplies and equipment. He also discusses the inept interference of Rear Adm. Kelly Turner, commander of the amphibious forces, and the bone-deep hostility toward the Marines by Army authorities who later campaigned to abolish the corps. Twining retired in 1959 with the rank of general.”

One reader said of No Bended Knee: The Battle for Guadalcanal, “General Twining's account is more than first-person as that portends one who witnessed history. He made it on Guadalcanal. This book is a superior account for one who desires to understand how war plans are made, how to train a unit and how to motivate men to do what is not normally done. He treats us to an excellent first-person insight of how one plans, equips, trains, and leads in combat. It is not a book from someone who sits in an ivory tower and has a better way of doing business. Finally, he reminds us of why we have Marines. A force that truly is ready to do our nations dirty business so we can stay free and secure.”