Garrison H. Davidson

Lieutenant General Garrison H. Davidson

Garrison Holt Davidson (* 24. April 1904 in the Bronx , New York City ; † 25. December 1992 in Oakland , California ) was an American lieutenant general of the US Army , the 1954-1956 Commander of the United States Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth , 1956-1960 Superintendent of the US Military Academy in West Point , 1960-1962 Commanding General of the Seventh US army ( Seventh US army ) and, most recently 1962-1964 Commanding General of the First US army ( First US army ) was.

Life

Officer training and World War II

Garrison H. Davidson as coach of the Army Black Knights , the football team of the US Military Academy (1933)

Garrison Holt Davidson, son of a National Guard officer , began officer training at the US Military Academy at West Point after attending Stuyvesant High School in 1923 , which he completed in 1927. He subsequently resigned as lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers USACE ( US Army Corps of Engineers ) of the US Army and became the first engineer regiment (1st Engineer Regiment) in Fort DuPont reassigned. In 1930 he became a physical education teacher and assistant coach of the Army Black Knights , the football team of the US Military Academy, whose youngest head coach he succeeded Ralph Sasse in 1933. He remained head coach until he was replaced by William H. Wood in 1937 and achieved 35 wins, 11 losses and 1 draw for the football team. Subsequently, he was from 1938 to 1940 head of a company of on Hawaii stationed 3rd Engineer Regiment (3rd Engineer Regiment) , before 1940 Engineer of the military airport Hamilton Army Airfield in Novato was. At the beginning of its activities with this was bombers equipped army aviation base by three squadrons , each with two season with P-40 "Warhawk" Curtiss and Curtiss P-36 "Hawk" - fighters extended.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the entry of the United States into World War II on December 8, 1941, Davidson was promoted to lieutenant colonel on February 1, 1942 and subsequently in the Office of the Chief Engineer of the Army (Office of the Chief of Engineers) in February 1941 assistant to the head of the local construction department, Colonel Leslie R. Groves , with whom he worked on the construction of the US Department of Defense , the Pentagon . He was then transferred to North Africa in September 1942 , where he initially worked as assistant to the chief engineer and, after his promotion to colonel on October 12, 1942, from October 23, 1942 as chief engineer of the Western Task Force on the African campaign and under command of General George S. Patton participated in Operation Torch on November 8, 1942 , the Anglo-American invasion of French North Africa . For his services there he received the Legion of Merit in 1943 . He was followed between 11 July 1943 and 15 August 1945 under the generals George S. Patton, Mark W. Clark and finally Alexander Patch chief engineer officer of the Seventh US Army ( Seventh US Army ) . For his services in enabling the rapid advance of Patton's armored forces into enemy territory, he was promoted to one of the youngest Brigadier Generals on September 23, 1943, at the age of 39 , with Patton using one of his own general stars for this promotion on the battlefield. In the following period he was involved in the planning and implementation of Operation Dragoon (August 15 to September 12, 1944), the landing of two armies of the Western Allies on the French Côte d'Azur between Toulon and Cannes and the expulsion of the German Wehrmacht from southern France . In 1944 he was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal for his services .

Postwar and Korean War

General George S. Patton promoted Garrison H. Davidson on September 23, 1943 at the age of 39 to one of the youngest brigadier generals , Patton using one of his own general stars for this promotion on the battlefield

Garrison H. Davidson remained on the post of chief engineer of the Seventh US Army until August 16, 1945 and was then chief engineer of the 15th US Army ( Fifteenth US Army ) stationed in Germany until February 18, 1946 . At the same time he acted as president of the first Nuremberg war crimes tribunal for military defendants . After he briefly between 19 February and 6 March 1946 Engineer of the Army ground forces (Army Ground Forces) , he was followed from March 1946 to September 1947 Chief Engineer of the Sixth US Army ( Sixth US Army ) . He then took over the post of Chief of Staff of the Sixth US Army at headquarters in the Presidio of San Francisco in September 1947 and held this post under Commanding Generals Mark W. Clark and Albert Wedemeyer until August 1950.

In July 1950, Davidson was after the start of the Korean War, according to South Korea US Army Commanding General of the Eighth ( Eighth US Army ) , Lieutenant General Walton Walker seconded, who had also served in World War II under Patton. Walker hired Davidson to build a line of defense to protect the Busan Perimeter . However, when building this so-called "Davidson Line" he had to put his professional judgment aside in order to construct the line to the preferences of General Douglas MacArthur and Lieutenant General Walker, removing defensive skills and good internal communication from the way. After the repulse of a first thrust of the North Korean People's Army , he was in August 1950 of assistive commander of the 24th Infantry Division ( 24th Infantry Division ) , the so-called "Victory Division". Davidson repeated his efforts to strengthen the Busan Perimeter prior to the Battle of the Busan Perimeter (August 4 to September 15, 1950). He then headed the Task Force Davidson named after him, which broke out of the perimeter to join forces with the US forces during Operation Chromite (September 15-28 , 1950), the landing of Incheon . Between February and May 1951 he was the chief engineer of the Eighth US Army north of Seoul, responsible for the construction of fortifications, before he was then acting head of the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Korea from May to July 1951 Korea) was. For his services during the Korean War, he was again awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal and the Silver Star on August 9, 1951 .

Commander of the CGSC and Superintendent of the USMA

After his return to the USA between July 1951 and July 1954 he was first representative of the Army in the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group in the office of the US Secretary of Defense . Over the next six years, Garrison H. Davidson played a prominent role in the training of officers during the Cold War and the nuclear age . First, Major General Garrison succeeded Major General Henry I. Hodes as Commandant of the Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Fort Leavenworth in July 1954 . He remained in this post until July 1956 and was then replaced by Major General Lionel C. McGarr .

Davidson then returned to West Point and was there as the successor to Lieutenant General Blackshear M. Bryan from July 15, 1956 until his replacement by Lieutenant General William Westmoreland on July 1, 1960 Superintendent of the US Military Academy . There he prevailed largely against strongly traditionalist views, broke through boundaries and initiated a process of revising and modernizing the teaching program of the Academy, which had hardly changed since Sylvanus Thayer , the legendary superintendent of the Academy between 1817 and 1833. The dynamic of his reforms continued through the oversight of his successor William Westmoreland into the 1970s. During this employment he was promoted to lieutenant general himself in 1957 .

Commanding General of the Seventh and First U.S. Armies

Following Lt. Gen. Garrison H. Davidson broke on July 1, 1960 Lieutenant General John C. Oakes as Commanding General of the Seventh US Army ( Seventh US Army ) from that during the Cold War, was stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany. During his service on August 13, 1961, the construction of the Berlin Wall fell so that in the event of an armed conflict he would have commanded a US military intervention. He remained in this function until March 30, 1962, whereupon Lieutenant General Francis William Farrell took his place there.

Last Davidson was born on April 1, 1962 succeeding Lieutenant General Edward J. O'Neill as commanding general of the First US Army ( First US Army ) . He had until his retirement on April 30, 1964 held this post commander, prompting Lieutenant General Robert W. Porter, Jr. began his successor. At the same time he was site commander of Fort Jay on Governors Island in Upper New York Bay between 1962 and 1964 . He also represented the United States on the United Nations Military Staff Committee . On April 30, 1964, he retired from active military service after 37 years of service. On May 29, 1964, he was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal for the third time. In 1983 he was appointed a member of the Board of Visitors of the US Military Academy by US President Ronald Reagan and was a member of this body until 1985.

Garrison Holt Davidson was married from 1934 until his death on December 25, 1992 to Verone Gruenther Davidson, a sister of the later Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO and commander of the US European Command , General Alfred Gruenther . From this marriage three sons and three daughters were born. After his death, he was buried in the United States Military Academy cemetery.

Awards

Selection of decorations, sorted based on the Order of Precedence of Military Awards :

• Army Distinguished Service Medal (3 ×)
• Silver Star
• Legion of Merit
• Bronze star

Web links

• Entry in Generals of WWII
• Entry into Military Hall of Honor
• Entry in The Hall of Valor Project
• Garrison H. Davidson in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Brigadier General Charles E. Beauchamp was acting commandant of the Command and General Staff College between March and July 1954.
2. ^ Seventh United States Army: Commanding Generals