George S. Blanchard

George Samuel Blanchard (born April 3, 1920 in Washington, DC , † May 3, 2006 in Alexandria , Virginia ) was a general in the US Army . He last served from 1975 to 1979 as Commander in Chief of the 7th US Army in Heidelberg , also known as the United States Army Europe (USAREUR) . He was also the commanding general of NATO's Central Army Group . His title was ( CINCUSAREUR / COMCENTAG = Commander in Chief United States Army Europe, Commander Central Army Group).

Life

George Blanchard was born on April 3, 1920 in the American capital Washington DC. In 1938 he graduated from Easter High School . He then studied until 1940 at the American University . He joined the National Guard and became a sergeant in the coastal defense. Through the National Guard, he received a scholarship to the US Military Academy at West Point . He completed this in the years 1940 to 1944. During this time, the American entry into the Second World War fell . Blanchard graduated on June 6, 1944, the day the Allies landed in Normandy. Immediately afterwards, the young lieutenant was assigned to the infantry and deployed to the European theater of war. After the war he worked for some time in the General Staff of the American High Command in Europe, before returning to the United States, where he is still an officer until 1949 at the University of Syracuse belonging Maxwell Graduate School of Citizenship and Public Affairs studied public administration, among other things. He then continued his active military career. In the 1950s he held various military positions. Among other things, he worked on the staff of General Omar N. Bradley as a strategy instructor (tactics instructor) at Fort Benning . Between 1955 and 1957 he was a military advisor in Taiwan . In 1959 he was promoted to Colonel. He took command of the 503rd Infantry Regiment which was subordinate to the 82nd Airborne Division . He was then promoted to the rank of general. At the headquarters of the American Army in South Korea, he headed the G3 operations department. Since 1966 he was used in the Vietnam War, where he was initially deputy (assistant) commander of the 1st Cavalry Division . Then he was also in Vietnam Chief of Staff of an Army Corps (I Field Force). After working in Vietnam, General Blanchard took on various positions in the US Department of Defense. Among other things, he was the executive officer under two army ministers.

After his time in the Pentagon, Blanchard took command of the 82nd Airborne Division as Major General in 1970 . He then returned to Europe as Lieutenant General , where he took command of the VII Corps stationed in Stuttgart . On June 30, 1975, Blanchard was promoted to four-star general, the new Commander-in-Chief of the American Army Forces in Europe (USAREUR). His headquarters were in the Keyes Building of the Campbell Barracks in Heidelberg. At the same time he also took command of the Central Army Group . Blanchard was known as a fighter against alcohol abuse in the army. Accordingly, he issued orders in his command area to curb alcohol consumption by soldiers. Under his command, the first American treatment center in Europe for officers and high-ranking NCOs with alcohol problems was established. On May 29, 1979, Blanchard's tenure as Supreme Commanding General ended. He then went into retirement, which he spent at McLean , Virginia. There he founded and ran General Analysis Inc. a consulting firm active in the defense sector. During the 1980s, he led the Retired Officers Association and the United Service Organizations for some time . He moved to North Carolina in the 1990s . He did not return to Virginia until 2002, where he lived in Fort Belvoir in a residential area for military retirees (military retirement community). He died on May 3, 2006 of pneumonia in a hospital in Alexandria, Virginia.

Awards

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

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Blanchard, George S.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Blanchard, George Samuel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American Commander in Chief of the Army
DATE OF BIRTH	April 3, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH	Washington, DC
DATE OF DEATH	May 3, 2006
Place of death	Alexandria