Harold Keith Johnson

General Harold Keith Johnson

Harold Keith "Johnny" Johnson (born February 22, 1912 in Bowesmont , Pembina County , North Dakota , † September 24, 1983 in Washington, DC ) was an American general in the US Army , who was among other things between 1964 and 1968 Chief of Staff of the Army was.

Life

Officer training, World War II and imprisonment

Filipino and American soldiers surrender to Japanese forces on Bataan

After attending high school in 1929, Johnson began officer training at the US Military Academy at West Point , which he completed in June 1933. He was then a lieutenant in the 3rd Infantry Regiment at Fort Snelling between 1933 and 1936 . After his promotion to first lieutenant in 1936, he attended the US Army Infantry School at Fort Benning , which he finished in 1938. He was then an officer in the 28th Infantry Regiment stationed in Fort Niagara between 1938 and 1940 . In 1940 he was transferred to the 57th Infantry Regiment (Philippine Scouts) , which was stationed in Fort McKinley in the Philippines , today's Fort Bonifacio. There he was given the temporary rank (Temporary rank) as captain .

After the attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States into World War II by declaring war on the Japanese Empire on December 8, 1941, the battle for the Philippines broke out , which ended with the occupation of the Philippines by Japan. After Bataan's surrender and surrender on April 9, 1942, he had to take part in the Bataan death march , where he witnessed the brutality of the Japanese soldiers against the Filipino and US prisoners of war. He initially stayed as a prisoner of war in the Philippines before being transferred to Japan in December 1944. The ship that was supposed to bring him to Japan was sunk by US Air Force aircraft . He was then in a Japanese POW camp after Korea spent where it finally in September 1945 by the 7th Infantry Division ( 7th Infantry Division ) was liberated.

Postwar, Korean War and Europe

After returning to the United States, Johnson attended Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Fort Leavenworth , which he graduated in August 1946. He then remained as an instructor at Command and General Staff College and was also a graduate of the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk in 1949 , before he became commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment in Fort Devens . During this time organized the construction of the 1st Provincial Infantry Battalion and was relocated to Korea with this unit when the Korean War broke out . There he took part as commander of battalions of the 5th and 8th Cavalry Regiments in combat missions in the defense of Busan at the Battle of the Busan Perimeter and was promoted to colonel during this time . On September 4, 1950, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his services there . In addition, he was awarded the Legion of Merit four times for his military achievements in the Korean War . After a brief assignment as a planning and operations officer with the Chief of Staff for Operations of the I Corps ( I Corps ) stationed in Japan and part of the Far East Command at that time , he returned to the USA and was in the office of Chiefs of the Land Forces at Fort Monroe .

Johnson then graduated from the National War College (NWC) at Fort Lesley J. McNair in 1952 and was then employed from 1954 to 1955 as head of the Joint War Planning Unit in the office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations in Washington, DC He received his there in 1956 Promotion to the permanent rank of colonel and the temporary rank of brigadier general . As such, he was deputy commander of the 8th Infantry Division ( 8th Infantry Division ) in Fort Carson and shortly afterwards with this association to the US armed forces in Germany. He then took over the post of Chief of Staff of the 7th US Army ( Seventh US Army ) in Stuttgart-Vaihingen in 1957 and as Assistant Chief of Staff for operations at the headquarters of the US armed forces in Europe in 1959. After he was given the temporary rank of Major General in 1959 , he took over the post of Chief of Staff of the Central Army Group CENTAG ( Central Army Group ) at NATO headquarters in Brussels .

Promotion to General and US Army Chief of Staff

In 1960 Johnson was given the permanent rank of Brigadier General, whereupon he succeeded Major General Lionel C. McGarr as Commander of the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth on his return to the United States in August 1960 . He held this position until his replacement by Harry Jacob Lemley, Jr. in February 1963. He was then given the permanent rank of major general and the temporary rank of lieutenant general . In the following years he was Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff between 1963 and 1964 and most recently Deputy Chief of Staff of the US Army for military operations at the headquarters in Washington, DC

On July 3rd, 1964 Johnson General sparked Earle Wheeler as Chief of Staff of the US Army ( Chief of Staff of the Army ) , and held that post until his retirement from active military service on July 2, 1968 after which General William Westmoreland his successor has been. In July 1964 he was also promoted to general . As Chief of Staff of the Army, he was instrumental in the preparation and expansion of the Vietnam War and Operation Power Pack , a multinational, US-led military intervention in the Dominican Republic that lasted from April 28, 1965 to September 21, 1966 . In addition, he was involved in the establishment of the office of the Sergeant Major of the Army in 1966, who is the superior of the corps of the US Army, belongs to the staff of the Chief of Staff of the Army and his advisor in all service matters that concern the NCOs of the Army, especially in the areas of soldier training and quality of life. During an illness of General Wheeler in 1967 he also served briefly as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ( JCS ) . For his services as Chief of the Staff of the Army, he was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal in 1966 and 1968 .

In 1969 Johnson became president of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association and a board member of various defense companies. After his death he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. In his honor, the Chair of Military History at the US Army Military History Institute in Carlisle was renamed Harold Keith Johnson Chair of Military History in 1978 . In 1985 he was posthumously awarded the Prisoner of War Medal .

Awards

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

• Distinguished Service Cross
• Army Distinguished Service Medal (2 ×)
• Legion of Merit (4 ×)
• Prisoner of War Medal

Background literature

• Lewis Sorley: Honorable Warrior: General Harold K. Johnson and the Ethics of Command , 1998

Web links

• Short biography on the Arlington National Cemetery website
• Harold Keith Johnson in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Entry on the Hall of Valor page