John L. Hines

John L. Hines

John Leonard Hines (born May 21, 1868 in White Sulfur Springs , West Virginia , † October 13, 1968 in Washington, DC ) was an American general and Chief of Staff of the Army from 1924 to 1926.

Life

Hines was born into a family of Irish descent. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1891 and then came as a Second Lieutenant to the 2nd Infantry Regiment, with which he was stationed in the western United States ( Nebraska and Montana ). He took part in the Spanish-American War in Cuba and was deployed there until 1900. From 1900 to 1901 he took part in the Philippine-American War , where he fought against the Moros rebels in the south of the islands . From December 1900 he was a captain in the 23rd Infantry Regiment. Until 1912 he then served as quartermaster in various posts in the USA, Japan and the Philippines. In 1912 he became a major in the 6th Infantry Regiment. From 1913 he served as adjutant general in the Western Department .

From 1914 to 1916, Hines served as an adjutant with the 8th Infantry Brigade in the El Paso District. He took part in the Mexican expedition as an adjutant to General Pershings . He then became Assistant Adjutant at the Eastern Department and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in May 1917 and appointed Assistant Adjutant General Pershings, Commander in Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces , with whom he traveled to France that month. In October 1917 he took over the 16th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division as a Colonel , with whom he was deployed in the French 1st Army . In April 1918 he was promoted to Brigadier General of the National Army and Hines received command of the 1st Infantry Brigade of the 1st Division. With his brigade he took part in the fighting at Montdidier , the Marne and Saizerais . Promoted to Major General of the National Army, he took over the 4th Infantry Division in August 1918 , which he led in September in the Battle of St. Mihiel and then in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive . Shortly before the end of the war he received command of the III Corps , with which he participated in the occupation of the Rhineland after the armistice . His rank in the Regular Army was set to that of Brigadier General in November 1918.

In the post-war period, Hines led the 5th Infantry Division from September 1920 , the 2nd Infantry Division from July 1921 and finally the VIII Corps Area. In March 1921 he was given the permanent rank of Major General. In December 1922 he became Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army under Pershing, whom he succeeded in September 1924 as Chief of Staff of the Army. In November 1926 he was replaced by Charles P. Summerall . Unlike most of the CSA before him, he continued his active career, first as commander of the IX Corps Area and from 1930 of the Philippine Department . In May 1932 he took his leave. In 1940 he was promoted to general on the retired list by an act of Congress . He died in 1968 at the age of 100 and is the only US general besides James A. Van Fleet to have reached that age. His son, John L. Hines, Jr. served as Colonel in the 6th Armored Division during World War II .

literature

• Spencer C. Tucker : World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection. ABC-CLIO, 2014, pp. 759-760.

Web links

Commons : John L. Hines  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Career data on history.army.mil (excerpt from Commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff, 1775–2005 )