John M. Shalikashvili

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John M. Shalikashvili (1993)

John Malchase David Shalikashvili ( Georgian ჯონ მალხაზ შალიკაშვილი ; born June 27, 1936 in Warsaw , Poland ; † July 23, 2011 in Tacoma , Washington , nickname: "Shali") was an American general in the United States Army .

Shalikashvili was Chairman of the United General Staff of the United States Forces from 1993 to 1997 . During his tenure as Chief of Staff, he published the strategy paper Joint Vision 2010 , which represents the theoretical superstructure for the largest transformation of the US armed forces in its history to networked operations management .

Life

John M. Shalikashvili during his farewell ceremony on September 30, 1997

John M. Shalikashvili was born in Warsaw to Georgian parents. His father, Demetre (Dimitri), was a lieutenant colonel in the army of the Democratic Republic of Georgia from 1918 to 1921 . Both parents fled to Poland after the occupation of Georgia by the Russian SFSR in 1921 . They met in Warsaw and had three children there, Othar, John and Gale. Shalikashvili's father became an officer in the Polish army and fought against the German invasion in September 1939 . After Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, he joined the Georgian Brigade , a group of expatriate fighters who had the stated aim of liberating Georgia from the Soviet Union . However, the unit was subordinated to the German SS and relocated to Normandy . Demetre was eventually captured by the British and held in a POW camp until the end of the war.

Meanwhile, Shalikashvili, his mother and two siblings lived in Warsaw. When the Red Army approached in 1944 , the family fled to Pappenheim , where they lived for eight years and later met their father Demetre again. From Pappenheim he attended the Werner-von-Siemens-Gymnasium in Weißenburg until he emigrated . In 1952 the family emigrated to Peoria , Illinois in the USA. They were financially supported by Winifred Luthy, the wife of a local banker. She was previously married to a cousin Demetres.

The Luthy family and the Anglican Church had helped the Shalikashvili family find work and a home. Demetre eventually found work with the Central Illinois Light Company, and mother Maria became a clerk at the Commercial National Bank . When John arrived in Peoria, he spoke little English. He remembers it like this:

“I spoke a little English. But not much more besides 'yes' and 'no' and what time it is. And the claim that I learned English by watching John Wayne films is only part of the truth. Rather, I went to the cinema after school. I had learned the language there through the English films. (...) The first time I didn't understand that much, but the second time it was better. Back then there were many films with John Wayne, or at least they were Wild West films. "

Shalikashvili attended Peoria High School . He then went to Bradley University and earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in June 1958 . There he was a member of the connection Theta Chi. In May 1958, Shalikashvili and his family became US citizens . It was the first citizenship Shalikashvili ever held. Before that he was stateless as a refugee .

Military career

John M. Shalikashvili (1984)

After completing his training, Shalikashvili had planned a career with Hyster Lift Truck, but he received his draft notice in July 1958 and joined the United States Army . As a private applied for the Officer Candidate School (OCS) . After completing this, he served as a second lieutenant in an artillery unit in Alaska. After the artillery school in Fort Bliss he was transferred to Germany to the 32nd Air Defense Command.

In 1968, as a comparatively young major , he was transferred to Vietnam as Senior District Advisor (advisor for South Vietnamese troops), from 1970 he served in various artillery units in Fort Lewis and was finally transferred to Korea in 1972. In 1975 he received his first command post in the 1st Battalion, 84th Field Artillery Regiment, 9th Infantry Division in Fort Lewis, Washington. In 1978 he was transferred to Italy, where he took over the post of Deputy Chief of Staff of the local Southern European Task Force . In 1979 he became the commander of the artillery of the 1st US Armored Division in Germany. In September 1981 Shalikashvili was appointed to the United States Department of Defense to serve as chairman of a military-political liaison unit. Promoted to Brigadier General in 1983 , he returned to Germany a year later to serve as deputy commander of the 1st US Armored Division in Fürth and as commander of the Nuernberg Military Community .

In 1986 he served as chief of the strategic planning and execution commission at the US Army General Staff at the Pentagon. He then took over command of the 9th US Infantry Division in 1987, and in 1989 he became Lieutenant General and Deputy Commander of the 7th US Army in Europe. In 1991 he commanded Operation Provide Comfort, which was supposed to offer the Kurds in northern Iraq protection and support from Saddam Hussein's army.

In 1992 he was appointed Supreme Allied Commander Europe ( commander in chief of NATO troops in Europe) and at the same time took over command of the US European Command . Shortly thereafter, on October 25, 1993, he was appointed Chairman of the United Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Forces by President Bill Clinton . Shalikashvili was the first non-United States born chairperson. In September 1997 he retired after 38 years of service.

Life after the military

Shalikashvili was visiting professor at Stanford University and advisor to John Kerry in the 2004 US presidential election . He has served as an executive director of Boeing as well as a director of the Frank Russell Trust Company , L-3 Communication Holdings , Plug Power and United Defense Industries .

He suffered a stroke on August 7, 2004 . John Shalikashvili lived to be 75 and died of complications from a stroke on July 23, 2011 at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington.

Others

Shalikashvili was, along with Walter Krueger and George Kenney, one of the three generals in US Army history who were not born in the United States. As the commander of the Nuremberg Military Community in the mid- 1980s , Shalikashvili was highly valued by the soldiers as well as by the German population and politicians, as he took care of everyone's concerns and found satisfactory compromises. He campaigned for the local economy and also for environmental protection. For the latter commitment, he received several awards, including from the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation .

When he arrived and during his first days of service as commander in Germany, some journalists had a hard time coming up with the name of the new general. So he was quickly known as "Shashlik Willy". The think tank National Bureau of Asian Research devoted Shalikashvili in 2006, an in-house professor named John Shalikashvili Chair in National Security Studies (approximate translation dt. "John M. Shalikashvili professorship in studies to national security").

Awards

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

In 1995 he received the Lucius D. Clay Medal .

Web links

Commons : John Shalikashvili  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b cf. National Bureau of Asian Research : Shali. A Tribute to John M. Shalikashvili. (PDF; 961 kB), April 2006. Retrieved on January 13, 2012 (English).
  2. ↑ Weißenburger Tagblatt of July 29, 2011.
  3. ↑ CNN Wire Staff: John Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, dies. edition.cnn.com, July 23, 2011, accessed October 10, 2014 .
predecessor Office successor
John R. Galvin Supreme Allied Commander Europe
1992-1993 		George A. Joulwan
personal data
SURNAME Shalikashvili, John M.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Shalikashvili, John Malchase David (full name); ჯონ მალხაზ შალიკაშვილი (Georgian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American general
DATE OF BIRTH June 27, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 2011
Place of death Tacoma , Washington