Simon B. Buckner junior

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General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr.

Simon Bolivar "The Bull" Buckner, Junior (born July 18, 1886 in Munfordville , Kentucky , † June 18, 1945 in Okinawa ) was a general in the US Army and served in the Pacific theater of World War II . Alongside Lesley J. McNair , who died from friendly fire in Normandy on July 25, 1944, he is considered the highest-ranking American officer who died in combat operations in this war.

Life

Early years and World War I

Simon B. Buckner Junior was born on July 18, 1886 on the Glen Lily family farm near Munfordville , Kentucky, USA . His father was Simon Bolivar Buckner, Sr. a Confederate general during the American Civil War and governor of Kentucky. He attended the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington , Virginia and received a scholarship from US President Theodore Roosevelt to the US Military Academy in West Point , New York , which he graduated in 1908.

Buckner spent the following years up to the outbreak of World War I and the entry into the US war in 1917 in the Philippines , where he could pursue his two hobbies of hunting and fishing . During the war years, he served as a temporary major and trained aspiring flight students in discipline . He should not be involved in any combat operation in this war.

Interwar period

From 1919 to 1923 he was an instructor at West Point, followed by a study course at the Command and General Staff College of the US Army in Fort Leavenworth , Kansas , which he graduated in 1925 as an "excellent student". Buckner then served as an instructor at the General Service Schools at Fort Leavenworth, as a first officer at the US Army War College in Carlisle , Pennsylvania, and again as an instructor at West Point. The latter engagement at the US Military Academy even enabled Buckner to be Commandant of Cadets from 1933 to 1936.

The cadets remembered his teaching as tough but warm. So he should all aftershave bottles with the words “If you're going to be a man, you've got to smell like a man” ( Eng .: “If you want to be men, then you have to smell like men! ") Have confiscated. Buckner's obstinacy regarding his often unconventional training methods inspired a worried parent to the following statement: "Buckner forgets did cadets are born, not quarried." (Dt .: "Buckner forgets that cadets are born and not broken!").

In 1940 Buckner was promoted to Brigadier General and transferred to Alaska , where he became the commanding officer of the Alaska Defense Command .

Second World War

LTG Simon B. Buckner, Jr. (2nd from right) with MG Lemuel Shepherd (left), commander of the 6th Marine Division , during the Battle of Okinawa

With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the resulting entry into the war by the United States , things initially remained quiet on the northern section of the front. The situation only changed in early June 1942, when the Japanese Dutch Harbor as a diversion for the more important Midway operations attacked . At the same time as this move, they conquered the western Aleutian islands of Attu and Kiska , which were recaptured as part of Operation Landcrab , which began in May 1943 .

During this time Buckner were often subordinated to African-American troops. As a southerner and avowed racist , he was always against these orders. So the nunmehrige feared Major General the intersection with the local population so that "would the ugliest race which have seen the world" ( en . "The ugliest race the world has ever seen." ).

After the fighting ended, Major General Buckner was summoned to Hawaii in August of the same year to build the US 10th Army . With the Battle of Okinawa , which began on April 1, 1945 , his well-trained 10th Army experienced the baptism of fire . Lieutenant General Buckner was in the habit of being on the front lines to see what was going on and to encourage his soldiers. Aware of the increased danger to his life, he could not let it be taken, which is why his subordinates nicknamed him "The Bull". However, this habit should cost him his life.

death

Simon B. Buckner, Jr. (right) at an observation post of the 8th US Marine Regiment on June 18, 1945 (this is the last photo showing Buckner alive).

On June 18, 1945 Buckner went to an observation post of the 8th US Marine Regiment , the 1st US Marine Division under Major General Pedro del Valle . Suddenly a Japanese artillery shell struck the dugout, killing Buckner immediately, but the commander of the 8th Regiment, Colonel William J. Wallace, who was also present, was only slightly wounded. His interim successor as Army Commander was Roy S. Geiger of the US Marine Corps before Joseph Stilwell arrived.

Buckner's body was first interred at Tenth Army Cemetery , Okinawa, before finding its final resting place next to his father at Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort , Kentucky. He left behind his wife Adele Blanc († 1988).

By resolution of the United States Congress on July 19, 1954, Buckner was posthumously promoted to general .

Awards

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

Web links

Commons : Simon B. Buckner junior  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk - Simon Buckner at: http://spartacus-educational.com/2WWbuckner.htm ; Retrieved September 29, 2006
  2. ↑ US Marine Corps Gazette - The Buckners of Kentucky - by H. Thomas Hayden (February 8, 2006) at: http://www.military.com/forums/0,15240,87389,00.html ; Retrieved September 29, 2006
personal data
SURNAME Buckner, Simon B. junior
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Buckner, Simon Bolivar junior (full name); Bull, the (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION United States Army General
DATE OF BIRTH July 18, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Munfordville , Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH June 18, 1945
Place of death Okinawa , Japan