JAMES ALWARD VAN FLEET, soldier, diplomat, businessman, author, athlete, hunter, rancher, and Floridian celebrated his 100th birthday on March 19, 1992 at his home in Polk City, Florida.
Born in Coytesville, New Jersey, he grew up in Florida. He graduated from Summerlin Institute in Bartow, Florida in 1911 and entered the United States Military Academy at West Point where he was a standout fullback on the undefeated football team of 1914 and graduated in 1915. Classmates included fellow infantry officers Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar N. Bradley.
Upon graduation from West Point 2d Lieutenant Van Fleet was assigned to the 3d Infantry Regiment at Madison Barracks at Sackett’s Harbor on Lake Ontario. This was a historical and fortuitous assignment. The 3d Infantry Regiment is the oldest unit of the United States Army. For outstanding bravery in the Mexican War of 1846-47 the regiment was honored by being named “The Old Guard” and authorized to parade with fixed bayonets. “The Old Guard” today is our National Honor Guard located in our Nation’s capital. From his first assignment he was inculcated with high morale and with what became his lifetime motto – “The Will to Win”.
In April 1916 Lieutenant Van Fleet was ordered as a member of “The Old Guard” to Eagle Pass, Texas to serve under General Pershing in his operations against Pancho Villa. Van Fleet was promoted to 1st Lieutenant and then to Captain, commanding a company of the 3d Infantry Regiment.
In July, 1918, he went to France with the 6th Division and shortly afterward assumed command of the 17th Machine Gun Battalion, with which he saw action in the Gerardmer Sector and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. He was wounded in action on November 4, 1918, near Sedan. After the Armistice he remained on occupation duty with his battalion until its return to the United States in June, 1919.
After a year with the 6th Division at Camp Grant, Illinois, he was assigned to the Reserve Officers Training Corps at Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kansas. In January, 1921, he became Professor of Military Science and Tactics at the South Dakota State College, and in September, 1921, was assigned the same duty at the University of Florida.
Florida remembers General Van Fleet as “Major” or “Coach”. He was at the University of Florida in 1921-24 and 1929-33, in charge of the ROTC and coaching the Gator Football Team. He was head Coach in 1923 and 1924. The University of Florida in his honor has named the ROTC building “Van Fleet Hall” and has established a “Will to Win” room in the football stadium.
In February, 1925, he was assigned to the 42nd Infantry in the Panama Canal Zone as battalion commander. After more than two years in extensive maneuvers in the Panama Canal Zone, he returned to the U.S. to become an instructor at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. In 1928, he entered the advanced course at the Infantry School, from which he graduated in June 1929. He then returned to the University of Florida as Professor of Military Science and Tactics, and in 1933 was assigned to the Fifth Infantry Regiment at Fort Williams, Maine. Two years later he was put in charge of the Organized Reserves with headquarters at San Diego, California.
In September, 1939, he returned to Fort Benning, Georgia to become a battalion commander of the 29th Infantry Regiment. This regiment was the finest infantry regiment in the Army. For two years Van Fleet was in command of an outstanding battalion whose mission was to demonstrate for students of the Infantry School the correct way for infantry to fight.
In June 1941, he assumed command of the 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Benning. He commanded this unit the following three years, conducting rigorous combat training, amphibious exercises and maneuvers at Fort Benning; Camp Gordon; Fort Dix, New Jersey; Camp Blanding, Florida; and many other stations in this country and after moving it to the European Theater in January, 1944, the amphibious training exercises were continued in England.
His 8th Infantry Regiment was selected to spearhead the landing of the 4th Infantry Division at Utah Beach on D-Day. After fierce combat from the beach to Cherbourg, General Marshall along with Generals Eisenhower and Bradley inspected the front. On the battlefield, Generals Eisenhower informed General Marshall that Van Fleet deserved great credit for his leadership and successes and for the past several years each commander over Van Fleet had recommended that he be promoted. He asked why Van Fleet had not been promoted. Marshall replied that he had been turned down because he was an alcoholic. Eisenhower informed Marshall that Van Fleet had always been a teetotaler. It turned out that Van Fleet had been confused with another officer. His promotions came rapidly thereafter. He was assigned as assistant commander of the 2nd Infantry Division and promoted to Brigadier General. When General Bradley was asked to describe Van Fleet’s leadership he replied, Colonel Van Fleet’s leadership was “best described by the rate at which he was earning Distinguished Service Crosses – about three a day”. He soon was transferred to command in turn the 4th Infantry Division in the Siegfried Line in late September, and the 90th Division from October 1944 to February 1945.
The 90th Infantry Division spearheaded Third Army’s attack to cut off the Fortress Metz, and the crossings of both the Moselle and Saar Rivers under extremely difficult conditions. General Patton stated that the crossing of the Moselle was the classic river crossing of all time. Early in January, the 90th Division was moved to the Bastogne Area, where it spearheaded the Third Army’s counter-offensive against the Ardennes Bulge. General Van Fleet was then sent to England to command the XXIII Corps which had under it all the field units then in the United Kingdom.
On March 17, 1945, he was placed in command of the III Corps at the Remagen Bridgehead. Under his leadership, the bridgehead was rapidly expanded. On March 26, th III Corps spearheaded the first Army’s advance deep into Germany and thence North to make possible the encirclement of the Ruhr pocket. Under his direction the III corps attacked the east face of this pocket, and by April 16 had taken its assigned objectives and 105,000 German prisoners. The III Corps was reassigned to the Third Army on April 17, and during the last two weeks of the war, advanced rapidly across southeast Germany to the foot of the Austrian Alps.
General Patton in briefing a congressional delegation in this headquarters in Bad Tolz, Germany stated that Van Fleet was the best of all combat generals who served under him.
With the cessation of hostilities in Europe, General Van Fleet with his battle-tested III Corps headquarters was deployed in June 1945 for the Pacific through the United States. With the arrival of V-J Day, his organization remained at Camp Polk, Louisiana until February, 1946. He then was assigned to command the Second Service Command, with headquarters at Governors Island, New York. On June 7, 1946, following a reorganization of the Zone of Interior into six Army Areas, General Van Fleet was appointed deputy commanding general of the First Army at Governors Island. In December, 1947, he was assigned to headquarters of the European Command at Frankfurt, Germany, and two months later was transferred to the U.S. Army Group, American Mission for Aid to Greece, stationed at Athens. On February 19, 1948, he became director of the Joint U.S. Military Advisory and Planning Group in Greece, whose function was to provide operational advice to the Greek Military establishment down to and including divisional level. Under his guidance and inspiring leadership the Greek military defeated and drove the Communists out of Greece. A statue of the General stands in the town square of Kastoria in northern Greece where he had an advance headquarters. A bust of the General made by Greece’s foremost sculptor is on display in the III Corps Headquarters building, named “Van Fleet Hall”, at Fort Hood, Texas.
General Van Fleet returned to the U.S. in August, 1950, to assume command of the 2d Army at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.
On April 11, 1951, he was appointed Commanding General of the Eighth Army and UN troops in Korea. General Van Fleet drove the Chinese Army North. He was ordered to halt and to go on the defensive in order to achieve an armistice. Van Fleet, shortly after his arrival in Korea instituted a tremendous program of re-training. In this regard, he established numerous military schools: infantry schools, artillery schools, small unit officers schools, staff schools, and even established a war college and most important of all for leadership, a Military Academy – the “West Point of Korea”. In addition he sent many officers back to our schools in the United States. He considered the halt for an armistice a “Sit Down” and recommended the activation of a few more Korean Divisions and a plan to win the war without additional American or UN forces. His recommendations were not accepted and he was ordered to remain on the defensive. The Koreans erected a life size bronze statue of him in front of the Military Academy and refer to him as the “The Father of the Korean Army”.
This is a full translation of a poem composed by Syngman Rhee, President of Korea, written in celebration of the anniversary of the arrival of General Van Fleet at Korea. President Rhee personally inscribed this poem in the Korean language on a six foot high scroll that is displayed in General Van Fleet’s ranch house.
“At the moment when in danger and distress was this Peninsula,
From thousands of miles away, General, thou came to the
country of Korea.
Elated and inspired have become the UN Troops;
The Horde will naturally collapse, as spirit of the enemy droops.
Up above the white cloud soars thy fame,
Yet still descent thou to help the countries in Red flame.
With hundreds of battles fought and hundreds won,
In West Europe, in East Asia, a glorious task has been done.”
General Van Fleet retired in 1953.
“General Van Fleet is the greatest general we have ever had. I sent him to Greece and he won the war. I sent him to Korea and he won the war”. – HARRY TRUMAN in 1953