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General's Histories

BRIGADIER GENERAL WILLARD AMES HOLBROOK. JR.

 

Of all the former members Or the Eleventh Armored Division one man deserves the title of "Mr. Army" and that is Hunk Holbrook. With him the Army was hereditary. His father graduated from West Point in 1885, and retired as Major General, Chief of Cavalry of the Army, in 1924. His mother was the daughter of General David S. Stanley, Corps Commander of the Civil War, who graduated from West Point in 1853. General Stanley's wife was the daughter of Colonel Joseph Wright, who was for many years Commander of the Carlisle Barracks Medical School and served as Surgeon in the Department Or the West during the Civil War. He also participated in the Mexican War.

 

Hunk's wife, Helen Herr Holbrook, was also an "army brat". She is the daughter of General John R. Herr, Class of 1902, who retired in 1939, the last Chief Or Cavalry. Her mother is the daughter of Brigadier General Eli D. Hoyle, Class Or 1875 whose wife was the daughter of Rene Edward de Russy, Class Or 1812, the sixth Superintendent of the U. S. Military Academy. There are five generations Of Army on both sides of the family.

 

Willard Ames Holbrook, Jr. was born on May 31, 1898 in Fort Grant, Arizona. He grew up on Army posts and being born in the Army naturally his ambition in childhood was to be an Army officer His hobbies were photography and athletics. He enjoyed most tennis, baseball and football. He was particularly fond of reading biographical sketches. He graduated from high school in 1916 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It was while he was in high school that he acquired the nickname "Hunk". he used to say "hunk" all the time instead of "hell". The name stuck.

 

He attended the U. S. Military Academy and upon graduating in November, 1918, he was assigned to the Cavalry and went to Ft. Benning for basic training. He joined the 10th Cavalry there for a short time and was then sent to Europe and assigned to the Provisional Cavalry Squadron, stationed in Coblenz, Germany. During maneuvers he was assigned to the Second Brigade, with Headquarters at Andornach. This was our first contact point with the Rhine so Hunk was over ground he knew from his early days in the Army.

 

In the first occupation he enjoyed all the mounted sports of the Cavalry, which included polo, horseshow jumping and steeple chasing. He was athletic director of the organization, and one year was designated All American Forces Tackle in football. Upon his return to the United States he attended the Cavalry School and graduated from both the Troop Officers Course and the Advanced Equitation Class.

 

In 1929, while a First Lieutenant and aide to Brigadier General E. L. King, he took the course at the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth. Later, after assignments to Fort Myer and Fort Monmouth, he was detailed as Master Of the Sword at West Point for four years, during which time ho performed the duties of physical director. Upon relief from that duty and after one year as a troop commander in the 15th Cavalry at Fort Sheridan, ho attended the Army War College in Washington, graduating in 1940.

 

General Holbrook said "A lucky break for me was my good fortune in being allowed to take the course at the Command and General Staff School while a first lieutenant. This had not been done for many years and gave me quite an advantage over my contemporaries. Very likely it had a great deal to do with my being appointed Master of the Sword at U.S.M.A. and later being assigned to the Army War College."

 

As the result of his War College training, he was given an opportunity to become a member of a team which organized the counter-intelligence corps in 1940. This very important function of our Army, which was to ferret out subversive elements in the military establishment and in combat areas, had been allowed to deteriorate to a point where it was almost non-existent. For two years his time was spent entirely in getting the organization started. Its records are a monument to all concerned and it carries on today very efficiently as a counterpart to the F.B.I. in the military service.

 

In his early peace-time service he made quite a fetish of physical condition. During that time he engaged in mounted sports of all types, especially polo, and he played a good deal of golf, tennis, handball, and squash.

 

Being a descendent of men who had participated in combat, he, naturally desired to get into it, and was fortunate enough during the summer Or 1942 to be allowed to go with the Eleventh Armored Division. He was with the Division during its entire organization as Trains Commander and had the pleasure of working with the 133rd Ordnance Maintenance Bn., the 11th Quartermaster Service Bn., and the 8lst Armored Medical Bn. The service with the Trains unit was more good luck and gave him a great insight into the importance of service units. Hunk says "We prided ourselves on being the beat drilled organization in the Division, and in the early parades we were definitely the outstanding group in appearance. This training period reflected in their wonderful performance during combat."

 

As usual in war, before we were able to go across as a division, many changes occurred in our start. When General Kilburn assumed command of the Division in 1944 Holbrook was assigned command of CCA and held that position until August of 1945. After a very short training period in preparation for our overseas movements, Hunk left a week or so ahead of the Division for Fort Hamilton as commander of the advance party. Our group left on the Queen Mary early in September 1944 bound for the United Kingdom. Upon arrival there they round that the rest of the Division was to be received in Cherbourg and then they moved overland and across the Channel via Omaha beachhead. After making full plans for the Division to arrive at that port, they found that orders had again been changed and the Division was to be staged through Liverpool. We all remember our stay in Great Britain and our subsequent movement across the Channel. Again Hunk Holbrook commanded an advance party for the purpose of unloading the division at Cherbourg and moving them south to St. Nazaire and Lorient, where we were to relieve the 94th Division. You'll remember that in the midst of our movement south our orders were again changed and we were rushed to Soissons. This of course caused us no little trouble and resulted in the Division's coming into their assembly area in a very confused manner. The rest is history.

 

You will remember how the Division was assembled piecemeal at Soissons. After sending out the last serial, General Holbrook left in two cars with Comins and Rayner for that point. He arrived about noon to see a few of the units coming in. That evening the Division Commander placed Hunk in charge of the first group coming in. The troops of CCA had not arrived, so it was necessary for General Holbrook to pick up the staff from various units. Naturally he turned to  the Trains, where he had trained with the officers for such a long time. With this group they were able to get a task force underway to secure crossings. When the Division arrived things smoothed down and in full force they were able to get our regular organization completed and Hunk feels that CCA did a commendable job from then on out.

 

As Commander of CCA he stayed with the Division through all combat, and finally on July 31, 1945, he was relieved to take command of the 12th Armored Division. Hunk says, "My association with the 11th was marked by the spirit of friendly, loyal cooperation and understanding of my subordinates. My theory has always been, and always will be, that the considered opinion of a number of brains is better than that of one man, whether he be a genius or not, and, therefore, whatever success I had was due to team action."

 

The 11th Armored Division Association owes much to Hunk Holbrook since he was extremely active in the organization of the Association during the early years of the Association to keep it active.


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LIEUTENANT GENERAL EDWARD HALE BROOKS

 

When General Brooks retired from the U. S. Army, Lieutenant General Hobart R. Gay wrote "I knew Ted Brooks as a lieutenant, as a field officer and as a division and corps commander in battle. He was then, as he is today and will always be, a forceful, dynamic leader who pulled no punches and asked no quarter, one who could clearly see any problem and reduce it to its lowest common denominator of simplicity -- in fact a possessor of that epitome in MOS's, a soldier man.

 

Edward Hale Brooks, the soldier man, was born on April 25th, 1893 in the city of Concord, New Hampshire. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Waite Brooks. Mr. Brooks was a prominent Concord merchant who traces his ancestry back to one John K. Smith, an officer of the Continental Army. His wife was the former Miss Mary Frances Hale. The new arrival was soon nicknamed "Ted".

 

Ted's early life followed the pattern of the average American boy, in school, work and play. In line with the best tradition of these activities, he earned his spending money in the newspaper business by serving customers of the Concord Evening Monitor". While attending Concord High School he was a sergeant in Company B of the Cadet Battalion and he played end and left-halfback on the football squad. He graduated from high school on June 16th, 1911 and then took a post graduate course for half a year.

 

September 1912 found Ted Brooks arriving in Northfield, Vermont to enroll as a cadet in Norwich University, whose College of Civil Engineering was the oldest in the United States. Norwich is the military college of the state of Vermont and the rules and regulations of the Cadet Corps are rigid and basic training was sound. Ted was made a corporal, second year; 1st sergeant, third year and captain, fourth year. He was a member of Alpha Sigma Pi fraternity and was president of ASP in his senior year. He took the course in Civil Engineering and was an excellent student with such a keen brain he did not have to burn the midnight oil. He was a member of the football team and as quarterback, did excellent work. He was captain of the debating team during his sophomore year. Norwich being a state university, the entire Cadet Corps belonged to the Vermont National Guard. He served in that capacity from June 24 1915 to his graduation on June 19th, 1916. After four years of unforgettable memories, athletic and scholastic achievements, the coveted BS in Civil Engineering was received.

 

When Brooks finished at Norwich his squadron in the Vermont National Guard was federalized. In a relatively short time the squadron was mustered out of federal service and he found himself in civil life. Young engineer Brooks accepted employment with the Jersey City, N.J. establishment of H. Koppers Company.

 

He was offered a provisional commission in the Regular Army and on August S, 1917, four months and two days after the declaration of World War I, Ted was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Cavalry. He was ordered to the Army Service School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for a course of instruction in how to be an officer. His assignment was to the 18th Cavalry. In a short time he was advanced to first lieutenant. Came November, the course was completed and orders took him to the 76th Field Artillery, Camp Shelby, Mississippi. This became part of the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade.

 

On November 29th, 1917, in Atlanta, Georgia Lt. Brooks married Miss Beatrice Leavitt of Concord, N. H. These two young people had known each other since childhood. This union was destined to be blessed with a daughter, Betty Allen and a son, Edward H., Jr.

 

The 3rd F. A. Brigade assembled at Camp Merritt, N. J. on April 1, 1918 in preparation for overseas movement. Lt. Brooks was assigned for duty with Headquarters, 3rd F. A. Brigade. On April 23rd they sailed for France. A short training period followed and on June 30th the 3rd F.A. Brigade entrained for the Chateau-Thierry sector to join the 3rd Division the on the line of the Marne River and in contact with the enemy. Brooks was now promoted to Captain. He served in the Champagne-Marne Defense, the Aisne-Marne offensive, the St. Mihiel Offensive, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

 

Captain Brooks participated in an act of bravery on October 5th, 1918 which earned for him the Distinguished Service Cross. The lead vehicle in a column of ammunition trucks was hit and blew up. Personnel at once evacuated the trucks in column. Another burst of shells set the other trucks alight also. Captain Brooks and another man gradually moved the trucks down the hill and away from the personnel where the trucks finally blew up without harming anyone.

 

After the Armistice Brooks was stationed for a time in the Army of Occupation in Mayen, Germany. During the occupation the Brigade was experimentally motorized. In the spring of 1919 a board of officers observed a test march. On the board were several cavalrymen of the old school who apparently hated gasoline, oil and grease. They could see nothing good in motorization but they lived to see it applied to the entire Army. In August 1919 the 3rd Division with Captain Brooks returned to the States. The division went to Camp Pike, Arkansas. On July 1st, 1920 Captain Brooks was transferred from Cavalry to Field Artillery and commissioned a permanent captain in the Regular Army.

 

In September 1921, Captain Ted Brooks reported to the Field Artillery School in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, as a student in the Battery Officers Course. Upon graduation he was detailed as an instructor in the Department of Gunnery where he quickly took his place as among the best. He remained at the school as an instructor of gunnery until November 1926. Incidentally, he was one of a very few battery grade officers in those days who had a general efficiency rating of Superior. While a student in 1921, he found time to captain the school football team.

 

Foreign Service caught up with Captain Brooks in November 1926 when he was assigned to the 24th Field Artillery, Camp Stotsenburg, Phillipine Islands. He commanded Battery "D", a 2.95" Pack Howitzer Battery. Battery "D", under guidance of Captain Brooks, became the "show battery' of the regiment. Its gun sheds, stables, and section rooms were the models for all other artillery units. All visiting dignitaries were taken to Battery "D" for their inspections.

 

Upon his return to the States in October 1928 he was stationed at The Cavalry School, Fort Riley, Kansas and assigned to command of Battery D", 18th F. A. Being the only representative unit of Field Artillery at that station it had to be outstanding and Ted Brooks made it shine and click. Everywhere Ted went he placed emphasis on football as a builder of morale, body and courage. It was natural then that Battery D's team was the champion of Fort Riley.

 

In August 1932 Brooks realized the desire of every ambitious young officer - that of being detailed as a student to the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Upon graduating in June 1934 he was detailed as Assistant Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. While on this assignment he was promoted to major of Field Artillery, August 1st, 1935. The ROTC students' respect and admiration for him was of a degree that prompted them to present him with that time honored symbol of leadership -- a saber. Such an act had never before been performed at Harvard.

 

Major Brooks' ROTC tour was cut short in August 1936 by his assignment as a student to the Army War College in Washington, D.C. He graduated in June 1937 and by so doing he had completed the Army's educational system. His next assignment was that of an instructor in the Department of Tactics at the Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth. The academic year terminated on June 20th, 1939 and once more a choice assignment was destined to be cut short. Hitler had struck in Europe and numerous brilliant young officers were ordered to the expanding War Department General Staff and of course among them was Ted Brooks.

 

July 1939 found Major Brooks as Chief of Statistical Branch of the War Department, deeply engrossed in facts and figures concerning the organization, strength, equipment and transportation of the Army of the United States. He gave daily briefings to Secretary of War Stimson and to Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall. He prepared a special statistical chart which was used by President Roosevelt. In recognition of his service with the War Department General Staff from September 8, 1939 to September 8, 1941 he was awarded the Legion of Merit. He was promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant colonel on August 8th, 1940.

 

The Armored Force was organized to perform missions that required great mobility, fire power, shock action, the exploitation of enemy rear areas, the battlefield support of other arms and reconnaissance. It came into being on July 10th, 1940 at Fort Knox, Kentucky with Brig. Gen. Adna R. Chaffee as its first chief. Maj. Gen. Jacob L. Devers assumed command of the Force in August 1941 and he appointed Lt. Col. Brooks as artillery officer of the Armored Force in September 1941. Brooks materially assisted in developing the specifications for the 105mm Howitzer, Motor Carriage, M-7, which was adopted as the basic Armored Force artillery weapon. He visualized the combat necessities of employment of the self-propelled howitzer, planning a new type of battery position which was so thoroughly conceived that only minor adjustments were needed when employed in actual combat. For this service he was awarded the Oak-Leaf Cluster on his Legion of Merit. One week after Pearl Harbor, on December 15th, 1941 Brooks was promoted to Brigadier General.

 

As Rommel threatened the Suez, Cairo and the entire Allied lifeline to the Middle East the 11th Armored Division came into being and was added to the United States' rapidly expanding force. Activation of the new armored striking force at Camp Polk, La., on August 15, 1942 signaled the Army's intention to outstrip its original plan for the inclusion of but 10 armored divisions in the nation's military program.

 

To the newest armored division, as its commanding general, came Brig. General Edward H. Brooks, who had been artillery officer of the Armored Force. A staff of officers to assist him first assembled at Fort Knox, Ky., in July 1942. With General Brooks came Brig. Gen. Charles S. Kilburn and Colonel Charles L. Mullins, Jr., to captain the Divisions' combat commands. Enlisted men to form the initial cadre came from the 3rd, 7th and 8th Armored Divisions. The THUNDERBOLT was cast.

 

While with the 11th Armored Division, Ted's habit of always standing in his jeep while riding on troop inspections got him the nickname of 'Standing Eddie." And that, my children, is the origin of the custom for commanders, when trooping the line, to stand in their jeeps - so the story goes.

 

He was privileged to be a member of a group led by General Devers which visited the Middle East, North Africa, and England in December 1942 and January 1943.

 

Major General Lindsay McD. Silvester, commanding the 7th Armored Division, had the pleasure of pinning on General Brooks' shoulders the stars of a major general as of August 5th, 1942.

 

General Brooks' vigorous stimulus was of inestimable value to the entire armored plan. His results with the 11th Armored Division were so outstanding that he caught the eye of senior commanders, resulting in his selection for overseas assignment to command the 2nd Armored Division for the Normandy invasion.

 

After almost two years of training and hard drilling under General Brooks we had in the 11th Armored Division an outfit second to none. The division had been taken successfully through the Louisiana Texas - California - Arizona maneuvers. We were ready but the War Department was not ready for us. Like the rest of us, Brooks had his fill of training and he was ready for the real thing. He welcomed the chance of going into combat but regretted that he had to leave his beloved Eleventh. He has often said that he wished he could have taken our division into combat. We were well trained, he knew our capabilities as a unit and the ability of our individual officers and men. He followed our progress while he was with the Second and when we were scheduled to enter France he tried to get us in his Sixth Corps. If it wasn't for Rommel's last ditch stand in the Bulge we might have been in Brooks' Sixth Corps but as it was we were needed immediately in Patton's Third Army to help with the defense of Bastogne.

 

It is interesting to note that the Bulge threat was ended by the Second and the Eleventh Armored Divisions meeting at Houffalize. General Brooks had previously commanded both of these divisions. Ted Brooks talks with pride of the many fine combat accomplishments of the Eleventh and refers to us as "a division of gentlemen."

 

Maj. Gen. Brooks assumed command of the Second Armored Division ("Hell on Wheels") on March 17, 1944, at Tidworth Barracks, near Sailisbury, England. The division had been transferred to England from the Mediterranean late in 1943. After a training and preparation period the division, General Brooks commanding, embarked from England in LCI's and LST's on June 8, 1944, and stood toward the shores of France. Preceded by an advance Command Post detachment which established contact with the V Corps commanding general, the division landed on Omaha Beach June 9, 1944. The 2nd Armored was committed immediately. Its first engagement, securing the Vire River Bridgehead, was the beginning of the path of fire and carnage which 'Hell on Wheels" was to follow throughout France.

 

Normandy and the bocage country, where hedgerows furnished natural cover for every field came next. There Anglo-American ingenuity solved the problem by mounting huge bulldozer blades on the tanks so that a path could be cut through the natural earthen breastworks for the infantry to follow. Then came St. Lo, the breakthrough at Avranches, where the 2nd Armored held the eastern flank, and the subsequent list of engagements read like a list of way-stations on a tour of Northern France and Belgium. The General was cited for gallantry in action during the period August 2nd to 6th for making repeated visits to forward elements of his command. Exposing himself to hostile observation and fire, he expedited the commitment of the Division and personally assisted in the organization of continuing attacks by subordinate units in assault on enemy strong points. That display of gallantry and leadership, without regard to his personal safety, earned for him the Silver Star Medal.

 

General Brooks personally pushed the 2nd Armored Division into being the first allied division on Belgian soil and was the first Allied Division Commander to enter that country by assault. An amusing incident during the drive into Belgium occurred when a corps staff officer came to General Brooks' 2nd Armored Command Post and told the general that he had a mission for the Division that he feared was impossible -- to be in Ghent in 2 days. The staff officer's eyes bugged out when the General said, "Tell the CORPS Commander it's in the bag. We'll be there." After the officer departed, General Brooks turned to his Chief of Staff and said, "Where the hell is Ghent?

 

From training in England, through the Normandy landings, the hedgerow fighting, the breakthrough and the race northeastward across France, through Belgium to the Albert Canal, General Brooks had guided the Division through two campaigns and scores of operations. During this period, seven units of his command had had awarded to them the Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation. And at Marchiennes, France near the Belgian border on September 2nd, 1944, he himself had personally participated in and directed an operation which resulted in the annihilation of a German convoy of 165 vehicles and earned for him the Oak Leaf Cluster on his Silver Star Medal. The Distinguished Service Medal was awarded to General Brooks for his outstanding leadership of the 2nd Armored Division.

 

On September 12, 1944 while the Second Armored was poised at the Albert Canal, General Brooks relinquished command of the Division to take temporary command of the V Corps. On October 25th General Brooks assumed command of the VI Corps, replacing General Lucian K. Truscott who was ordered to Twelfth Army Group for further assignment.

 

In early November, VI Corps was confronted with three problems to bring the Corps' right and left flanks up to the salient held by the 3rd Division along the Meurthe, thus straightening a "jump" line for another offensive; to introduce the newly arrived 100th and 103rd Infantry Divisions into combat, and to make final plans and regroup the entire corps for an attack to cross the Meurthe, to crack the German Winter Line, to penetrate the Vosges passes, and to reach the Rhine. The Seventh Army's assault was marked by success. VI Corps drove through to its objectives. German defenses of the Vosges passes were taken, Strasbourg was captured and the River Rhine reached.

 

The Army's direction of attack was changed on November 24th. This resulted in major disengagements, reliefs and redeployments. All were accomplished by December 5th. VI Corps, teamed with XV Corps, was ready to attack to the north -- objective the Lauter River and invasion of Germany. Hurdles ahead were the Maginot Line, the Haguenau Forest and the Siegfried Line. By mid-December the VI Corps was crossing the Lauter River into Germany and assaulting the Siegfried Line.

 

On the night of December 20th the Seventh Army's offensive was called off and all troops ordered to prepare defensive lines. This resulted from the apparent success of the German counter-offensive in Belgium and Luxembourg, known as the "Battle of the Bulge." Forced on the defensive by this turn of events and in the face of determined and repeated enemy counterattacks General Brooks organized a flexible defense which successfully stopped all enemy attacks. The outstanding accomplishment of the period was VI Corps successful resistance to a January 1, 1944 enemy counterattack through the Low Vosges Mountains. On orders from Sixth Army Group. VI Corps skillfully executed a difficult withdrawal from close contact with the enemy to a predetermined line along the Moder River. All hostile attacks against that position were repulsed. All was quiet on the Corps' front until March. For his performance in command of the VI Corps, from December 5th, 1944 to March, 1945, General Brooks was awarded the Oak-Leaf Cluster to the Distinguished Service Medal.

 

The great spring offensive began in March. VI Corps crossed the Rhine and captured Heidelberg. then came Heibronn. Turning south and crossing the Danube the Corps drove on the Italian border to meet the Fifth Army via Brenner Pass.

 

On May 5th, 1945 General Brooks accepted the surrender of the German 19th and 24th Armies at Innsbruck, Austria, thus terminating hostilities in his sector more than 24 hours before the general surrender in Germany.

 

Lt. Gen. A. M. Patch, commanding general of the Seventh Army, awarded the Bronze Star Medal to General Brooks "for meritorious achievement in combat operations from April 25th, 1945 to May 8th, 1945. In addition to the VI Corps came a letter of commendation from the Sixth Army Group Commander and General Brooks received foreign decorations from France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

 

General Brooks returned to the United States and on June 2nd, 1S45 he assumed command of the Fourth Service Command with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. During this assignment he did an excellent recruiting job for the Army since new men were needed to replace the troops returning from combat areas.

 

On September 22nd, 1945 life was saddened for General and Mrs. Brooks as they learned of the accidental death of their son, Major Edward H. Brooks, Jr. near St. Trond, Belgium. Major Brooks had graduated from West Point in 1943 and he had been in the Air Force in the 366th Bombardment Squadron of the 305th Bombardment Group.

 

Upon the conversion of the Fourth Service Command to the Seventh Army and the appointment of General Brooks as Deputy Commander of the Seventh Army he was awarded the Army Commendation Ribbon and pendant for outstanding superior administrative and leadership ability. He was promoted to permanent colonel on June 22, 1946 but since he was wearing the stars of Major General no eagles were pinned on his shoulder straps. He never has reverted to the rank of colonel.

 

From June 11, 1946 to March 14, 1947 General Brooks was Deputy Commander, Seventh Army and from March 15 to early September 1947 he served in the same capacity in the Third Army. He was named permanent Brigadier General on July 1, 1947.

 

On September 26, 1947 he was assigned to command the Antilles Department with headquarters at Fort Brooke, San Juan, Puerto Rico. On November 15, 1947 he was designated Commanding General, U. S. Army in the Caribbean and finally changed headquarters from Puerto Rico to Quarry Heights, Canal Zone on January 26th, 1948. General Brooks' permanent status in the Army caught up with his temporary rank on January 24th, 1948. He was promoted from permanent brigadier general to permanent major general, to date from August 17, 1944.

 

Armistice Day, 1948 brought a new assignment as Director of Personnel and Administration, Department of the Army, General Staff, The Pentagon, Washington, D. C. The three stars of lieutenant general came to him on March 18th, 1949 and most deservedly.

 

Upon reorganization of Department of the Army headquarters, March 1, 1950, directorships and General Staff divisions were abolished. General Brooks was designated Assistant Chief of Staff for Personnel, G-1.

 

On June 4th, 1951 Lt. Gen. Brooks assumed command of the Second Army at Fort George C. Meade, Maryland. He succeeded General Van Fleet who succeeded General Ridgway as Commander of United Nations' ground forces in Korea.

 

On April 30th, 1953 General Brooks retired from active duty with the U. S. Army. General Brooks is Honorary Vice Preside[1]®nt of The United States Armor Association, member of the Board of' Governors of the Second Armored Division Association and Honorary President of the Eleventh Armored Division Association.

 

Of the many letters of commendation received by General Brooks during his Army career we think the one written to him at the time of his retirement by General Jacob L. Devers best describes the warrior Brooks. General Devers wrote, "Ted Brooks is a man of action. He accepts responsibility and then does something constructive about it -- and he does it now, not tomorrow. He is a great fighter to have on your side, for he thinks only of the big objective and never of himself. He is quick and sound in his thinking -- has tremendous courage -- and will tackle any problem with new approaches until he gets the solution. His integrity is of the highest order, and he has great loyalty * up and down. He knows when and where to disperse the work load, and when and where to concentrate it. His judgement is unquestionably sound. In addition, Ted has a wonderfully pleasing and dynamic personality. God has truly endowed him with wisdom and with an unfailing ability to understand his fellow man. A great soldier, a keen strategist, and a thoroughly capable administrator, Ted Brooks has all the qualities that would make him an excellent Chief of Staff of the Army."


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BRIGADIER GENERAL CHARLES SOLOMON KILBURN

 

It was natural that Charles S. Kilburn entered the U. S. Army as a Cavalryman since his early childhood was spent on a cattle ranch in Texas. The boy who was to become the most popular General officer of the 11th Armored Division was born January 2nd, 1895 in Silver City, New Mexico. His family soon moved to Texas where he lived a fine life on a cattle ranch.

 

In his youth Charles Kilburn always talked of being either a lawyer or an Army officer as his life ambition. It so happened that he not only became an Army Officer but he had the honor of leading the famed 11th Armored Division in their initial combat missions in the ETO. As a child his favorite hobby was that of riding and taking care of his horse on the ranch. When he wasn't riding or working on his horse he would be out hunting. His reading was mostly confined to biographies.

 

He graduated from high school in El Paso, Texas in 1913 and shortly after his graduation he entered the U. S. Military Academy at West Point. It was while a plebe at West Point that he acquired the nickname of "Rattle Snake Pete of Texas". During his tour of duty with the 11th Armored he was known as "Rattle Snake Pete". He graduated from the Academy in 1917. His favorite sports while at the Point were football and basketball.

 

When Kilburn left the Academy he was assigned to the 17th Cavalry in Douglas, Arizona as a Troop Commander. He was at this assignment as a First Lieutenant from May 20, 1917 to September 5th, 1917. He was then promoted to the rank of Captain and sent as Aide-de-Camp to the 63rd F. A. Division at Chilicothe, 0hio. He was at this post from September 8th to December 28th, 1917. The Division then moved to Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming and he was made a Battery Commander. He remained in Wyoming from January 3rd to February 15th, 1918. On February 20th he was returned to the Cavalry and his beloved Texas when he was assigned to the 8th Cavalry Division and stationed at Marfa, Texas as a Troop Commander. This assignment lasted from February 20th to September 8th, 1918.

 

Pete was then transferred to the 9th Division stationed at Montgomery, Alabama from September 10th to December 3rd, 1918 and assigned as an Aide-de-Camp. After the Armistice he was sent back to his favorite state, Texas, where he was made senior Instructor at the Southern Department Military Government School in Fort Bliss. He remained in this post until February 15th, 1919. He was then transferred to the 9th Field Signal Battalion as a Battalion Commander at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He was in this position from March 1919 to January 1920. He was then transferred to the 8th Corps Area Headquarters at Fort Sam Houston as an Aide from January 1920 to September 1923. You can be sure Pete got in a lot of riding during his long tour of duty in Texas.

 

In September of 1923 he was sent as a student to Infantry School in Fort Benning, Georgia. In July 1924 to June 1925 he was assigned as a Troop Commander to the 4th Cavalry stationed at Fort Meacle, South Dakota. From June of 1925 to November of 1926 he was assigned as an aide to the Chief of Staff in the War Department in Washington, D. C. Upon completion of his work in Washington he was stationed for five years as an aide in Headquarters, 9th Corps Area at the Presidio of San Francisco. This is a truly beautiful spot and must have been a very nice assignment.

 

In September of 1931 Pete was off to school again, this time to Cavalry School at Fort Riley, Kansas. In June of 1932 he was assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Division at Fort Riley as a Squadron Commander and he was advanced to the rank of Major. In September of 1933 he was once again back in school but this time at The Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In July of 1935 after finishing the course he was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas as a Squadron Commander in the 8th Cavalry. In September, 1936 it was school bells again but this time at the all important Army War College in Washington, D. C. In July of 1937 he was assigned to the Office of the Chief of Cavalry in Washington. He was also advanced to the rank of Lt. Col. during this period. From April until August of 1941 he was assigned to the War Plans Section of the War Department General Staff.

 

August of 1941 found Kilburn back at Fort Bliss, Texas as a Regimental Commander and wearing a "chicken" on his shoulder. In May of 1942 he was made a Brigadier General and assigned as Commanding General of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade at Phoenix, Arizona.

 

In August, 1942 General Kilburn was assigned to the 11th Armored Division newly formed at Camp Polk, Louisiana. He was made Commanding General of CCA and remained in that post until May of 1944 when he was made Commanding General of the Division. He continued as our leader in the States and commanded the Division during the difficult days of transporting the Division from the west coast of the United States to England. General Kilburn was with us during those dark first days of combat in the Battle of the Bulge. Our division accomplished our mission with honor despite the fact that part of the Division was already committed to combat while the other part of the Division was still in transit from England. Pete Kilburn continued to lead our Division in the many and varied assignments given to us until he was transferred to the War Department General Staff in Washington in June of 1945. He remained on the General Staff as Chief of Post War Plans until January of 1946 when he was made Commanding Officer of the Florida Military District at Camp Blanding and Jacksonville. On December 1st, 1946 he retired from the U. S. Army as a permanent Brigadier General.


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MAJOR GENERAL HOLMES E. DAGER

 

Major General Holmes E. Dager was indeed privileged and had the most unusual experience of leading troops in two famous hard-hitting armored divisions in the Third Army during World War II. General Patton laid his most heavy and difficult assignments on the 4th and 11th Armored Divisions. They never failed him, laid their name, reputation and prestige on the line and they paid willingly and heavily in the lives and wounds of the material of which fighting units are built--alert, highly-trained and physically fit officers and men with plenty of guts.

 

Holmes E. Dager was born on June 23rd, 1893 in Asbury Park New Jersey. His ambition in life was to practice medicine and particularly to be a surgeon. His family moved to Newark, New Jersey where he attended high school graduating in 1911. He then went to college for the-medical courses and graduated in 1916. During this period from 1910 to 1916 he was a member of the New Jersey National Guard and attained the position of platoon leader in the Infantry. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant.

 

In his youth and during his college days General Dager was interested in fishing, hunting, amateur bicycle racing, swimming and boxing. He was an alert young man and his favorite reading was books on world affairs.

 

Dager went into the regular army in 1917 and from March until August of that year he was a student at the Training School in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. During this assignment he was promoted to a First Lieutenant. Upon completion of his assignment at the Training School he was assigned to the 51st U. S. Infantry.

 

Early in 1918 he went overseas with the 51st Infantry and participated in the fighting in the defensive sector of the Vosges Mountains and he also fought in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. During this period he was promoted to Captain and he was made a company commander and then later he was promoted to Major and he served for a time as a battalion commander.

 

For an unusual fete of bravery during World War I General Dager was awarded the Silver Star Medal.

 

After a short tour of duty with the occupational forces after the war he returned to the United States in 1920 and became a professor of Military Science and Tactics at Clason Millitary Academy in Bronx, New York. He remained at the Academy until the end of 1924.

 

In 1925 he became a student at Infantry School in Fort Benning, Ga. and in 1926 he was made Company Commander of Co. "K", 29th Infantry Division at Fort Benning. Still at Benning in 1927 he was made a Regimental Adjutant. In 1928 he once again became a student at Fort Benning taking an Advanced Officers Course at the Infantry School.

 

After completion of the advanced course at the Infantry School in 1929 he was transferred to the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He remained at this school as a student until his graduation in 1931.

 

Holmes E. Dager was assigned to the 65th Infantry Division in 1931 as a battalion commander. The unit was sent to Puerto Rico and Dager remained with the 65th until the end of 1934. Upon his return to the States he was assigned for a short time in 1935 as G-3 in the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Hamilton, N. Y.

 

Once again as a student he was honored by the assignment to the Army War College in Washington, D. C. late in 1935. Upon graduation he was sent back to Command and General Staff School in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas but this time as an instructor. He remained at this assignment from 1936 to 1940 and attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

 

Early in 1940 General Dager was assigned to Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island in Hew York where he was Post Commander. Later that year he was assigned as Assistant G-3 in Headquarters of the First Army stationed at Governors Island, New York. During this assignment he wrote the Carolina and Louisiana maneuver problems.

 

As war clouds gathered again Dager was transferred in 1941 to the 41st Armored Infantry Regiment of the Second Armored Division which was in training at Fort Benning, Georgia. Holmes Dager was assigned as Regimental Commander and during this period he was promoted to Colonel.

 

In September of 1941 Dager was made a Brigadier General and he was made Commanding General of CCB of the 8th Armored Division then stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

 

Early in 1942 General Dager was assigned to the 4th Armored Division as Commanding General of CCB and joined them at Pine Camp, New York. He trained with the Division in Tennessee desert maneuvers and at Camp Bowie, Texas. He went overseas with the 4th Armored and he was with them from Omaha Beach to the Rhine. He led CCB of the 4th in the famous 65 mile "rat-race" to the Rhine in 58 hours. There General Patton came up and spit (?) in the Rhine remarking, "Dager, I've been waiting three long years to spit (?) in this creek!" This job was one of many famous "crash-drives" for which the 4th and 11th Armored Divisions became famous.

 

In March of 1945 at Mayen, Germany Dager was promoted to Major General and assumed command of the 11th Armored Division. He remained with the Division until September of 1945. He commanded the 11th from the Rhine to Linz, Austria and the meeting with the Russian 7th Paratroop Guards Division. This was a 650 mile drive through varying hard and light opposition but made with an average of 15 miles a day. On reaching Linz, the nearest troops to the 11th Armored were miles behind and nothing on either flank. Even the nurses were with us all the way. Our determined armor "paid the rent" and pulled the infantry along. It was the farthest east unit of all American troops when the war ended and it was itching to go further.


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Patton's Address To His Troops

 

NOW I WANT YOU TO REMEMBER THAT NO BASTARD EVER WON A WAR BY DYING FOR HIS COUNTRY. YOU WON IT BY MAKING THE OTHER POOR DUMB BASTARD DIE FOR HIS COUNTRY.

Men, all this stuff you've heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. ALL REAL Americans, love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball players, the toughest boxers . . . Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in Hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war. Because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.  Now, an army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap. The biggest bastards who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday Evening Post, don't know anything more about real battle than they do about fornicating. Now we have the finest food and equipment, the best spirit, and the best men in the world. You know . . . my God, I actually pity those poor bastards we're going up against. My God, I do. We're not just going to shoot the bastards, we're going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We're going to murder those lousy Hun bastards by the bushel. Now some of you boys, I know, are wondering whether or not you'll chicken out under fire. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that you'll all do your duty. The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill their blood, shoot them in the belly. When you put your hand into a bunch of goo, that a moment before was your best friend's face, you'll know what to do. Now there's another thing I want you to remember. I don't want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We're not holding anything, we'll let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly, and we're not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose, and we're going to kick him in the ass. We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time, and we're going to go through him like crap through a goose. Now, there's one thing that you men will be able to say when you get back home, and you may thank God for it. Thirty years from now when you're sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee, and he asks you, "What did you do in the great World War Two?" You won't have to say, "Well, I shoveled shit in Louisiana." Alright now, you sons of bitches, you know how I feel. Oh! . . . I will be proud to lead you wonderful guys into battle anytime, anywhere. That's all.

                                                           

                                                                        

General George S. Patton, Jr.

 

           

 

OLD SARGE'S SOS

Here is the recipe for that favorite meal of all veterans...Creamed Beef on Toast as given in the Army's Official Cook Book dated November, 1950. No. K-75. CREAMED MEAT (beef, lamb, veal or ham) Yield: 100 6 oz servings. You may want 10 serve this at a special breakfast during your reunion.

 

Ingredients                  Amount

Meat, carcass               25 pounds

or

Meat, ground                17 pounds

Onions, chopped             1 pound (1 quart)

(optional)

or

Onions, dehydrated          1 1/2 ounces (12 Tbs)

Bacon or meat fat           1 pound (1 pint)

Flour, sifted               1 1/2 pounds (1 1/2 quarts)

Milk evaporated             16 - 14 1/2 ounce cans

Beef stock or water

(for milk)                  2 gallons (8 quarts)

Salt                        To taste

Pepper                      1/4ounce(1 tablespoon)

Bread, toasted              100 slices

 

1. Cut meat into 1 inch pieces; grind

 

2. Cook meat in its own fat until brown, stirring frequently.

 

3. Cook onions in bacon fat; add flour and mix thoroughly.

 

4. Mix milk and beef stock or water; heat.

 

5. Add hot milk to fat and flour mixture gradually. Heat 10 boiling point; boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add salt and pepper.

 

6. Pour sauce over meat; simmer until meat is well done but not overcooked.

 

7. Serve on toast.


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