GENERAL JAMES ALWARD VAN FLEET
1892 - 1992

General James Alward Van Fleet was born on March 19, 1892 in Coytesville, New Jersey. He graduated from United States Military Academy at West Point in 1915 (in the same illustrious class as Eisenhower, Bradley and Clark) and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry. He had three children: Elizabeth (Mrs. Edward McConnell), whose daughter is Major Avery McConnell-Leider; Dempsie Catherine (Mrs. Joseph McChristian); and James, Jr. (1925-1952) who was a POW/MIA in the Korean War.

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. After the Armistice, he remained on occupation duty with his battalion until its return to the United States in June 1919.

In February 1925, General Van Fleet was assigned as battalion commander with the 42nd Infantry in the Panama Canal Zone. After more than two years of extensive maneuvers in the Panama Canal Zone, he returned to the United States to become an instructor at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. In 1928, he entered the Infantry School's advanced course from which he was graduated in June 1929.

In June 1941, he assumed command of the 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. The regiment deployed to the European Theater in January 1944, and was selected to spearhead the landing of the 4th Infantry Division at Utah Beach on D-Day, June 6. On the battlefield, General Eisenhower informed General Marshall that the then-Colonel Van Fleet deserved great credit for the operation's successes. Noting that all his commanders had recommended that he be promoted, Eisenhower 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 he had been confused with another officer. His promotions came rapidly thereafter.

On April 11, 1951, General Van Fleet was appointed Commanding General of the Eighth Army and U.N. troops in Korea. In combat, he drove the Chinese Army north, but was ordered to halt and to go on the defensive in order to achieve an armistice. Van Fleet also instituted a tremendous program of retraining in the Korean Army. He established numerous military schools: infantry schools, artillery schools, small unit officers' schools, staff schools, a war college and most important of all for long-term leadership development, a military academy-the "West Point of Korea." The Koreans erected a life-size bronze statue of him in front of the military academy and refer to him as "The Father of the Korean Army." 

An officer of the highest ideals, judgment and leadership, before he retired from active duty in 1953, General Van Fleet garnered some of the most prestigious military decorations in the world. They include: the Distinguished Service Cross with two oak leaf clusters; The Distinguished Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters; The Silver Star with two oak leaf clusters; The Legion of Merit with one oak leaf cluster; The Purple Heart with two oak leaf clusters; The Combat Infantryman's badge; The Army Commendation Ribbon; The Distinguished Unit Citation.  He also received decorations from Greece, Korea, Iran, Ethiopia, Thailand, The Philippines, The Republic of China, England, France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Columbia.

After his retirement, Van Fleet conducted a survey of the military, economic, and political situation in the Far East, traveling with the rank of Ambassador, as special representative of President Eisenhower. 

In 1957, General Van Fleet was the moving spirit behind the establishment in New York of the first nonprofit organization in the U.S. dedicated to the promotion of friendly relations between the people of the United States and Korea "through mutual understanding and appreciation of their respective cultures, aims, ideals, arts, sciences and industries." Known as The Korea Society, the organization continues to pursue these objectives today under the leadership of the Hon. Donald P. Gregg, a former U.S. Ambassador to Korea.

Until his death in Washington, D.C. on September 23, 1992, at age 100, General Van Fleet tirelessly continued his service to the nation as a diplomat, businessman and author. His life was characterized by courage, dedication, vision, patriotism and the will to win.