James Van Fleet

James Van Fleet was born in the Coytesville section of Fort Lee, New Jersey, but his parents moved to Florida when he was an infant and he was raised there. Van Fleet received his high school education at the Summerlin Institute in Bartow, Florida.

After graduating from Summerlin in 1911, Van Fleet received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. While he was a cadet at West Point, he was a member of the Army football team and was a standout fullback on the undefeated Army team of 1914. Van Fleet graduated in the famous West Point Class of 1915, which included so many future generals that it has been called "the class the stars fell on" (stars being the insignia of generals). Van Fleet's classmates included Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar Bradley. After graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army infantry.

During World War I, he served as a battalion commander as part of the American Expeditionary Force under General John J. Pershing.

Van Fleet was promoted to major in December 1924. While serving as the senior officer of the University of Florida's U.S. Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program, Van Fleet also served as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team in 1923 and 1924, after assisting William G. Kline for a year.[1][2] He led the Gators into national prominence with a 12–3–4 (.737) record.[2]

From 1924 to 1927 he was stationed at Camp Galliard in the Panama Canal Zone where he commanded the 1st Battalion of the 42nd Infantry. This assignment was followed by one at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. At Fort Benning Van Fleet served as an instructor from April 1927 to September 1928 and as a student in the Advanced Course from September 1928 to June 1929. In addition to his other duties, Van Fleet served as head coach of the post's football team. Van Fleet then returned to the University of Florida where he was the Professor of Military Science and Tactics from July 1929 to June 1933.

From July 1933 to July 1935 he was stationed at Fort Williams in Cape Elizabeth, Maine where he served as commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Infantry and also as the post's executive officer. During this assignment he oversaw the construction of a duck pond in the northwest corner of the parade field. [3]

Van Fleet commanded the 8th Infantry Regiment (part of the 4th Infantry Division) for three years (July 1941 to July 1944) and led it into combat in Europe in World War II, participating in the D-Day landings on Utah Beach in June 1944. On Utah Beach Van Fleet distinguished himself by outstanding combat leadership and was awarded his first Distinguished Service Cross. [4]

Although widely regarded as an outstanding officer, he was blocked from promotion because the Army Chief of Staff, General George Marshall, erroneously confused Van Fleet with a well-known alcoholic officer with a similar name. When Eisenhower, now the European Theater commander, informed Marshall of his mistake, Van Fleet was soon promoted to divisional and corps command.

Following promotion to Brigadier General in August 1944, Van Fleet became the Assistant Division Commander of 2nd Infantry Division (July to September 1944) and then commanded the 4th Infantry Division (September to October 1944) and 90th Infantry Division (October 1944 to February 1945). He was promoted to major general in November 1944.

After briefly commanding XXIII Corps, on 17 March 1945 Van Fleet replaced General John Millikin as commander of III Corps where Millikin served with General George S. Patton's Third Army.[5] Van Fleet commanded III Corps through the end of the war and the Occupation of Germany until returning to the United States in February 1946.

Van Fleet was reassigned to Governor's Island, New York as commander of the 2nd Service Command before becoming the Deputy Commanding General of the 1st United States Army in June 1946. In December 1947 he went to Frankfurt, Germany as G-3 (operations officer) of the United States European Command. [6]

In February 1948, Van Fleet was promoted to lieutenant general and sent to Greece as the head of the Joint U.S. Military Advisory Group and executor of the "Truman Doctrine". He was instrumental in the outcome of the Greek Civil War by providing advice to the Greek government and 250 military advisers, as well as administering $400 million in military aid.[7] The central square in the northern Greek city of Kastoria has featured a bust of Van Fleet for many years, and was replaced with a new statue as recently as 2007.

Van Fleet was commanding general of the Second United States Army from August 10, 1950 to April 11, 1951.

On April 14, 1951, Van Fleet replaced General Matthew B. Ridgway as commander of the U.S. Eighth Army and United Nations forces in Korea when Ridgway took over for General MacArthur upon MacArthur's recall to the United States. He was promoted to four-star general on July 31, 1951. He continued Ridgway's efforts to strengthen the Eighth Army in its campaign against numerically superior Communist Chinese and North Korean enemy forces. His only son, U.S. Air Force Captain James Alward Van Fleet Jr., was a B-26 bomber pilot who was MIA/killed in the Korean War.

At the time of his retirement from active duty on March 31, 1953, former President Harry S. Truman said "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."[8] Van Fleet was the recipient of three Distinguished Service Crosses (the U.S. Army's second highest award for bravery in combat),[9] three Silver Stars, three Bronze Stars, three Purple Hearts for wounds received in combat, and his most prized decoration—the Combat Infantryman's Badge of the common foot soldier.[8] He appeared on the July 26, 1953, episode of What's My Line?.[10]

In 1957, Van Fleet was the moving spirit behind the establishment in New York of The Korea Society, the first nonprofit organization in the United States dedicated to the promotion of friendly relations between the peoples of the United States and Korea "through mutual understanding and appreciation of their respective cultures, aims, ideals, arts, sciences and industries."

Van Fleet died in his sleep on his ranch outside Polk City, Florida on September 23, 1992, six months after his 100th birthday that March.[8] He was the oldest living general officer in the United States at the time of his death. Van Fleet and his wife Helen are buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[11]

Shortly after his death, The Korea Society established its annual James A. Van Fleet Award to recognize those who have made outstanding contributions to closer U.S.-Korea ties. The General James A. Van Fleet State Trail, running from Polk City to Mabel, Florida, is also named in his honor. The University of Florida presented Van Fleet an honorary doctorate in 1946, and the university's military sciences building, which houses the U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy ROTC programs, is named Van Fleet Hall.[12] He was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as an "honorary letter winner" in 1971.[13][14] In 1998, a panel of Florida historians and other consultants named Van Fleet one of the fifty most important Floridians of the 20th century.[15]

Van Fleet's estate donated his papers to the George C. Marshall Foundation, and are the second largest collection of papers held by the foundation, after those of General Marshall.

General Van Fleet was also an art collector and donated many rare and exceptional Asian objects to the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art.

Van Fleet and his wife, Helen Moore Van Fleet (1892–1984), had three children, eight grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren.

Van Fleet's personal decorations include:

Van Fleet also received the following foreign decorations:[16]

• Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece)
• Distinguished Medal of Honor (Greece)
• Grand Commander of the Order of George I (Greece)
• 

  
  Order of Diplomatic Service Merit with gold star (Korea)
• Order of the Lion and the Sun, grade 1 (Iran)[17]
• Distinguished Service Order (United Kingdom)
• Legion of Honor (France)
• Croix de Guerre with palm (France)
• Croix de Guerre with palm (Belgium)
• Grand Cross of the Order of Orange Nassau with swords (Netherlands)
• Order of Boyaca (Colombia)

Also decorations from the following countries:[16]

• Ethiopia
• Thailand
• Philippines
• Republic of China

• Army Black Knights
• Florida Gators
• History of the University of Florida
• List of United States Military Academy alumni
• List of University of Florida faculty and administrators
• List of University of Florida honorary degree recipients
• List of University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame members
• University of Florida Athletic Association

• 2012 Florida Football Media Guide, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida (2012).
• Braim, Paul F., Will to Win: The Life of General James A. Van Fleet, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland (2001).
• Bruce, Robert B., "Tethered Eagle: Lt-General James A. Van Fleet and the Quest for Military Victory in the Korean War, April – June 1951," Army History 82 (Winter 2012).
• Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). ISBN 0-7948-2298-3.
• Golenbock, Peter, Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory, Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). ISBN 0-9650782-1-3.
• McCarthy, Kevin M., Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football, Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). ISBN 978-0-7385-0559-6.
• McEwen, Tom, The Gators: A Story of Florida Football, The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama (1974). ISBN 0-87397-025-X.
• Nash, Noel, ed., The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football, Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). ISBN 1-57167-196-X.
• Proctor, Samuel, & Wright Langley, Gator History: A Pictorial History of the University of Florida, South Star Publishing Company, Gainesville, Florida (1986). ISBN 0-938637-00-2.

• Korean Art: Collecting Treasures, online exhibition featuring Korean objects from the Van Fleet Collection at the Harn Museum of Art
• James Van Fleet Digital Collection from the George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida
• James Alward Van Fleet
• "WILL TO WIN: The Life of General James A. Van Fleet"
• A film clip "Longines Chronoscope with James Van Fleet" is available at the Internet Archive
• James Van Fleet at Find a Grave