Samuel D. Sturgis III

Samuel Davis Sturgis III was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and came from a military family. Both his father, Samuel D. Sturgis Jr.,[1] and grandfather, also named Samuel D. Sturgis, were West Point graduates and major generals.

Sturgis graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1918.[2] As a junior engineer officer, he taught mathematics at the academy for four years. In 1926, he was ordered to the Philippines, where he served as Adjutant of the 14th Engineers. His strategical studies of the islands over a three-year period developed knowledge he used later when he returned to the Philippines in 1944 as Chief Engineer of General Walter Krueger's Sixth U.S. Army. Sturgis commanded a mounted engineer company at Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1929–1933 and encouraged the adoption of heavy mechanical equipment. He was district engineer in 1939–1942 for Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he worked on flood control and a large military construction program. He served as chief engineer of the Sixth Army in 1943–1946.

During World War II, Sturgis' engineer troops built roads, airfields, ports, and bases from New Guinea to the Philippines. After the war, Sturgis was senior engineer for the army air forces in 1946-1948 and was Missouri River Division Engineer in 1949–51. In 1951, he became the Commanding General of the 6th Armored Division and Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. In 1952, he was appointed Commanding General of the Communications Zone supporting the United States Army in Europe. He became Chief of Engineers on March 17, 1953.

He died July 5, 1964, in Washington, D.C. and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife Frances Jewett.[3]

In 1921, Sturgis married Frances Jewett Murray (1897–1975), the daughter of Brigadier General Peter Murray (1867–1940) and Harriet Tingley Jewett (1871–1932).[1]

His military decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Silver Star, and the Legion of Merit.[4]

•   Army Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster
•   Silver Star
•   Legion of Merit
• World War I Victory Medal
• American Defense Service Medal
• American Campaign Medal
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
• World War II Victory Medal
• Army of Occupation Medal
• National Defense Service Medal
• Philippine Liberation Medal

This article contains public domain text from the U.S. Army.

• "Lieutenant General Samuel D. Sturgis Jr". Portraits and Profiles of Chief Engineers. U.S. Army. Archived from the original on June 19, 2005. Retrieved August 22, 2005.