Content deleted Content added
Berserker276 (talk | contribs) |
|||
(29 intermediate revisions by 17 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{Short description|
{{good article}}
{{Infobox military person
|birth_name=John Clifford Hodges Lee
|birth_date= {{Birth date|1887|8|1|df=y}}
|death_date= {{Death date and age|1958|8|30|1887|8|1|df=y}}
|birth_place=[[Junction City, Kansas]], U.S.
|death_place=[[York, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
|placeofburial=[[Arlington National Cemetery]]
|placeofburial_label= Place of burial
Line 13 ⟶ 12:
|caption=John Clifford Hodges Lee
|nickname=Jesus Christ Himself
|allegiance=
|branch=
|serviceyears=1909–1947
|servicenumber=0–2582
|rank=
|commands=[[2nd Infantry Division (United States)|2d Infantry Division]]<br />[[Services of Supply|Services of Supply (ETO)]]<br />Communications Zone (ETO)<br />Mediterranean Theater
|unit=[[United States Army Corps of Engineers]]
|battles=
* [[
** [[Battle of Saint-Mihiel]]
** [[Meuse-Argonne Offensive]]
** [[Allied occupation of the Rhineland]]
* [[
** [[Operation
** [[
** [[Battle of the Bulge]]
** [[Western Allied invasion of Germany|Allied Invasion of Germany]] {{Tree list/end}}
|awards=[[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Army Distinguished Service Medal]] (2)<br />[[Navy Distinguished Service Medal]]<br />[[Silver Star]]<br />[[Legion of Merit]]<br />Honorary [[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (Britain)<br />Grand Officer of the [[Legion of Honor]] (France);<br />[[Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de Guerre]] with Palm (France)<br />Commander of the [[Ordre du Mérite Maritime|Order of Merit Maritime]] (France)<br />Commander of the [[Order of Agricultural Merit|Order of Merite Agricole]] (France)<br />Grand Officer of the [[Order of the Crown (Belgium)|Order of the Crown]] with Palm (Belgium)<br />[[Croix de guerre (Belgium)|Croix de Guerre]] with Palm (Belgium)<br />Grand Cross of the [[Order of the Oak Crown]] (Luxembourg)<br />[[Luxembourg War Cross|Croix de Guerre]] (Luxembourg)<br />Grand Officer of the [[Order of Adolph of Nassau]] (Luxembourg)<br />Grand Cordon of the [[Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus]] (Italy)<br />[[Military Order of Italy]]<br />[[Papal Lateran Cross]]
|laterwork=Episcopalian Layman
Line 34 ⟶ 35:
'''John Clifford Hodges Lee''' (1 August 1887 – 30 August 1958) was a career US Army engineer, who rose to the rank of [[lieutenant general (United States)|lieutenant general]] and commanded the [[Communications Zone]] (ComZ) in the [[European Theater of Operations]] during [[World War II]].
A graduate of the [[United States Military Academy]] at [[West Point, New York]], with the class of 1909, Lee assisted with various domestic engineering navigation projects as well as in the Panama Canal Zone, Guam and the Philippines. During World War I, he served on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] on the staff of the [[82nd Airborne Division|82d]] and [[89th Infantry Division (United States)|89th Divisions]] and earned promotions to [[Major (rank)|major]], [[lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]] and [[colonel (United States)|colonel]] as well as the [[Silver Star]] Medal, the [[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Army Distinguished Service Medal]] and the [[Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de Guerre]] from the French government.
After World War I, Lee served again in the Philippines, then became District Engineer of the Vicksburg District, responsible for flood control and navigation for a section of the [[Mississippi River]] and its tributaries. During the [[Great Mississippi Flood of 1927]], he directed relief work, attempted to shore up the levees, and coordinated the evacuations of towns and districts. He then directed various engineer districts around Washington, DC, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the [[Great Depression]].
Line 41 ⟶ 42:
==Early life==
John Clifford Hodges Lee was born in [[Junction City, Kansas]]
Lee graduated 12th in the class of 1909. His classmates included [[Jacob L. Devers]], who was ranked 39th,{{sfn|Cullum|1920|p=1429}} and [[George S. Patton
==Early military engineer career==
Lee was sent to [[Detroit, Michigan]]
Promoted to [[first lieutenant]] on 27 February 1912, Lee became an instructor for the [[Ohio National Guard]], then returned to the 3d Battalion at Fort Leavenworth. In September and October 1912, he was [[aide de camp]] to the [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]], [[Henry L. Stimson]]. When
In October 1913, Lee and the 3d Engineer Battalion departed for the Western Pacific. He conducted topographical survey work on [[Guam]] from 23 October 1913 to 30 July 1914, and then in the Philippines, where he was Senior Topographical Inspector with the [[Philippine Department]] from December 1914 to October 1915. He commanded the Northern District on [[Luzon]] from December 1914 to June 1915, and the [[Cagayan]] District from July to September 1915. He returned to the United States in November 1915, and was assigned to the Wheeling District in [[Wheeling, West Virginia]], where he was responsible for the completion of the No. 14 Dam on the Ohio River. Lee was promoted to [[Captain (United States O-3)|captain]] on 3 June 1916. For his thesis, he submitted the ''Manual for Topographers'' he had written in the Philippines.{{sfn|Cullum|1920|pp=1412–1413}}
Line 55 ⟶ 56:
==World War I==
Lee was appointed Wood's aide de camp on 23 April 1917, shortly after the United States [[United States declaration of war on Germany (1917)|formally declared war on Germany]].{{sfn|Cullum|1920|pp=1412–1413}} Wood was offered commands in Hawaii and the Philippines, but turned them down in order to take command of the [[89th Infantry Division (United States)|89th Division]], a newly-formed [[
On 18 February 1918, Lee departed for [[Western Front (World War I)|France]], where he studied at the Army General Staff College of the [[American Expeditionary Forces]] (AEF) at [[Langres]] from 13
[[File:111-SC-38551 - NARA - 55236261 (cropped) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Senior officers of the 89th Division at [[Stenay]], [[Meuse (department)|Meuse]], France, November 12, 1918. Pictured on the extreme right, in the front row, is Colonel John C. H. Lee.]]
That month, the 89th Division reached France, albeit without Wood, who had been relieved of command on the eve of its departure for France and temporarily replaced by Brigadier General [[Frank L. Winn]] before Major General [[William M. Wright]] took over in September. On 18 July Lee returned to it as its Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3 (operations officer). He participated in the [[Battle of Saint-Mihiel]], at the conclusion of which he became the division's chief of staff. He was promoted to [[colonel (United States)|colonel]] on 1 August 1918, and as such participated in the [[Meuse–Argonne offensive]] which followed Saint-Mihiel.{{sfn|Cullum|1920|pp=1412–1413}}{{sfn|Cox|2018|pp=19–20}}
For his service, he was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Army Distinguished Service Medal]]. His citation read:
{{Quote|For exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services. In the preparations for the drive on the St. Mihiel salient in September, and for the Argonne-Meuse offensive in October, 1918, he had charge of the detailed arrangements for and the subsequent execution of the operations of the 89th Division. The successes attained by this division were largely due to his splendid staff co-ordination, marked tactical ability, and sound judgment.{{sfn|Cullum|1920|pp=1412–1413}}}}
Lee was also awarded the French [[Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de Guerre]], and was made an Officer of the French [[Legion of Honor]].{{sfn|Cullum|1930|pp=827–828}}
==Between the wars==
Line 114 ⟶ 123:
===Overlord===
[[File:
Eisenhower was succeeded as commander of ETOUSA by Lieutenant General [[Frank M. Andrews]] on 4 February 1943.{{sfn|Ruppenthal|1953|p=113}} On Somervell's advice, Lee submitted a proposal to Andrews that he be named deputy theater commander for supply and administration, and that the theater G-4 branch be placed under him. This would have given Lee a status similar to that enjoyed by Somervell. Andrews rejected the proposal,{{sfn|Ohl|1994|pp=210–211}} but he did make some changes, moving part of SOS Headquarters to London while its operations staff remained in Cheltenham. Weaver was appointed Lee's deputy for operations.{{sfn|Ruppenthal|1953|pp=160–162}} Andrews regarded Lee as "oppressively religious", and resolved to ask Marshall for his recall. Before he could do so, Andrews was killed in a plane crash in Iceland on 3 May,{{sfn|Ohl|1994|pp=210–211}}{{sfn|Ruppenthal|1953|p=123}} and was succeeded by Lieutenant General [[Jacob L. Devers]],{{sfn|Ruppenthal|1953|p=123}} who agreed to abolish the theater G-4 and transfer its functions to Lee.{{sfn|Ohl|1994|pp=210–211}}
For the cross-channel attack, now postponed to 1944 and codenamed [[Operation Overlord]],{{sfn|Ruppenthal|1953|p=132}} the service chiefs wanted 490,000 SOS troops. Devers trimmed this to 375,000, which would be 25 percent of the theater troop strength, a figure that was accepted by the War Department.{{sfn|Ruppenthal|1953|pp=125–128}} The most acute shortages in 1943 were of engineer units to build new airbases, hospitals, supply depots and training facilities. As in 1942, Lee was forced to accept partly trained units.{{sfn|Ruppenthal|1953|p=131}} In the first four months of 1944, the number of SOS troops in the UK increased from 79,900 to 220,200.{{sfn|Ruppenthal|1953|p=132}} Some lessons had been learned from 1942. The New York POE started turning back incorrectly labelled cargo. In the first day this system went into operation, some 14,700 items were returned to the depots.{{sfn|Ruppenthal|1953|p=99}}
Line 128 ⟶ 137:
In August, Com Z Headquarters moved from the UK to a camp at [[Valognes]] in France.{{sfn|Ruppenthal|1959|p=31}} Although Eisenhower had expressed a desire that headquarters not be located in Paris, on 1 September Lee decided to move Com Z headquarters there.{{sfn|Bradley|1951|pp=405–406}} This involved the movement of 8,000 officers and 21,000 enlisted men from the UK and Valognes, and took two weeks to accomplish at a time when there were severe supply shortages.{{sfn|Ohl|1994|p=235}} Eventually, Com Z occupied 167 hotels in Paris, the Seine Base Section headquarters occupied 129 more, and SHAEF occupied another 25.{{sfn|Ruppenthal|1959|p=32}} Lee established his own official residence in the [[Four Seasons Hotel George V|Hotel George V]]. The front of the building was kept clear for his own vehicle.{{sfn|Cox|2018|p=145}} He justified the move to Paris on the grounds that Paris was the hub of France's road, rail and inland waterway communications networks. The logic was conceded, but the use of scarce fuel and transport resources at a critical time caused embarrassment.{{sfn|Ruppenthal|1959|p=31}}{{sfn|Ohl|1994|p=235}}
During the [[Ardennes Offensive]], Lee deployed service troops, particularly engineers to help delay the German advance while other Com Z troops shifted supply dumps in the path of the German advance to safer locations in the rear, thereby denying the Germans access to captured American fuel supplies. Some {{convert|2800000|USgal|
===Lee's challenge to army racial policy===
Line 134 ⟶ 143:
During October, Bradley incurred very heavy casualties in fighting in the [[Battle of Aachen]] and the [[Battle of Hürtgen Forest]] in October and November.{{sfn|Cox|2018|pp=155–156}} This resulted in a critical shortage of infantry replacements even before the crisis situation created by the Ardennes Offensive. Noting that casualties among newly arrived reinforcements greatly exceeded those among veterans, Lee tried to humanize the replacement depots, and suggested changing the name so that they sounded less like spare parts. Bradley opposed this, arguing for more substantial changes.{{sfn|Bradley|1951|p=446}}
One source of infantry reinforcements was Com Z. Lee suggested that physically fit African-American soldiers in the Communications Zone, providing their jobs could be filled by limited-duty personnel, should be allowed to volunteer for infantry duty, and be placed in otherwise white units, without regard to a quota but on an as-needed basis.<ref>{{cite web |url =http://www.history.army.mil/html/topics/afam/aa-volinfreps.html |title =
Walter Bedell Smith disagreed with Lee's plan, writing to Eisenhower:{{quote| Two years ago I would have considered the marked statement the most dangerous thing that I had ever seen in regard to Negro relations. I have talked with Lee about it, and he can't see this at all. He believes that it is right that colored and white soldiers should be mixed in the same company. With this belief I do not argue, but the War Department policy is different.{{sfn|Lee|1966|p=690}}}}
Reflecting the prevalent racial prejudices of most US Army officers at the time, Smith did not believe
Lee featured in the 1943 US Army training film ''[[A Welcome to Britain]]'', where he was involved in a sequence involving a British woman inviting a colored GI to tea. The narrator focused on Lee's family's background with the Confederacy and Lee took the opportunity to encourage American soldiers to treat black and white soldiers the same.{{sfn|German|2017|p=97}}
==Post-war career==
After [[VE Day]], the Communications Zone became Theater Service Forces, and Lee moved his headquarters to [[Frankfurt]] in September 1945.{{sfn|Cullum|1950|p=130}} In December 1945, he succeeded Lieutenant General [[Matthew B. Ridgway]] as Deputy Theater Commander and Commander, [[Mediterranean Theater of Operations]], United States Army (MTOUSA) in Italy. He worked closely with the theater commander, British
Lee then became theater commander as well as MTOUSA commander. He was responsible for the maintenance and repatriation of hundreds of thousands of American service men and women, opened the [[Sicily–Rome American Cemetery and Memorial]], and restored infrastructure of many of the nations surrounding the Mediterranean. The Allied Occupation of Italy ended when the [[Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947|Peace Treaty with Italy]] went into effect in September 1947, and Lee returned to the United States.{{sfn|Cullum|1950|p=130}}{{sfn|Cox|2018|pp=213–215}}
In August 1947 newspaper columnist [[Robert C. Ruark]]
==Retirement and honors==
Line 158 ⟶ 167:
==Death and legacy==
Lee's first wife Sarah died in a motor vehicle accident in 1939,{{sfn|Cox|2018|pp=40–41}} and he remarried on 19 September 1945 to Eve Brookie Ellis, whom he also survived.{{sfn|Onofrio|1994|pp=281–284}}{{sfn|Cox|2018|p=222}} He died in [[York, Pennsylvania]], on 30 August 1958, aged 71, and was buried at [[Arlington National Cemetery]] beside his first wife.{{sfn|Cox|2018|p=223}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jchlee.htm |title=John Clifford Hodges Lee, Lieutenant General, United States Army |publisher=Arlington National Cemetery |access-date=19 May 2018 }}</ref>
There is a large portrait of General Lee in the West Point Club at the [[United States Military Academy]].
==Reputation==
In his wartime memoir, ''[[Crusade in Europe]]'', Eisenhower described Lee as:{{quote|... an engineer officer of long experience with a reputation for getting things done. Because of his mannerisms and his stern insistence upon the outward forms of discipline, which he himself meticulously observed, he was considered a [[martinet]] by most of his acquaintances. He was determined, correct, and devoted to duty; he had long been known as an effective administrator and as a man of the highest character and religious fervor. I sometimes felt that he was a modern [[Cromwell]], but I was willing to waive the rigidity of his mannerisms in favor of his constructive qualities. Indeed, I felt it was possible that his unyielding methods might be vital to success in an activity where an iron hand is always mandatory.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1948|p=139}}}}
Official historian Roland G. Ruppenthal wrote:{{quote| General Lee continued to be a controversial personality throughout the history of the theater, owing in part to the anomalous position which he held. But the controversy over the SOS was heightened by his personal traits. Heavy on ceremony, somewhat forbidding in manner and appearance, and occasionally tactless in exercising authority which he regarded to be within the province of the SOS, General Lee often aroused suspicions and created opposition where support might have been forthcoming.
Line 317 ⟶ 326:
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==References==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Ambrose |first=Stephen E. |author-link=Stephen Ambrose |title=Citizen Soldiers |location=London |publisher=Pocket |year=2002 |orig-year=1997 |isbn=0-7434-5015-9 |oclc=48932491 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/citizensoldiersu0000ambr }}
* {{cite book |last=Bradley |first=
* {{cite book |last = Cox |first = Hank H. |title = The General Who Wore Six Stars: The Inside Story of John C. H. Lee |year = 2018 |publisher = Potomac Books |location = Lincoln, Nebraska |isbn=978-1-61234-963-3 |oclc = 989124130 }}
* {{cite book |last = Crosswell |first = D. K. R. |title = The Chief of Staff: The Military Career of General Walter Bedell Smith |place = Westport, Connecticut |publisher = Greenwood Press |year = 1991 |isbn = 0-313-27480-0 |oclc = 22273487 |url-access = registration |url = https://archive.org/details/chiefofstaff00cros }}
* {{cite book |last = Cullum |first = George W. |title = Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point New York since its Establishment in 1802: Supplement Volume VI 1910–1920 |author-link = George Washington Cullum |publisher = R. R. Donnelly and Sons, The Lakeside Press |location = Chicago, Illinois |year = 1920 |url = http://digital-library.usma.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16919coll3/id/17964/rec/7 |access-date = 13 October 2015 }}
* {{cite book |last = Cullum |first = George W. |title = Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point New York since its Establishment in 1802: Supplement Volume VII 1920–1930 |author-link = George Washington Cullum |publisher = R. R. Donnelly and Sons, The Lakeside Press |location = Chicago, Illinois |year = 1930 |url = http://digital-library.usma.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16919coll3/id/24660/rec/8 |access-date = 13 October 2015 }}
* {{cite book |title = Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point New York Since Its Establishment in 1802: Supplement Volume VIII 1930–1940 |last = Cullum |first = George W. |author-link = George Washington Cullum |publisher = R. R. Donnelly and Sons, The Lakeside Press |location = Chicago |year = 1940 |url = http://digital-library.usma.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16919coll3/id/19424/rec/9 |access-date = 6 October 2015 }}
* {{cite book |last = Cullum |first = George W. |title = Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point New York since its Establishment in 1802: Supplement Volume IX 1940–1950 |author-link = George Washington Cullum |publisher = R. R. Donnelly and Sons, The Lakeside Press |location = Chicago, Illinois |year = 1950 |url = http://digital-library.usma.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16919coll3/id/22314/rec/10 |access-date = 13 October 2015 }}
* {{cite book |last=Eisenhower |first=Dwight D. |author-link=Dwight D. Eisenhower |title=Crusade in Europe |
title-link=Crusade in Europe |year=1948 |location=London |publisher=Heinemann |oclc=559866864 }}
* {{cite book |last=German |first=Kathleen M. |title=Promises of Citizenship: Film Recruitment of African Americans in World War II |location=Jackson, Mississippi |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4968-1235-3 |oclc=962552520 }}
* {{cite book |last = Lee |first = Ulysses |author-link=Ulysses Lee |title = The Employment of Negro Troops |url =
* {{cite book |last=Ohl |first= John Kennedy |title=Supplying the Troops: General Somervell and American Logistics in World War II |publisher=Northern Illinois Press |location= DeKalb, Illinois |year=1994 |isbn=0-87580-185-4 |oclc=29182051 }}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Onofrio |editor-first=Jan |title=Kansas Biographical Dictionary: People of All Times and Places Who have been Important to the History and Life of the State |location=New York |publisher=Somerset Publishers |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-403-09922-1 |oclc=28890001 }}
* {{cite thesis |last=Pearcy |first=Matthew Todd |title=A History of the Mississippi River Commission, 1879–1928: from Levees-Only to a Comprehensive Program of Flood Control for the Lower Mississippi Valley |publisher=University of North Texas |date=August 1996 |degree=PhD |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc277642/ |access-date=5 May 2018 }}
* {{cite book |last=Ruppenthal |first=Roland G. |title=Logistical Support of the Armies: Volume I, May 1941 – September 1944 |location=Washington, DC |series=[[United States Army in World War II]] - European Theater of Operations |publisher=Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army |year=1953 |url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/007/7-2-1/CMH_Pub_7-2-1.pdf
* {{cite book |last=Ruppenthal |first=Roland G. |title=Logistical Support of the Armies: Volume II, September 1944 – May 1945 |location=Washington, DC |series=[[United States Army in World War II]] - European Theater of Operations |publisher=Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army |year=1959 |url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/007/7-3-1/CMH_Pub_7-3-1.pdf |access-date=3 April 2018 |oclc=640653201 }}
{{refend}}
Line 351 ⟶ 362:
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
|