William Kelly Harrison Jr. (September 7, 1895 – May 25, 1987) was a highly decorated officer in the United States Army with the rank of Lieutenant General. A graduate of the United States Military Academy, he rose through the ranks to brigadier general during World War II and distinguished himself in combat several times, while serving as the assistant division commander of the 30th Infantry Division during the Normandy Campaign and the Battle of the Bulge. Harrison was decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest decoration of the United States military for bravery in combat, for his actions during Operation Cobra.
Following the War, Harrison remained in the Army and after several stateside assignments, he was ordered to the Far East, where he served as head of the United Nations Command armistice delegation in the Korean War. He participated in the truce talks, which concluded with the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953. Harrison completed his career as the commanding general of U.S. Caribbean Command in early 1957.
Early career William Kelly Harrison Jr. was born on September 7, 1895, in Washington, D.C. as the son of Naval officer and future Medal of Honor recipient, William Kelly Harrison and his wife Kate Harris. Following high school, William Jr. received a senatorial appointment from Texas to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in May 1913.
Harrison graduated, 73rd in a class of 139, with a Bachelor of Science degree on April 20, 1917, shortly following the United States entry into World War I, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the cavalry branch. He was subsequently ordered to Camp Lawrence J. Hearn, California, where he joined the 1st Cavalry Regiment.
He was subsequently ordered with the regiment to Douglas, Arizona, from which his unit participated in the guard duties on the Mexican Border. Harrison reached consecutively the ranks of first lieutenant and captain and returned to West Point Military Academy as an instructor of French and Spanish languages. While in this capacity, he also completed advanced languages courses in French and Spanish.
Harrison was later transferred to the 7th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Bliss, Texas and served with that unit until early 1923, when he was ordered to Washington, D.C. for duty on the staff of the Army War College. He was promoted to major during his service there and left for the Philippines in 1925, where he was attached to the 26th Cavalry Regiment (Philippine Scouts) at Camp Stotsenburg on Luzon.
Following his return stateside in 1932, Harrison was attached to the 7th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Riley, Kansas. While stationed at Fort Riley, he completed the advanced course at the Army Cavalry School there and served on the Cavalry Board and as a troop commander with the 9th Cavalry Regiment.
Harrison was ordered to the Army Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in June 1936 and graduated one year later. He then joined the faculty of the school and served as an instructor of tactics until September 1937, when he was ordered to the Army War College for instruction.
He graduated in July 1938 and joined the 6th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. Harrison remained in that assignment until August 1939, when he was attached to the War Plans Division, War Department General Staff in Washington, D.C. While in this capacity, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on July 1, 1940.
World War II Stateside service
Following the American entry into World War II, Harrison was promoted to the temporary rank of colonel on December 11, 1941, just four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was appointed the deputy chief of the Strategy and Policy Group, War Plans Division, War Department General Staff and also was given additional duty at Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall's Committee on Allocation of Responsibilities which was given the job of figuring out a reorganization of the Army high command. For his service in this capacity, Harrison was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general on June 26, 1942.
He was subsequently ordered to Camp Butner, North Carolina, where he was attached to the 78th Infantry Division under Major General Edwin P. Parker Jr. as Assistant Division Commander (ADC). Harrison then participated in the training of replacements for units serving overseas but suffered a minor injury on an obstacle course in December 1942. While recuperating, he received a telephone call from Major General Leland Hobbs, then in command of the 30th Infantry Division, informing him about his new assignment with Hobbs' 30th Division.
Harrison was replaced by Brigadier General John K. Rice and appointed ADC under Hobbs, who tasked him with organization of the 30th Infantry Division's training at Camp Blanding, Florida. Harrison and Hobbs had known each other from West Point, where Hobbs was a member of the Class of 1915. They also were in the same class at the Army Command and General Staff School in 1937.
Billy Harrison had almost no respect for Hobbs as a leader of the troops. From Harrison's point of view, Hobbs violated every principle of leadership except one: He demanded obedience and gave it to his superiors. But in almost every other aspect, from training and disciplining men to planning battle operations in the field, Harrison described Hobbs as being " a Barracks soldier", who accustomed himself to applause.
Despite this, Harrison remained loyal to Hobbs, who never received anything than support from his ADC. On the other hand, Harrison benefited from Hobbs's apparent weakness, when he had the opportunity to be with his men during the training and later in combat.
Harrison participated in the training of his troops for the upcoming Tennessee Maneuvers in September–November 1943, where the 30th Division showed considerable alertness and skills. Following the maneuvers, the division moved to Camp Atterbury, Indiana, where it concentrated on preparation for movement overseas.
Overseas duty
Harrison led a divisional advanced party overseas by the end of January 1944 and spent the next several months in intensive training in England. The 30th Infantry Division departed for France in June that year and landed at Omaha Beach, Normandy on June 11, 1944. Harrison participated in the combat at Vire-et-Taute Canal and on Vire River and quickly won the admiration of his troops by accompanying them on the front lines with M3 submachine gun in hand. He also spent his first night in France in a trench with combat troops.
On July 25, 1944, the 30th Infantry Division participated in combat near Saint-Lô, which it secured a few days earlier. The division was subsequently scheduled to participate in Operation Cobra, an offensive with the intention to advance into Brittany. The offensive was to begin with a major saturation bombing of the enemy with the troops then moving in afterward, but due to inaccurate plane navigation, the planes erroneously bombed their own men. More than 600 men were hit, many killed, including Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair, Commander of Army Ground Forces.
Even though Harrison's command group was located in the rear, he returned deliberately to the forward area shortly before the bombing began. He was thrown down by the blast of German artillery fire, but was unharmed. Realizing that the success of the entire operation depended on the 30th Infantry Division carrying out its mission, Harrison began analyzing the situation and found out that the divisional Sherman tanks were totally disorganized and demoralized infantry was spread in the area. Moreover, the commanding officer of 120th Infantry Regiment, Colonel Hammond D. Birks was located somewhere in the forward area and his jeep was knocked out.
Harrison ordered the commander to get his tanks in battle formation and get ready for action and evacuated Colonel Birks to safety. He took a soldier with a bazooka through a hedgerow and ordered him to attack a German tank nearby. The soldier hit the German tank several times, but panicked and ran into the open, where he was killed. Harrison crawled back and came upon four American tanks in a neighboring field, who were waiting out the enemy shelling with their hatches shut tight. He climbed on the commander's tank and forced the crew to open the hatch by beating on the tank's turret, subsequently ordering the general attack, which was successful. For his heroism in action, he was decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest decoration of the United States military for valor in combat.
Harrison then participated in the Battle of Mortain, the German drive to Avranches in mid-August 1944. The 30th Division clashed with the elite 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. The 30th Division then advanced through Belgium and Harrison distinguished himself again on September 2, 1944, while leading the Task Force of his division.
He was riding with the forward elements of his Task Force heading to Rumilly, when his column was ambushed by enemy tanks. Harrison's jeep was hit in the radiator and he was struck by an enemy 75mm tank shell, hitting his right shoulder, arm and leg. Harrison escaped from the damaged vehicle and hit the ditch, where he immediately dispatched his aide and driver to contact the next ranking officer in order that he might continue the advance. He did not mention his wounds, which were not visible due to his raincoat and crawled approximately 600 yards to the rear of the column in order to give further instructions for continuing the mission.
Harrison fainted momentarily due to his wounds, but refused to be evacuated until he had contacted his subordinates and instructed them in the continuation of the attack. By that time, General Hobbs had arrived and following the discovery of Harrison's wounds, he ordered Harrison's evacuation. For bravery in action, he was decorated with the Silver Star and also received the Purple Heart for his wounds, of which he was most proud.
He spent a week in the First Army Hospital in Versailles and rejoined his division in the Belgian town of Tongres, where the division's progress was halted due to fuel shortages and quagmire roads. The 30th Division then proceeded to the Netherlands, where they liberated the town of Kerkrade on September 25, 1944, and advanced to Germany, where they took part in the combat on the Siegfried Line and subsequently in the battle of the heavily defended city of Aachen on October 2.
The 30th Infantry Division was ordered for rest and refit to the rear by the end of November 1944 and transferred to the Ninth United States Army under Lieutenant General William H. Simpson. Harrison was tasked by Simpson himself to conduct a refresher course for all infantry and artillery commanders in the Ninth United States Army, down to the battalion level. Harrison lectured the tactics employed by his command in the taking of several towns and then took the entire class to the field to Sankt Jöris near Aachen, where artillery and tanks were set up to demonstrate how they had been used in the attack there.
Harrison and 30th Division returned to the front lines following the launch of the massive German offensive in the Ardennes on December 17, 1944, and participated in combat in the Malmedy-Stavelot area. Hobbs tasked Harrison with the command of the task force, consisting of the 119th Infantry Regiment, which later repelled a German assault at La Gleize. Harrison and his task force destroyed or captured 178 enemy armored vehicles, including 39 tanks.