The General and His Daughter: The War Time Letters of General James M. Gavin to his Daughter Barbara

Foreword

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ★ f o r e w o r d ★ ........................................................... Rufus Broadaway Major General James Gavin told me that he wrote letters to his daughter Barbara. Indeed, he wrote to her more than two hundred times while he commanded the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment and later the 82nd Airborne Division during World War II. When her father left for war in April 1943, Barbara was nine years old. With the publication of The General and His Daughter, she now generously shares many intimate thoughts of a famous father to his loving daughter during exciting and perilous times. General Gavin was my personal hero. I had parachuted into Normandy on D-Day. Shortly after returning to England, I was given the great privilege of serving as his junior aide-de-camp during the airborne invasion of Holland, the Battle of the Bulge, and much of the remainder of the war in Europe. I was with him for most of our waking hours and came to know him well. As the junior officer, it fell to me to receive an almost incoherent telephone call on December 17, 1944. This was the first alert of the 82nd Airborne Division to the German breakthrough that began the Battle of the Bulge. In addition to being a great commanding officer, General Gavin was a fine human being, in every respect. He was basically gentle and soft-spoken . He was kind and considerate. I do not recall his acting harshly under any circumstance. He was not given to profanity or to dirty jokes. He called me ‘‘son.’’ Almost any afternoon while we were in reserve, the General would say, ‘‘Son, let’s go for a run.’’ It was an opportunity that I cherished. Although he had a dozen years on me, his long legs seemed to carry him with less effort than my shorter ones. I have run most of the rest of my life, including many marathons. Many times I have recalled the inspiration from my general. War, however, is necessarily cruel. The objective is to kill the enemy and to do so as efficiently and effectively as possible. Many of Gavin’s men have recalled seeing the tall officer with stars on his helmet in the thick of battle as he shared the dangers of combat. On one occasion in Holland, the enemy had penetrated the southern end of our defensive line. General Gavin immediately went down to see for himself. Soon he was prone (as was I) on a railway embankment and he was furiously firing his M-1 rifle like the infantryman that he was. In another instance, while battling in the snow of the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge, we came upon a soldier who was attempting to put on his boots. The General asked him where his socks were. He replied that they were lost. When we returned to headquarters, General Gavin gave me a pair of his own socks and had me personally take them to the barefoot soldier. Gavin recognized the importance of his leadership role, but he never demanded privilege. When General Dempsey sent up a caravan trailer for Gavin’s personal use in Holland, Gavin instead used it for Division Headquarters and slept in a foxhole like any other soldier. When I suggested that I might sleep in the caravan, he gave me a quizzical look and said that he did not think that was a very good idea! Soon after, the caravan was hit by artillery. James Gavin, the major general, was also a man of great personal integrity . At one point there occurred a serious misunderstanding with General Ridgway. Gavin thought that the honorable course was to request reassignment , an action that would cost him command of the 82nd Airborne and probably a grade in rank. Fortunately, Ridgway regretted his behavior and accepted Gavin’s explanation, ignoring Gavin’s request to be relieved of command. Gavin observed that he himself had learned a lesson in restraint. These and many of the General’s other sterling qualities are amply expressed in this volume. But perhaps above all else, his letters to Barbara demonstrate a loving and enduring bond between father and daughter. Rarely does he address her as ‘‘Barbara.’’ More likely it is as ‘‘Butch’’ or ‘‘Babe’’ or simply ‘‘Beautiful.’’ More than a simple account of his activities, these letters in which he shares with his daughter his experiences at war provide considerable insight into his personality. Gavin also here...