General William E. DePuy: Preparing the Army for Modern War

Illustrations follow page 142

DePuy with his dog, Mac. In later life, he, Marj, and their children always had a dog. Corporal DePuy, Squad Leader, Company B, 109th Engineer Battalion, 34th Infantry Division. He had to choose between the National Guard and ROTC in his junior year of college. He chose ROTC and excelled. Solid student, active in college service organizations, and adjutant in his ROTC detachment, DePuy was commissioned as a Reserve Officer despite his mentor’s best efforts to get him a Regular Army or U.S. Marine Corps commission. He was a good dancer, a “big bands” man, and a fan of the Mills Brothers. Copied by Betsy Holdhusen from South Dakota State University yearbook, 1941. Captain Bill is wearing the 90th Infantry Division patch in 1944. The 90th was formed in 1917 with men mostly from Oklahoma and Texas, took part in the 1918 offensive in the Great War, and fought in World War II from Normandy in June 1944 to Czechoslovakia in May 1945. A note in DePuy’s handwriting on the reverse side of this sketch from 1944 says, “What a hell of a looking guy you married. Love, Bill.” Maj. DePuy near Metz, France, in October 1944, as S-3, 357th Infantry. He would take command of 1/357 in December, in miserable weather conditions , in one of the most difficult tactical operations while in contact with the enemy, a night river crossing in boats. TRADOC News Service. LTC DePuy is awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for valor while 1/357 commander by Major General S. Leroy Irwin, XII Corps Commander , at Weiden, Germany, June 1945. A note on the back of this photo says “Bill DePuy, Brookings, S.D., 8 May [1945] VE [Victory in Europe] Day, WWII, in Czechoslovakia. The daughter of a Sudeten German.” From left, standing, DePuy, George Bittman Barth, John Mason, Ed Hamilton ; squatting left, Richard Stilwell and unknown. DePuy adored Barth, called Mason a tactical genius, said Hamilton performed the bravest act DePuy saw in World War II. He credited Stilwell with holding the 90th Division together before good commanders replaced bad. DePuy, Mason, Hamilton, and Stilwell later served in the CIA and directed irregulars in the Korean War. DePuy (left), Assistant Military Attaché in Hungary. DePuy had studied Russian and was preparing to go to the Soviet Union when Josef Cardinal Mindszenty was charged with conspiracy to overthrow the Hungarian government. He was given asylum in the American Legation in Budapest. The government retaliated, declaring the attachés persona non grata. DePuy was the emergency replacement. John Mason (left) and DePuy (right) in Hong Kong, 1950. Stilwell recruited them and Ed Hamilton to organize, train, equip, and lead Chinese Nationalist raiders. The idea was to occupy Mao with security at home and so discourage the use of Chinese troops in Korea. (Above) Marjory Walker Kennedy (left) outside the OSS compound in Kunming , China, in 1945. She served in the OSS in World War II and in the CIA later. She and Bill DePuy met while he was detailed to CIA, and they married . Elizabeth MacDonald (right) was later Elizabeth MacIntosh, author of Sisterhood of Spies. (Below) Marj, Billy, Daphne, Bill, and Joslin in their quarters in Budingen, Germany. Marj enjoyed the cultural opportunities in Germany and in England. She maintained close ties to British friends until her death in 2002. DePuy (center), officers of his 2/8th Infantry, and guests in the Budingen Officers’ Club, September 1955. He tested V Corps infantry battalions for a year before getting battalion command for a second time. He concentrated on squad and platoon training and perfected the DePuy foxhole and “overwatch ” movement drills. Bundeswehr LTC Krieger, commander in Hammelburg and NATO ally, with DePuy, CO 1/30th Infantry, Schweinfurt, Germany, July 1961. DePuy respected his German enemy in World War II and admired Wehrmacht skill in fighting the Soviets while outnumbered. Colonel DePuy leans on his jeep in Hohenfels, Germany, in 1961, looking at the M-113 armored personnel carrier that enabled the U.S. infantry to keep pace with armor. The M-113 arrived about the time he assumed command of 1/30. He had his troops maneuver on the frozen German fields all winter , learning to be mechanized infantry. Doing the Twist, the dance craze...