Garrison H. Davidson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Garrison Holt Davidson | |
|---|---|
| April 24, 1904 – December 25, 1992 (aged 88) | |
 Major General Garrison H. Davidson, Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, 1956 |
|
| Nickname | "Gar" |
| Place of birth | Bronx, New York |
| Place of death | Oakland, California |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1927-1964 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Commands held | 24th Infantry Division Command and General Staff College United States Military Academy Seventh United States Army First United States Army U.S. Military Representative to the United Nations |
| Battles/wars | World War II *Korean War |
| Awards | Distinguished Service Medal |
Garrison Holt Davidson was a U.S. Army officer, combat engineer and commander, college football coach and military educator from the 1930s to the Cold War-era.
Contents |
[edit] Education and Early Military Career
A career U.S. Army officer and World War II combat commander, Davidson was born in the Bronx, New York City on April 24, 1904, the son of a New York National Guard officer. In 1923, he graduated from the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in New York City, where he was a star on the school's championship football team and a member of the Omega Gamma Delta Fraternity. Davidson realized his boyhood dream of becoming a soldier when he was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. There he distinguished himself in football and graduated with the Class of 1927. Upon graduation, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with the 1st Engineer Regiment at Fort DuPont, Delaware, and maintained a West Point connection as an assistant Army football coach.
In 1930, he returned to West Point as an instructor in the physics department and assistant football coach. In 1933, he became head football coach (at a record young age), finishing in the 1937 season with a record of 35 wins, 11 losses and 1 tie. From 1938 to 1940 he was posted to Hawaii as a company commander with the 3rd Engineer Regiment. In 1940, he returned to California as the post engineer for Hamilton Army Airfield (the former Hamilton Air Force Base) on the north shore of San Francisco Bay. At the time of Davidson's arrival, Hamilton's mission was being expanded from that of a bomber base with the addition of three wings or six squadrons of Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and Curtiss P-36 Hawk fighter planes.
[edit] World War II
In February 1942, Davidson transferred to Washington, D.C. as Assistant Chief, Construction Division, Office of Chief Engineer working for U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Colonel Leslie Groves on the construction of The Pentagon.
By October 1942, Davidson was a colonel and chief engineering officer for Seventh United States Army serving General George S. Patton in North Africa and Sicily. As a combat engineer, his efforts enabled Patton’s armor to move rapidly across enemy territory. An appreciative Patton used his own general stars to honor Davidson in a September 1943 battlefield promotion to brigadier general. Davidson remained with Seventh Army as General Alexander Patch succeeded Patton, planning for Operation Anvil / Operation Dragoon, the Allied landing in southern France after the D-Day invasion of Normandy in June 1944, and continued with Seventh Army in its move through Germany. At the conclusion of the war he was an engineer with Fifteenth Army and served as president of the first Nuremberg War Tribunal for military defendants.
[edit] Korean War
After World War II, in 1946, he was assigned to Sixth United States Army as its chief engineer and in 1948 became chief of staff for General Mark W. Clark and Albert C. Wedemeyer at the Presidio of San Francisco. In July 1950, he was called to Korea by Eighth United States Army commander General Walton H. Walker, who also served under Patton in World War II, and directed Davidson to construct a defensive line protecting the Pusan Perimeter. Known as "Line Davidson", Davidson had to subvert his professional better judgment to construct the line to the preferences of General Douglas MacArthur and Walker, trading away defensibility and good internal communications.
As the North Korean invasion was repelled, Davidson was assigned to the 24th Infantry Division as its assistant commander. Davidson reprised his effort at fortifying a more defensible perimeter around Pusan with the second North Korean invasion. He then headed "Task Force Davidson" as it broke out of the perimeter to hook up with the forces invading from Inchon. Afterwards, he constructed fortifications north of Seoul. He concluded his tour of duty as acting commander of the Korean Military Assistance Group. From 1951 to 1954 he was a weapons system analyst at the Pentagon.
[edit] Military Educator and Cold War Warrior
During the next six years, Davidson played a significant role in training officers serving in the post-war and atomic eras. Starting in 1954 he was commander of the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, then in 1956 he returned to the United States Military Academy as its superintendent. There he largely prevailed over strong traditionalist viewpoints, breaking barriers and initiating a process of revision and modernization of the academy’s instructional program little changed since Sylvanus Thayer (1817-1833), the academy’s legendary superintendent. The momentum of his reforms continued through the superintendency of his successor, William Westmoreland and into the 1970s. In 1957, while at West Point, he was promoted and confirmed to the rank of lieutenant general.
After West Point, Davidson was commanding general of Seventh United States Army in West Germany in its role as a forward deployed force during the Cold War. In 1961 the mobilization of Seventh Army during the Berlin Wall crisis.
In 1962, his final command was of First United States Army headquartered at Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York. While there he also served as U.S. Military Representative to the United Nations. After a 37 year military career, Davidson retired from active duty on April 30, 1964.
[edit] Retirement
Davidson resumed his connection with West Point from 1983-1985 when he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to a two year term to the Board of Visitors to the United States Military Academy.
Davidson died in Oakland, California on December 25, 1992 and was buried at the West Point Cemetery. The inscription on his gravestone reads: “Soldier, Coach, Educator and His Best Teammate", the latter reference to his wife of 58 years, Verone Gruenther Davidson who died in 1996 and was the sister of a former NATO commander, General Alfred M. Gruenther.
At the time of his death, Garrison was survived by three sons, Garrison Holt Jr., of Los Angeles, Thomas M., of Darien, Conn., and Alan R., of Sarasota, Fla.; three daughters, Linda L. Hurst, of San Luis Obispo, California, Bonnie Elaine Bardellini and Gail Marie Davidson, both of Martinez, California; 14 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren.
[edit] Head Coaching Record
| Garrison H. "Gar" Davidson | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Title | Head coach | |
| College | Army | |
| Sport | Football | |
| Career highlights | ||
| Overall | 35-11-1 | |
| Coaching stats | ||
| College Football DataWarehouse | ||
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 1933-1937, Asst. 1927-1932 | Army | |
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1933 | Army | 9-1-0 | |||||||
| 1934 | Army | 7-3-0 | |||||||
| 1935 | Army | 6-2-1 | |||||||
| 1936 | Army | 6-3-0 | |||||||
| 1937 | Army | 7-2-0 | |||||||
| Total: | 35-11-1 | ||||||||
| †Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll. | |||||||||
[edit] See also
 |
United States Army portal |
[edit] References
- Ray, Max (1980). The History of the First United States Army From 1918 to 1980. Fort Meade MD: First United States Army. pp. 120, 124.
- Appleman, Roy (1992). United States Army In The Korean War: South To The Naktong,North To The Yalu, June-November 1950.. Washington, D.C.: United States Army Center Of Military History. pp. 319–392. http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/korea/20-2-1/sn21.htm.
- "Meeting The Challenges of The Cold War: 1950-1970" in West Point Bicentennial: A Pictorial History of the First Two Hundred Years of the United States Military Academy. Available from World Wide Web at http://www.usma.edu/bicentennial/history/1950.asp
- John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database). Available from World Wide Web: at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=42159
- McFadden, Robert D. (December 27, 1992), "Lieut. Gen. G. H. Davidson, 88, Strategist in Wars.", New York Times, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5D81230F934A15751C1A964958260
- Fowle, Barry W.; Lonngquest, John C. (2004) ([dead link] – Scholar search), Remembering the Forgotten War: U.S. Army Engineer Officers in Korea, Alexandria, Virginia: U.S. Army, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Office of History, http://www.usace.army.mil/publications/eng-pamphlets/ep870-1-66/toc.htm, retrieved 2007-12-14
- "Football", Time, October 24, 1932, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,753460,00.html. Retrieved on December 13, 2007.
[edit] External links
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Blackshear M. Bryan |
Superintendents of the United States Military Academy 1956–1960 |
Succeeded by William Westmoreland |
| Preceded by Charles E. Beauchamp |
Commandant of the Command and General Staff College July 1954 - July 1956 |
Succeeded by Lionel C. McGarr |
|
|||||
