J. Lawton Collins | |
|---|---|
 Collins in 1948 | |
| Birth name | Joseph Lawton Collins |
| Nickname(s) | "Lightning Joe" |
| Born | (1896-05-01)1 May 1896 New Orleans,Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | 12 September 1987(1987-09-12) (aged 91) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1917–1956 |
| Rank | General |
| Service number | 0-5247 |
| Unit | Infantry Branch |
| Commands | |
| Battles / wars | See battles |
| Awards | |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Relations |
|
GeneralJoseph Lawton Collins (1 May 1896 – 12 September 1987) was a seniorUnited States Army officer. DuringWorld War II, he served in both thePacific andEuropean Theaters of Operations, one of a few senior American commanders to do so. He wasChief of Staff of the United States Army during theKorean War.
Collins' elder brother, Major GeneralJames Lawton Collins, was also in the United States Army. His nephew,Brigadier GeneralJames Lawton Collins Jr. served in World War II, the Korean War and theVietnam War. Another nephew,Michael Collins, was thecommand module pilot on theApollo 11 mission in 1969 that put the first two men on theMoon and retired from theUnited States Air Force as a major general.
Joseph Lawton Collins was born inNew Orleans,Louisiana, on, on 1 May 1896,[1] the tenth of eleven children (five boys, six girls) of the largeIrish Catholic family ofNew Orleans dry goods store and pub owner Jeremiah Bernard Collins and Catherine (Lawton) Collins.[2][3] He attended the Catholic schools ofAlgiers and graduated fromBoys High School inNew Orleans in 1912.[4]
Collins attendedLouisiana State University and competed for a congressional appointment to theUnited States Military Academy (USMA) atWest Point, New York.[4] Selected as an alternate by RepresentativeH. Garland Dupré, Collins received the appointment after the first choice failed to qualify.[4] He followed in the footsteps of his older brotherJames Lawton Collins, who graduated in 1907.[5][6] He attended from 14 June 1913 to April 1917, with his class graduating early because of theAmerican entry into World War I. He graduated 35th of 139,[7] and was commissioned shortly before his twenty-first birthday. His classmates included several future general officers, includingMatthew Ridgway,Bryant Moore,Ernest N. Harmon, William C. McMahon,Norman Cota,Laurence B. Keiser,William W. Eagles,William Kelly Harrison Jr.,Frederick Augustus Irving, andMark W. Clark.[8]
Commissioned as asecond lieutenant in the22nd Infantry, Collins was assigned as aplatoon and latercompany commander. He was promoted tofirst lieutenant 15 May 1917, and temporarycaptain on 5 August. He attended theUnited States Army Infantry School of Arms atFort Sill,Oklahoma,[7] and served with the regiment at various locations between 1917 and 1919. He was promoted to captain in June 1918, and to temporarymajor in September, and took command of the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment the following month.[7] World War I came to an end soon afterwards, on11 November 1918. Unable to fight overseas during the war, Collins commanded the 3rd Battalion,18th Infantry Regiment in France in June 1919, and was assistant chief of staff, as aG-3 staff officer with the American Forces in Germany from 1920 to 1921. During this time, Collins served in theArmy of Occupation inGermany.[9][10]
Collins reverted to the rank of captain on 10 March 1919.[7] He married Gladys Easterbrook, a daughter of Protestant Army chaplainEdmund P. Easterbrook, inCoblenz on 15 July 1921,[11] and was instructor in the department ofchemistry at the USMA from 26 August 1921 to 18 June 1925.[12] He graduated from the company officer course at theUnited States Army Infantry School atFort Benning,Georgia in 1926, and from the advanced course at theUnited States Army Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma the year after. He was an instructor in weapons and tactics at the United States Army Infantry School from 1927 to 1931. It was during this time where he first encounteredGeorge C. Marshall, the futureU.S. Army Chief of Staff, who was to play a significant role in Collins's future military career.[9][13] Promoted to major in August 1932, he wasexecutive officer of the 23rd Brigade inManila, and assistant chief of staff, as a G-2 staff officer, with thePhilippine Division from 6 August 1933 to 8 May 1934.[14]
Collins graduated from theUnited States Army Industrial College in 1937, and theUnited States Army War College the following year.[9] He was then an instructor at the Army War College from 1938 to 1940. He was promoted tolieutenant colonel on 25 June 1940[15] and, now a fullcolonel (having been promoted on 15 January 1941),[15] waschief of staff ofVII Corps in 1941.[15][16]
By the time the United States enteredWorld War II in December 1941, Collins had been a temporary colonel since January. He was promoted to theone-star general officer rank ofbrigadier general on 14 February 1942, and thetwo-star general officer rank ofmajor general on 26 May.[17]
Collins was chief of staff of theHawaiian Department from 1941 to 1942 and served as theCommanding General of the25th Infantry Division—nicknamed the "Tropic Lightning" Division—onOahu and in operations against the Japanese onGuadalcanal between 1942 and 1943 and onNew Georgia from July to October 1943. He was awardedDistinguished Service Medal for his service with the Hawaiian Department.[17] At the time of his appointment on 6 May 1942 he was the youngest division commander in the United States Army, aged 46. To serve as his assistant division commander, Collins specifically selected Brigadier GeneralJohn R. Hodge, a decision he never came to regret as Hodge, who later became a full general, proved himself to be up to Collins's high standards.[18][19]
It was during the campaign in Guadalcanal that Collins gained his nickname of "Lightning Joe", for his dash and aggression.[16] It was also during this campaign that saw Collins awarded with the Distinguished Service Medal,Legion of Merit and theSilver Star, the citation for which reads:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress 9 July 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Major General Joseph Lawton Collins (ASN: 0-2274/0-5247), United States Army, for gallantry in action against the enemy while serving as Commanding General, 25th Infantry Division, in action on 11 January 1943 at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. To visit the command post of an infantry battalion of the Division commanded by him, General Collins walked through some 800 yards of recently captured ground infested with enemy snipers. Upon arriving on Hill 52, to gain better points of observation, he voluntarily exposed himself to intermittent rifle, machine gun and mortar fire, without regard for his own personal safety. From there, he located an enemy machine gun nest and personally assisted in placing mortar fire on it and on other areas likely to be occupied by the enemy, while bursts of enemy machine gun fire hit many times but three yards away. His calmness and fearlessness under fire was an inspiration to the officers and men of the infantry regiment in that sector. His example and words of praise and encouragement with which he continually encouraged the men in the forward units spurred them on and contributed materially to the success of the offensive operation. His gallant actions and dedicated devotion to duty, without regard for his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.[20]
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Collins was later transferred to theEuropean Theater of Operations (ETO), where he commanded theVII Corps in theAlliedinvasion of Normandy and on theWestern Front through to theend of World War II in Europe in May 1945. Collins was chosen by Lieutenant GeneralOmar Bradley, who had served with Collins at the Army Infantry School before the war and was then commanding theFirst Army in England, as a replacement for Major GeneralRoscoe B. Woodruff, the original commander of VII Corps and one of Bradley's West Point classmates. Woodruff was senior to Collins but had no experience in amphibious operations. Collins was appointed after a brief interview with Bradley and GeneralDwight D. Eisenhower, theSupreme Allied Commander, about his combat experience after Collins summed up his tactical approach in the Pacific as always targeting the high ground in an attack. Bradley turned to Eisenhower, claiming that Collins "talks our language."[21] At the age of 47, this made Collins the youngest corps commander in the United States Army. Among the units serving under Collins' command in Normandy was the veteran82nd Airborne Division, commanded by Major GeneralMatthew Ridgway, a fellow graduate of the West Point class of 1917.
VII Corps played a major role in theNormandy landings in June 1944 and the subsequentBattle of Normandy, includingOperation Cobra. Collins was a favorite of the21st Army Group commander, GeneralSir Bernard Montgomery, who afterOperation Goodwood laid the path for VII Corps to break out in Operation Cobra on 27 July 1944.[22] After Cobra was theBattle of the Falaise Pocket, which completed the destruction of theWehrmacht in Normandy, the corps then took part in theliberation of Paris and theAllied advance from Paris to the Rhine. In early September VII Corps took approximately 25,000 prisoners during theBattle of the Mons Pocket.[23] It later broke through theSiegfried Line and endured heavy fighting in theBattle of Hürtgen Forest.[24] VII Corps later played a major role in theBattle of the Bulge, the largest battle on the Western Front during World War II, and finally took part in theWestern Allied invasion of Germany. VII Corps is perhaps best known for the leading role it played in Operation Cobra; less well known is Collins' contribution to that plan.
One of the few senior United States commanders to fight in both Europe and the Pacific, against the Germans and Japanese respectively, Collins contrasted the nature of the enemy in the twotheaters of war:
The German was far more skilled than the Japanese. Most of the Japanese that we fought were not skilled men. Not skilled leaders. The German had a professional army... The Japanese.. didn't know how to handle combined arms – the artillery and the support of the infantry – to the same extent we did. They were gallant soldiers, though... They fought very, very hard, but they were not nearly as skillful as the Germans. But the German didn't have the tenacity of the Japanese.[25]
Collins was promoted to temporarythree-star rank oflieutenant general in April 1945 and permanent brigadier general in June. He was very highly regarded by General Omar Bradley, Collins' superior for most of the war, and many German senior commanders believed Collins, along with Lieutenant GeneralTroy H. Middleton, commanding theVIII Corps, to be one of the best American corps commanders on the Western Front. Bradley commented that "Had we created another ETOArmy, despite his youth and lack of seniority, Collins certainly would have been named the commander." For his service during the war Collins was three times awarded theArmy Distinguished Service Medal, twice awarded theSilver Star and twice theLegion of Merit.[26] Numbering among his foreign awards and decorations, the Soviet Union awarded Collins theOrder of Suvorov Second Class twice while serving as Commanding General, VII Corps.[27]
After the war, Collins was deputy commanding general and chief of staff ofArmy Ground Forces from August to December 1945. Later, he was director of information (later chief ofpublic information) of the United States Army from 1945 to 1947. He was deputy, laterVice Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1947 to 1949 and was promoted to temporary general and permanent major general in January 1948.
Collins wasChief of Staff of the United States Army from 16 August 1949 to 15 August 1953; as such he was the Army's senior officer throughout theKorean War.[28] As a wartime chief of staff his primary responsibility was to ensure that adequately trained and equipped soldiers were sent to fight in Korea. He directed the Army's operation of the railroads, brought the firstSpecial Forces group into theorder of battle, and was closely associated with the development of the army's contribution to the newly establishedNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Collins was representative of the United States to the Military Committee and the Standing Group of NATO from 1953 to 1954. He was special representative of the United States inVietnam with ambassadorial rank, 1954 to 1955, and returned to his NATO assignment. He retired from active service in March 1956, after almost 40 years of military service.[28]
Collins died inWashington, D.C., on 12 September 1987, at the age of 91.[28] He is buried atArlington National Cemetery,Virginia.[29]
| Insignia | Rank | Component | Date | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No pin insignia at the time | Second lieutenant | 22nd Infantry | 20 April 1917 | [7] |
 | First lieutenant | 22nd Infantry | 15 May 1917 | [7] |
 | Captain | 22nd Infantry (Temporary) | 5 August 1917 | [7] |
| Captain | Infantry | 25 June 1918 | [7] |
 | Major | 22nd Infantry | 9 September 1918 | [7] |
| Captain | Infantry | 25 June 1919 (Returned to grade of captain) | [7] |
| Major | Infantry | 1 August 1932 | [14] |
 | Lieutenant colonel | Infantry | 25 June 1940 | [30] |
 | Colonel | Army of the United States | 15 January 1941 | [30] |
 | Brigadier general | Army of the United States | 14 February 1942 | [30] |
 | Major general | Army of the United States | 26 May 1942 | [30] |
 | Lieutenant general | Army of the United States | 16 April 1945 | [30] |
| Brigadier general | Regular Army | 19 June 1945 | [30] |
| Major general | Regular Army | 24 January 1948 | [30] |
 | General | Army of the United States | 24 January 1948 | [30] |
| General | Regular Army, Retired | 31 March 1956 | [1] |
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Commanding General 25th Infantry Division 1942–1943 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commanding General VII Corps 1944–1945 | Post deactivated |
| New command | Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army 1947–1949 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief of Staff of the United States Army 1949–1953 | Succeeded by |
