13 Facts About Ben Lear

Ben Lear was born in Hamilton, Ontario on 12 May 1879.

Ben Lear was a 1912 Olympian, part of the equestrian team which won the bronze medal in the three-day team event.

Ben Lear was promoted to brigadier general in May 1936 and major general in October 1938.

Ben Lear commanded the 1st Cavalry Division from 1936 to 1938, and the Pacific Sector of the Panama Canal Zone from 1938 to 1940.

Ben Lear was promoted to lieutenant general in October 1940 and was commanding general of the US Second Army from 20 October 1940 to 25 April 1943.

On July 6,1941, Ben Lear was playing golf at a country club in Memphis, Tennessee, in civilian clothes, when a convoy of 80 US Army trucks carrying men of the 110th Quartermaster Regiment, 35th Division rolled past.

Ben Lear had the convoy stopped, telling the officers that their men's conduct was unacceptable and that they had disgraced the Army.

The commander of the 35th Division, Major General Ralph E Truman, was well-connected politically, his cousin being Senator Harry S Truman, and some Congressmen called for Lear to be retired.

Ben Lear continued in command of the Second Army until he was succeeded by Lieutenant General Lloyd Fredendall in April 1943.

Ben Lear was administratively retired in May 1943, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 64, but was immediately recalled to active duty to serve on the Personnel Board of the Secretary of War, retaining his rank of lieutenant general.

Ben Lear became Commanding General of the Army Ground Forces on 14 July 1944, shortly before Lieutenant General Lesley J McNair, his predecessor, was killed by friendly fire in Normandy on 25 July 1944.

Ben Lear fully retired from the army in July 1945 and was promoted to four-star general on 19 July 1954 by a special act of Congress.

Ben Lear died at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on 1 November 1966 and was buried on 3 November 1966 in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 4, Grave 2690.