35 Facts About Edward Almond

Edward Mallory Almond was a senior United States Army officer who fought in World War I, World War II, where he commanded the 92nd Infantry Division, and the Korean War, where he commanded the US X Corps.

Edward Mallory Almond was born on December 12,1892, in Luray, Virginia.

Edward Almond was the first son of Walter, a farm equipment salesman, and Grace Popham Almond.

Edward Almond did note that there seemed to be an undertone of bitterness for having lost the war.

Edward Almond demonstrated no particularly racist tendencies beyond the societal norms of the day.

Edward Almond's racism found expression in the genteel paternalism exhibited by middle-class and upper-class Virginians of the region.

Always interested in the military, determined to be a professional soldier, and inspired throughout his life by the words of Stonewall Jackson's, "You may be whatever you resolve to be", Edward Almond graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in June 1915.

Edward Almond graduated third in a class of sixty-five cadets.

Edward Almond was later commissioned as a first lieutenant in the United States Army on 30 November 1916.

Edward Almond served in France during the latter stages of the war, ending it as a major.

Edward Almond's battalion had suffered 190 casualties, 4 of them being officers.

War in Europe had changed the US Army a great deal, and Edward Almond experienced much of that change.

Edward Almond began to exhibit some of the professional traits that became the hallmarks of his career: aggressiveness, loyalty, and commitment to his mission.

Edward Almond finished the war as a temporary major, having been awarded a citation and a wound badge.

Edward Almond had shown personal courage and aggressiveness and demonstrated tactical initiative that marked him as a bright and capable officer.

Edward Almond would stay in the Army as it demobilized, and in the coming years he would meet and adapt to other challenges.

On returning to the United States after the war, Edward Almond taught military science at Marion Military Institute from 1919 to 1924.

Edward Almond then attended the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning in Georgia after which he resumed teaching at Marion until 1928.

Edward Almond taught at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, becoming acquainted with Lieutenant Colonel George C Marshall, the assistant commandant of the school.

In 1930, Edward Almond graduated from the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

Edward Almond was then assigned to staff duty at VI Corps HQ, Providence, Rhode Island, receiving a promotion to the temporary rank of colonel on October 14,1941.

Edward Almond told confidants that the division's poor combat record had cheated him of higher command.

In 1946 Edward Almond was transferred to Tokyo as chief of personnel at General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters, normally a dead-end job.

MacArthur split X Corps from the 8th Army, then placed Edward Almond, who had no experience with amphibious operations, in command of the main landing force just before the landings.

Edward Almond earned the scorn of Marine officers when, during the early phase of the Inchon landing, he asked if the amphibious tractors used to land the Marines could float.

The invasion succeeded, but Edward Almond did not pursue effectively and most of the routed North Korean Army escaped northwards.

Edward Almond was slow to recognize the scale of the Chinese attack on X Corps, urging Army and Marine units forward despite the huge Chinese forces arrayed against them.

In July 1951, Edward Almond was reassigned and became commandant of the United States Army War College.

In 1956, Almond was a delegate to a pro-segregationist conference where Chief Justice Earl Warren, who wrote the majority opinion for Brown v Board of Education, was proclaimed an enemy of the United States.

Edward Almond retired from the Army on 31 January 1953 and worked as an insurance executive until his death in 1979, aged 86.

Edward Almond was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, near his son, Edward Mallory Almond Jr.

Major General Edward Almond distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces in the Republic of Korea during the period from 15 to 25 September 1950.

Lieutenant General Edward Almond distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces during the massive offensive by three known Communist Armies against the X Corps, during the period from 16 through 25 May 1951.

General Edward Almond landed his plane by the tank column and sent the tank platoon leader in his aide's plane to observe the enemy group.

On 21 May 1951, General Edward Almond made an aerial reconnaissance before a tank column operating at Soksa-ri, Korea.