1. Lyman Louis Lemnitzer was a United States Army general who served as the fourth chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1960 to 1962.
25 Facts About Lyman Lemnitzer
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Lyman Lemnitzer then served as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1963 to 1969.
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Lyman Lemnitzer was born on August 29,1899, in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.
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Lyman Lemnitzer then entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, from which he graduated in 1920 with a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps.
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Lyman Lemnitzer graduated from the Coast Artillery School in 1921, and then served at Fort Adams in Rhode Island and in the Philippines.
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Lyman Lemnitzer was an instructor at West Point from 1926 to 1930.
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Lyman Lemnitzer served again in the Philippines from 1934 to 1935, and graduated from the United States Army Command and General Staff College in 1936.
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Lyman Lemnitzer was an instructor at the Coast Artillery School, and graduated from the United States Army War College in 1940.
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At the start of World War II Lyman Lemnitzer served with the 70th Coast Artillery Regiment and then the 38th Coast Artillery Brigade.
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Lyman Lemnitzer was promoted to brigadier general in June 1942 and commanded the 34th Coast Artillery Brigade.
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Lyman Lemnitzer was assigned to General Dwight D Eisenhower's staff, where he helped plan the invasions of North Africa and Sicily and was promoted to major general in November 1944.
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Lyman Lemnitzer was one of the senior officers sent to negotiate the Italian fascist surrender during the secret Operation Sunrise and the German surrender in 1945.
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In 1950, at the age of 51, Lyman Lemnitzer took parachute training and was placed in command of the 11th Airborne Division.
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Lyman Lemnitzer was assigned to Korea in command of the 7th Infantry Division in November 1951 and was promoted to lieutenant general in August 1952.
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Lyman Lemnitzer was promoted to the rank of general and named commander-in-chief of Far East Command and of the Eighth Army in March 1955.
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Lyman Lemnitzer was appointed Vice Chief of Staff of the Army in June 1957, then Chief of Staff of the Army in July 1959.
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Lyman Lemnitzer was appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September 1960 allowing to remain on active duty despite having reached the mandatory retirement age of 60.
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Lyman Lemnitzer was required to testify before the United States Senate Foreign Affairs Committee about his knowledge of the activities of Major General Edwin Walker, who had been dismissed from the Army over alleged attempts to promote his political beliefs in the military.
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Lyman Lemnitzer presented the plans to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on13 March 1962.
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In November 1962, Lyman Lemnitzer was appointed as commander of US European Command and as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, which was a positional demotion from being chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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Lyman Lemnitzer is the only person to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs Staff and then serve in another US military command after his term as chairman ended.
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Lyman Lemnitzer was the only person in history to serve as Army Chief of Staff, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as Supreme Allied Commander for NATO.
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General Lyman Lemnitzer is one of only four officers in the history of the United States Army to have actively served as a general during three major wars.
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Lyman Lemnitzer died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on 12 November 1988, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
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Lyman Lemnitzer was awarded numerous military awards and decorations including but not limited to:.