110 Facts About Norman Schwarzkopf

Norman Schwarzkopf was accepted by the United States Military Academy and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army in 1956.

Norman Schwarzkopf was highly decorated in Vietnam and was awarded three Silver Stars, two Purple Hearts, and the Legion of Merit.

Norman Schwarzkopf retired shortly after the end of the war and undertook a number of philanthropic ventures, only occasionally stepping into the political spotlight before his death from complications of pneumonia.

Norman Schwarzkopf's father was a 1917 graduate of the United States Military Academy and veteran of World War I Norman Schwarzkopf's mother was a housewife from West Virginia who was distantly related to Thomas Jefferson.

The senior Norman Schwarzkopf later became the founding Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, where he worked as a lead investigator on the 1932 Lindbergh baby kidnapping case.

The younger Norman Schwarzkopf had two elder sisters, Ruth Ann and Sally Joan.

Norman Schwarzkopf was described by childhood friends as active and assertive, protective of his sisters and a skilled athlete.

Norman Schwarzkopf spent his childhood attached to his father, who subsequently became the narrator for the Gang Busters radio program.

When Norman Schwarzkopf was eight years old, his father returned to the military amid World War II.

In 1946, when Norman Schwarzkopf was 12, he moved with his father to Tehran, Iran.

The senior Norman Schwarzkopf visited Italy, Heidelberg, Frankfurt, and Berlin, Germany during his military duties, and the younger Norman Schwarzkopf accompanied him.

From a young age, Norman Schwarzkopf wanted to be a military officer, following his father's example.

Norman Schwarzkopf attended the Community High School in Tehran, later the International School of Geneva, and briefly Frankfurt American High School in Frankfurt, Germany, and Heidelberg American High School in Heidelberg, Germany.

Norman Schwarzkopf eventually graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy in 1952.

Norman Schwarzkopf graduated valedictorian out of his class of 150, and his IQ was tested at 168.

Norman Schwarzkopf then attended the United States Military Academy where he played football, wrestled, sang and conducted the West Point Chapel choir.

Norman Schwarzkopf graduated 43rd of 480 in the class of 1956 with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Later, Norman Schwarzkopf earned a Masters of Engineering at the University of Southern California.

Norman Schwarzkopf later recounted that it was then that he found chronic problems in military leadership, amid what historians have called a larger doctrinal crisis.

In July 1959, Norman Schwarzkopf was assigned his first overseas assignment.

Norman Schwarzkopf was a staff officer alternating with duties as a platoon leader, liaison officer, and reconnaissance platoon leader with the 6th Infantry Regiment in West Germany.

In July 1960, Norman Schwarzkopf was assigned as aide-de-camp to Brigadier General Charles Johnson who commanded the Berlin Brigade in West Berlin.

Norman Schwarzkopf was promoted to captain in July 1961 and attended the Advanced Infantry School at Fort Benning for eight months and qualified for the Master Parachutist Badge.

In June 1962, Norman Schwarzkopf enrolled at the University of Southern California in a Master of Science in Engineering course studying missile mechanics.

Norman Schwarzkopf graduated in June 1964 with a Master of Science in mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Norman Schwarzkopf then returned to West Point to serve an obligatory tour as an instructor in the Department of Mechanics.

Norman Schwarzkopf was assigned to teach at the Military Academy for three years, but after a year he volunteered for service in South Vietnam for faster career advancement with a combat tour.

Norman Schwarzkopf was promoted to major shortly after arriving in Vietnam.

On February 14,1966, Norman Schwarzkopf led an ARVN paratrooper assault on a Viet Cong position, during which he was wounded four times by small arms fire.

Norman Schwarzkopf returned to the United States and finished his teaching assignment at West Point where he was an associate professor in the Department of Mechanics.

In 1969, Norman Schwarzkopf was promoted to lieutenant colonel and ordered to a second tour in Vietnam, leaving in June.

Norman Schwarzkopf was assigned as executive officer to the chief of staff at MACV headquarters based at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon.

Norman Schwarzkopf later recalled this second tour of duty was very different from his first.

Norman Schwarzkopf later said that the troops were initially demoralized and in poor condition, racked with rampant drug use and disciplinary problems as well as a lack of support from home.

Norman Schwarzkopf aggressively stepped up patrols and operations to counter Viet Cong infiltration in the battalion's sector.

Fellow commander Hal Moore later wrote that during his time in Vietnam, Norman Schwarzkopf acquired his well-known short temper, and argued via radio for passing American helicopters to land and pick up his wounded men.

Norman Schwarzkopf showed a preference of leading from the front and prided himself on avoiding the rear areas, which he termed a "cesspool".

On February 17,1970, two men in C Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry were killed by friendly fire from an American artillery shell that had been called in by Norman Schwarzkopf but had struck a tree near their position on its way to a target.

The parents of one soldier blamed him for the death of their son, a claim that Norman Schwarzkopf strongly denied and termed an accident of war.

On May 28,1970, Norman Schwarzkopf landed his helicopter when discovering troops of B Company who had stumbled into a minefield.

Norman Schwarzkopf related those experiences under his real name, which was changed to Lieutenant Colonel Byron Schindler for the made for TV movie Friendly Fire in 1979.

Disgruntled by the treatment of Vietnam veterans in the United States after the war, Norman Schwarzkopf considered leaving the military but ultimately decided to stay in the hope of fixing some of the problems encountered by the military during the war.

Norman Schwarzkopf underwent surgery at Walter Reed Army Hospital shortly after his return from Vietnam to repair longstanding back problems exacerbated by parachute jumps.

Between 1970 and 1983, Norman Schwarzkopf took on a number of different assignments.

In 1975, LTC Norman Schwarzkopf served as Commander of Troop E, 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, at Fort Wainwright, AK.

In July 1978, Norman Schwarzkopf became deputy director of plans at the US Pacific Command in Hawaii.

Norman Schwarzkopf then served a two-year stint as assistant division commander of the 8th Infantry Division in Germany.

Norman Schwarzkopf returned to Washington, DC, for an assignment as director of personnel management for the Army, subordinate to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, General Maxwell R Thurman.

Norman Schwarzkopf immediately established an extremely rigorous training regimen and became well known among the troops of the command for his strict training and aggressive personality.

On October 25,1983, Norman Schwarzkopf was appointed to the command group for the Invasion of Grenada.

Norman Schwarzkopf was named deputy commander of the invasion at the last minute, leaving him with little say in the planning.

Norman Schwarzkopf was involved in an incident where the colonel commanding the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit initially refused to fly Army troops in Marine helicopters.

Norman Schwarzkopf flew into St George's on the second day of the operation.

Norman Schwarzkopf was then among the leaders who were criticized for the poor interservice co-operation in the operation, particularly the poor communication between forces of the different branches in combat.

The operation was a learning experience for Norman Schwarzkopf, who saw the need to develop greater co-operation between the services for future joint operations.

In July 1985, Norman Schwarzkopf began an 11-month assignment as Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans at the Pentagon.

Norman Schwarzkopf held the post for 14 months before returning to the Pentagon as Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans in August 1987.

In November 1988, Schwarzkopf was named commander of United States Central Command, succeeding General George B Crist.

Norman Schwarzkopf assumed command of CENTCOM, with his headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, and was promoted to general.

Norman Schwarzkopf immediately took to changing the focus of the command, which had focused on the "Zagros Doctrine," a hypothetical ground invasion by the Soviet Union through the Zagros Mountains, which the US would counter in Iran.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in March 1989, Norman Schwarzkopf maintained that the Soviet Union was a threat to the region, but when giving an overview of the countries in the region, he noted that Iraq posed a threat to its weaker neighbors.

From his headquarters in Tampa, Norman Schwarzkopf began planning the operations to defend Saudi Arabia.

Norman Schwarzkopf worked to help coordinate the contributions of the different nations contributing military forces to the effort.

Norman Schwarzkopf worked to minimize the culture clash among foreigners in sharia-dominated Saudi Arabia such as the high visibility of women in military roles.

Norman Schwarzkopf planned counters for Iraq's large armored forces, air forces, and elite Republican Guard forces.

Norman Schwarzkopf devised an operational plan, dubbed "Operation Desert Storm," to be based on overwhelming force and strong infantry attacks supported by artillery and armor.

Norman Schwarzkopf believed that more troops would reduce the likelihood of high casualties.

Norman Schwarzkopf planned a strategic bombing campaign to precede an offensive into Kuwait, simultaneously striking the forward Iraqi forces and their supply lines.

Norman Schwarzkopf had a good relationship with Saudi commander Khalid bin Sultan, who, in turn, helped Schwarzkopf win over the Saudi Arabian populace.

Norman Schwarzkopf had an agreeable relationship with his deputy commander, Lieutenant General Calvin Waller, who handled much of the administrative burden.

Norman Schwarzkopf sent a prepared statement to the troops ahead of the first airstrikes, which were timed to hit their targets at 02:40.

Norman Schwarzkopf declined to measure the success of the campaign by counting suspected Iraqi casualties, believing that would undermine his credibility.

Norman Schwarzkopf expected the war to last several weeks and had anticipated chemical weapon attacks by the Iraqi forces, which did not occur.

Resistance was lighter than Norman Schwarzkopf expected, and Iraqi troops surrendered in large numbers.

Norman Schwarzkopf ordered his forces to destroy as much Iraqi armor and equipment as possible to ensure the weakening of Iraq's offensive capability in the near term.

Powell agreed and talked with Norman Schwarzkopf, who pointed out that it would make it a "Five Day War".

Norman Schwarzkopf became the only person to receive the Distinguished Service Medal from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard.

Norman Schwarzkopf led a highly publicized homecoming parade in Washington, DC, on June 8,1991, where he was greeted by Bush amid thousands of onlookers.

Norman Schwarzkopf's accomplishments were praised very differently from commanders who returned from the Vietnam and Korean Wars.

Norman Schwarzkopf became an instant national celebrity and the source of great curiosity by the general public.

Norman Schwarzkopf was quick to award praise and medals to the troops, part of what he saw as restoring pride in the US armed forces after the Vietnam War.

Norman Schwarzkopf returned to the United States after the Gulf War as a national hero, and his ability to effectively deal with the press left him a positive image.

Norman Schwarzkopf indicated a desire to retire from the military in mid-1991.

Norman Schwarzkopf was initially considered for promotion alternatively to General of the Army or to Army Chief of Staff, and was ultimately asked to assume the latter post, but he declined.

Norman Schwarzkopf was later questioned about running for political office, but, considering himself an independent, expressed little interest in doing so; ultimately denying speculation of possibly seeking the Senate seat in Florida.

Norman Schwarzkopf was not vocal about his political opinions during his military career.

Norman Schwarzkopf retired from the military in August 1991, moving to Tampa, Florida.

Norman Schwarzkopf was profiled by the Associated Press, the Washington Post, and Newsday, People, as well as praised in a Random House publication on the war, Triumph in the Desert.

In 1992, Norman Schwarzkopf published a memoir, It Doesn't Take a Hero, about his life; it became a bestseller.

Norman Schwarzkopf sold the rights to his memoirs to Bantam Books for $5,000,000.

In 1993, Norman Schwarzkopf was found to have prostate cancer, for which he was successfully treated.

Norman Schwarzkopf led the Pegasus Parade at the Kentucky Derby and was an honorary guest at the Indianapolis 500.

Norman Schwarzkopf supported several children's charities and national philanthropic causes, and he was a spokesperson for prostate cancer awareness, recovery of the grizzly bear from endangered species status, and served on the Nature Conservancy board of governors.

Norman Schwarzkopf otherwise sought to live out a low-profile retirement in Tampa, though he briefly served as a military commentator for NBC.

At first, Norman Schwarzkopf was ambivalent during the run-up to the Iraq War in 2003.

Norman Schwarzkopf initially endorsed an invasion after Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations on February 6,2003.

Norman Schwarzkopf felt it was a mistake to send US Army Reserve troops into the country without adequate training.

Norman Schwarzkopf supported John McCain in the 2008 US presidential election.

Norman Schwarzkopf was on several occasions encouraged to run for United States Senate or President of the United States as a member of the Republican Party, but showed no interest.

Norman Schwarzkopf died at age 78 on December 27,2012, of complications following a bout of pneumonia.

Norman Schwarzkopf was cremated and his ashes were buried near those of his father in the West Point Cemetery in a ceremony attended by cadets, military leaders, New York and New Jersey State Police Troopers.

Norman Schwarzkopf pushed for offensive combat over defensive operations in the Gulf War.

Norman Schwarzkopf was known to be extremely critical of staff officers who were unprepared, but was even more contentious with other generals who he felt were not aggressive enough.

Norman Schwarzkopf later wrote it would have been a mistake to continue the offensive and capture all of Iraq, noting that the US would likely have had to pay the entire cost of rebuilding the country.

Ricks further criticized Schwarzkopf for failing to relieve General Frederick M Franks Jr.

Norman Schwarzkopf sought to change the relationship between journalists and the military, feeling that the news media's negative portrayal of the Vietnam War had degraded troops there.

Norman Schwarzkopf favored the intense press surrounding the Gulf War conflict, feeling that blocking the news media, as had been done in Grenada, would contribute to affect public perception of the war in the United States negatively.

Norman Schwarzkopf staged visible media appearances that played to patriotism.

Norman Schwarzkopf believed extensive press coverage would help build public support for the war and raise morale.

Norman Schwarzkopf's strategy was to control the message being sent and so he ordered media on the battlefield to be escorted at all times.