Who Am I?

[112thSOLCA]

or too many clues.

AL
Yes, the 3rd ID patch and General Officer belt in the picture were probably enough for me to figure out the answers. The clues made it pretty quick work.

[112thSOLCA]

Perhaps MG Mike Healy?

[vsvo]

Originally Posted by 112thSOLCA

Perhaps MG Mike Healy?

Right Group (for the flash), wrong officer.

[vsvo]

COL George C. Morton, one of the namesakes of the SFA chapter in Las Vegas, credited with designing the 5th Group flash.

Col. Morton was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1914. He attended high school in Garden City, L.I., N.Y., and after graduation in 1932, he enlisted in the US Navy and served aboard destroyers in the 10th Destroyer Squadron, Atlantic Fleet. He entered the Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in 1934, and graduated in 1938, receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering. At this time he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry in the US Army, and was assigned to the 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.

During World War II, he served as a rifle company commander in the 343rd Infantry Regiment, 86th Infantry Division. With this division, he participated in the campaigns of Central Europe. In May of 1945 he was re-deployed to the Pacific Theater of Operations where he served in the Campaign of Luzon in the Philippine Islands. In 1946 Col. Morton was promoted to the grade of Major, and assigned to the 57th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Scouts, where he served successively as regimental S-3, and later, as battalion commander during the initial stages of the Hukbalahap Communist insurgency.

Upon his return to the United States in 1947, Col. Morton was assigned to ACofS; G-3, Headquarters Second Army at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, and later to ACofS; G-3, 17th Airborne Division, Camp Pickett, Virginia. He attended the Infantry Officers Career Course at Fort Benning, Georgia in 1949, and upon graduation, was assigned to the 11th Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1950 and served successively as a battalion commander and regimental executive officer in the 511th Airborne Infantry Regiment, and later as Division Inspector General as a ACofS; G-1.

In 1953, Col. Morton attended the US Army Command & General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and upon graduation, he was assigned to Athens, Greece as the senior Special Forces advisor to the Royal Hellenic Raiding Forces. In this capacity, he was involved in stay-behind operations in northern Greece, on the Bulgarian, Yugoslavian and Albanian borders.

Col. Morton returned to the United States in 1956, and was assigned to ACofS; G-3, Headquarters US Continental Army Command, at Fort Monroe, Virginia. In 1957 he attended Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia, and for the next three years he served on the staff and faculty of the US Air Force Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, where he was responsible for developing joint Army-Air Force doctrine, and teaching joint airborne and special operations.

In 1961, Col. Morton attended the National War College, Washington, D.C. and was promoted to the grade of Colonel at the time of his graduation. Subsequent to graduation, he was assigned as Commander of the 4th US Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, with Headquarters at Munsan-ni, Korea. In 1962, Col. Morton was transferred directly from Korea to Vietnam where he was assigned initially as Chief of Special Operations, ACofS; J-3, Headquarters, US Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, and later as the Commander of US Army Special Forces, Vietnam. In 1964, Col. Morton returned to the United States and was assigned as Assistant Commandant of the US Army Special Warfare School, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was subsequently detailed to the Central Intelligence Agency for duty as a Special Operations Officer in Indochina, where he served until his retirement from the US Army.

Col. Morton retired from the US Army with 30 years of service in 1966, and immediately returned to Indochina where he served as a US Government Paramilitary Officer in Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. From 1968 to 1973 he served as Chief of Operations for a 50,000 man US sponsored paramilitary force resisting communist aggression in Laos.

In 1973, Col. Morton again retired, and resided in Hilo, Hawaii, where he attended courses in Political Science at the University of Hawaii, Hilo Campus. In 1975, with the beginning of the SANG Modernization Program, Col. Morton was employed by the Vinnell Corporation, and served as senior advisor to the 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion of the Saudi Arabian National Guard. He later served as Assistant Director of Training for Training and Operations for Vinnell Corporation at Khashm Al An.

Col. Morton returned to the United States in December 1976 and successively served as the East Coast SANG Liaison Officer for students attending US Army Service Schools at Army installations East of the Mississippi River, as a recruiting officer, and as the DSO Operations Officer for the SANG Modernization Program.

[Airbornelawyer]

OK, an obscure one.

Clues:

1. He is part of the heritage of Special Forces (i.e., he served in one of those units mentioned in my post yesterday).

2. Besides a Distinguished Service Cross, he also has an Academy Award for Best Art Direction.

[vsvo]

Originally Posted by Airbornelawyer

...he also has an Academy Award for Best Art Direction.

Just one Oscar, or multiple?

[Airbornelawyer]

Originally Posted by vsvo

Just one Oscar, or multiple?

Several nominations, one trophy on the mantle.

[Roguish Lawyer]

SF has infiltrated Hollywood?

[vsvo]

OK, while I work on the Oscar winner, here's another one.

1. He has been called the greatest soldier of WWII, where he commanded two different divisions.
2. He appeared on the cover of Time magazine.
3. Although he is pictured as a cadet, he did not graduate from West Point. His father did, as did his son, who was KIA in Vietnam while a battalion commander in the Big Red One.
4. The second picture shows him during WWII with his superiors.

[Airbornelawyer]

Originally Posted by vsvo

OK, while I work on the Oscar winner, here's another one.

1. He has been called the greatest soldier of WWII, where he commanded two different divisions.
2. He appeared on the cover of Time magazine.
3. Although he is pictured as a cadet, he did not graduate from West Point. His father did, as did his son, who was KIA in Vietnam while a battalion commander in the Big Red One.
4. The second picture shows him during WWII with his superiors.

Terry de la Mesa Allen, AKA "Terrible Terry" Allen.

The son, LTC Terry Allen, Jr., is in the middle of the picture below, along with his subordinate unit commanders in 2-28 IN. He was KIA on 17 October 1967, the day after I was born. Of the others in the photo, from left to right:

1. CPT Carl Sanford Kizer, HHC Cdr - KIA 19 Jun 68
2. CPT James D. George, A Co Cdr - COL, retd.
3. CPT James Kasik, B Co Cdr - LTC, retd.
4. LTC Terry de la Mesa Allen, Jr., Bn Cdr, KIA 17 Oct 67
5. CPT Al Ziegler, C Co Cdr - ?
6. 1LT Albert "Clark" Welch, D Co Cdr - LTC, retd.
7. 1LT Bradley Wainwright Boehm, E Co Cdr, KIA 9 Jan 68

Welch was WIA in that battle which took LTC Allen's life, the Battle of Ong Thanh (Ông Thánh). He received a belated DSC for that battle in 2003, and a review was underway to upgrade that to the Medal of Honor. A former SF NCO, he was directly commissioned and served in 5th Group before being transferred to 2-28 IN. He returned to SF subsequently. Kasik also subsequently became an SF officer.

I don't know a lot of the details, but there seems to be a perception among a lot of 2-28 vets that LTC Allen blundered and led the battalion into an ambush that day, costing the lives of over 50 of his soldiers. My 12th grade humanities teacher was a mortar platoon leader in the Big Red One at the time, and I remember first reading about the battle in his division yearbook (when I wasn't paying attention in class).

[vsvo]

Yep, MG Terry Allen. Although GEN Bradley reportedly called him his best division commander, he ultimately relieved him of command of the Big Red One.

Thanks for the good gouge on his son, I didn't know the SF connection. LTC Allen was also featured in a PBS documentary on military families.

[vsvo]

Originally Posted by Airbornelawyer

OK, an obscure one.

Clues:

1. He is part of the heritage of Special Forces (i.e., he served in one of those units mentioned in my post yesterday).

2. Besides a Distinguished Service Cross, he also has an Academy Award for Best Art Direction.

Raphael Bretton, born Beugnon. Served in the OSS, received the Oscar for Best Art Direction for Hello, Dolly! in 1969.

Second Lieutenant Raphael G. Beugnon (then Private and Sergeant), Army of the United States, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy from 11 April 1944 to 10 September 1944. Second Lieutenant Beugnon was parachuted into France, in civilian clothing, as an organizer of resistance forces. He organized, trained and led resistance groups in sabotage activities against enemy objectives with such success that railway traffic in the Creil area was practically at a standstill and all underground cables were useless to the enemy. During the entire period of operations it was most difficult to deliver supplies to Second Lieutenant Beugnon because of the heavy enemy troop concentrations, and much of the demolition supply had to be improvised or taken from the enemy. He displayed much ingenuity and daring, as when, on one occasion, he recovered an unexploded aerial bomb, transported it to a bridge, and used the explosive for partially demolishing that target. He entered military service from England.

[vsvo]

Another veteran of a heritage unit to which AL referred.

He went on to win a Nobel Prize for co-inventing a device which formed the foundation of the computer.