University of Virginia Library

World War II Hero

General Lemnitzer To Speak Here

General Lyman L. Lemnitzer, past
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and
Supreme Allied Commander in Europe,
will speak tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. in
the Chemistry Building on the topic of
"Western Military Power and the
Czechoslovakian Invasion."

General Lemnitzer attended the U.S.
Military Academy, graduating in 1920,
and later attended the Army War College.
In 1942 he was sent to England as the
Commanding General of the 34th
Antiaircraft Artillery Brigade.

However, his intimate knowledge with
the plans for the forthcoming North
African operation promptly led to his
assignment to General Eisenhower's Allied
Forces Headquarters. He was designated
Assistant Chief of Staff for Plans and
Operations, and was charged with directing the
final detailed preparations for the landings and
operations in North Africa.

General Lemnitzer's service during the rest
of the war was as U.S. Deputy Chief of Staff
and Chief of Staff to General (later Field
Marshall) Sir Harold Alexander. Under Sir
Harold Alexander, he took part in the
negotiations with Marshal Badoglio which led to
the capitulation of Italy.

Because of General Lemnitzer's knowledge
of the European stage, he was appointed the
Army's Associate member of the Kelly
Committee in 1952 to study the Defense of
North America against Atomic Attack.

In March 1959, he was named to succeed
General Maxwell Taylor as Chief of Staff, U.S.
Army. Nominated in 1960 by President
Eisenhower as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, General Lemnitzer served in that capacity
until 1962.

General Lyman L. Lemnitzer

Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs Of Staff