Joseph Lawton Collins (1 May 1896 – 12 September 1987) was a senior United States Army officer. During World War II, he served in both the Pacific and European Theaters of Operations, one of a few senior American commanders to do so. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the Korean War.
Collins' elder brother, Major General James Lawton Collins, was also in the United States Army. His nephew, Brigadier General James Lawton Collins Jr. served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Another nephew, Michael Collins, was the command module pilot on the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 that put the first two men on the Moon and retired from the United States Air Force as a major general.
Early life and military career
Joseph Lawton Collins was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 1 May 1896, the tenth of eleven children (five boys, six girls) of the large Irish Catholic family of New Orleans dry goods store and pub owner Jeremiah Bernard Collins and Catherine (Lawton) Collins. He attended the Catholic schools of Algiers and graduated from Boys High School in New Orleans in 1912.
Collins attended Louisiana State University and competed for a congressional appointment to the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York. and, now a full colonel (having been promoted on 15 January 1941),
thumb|right|Major General J. Lawton Collins receiving the [[Order of the Bath|Companion of the Order of the Bath from British General Sir Bernard Montgomery at Mönchengladbach, 1944]]
Western theater
Collins was later transferred to the European Theater of Operations (ETO), where he commanded the VII Corps in the Allied invasion of Normandy and on the Western Front through to the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945.
thumb|right|Bradley (center with three stars on his helmet) and Collins, along with other senior officers, attend the funeral of Brigadier General [[Theodore Roosevelt Jr. in Normandy, France, July 13, 1944. Roosevelt died shortly after D-Day.]]
Collins was chosen by Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, who had served with Collins at the Army Infantry School before the war and was then commanding the First Army in England, as a replacement for Major General Roscoe B. Woodruff, the original commander of VII Corps and one of Bradley's 1915 West Point classmates. Although senior to Collins he had no experience in amphibious operations or any combat experience at all in this war. Collins was appointed after a brief interview with Bradley and General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, about his combat experience after Collins summed up his tactical approach in the Pacific as always targeting the high ground in an attack. Bradley turned to Eisenhower, claiming that Collins "talks our language." At the age of forty-seven, this made Collins the youngest corps commander in the United States Army.
thumb|left|Collins (right) explains to Lieutenant General Bradley (left) how Cherbourg was taken, July 1944.
VII Corps played a major role in the Normandy landings in June 1944 and the subsequent Battle of Normandy, including Operation Cobra. Collins was a favorite of the British 21st Army Group commander, General Sir Bernard Montgomery, who after Operation Goodwood laid the path for VII Corps to break out in Operation Cobra on 27 July 1944. VII Corps is perhaps best known for the leading role it played in Operation Cobra; less well known is Collins' contribution to that plan.
After Cobra was the Battle of the Falaise Pocket, which completed the destruction of the Wehrmacht in Normandy, with the corps then taking part in the liberation of Paris and the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine.
thumb|left|Collins (far right), overseeing an air ground liaison briefing for Lieutenant General [[Carl Spaatz (glasses) and Lieutenant General James Doolittle (seated), at Collins' corps headquarters. Münsterbusch, Germany, November 19, 1944.]]
In early September VII Corps took approximately 25,000 prisoners during the Battle of the Mons Pocket. It later broke through the Siegfried Line and endured heavy fighting in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest. VII Corps later played a major role in the Battle of the Bulge, the largest battle on the Western Front during World War II, and finally took part in the Western Allied invasion of Germany.
thumb|right|Collins with Field Marshal [[Bernard Montgomery|Sir Bernard Montgomery, commanding the 21st Army Group, and Major General Matthew Ridgway, commanding XVIII Airborne Corps and one of Collins' West Point classmates, December 1944.]]
One of the few senior American commanders to fight in both Europe and the Pacific, against the Germans and Japanese respectively, Collins contrasted the nature of the enemy in the two theaters of war:
Collins was promoted to the temporary three-star rank of lieutenant general in April 1945 and permanent brigadier general in June. He was very highly regarded by General Omar Bradley, Collins' superior for most of the war, and many senior German commanders believed Collins to be, along with Lieutenant General Troy H. Middleton, commanding the VIII Corps, one of the best American corps commanders on the Western Front. Bradley commented that "Had we created another ETO Army, despite his youth and lack of seniority, Collins certainly would have been named the commander." For his service during the war Collins was three times awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal, twice awarded the Silver Star and twice the Legion of Merit. Numbering among his foreign awards and decorations, the Soviet Union awarded Collins the Order of Suvorov Second Class twice while serving as Commanding General, VII Corps.
Postwar
After the war, Collins was deputy commanding general and chief of staff of Army Ground Forces from August to December 1945. Later, he was director of information (later chief of public information) of the United States Army from 1945 to 1947. He was deputy, later Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1947 to 1949 and was promoted to temporary general and permanent major general in January 1948.
thumb|left|Collins, on right with [[Walton Walker, on left and John H. Church, center in Korea|alt=]]
Collins was Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 16 August 1949 to 15 August 1953; as such he was the Army's senior officer throughout the Korean War. As a wartime chief of staff his primary responsibility was to ensure that adequately trained and equipped soldiers were sent to fight in Korea. He directed the Army's operation of the railroads, brought the first Special Forces group into the order of battle, and was closely associated with the development of the army's contribution to the newly established North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Collins was representative of the United States to the Military Committee and the Standing Group of NATO from 1953 to 1954. He was special representative of the United States to the State of Vietnam with personal ambassadorial rank from 1954 to 1955, and, after advising against American military intervention, returned to his NATO assignment. He retired from active service in March 1956, after almost 40 years of military service.
thumb|right|Tomb of Joseph Collins in the [[Arlington National Cemetery]]
Collins died of a heart attack in Washington, D.C., on 12 September 1987, at the age of 91. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
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Awards
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!1st Row
|colspan="4"|Distinguished Service Medal<br/>with three oak leaf clusters
|colspan="4"|Silver Star<br/>with oak leaf cluster
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!2nd Row
|colspan="3"|Legion of Merit<br/>with two oak leaf clusters
|colspan="3"|Bronze Star Medal<br/>with "V" device
|colspan="3"|World War I Victory Medal
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!3rd Row
|colspan="3"|Army of Occupation of Germany Medal
|colspan="3"|American Defense Service Medal
|colspan="3"|Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal<br/>with two campaign stars
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!4th Row
|colspan="3"|European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal <br/>with five campaign stars
|colspan="3"|World War II Victory Medal
|colspan="3"|Army of Occupation Medal
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!5th Row
|colspan="3"|National Defense Service Medal
|colspan="3"|Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath<br/>(United Kingdom)
|colspan="3"|Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour<br/>(France)
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!6th Row
|colspan="3"|Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold<br/>(Belgium)
|colspan="3"|Order of Suvorov, 2nd Class<br/>(USSR)
|colspan="3"|Croix de Guerre with palm<br/>(France)
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Promotions
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! Insignia !! Rank !! Component !! Date !! Reference
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|align="center" |No pin insignia at the time || Second lieutenant || 22nd Infantry || 20 April 1917 ||
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|align="center" |13px || First lieutenant || 22nd Infantry || 15 May 1917 ||
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|align="center" |33px || Captain || 22nd Infantry (Temporary) || 5 August 1917 ||
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|align="center" |33px || Captain || Infantry || 25 June 1918 ||
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|align="center" |40px || Major || 22nd Infantry || 9 September 1918 ||
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|align="center" |33px || Captain || Infantry || 25 June 1919 (Returned to grade of captain) ||
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|align="center" |40px || Major || Infantry || 1 August 1932 ||
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|align="center" |40px || Lieutenant colonel || Infantry || 25 June 1940 ||
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|align="center" |60px || Colonel || Army of the United States || 15 January 1941 ||
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|align="center" |33px || Brigadier general || Army of the United States || 14 February 1942 ||
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|align="center" |66px || Major general || Army of the United States || 26 May 1942 ||
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|align="center" |99px || Lieutenant general || Army of the United States || 16 April 1945 ||
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|align="center" |33px || Brigadier general || Regular Army || 19 June 1945 ||
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|align="center" |66px || Major general || Regular Army || 24 January 1948 ||
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|align="center" |132px || General || Army of the United States || 24 January 1948 ||
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|align="center" |132px || General || Regular Army, Retired || 31 March 1956 ||
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References
Bibliography
External links
- Joseph Lawton Collins biography in Commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff a publication of the United States Army Center of Military History
- J. Lawton Collins Collection Finding Aids US Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
- Arlington National Cemetery Biography
- Conversations with General J. Lawton Collins, Combat Studies Institute report
- Papers of J. Lawton Collins, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
- Papers of John J. Walsh (Aide-de-Camp to J. Lawton Collins), Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
- Generals of World War II
- United States Army Officers 1939–1945
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