James Maurice Gavin (22 March 1907 – 23 February 1990), sometimes called "Jumpin' Jim" and "the jumping general", was a senior United States Army officer, with the rank of lieutenant general, who was the third Commanding General (CG) of the 82nd Airborne Division during World War II. During the war, he was often referred to as "The Jumping General" because of his practice of taking part in combat jumps with the paratroopers under his command; he was the only American general officer to make four combat jumps in the war.
Gavin was the youngest major general to command an American division in World War II, being only 37 upon promotion, and the youngest lieutenant general after the war, in March 1955. He was awarded two Distinguished Service Crosses and several other decorations for his service in the war. During combat, he was known for his habit of carrying an M1 rifle, typically carried by enlisted U.S. infantry soldiers, instead of the M1 carbine, which officers customarily carried.
Gavin also worked against segregation in the U.S. Army,
His adoptive father was a hard-working coal miner, but the family still had trouble making ends meet. Gavin quit school after eighth grade and became a full-time clerk at a shoe store for $12.50 a week. His next stint was as a manager for Jewel Oil Company. A combination of restlessness and limited future opportunities in his hometown caused Gavin to run away from home. In March 1924, on his 17th birthday, he took the night train to New York. The first thing he did upon arriving was to send a telegram to his parents saying everything was all right to prevent them from reporting him missing to the police. After that, he started looking for a job.
Military career
Enlistment and West Point
At the end of March 1924, aged just 17, Gavin spoke to a sergeant in the United States Army. Since he was under 18, he needed parental consent to enlist. Knowing that his adoptive parents would not consent, Gavin told the recruiter he was an orphan. The recruiter took him and a few other underage boys, who were orphans, to a lawyer who declared himself their guardian and signed the parental consent paperwork. On 1 April 1924, Gavin was sworn into the U.S. Army. He later wrote about this period:
upright=0.7|thumb|left|200px|As a West Point cadet
He was first stationed in Panama. His basic training was performed on the job in his unit, the U.S. Coast Artillery at Fort Sherman. He served as a crewmember of a 155 mm gun, under the command of Sergeant McCarthy, who described him as "fine". Another person he looked up to was his first sergeant, an American Indian named "Chief" Williams.
Gavin spent his spare time reading books from the library, notably Great Captains and a biography of Hannibal. He had been forced to quit school in seventh grade in order to help support his family, and acutely felt his lack of education. In addition, he made excursions in the region, trying to satisfy his boundless curiosity about everything. First Sergeant Williams recognized Gavin's potential and made him his assistant; Gavin was promoted to corporal six months later.
He wished to advance in the army, and on Williams's advice, applied to a local army school, from which the best graduates got the chance to attend the USMA at West Point. Gavin passed the physical examinations and was assigned with a dozen other men to a school in Corozal, which was a small army depot in the Canal Zone. He started school on 1 September 1924. In order to prepare for the entrance exams into West Point, Gavin was tutored by another mentor, Lieutenant Percy Black, from 8 o'clock in the morning until noon on algebra, geometry, English, and history. He passed the exams and was allowed to apply to West Point. He wrote, "I have always been grateful to Lieutenant Black for his insistence and have felt that this was what enabled me to pass."
Gavin arrived at West Point in the summer of 1925, three months after his 18th birthday and 14 months after enlistment. On the application forms, he indicated his age as 21 (instead of 18) to hide the fact that he had not been old enough to join the army when he did. Since Gavin missed the basic education that was needed to understand the lessons, he rose at 4:30 every morning and read his books in the bathroom, the only place with enough light to read. After four years of hard work, he graduated in June 1929, 185th out of a class of 299.
World War II
Constructing an airborne army
Gavin began training at the new Parachute School at Fort Benning in August 1941. After graduating in August, he served in an experimental unit. His first command was as a captain and the commanding officer of C Company of the newly established 503rd Parachute Infantry Battalion.
Gavin's friends William T. Ryder, commander of airborne training, and William P. Yarborough, communications officer of the Provisional Airborne Group, convinced Colonel William C. Lee to let Gavin develop the tactics and basic rules of airborne combat. Lee followed up on this recommendation and made Gavin his operations and training officer (S-3). On 16 October 1941, Gavin was promoted to major.
One of Gavin's first priorities was determining how airborne troops could be used most effectively. His first action was writing FM 31-30: Tactics and Technique of Air-Borne Troops. He used information about Soviet and German experiences with paratroopers and glider troops and also used his own experience in tactics and warfare. The manual contained information about tactics, but also about the organization of the paratroopers, what kind of operations they could execute, and what they would need to execute their task effectively. Later, when Gavin was asked what made his career take off so fast, he would answer, "I wrote the book".
In February 1942, shortly after the United States entered World War II, Gavin took a condensed course at the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, which qualified him to serve on the staff of a division. He returned to the Provisional Airborne Group and was tasked with building up an airborne division. In the spring of 1942, Gavin and Lee went to Army Headquarters in Washington, D.C., to discuss the order of battle for the first US airborne division. The 82nd Infantry Division, then stationed at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, and commanded by Major General Omar Bradley, was selected to be converted into the first American airborne division and subsequently became the 82nd Airborne Division. Command of the 82nd went to Major General Matthew Ridgway. Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair's influence led to the division's initial composition of two glider infantry regiments and one parachute infantry regiment, with an organic parachute and glider artillery and other support units.
In August 1942, Gavin became the commanding officer of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) at Fort Benning which had been activated shortly before on 6 July. He was, aged just 35, promoted to colonel shortly thereafter. Gavin built this regiment from the ground up. He led his troops on long marches and realistic training sessions, creating the training missions himself and leading the marches personally. He also placed great value on having his officers "the first out of the airplane door and the last in the chow line". This practice has continued to and with present-day US airborne units. After months of training, Gavin had the regiment tested one last time:
<blockquote>As we neared our time to leave, on the way to war, I had an exercise that required them to leave our barracks area at 7:00 P.M. and march all night to an area near the town of Cottonwood, Alabama, a march about 23 miles. There we maneuvered all day and in effect, we seized and held an airhead. We broke up the exercise at about 8:00 P.M. and started the troopers back by another route through dense pine forest, by way of backwoods roads. About 11:00 P.M., we went into bivouac. After about one hour's sleep, the troopers were awakened to resume the march. In 36 hours the regiment had marched well over 50 miles, maneuvered and seized an airhead, and defended it from counterattack while carrying full combat loads and living off reserve rations.</blockquote>
Preparations for combat
In February 1943, the 82nd Airborne Division, commanded by Major General Matthew Ridgway and consisting of the 325th and 326th Glider Infantry Regiments and the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, along with various units in support, was selected to participate in the Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky. Not enough gliders were available to have both glider regiments take part in the landings, however, so the 326th Glider Infantry Regiment was relieved from assignment to the 82nd and replaced by Gavin's 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which arrived at Fort Bragg on 12 February.
To complete its assignments, the 82nd Airborne Division was divided into three forces. Gavin commanded Force A (parachute): the three parachute infantry regiments and support detachments. The drops were scattered by bad weather and German antiaircraft fire over an area three to four times larger than planned; ironically, this gave the Germans the impression of a much larger force. Two regiments of the division were given the mission of blocking approaches west of the Merderet River, but most of their troops missed their drop zones entirely. The 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment jumped accurately and captured its objective, the town of Sainte-Mère-Église, which proved essential to the success of the division.thumb|300px|C-47 of the 303d TCS/442d TCG in invasion markings. The 442nd TCG carried the 1st Battalion 507th PIR on D-Day. The 1st Battalion captured bridges over the Merderet at Manoir de la Fière and Chef-du-Pont. Gavin returned from Chef-du-Pont and withdrew all but a platoon to beef up the defense at Manoir de la Fière. About 2.2 miles west of Sainte-Mère-Église and 175 yards east of La Fière Bridge, on Route D15, a historical marker indicates the supposed location of Gavin's foxhole.
Operation Market Garden
thumb|right|Gavin receiving the [[Distinguished Service Order from British Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery in Mönchengladbach on 21 March 1945]]
Gavin became the youngest division commander since the Civil War when he assumed command of the 82nd Airborne Division on August 8, 1944, and was promoted to major general in October. For the first time, Gavin would lead the 82nd Airborne Division into combat. On Sunday, September 17, Operation Market Garden took off. Market Garden, devised by Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, consisted of an airborne attack of three British and American airborne divisions. The 82nd was to take the bridge across the Maas River in Grave, seize at least one of four bridges across the Maas–Waal Canal, and the bridge across the Waal river in Nijmegen. The 82nd was also to take control of the high grounds in the vicinity of Groesbeek, a small Dutch town near the German border. The ultimate objective of the offensive was Arnhem.
In the drop into the Netherlands, Gavin landed on hard pavement instead of grass, injuring his back. He had it inspected by a doctor a few days later, who claimed that his back was fine, and so Gavin continued normally throughout the entirety of the war. Five years later, he had his back examined at Walter Reed Hospital, where he learned that he had, in fact, fractured two vertebrae in the jump.
The failure of the 82nd to secure the Nijmegen Bridge on Day 1 of the operation delayed the XXX Corps relief column 36 hours and is considered one of several key reasons for the failure of the entire operation. As such, much controversy has swirled around the reasons for the delay and making the nearby Groesbeek Heights the priority. The contemporaneous reports of Lieutenant Colonel Norton (82nd G3) states that Gavin ordered Colonel Roy Lindquist (508th) to "attempt to seize the Nijmegen Bridge with a small force, not to exceed a battalion." With rumors of a large German armored formation nearby, Gavin initially made the decision to move most of his troops to the Groesbeek Heights rather than securing the Nijmegen Bridge. This decision left Lindquist confused about his orders, leading to the vital bridge being reinforced and in German hands for a further 36 hours. This seriously delayed XXX Corps relief of 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem and jeopardized the entire operation. The 504th took the bridge across the Waal river, but it was too late as the British paras of the 2nd Parachute Battalion, 1st Parachute Brigade of the British 1st Airborne Division, could not hold on any longer to their north side of the Arnhem Bridge and were defeated. The 82nd would stay in the Netherlands until November 13, when it was transferred to new billets in Sisonne et Suippes, France.
Battle of the Bulge and end of the war in Europe
thumb|left|Gavin as 82nd Airborne Division commander February 1945
Gavin also led the 82nd during its fighting in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945. The division was in SHAEF reserve in France at the start of the battle, and deployed as part of the Allied reaction to the German offensive. It operated in the northern sector of the battle, defending the towns of La Gleize and Stoumont against attacks by Kampfgruppe Peiper and elements of three Waffen-SS Panzer divisions. After the German offensive stalled, Gavin led the 82nd during the Allied counterattack in January 1945 that erased the German penetration.
After helping to secure the Ruhr, the 82nd Airborne Division ended the war at Ludwigslust past the Elbe River, accepting the surrender of over 150,000 men of Lieutenant General Kurt von Tippelskirch's 21st Army. When Gavin's 82nd crossed the river, in company with the British 6th Airborne Division, the 82nd Airborne Division moved 36 miles in one day and captured over 100,000 troops, causing great laughter in Bradley's 12th Army Group headquarters.
Following Germany's surrender, the 82nd Airborne Division entered Berlin for occupation duty, lasting from April until December 1945. In Berlin General George S. Patton was so impressed with the 82nd's honor guard he said, "In all my years in the Army and all the honor guards I have ever seen, the 82nd's honor guard is undoubtedly the best." Hence the "All-American" division also became known as "America's Guard of Honor". The war ended before their scheduled participation in the Allied invasion of Japan, Operation Downfall.
Post–World War II career
Gavin also played a central role in racially integrating the US military, beginning with his incorporation of the all-black 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion into the 82nd Airborne Division. The 555th's commander, Lieutenant Colonel Bradley Biggs, referred to Gavin as perhaps the most "color-blind" Army officer in the entire service. Biggs' unit distinguished itself as "smokejumpers" in 1945, combating forest fires and disarming Japanese balloon bombs.
After the war, Gavin went on to high command. He was a key player in stimulating the discussions which led to the Pentomic Division. As Army Chief of Research and Development and public author, he called for the use of mechanized troops transported by air to become a modern form of cavalry. He proposed deploying troops and light armored fighting vehicles by glider (or specially designed air dropped pod), aircraft, or helicopter to perform reconnaissance, raids, and screening operations. This led to the Howze Board, which had a great influence on the Army's use of helicopters, first seen during the Vietnam War.
Citing what he described as the "deteriorating" condition of the army, Gavin announced his retirement as a lieutenant general in January 1958, nine years before mandatory retirement at the age of 60. During his four years as head of research and development, the army's budget had decreased from $12.6 billion to $8.6 billion; Gavin said that he would have to defend the military budget before Congress but "I don't believe in next year's budget". Stating that "I feel I can do more on the outside for national defense than on the inside", he refused Secretary of the Army Wilbur Brucker's offer of promotion to full general to not retire. He wrote a book, War and Peace in the Space Age, published in mid-1958, which, among other things, detailed his reasons for leaving the army.
Later years and death
thumb|Opening of the [[Freedom Museum|National Liberation Museum in Nijmegen and commemoration of Operation Market Garden, 17 September 1984; from left to right: Prince Bernhard; British former Major-General Sir Allan HS Adair (former commander of the Guards Armoured Division); former US Lieutenant General James M. Gavin (former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division)]]
Upon retiring from the US Army, Gavin was recruited by an industrial research and consulting firm, Arthur D. Little, Inc. (ADL) He began as a vice president in 1958, became president of the company in 1960 and eventually served as both president and chairman of the board until his retirement in 1977. During his tenure at ADL, he grew a $10 million domestic company into a $70 million international company. Gavin remained as a consultant with ADL after his retirement. He served on the boards of several Boston organizations—the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and Northeastern University—and some business boards as well.
In 1961, US President John F. Kennedy asked Gavin to take a leave of absence from ADL and serve as U.S. ambassador to France. Kennedy hoped Gavin would be able to improve deteriorating diplomatic relations with France, due to his experiences with the French during World War II, and his wartime relationship with France's president, General Charles de Gaulle. This proved to be a successful strategy and Gavin served as ambassador to France in 1961 and 1962. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter considered the 70-year-old Gavin for Director of the CIA before settling on Admiral Stansfield Turner.
Along with David Shoup and Matthew Ridgway, Gavin became one of the more visible former military critics of the Vietnam War. Due to this antiwar stance, Allard Lowenstein, leader of the Dump Johnson movement, asked him to oppose President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1968 Democratic primaries, but Gavin declined. In 1968, Gavin endorsed Nelson Rockefeller for the Republican presidential nomination.
Gavin was portrayed by Robert Ryan in The Longest Day, and by Ryan O'Neal in A Bridge Too Far. Gavin served as an advisor on both films.
James Gavin died on 23 February 1990, and is buried to the immediate east of the Old Chapel at the United States Military Academy Post Cemetery at West Point. He was survived by his widow, Jean, his five daughters, ten grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Private life
Gavin had a daughter named Barbara with his first wife. Barbara saved the letters her father sent to her during the war, and used them to write a 2007 book, The General and His Daughter: The War Time Letters of General James Gavin to his Daughter Barbara. Gavin had a reputation as a womanizer. Among his wartime lovers were the film star Marlene Dietrich and journalist Martha Gellhorn. Gavin and his wife Irma divorced after World War II in 1947. He married Jean Emert Duncan of Knoxville, Tennessee, in July 1948 and remained married to her until his death in 1990. He adopted Jean's daughter, Caroline Ann, by her first marriage. He and Jean had three daughters, Patricia Catherine, Marjorie Aileen, and Chloe Jean.
Military awards
Gavin's military decorations and awards include:
; Badges
{|
|160px Combat Infantryman Badge
|-
|100px Airborne Glider Badge
|-
|100px Master Combat Parachutist Badge with four jump stars
|}
;Decorations
{|
|
|Distinguished Service Cross with bronze oak leaf cluster
|-
|
|Army Distinguished Service Medal
|-
|
|Silver Star with bronze oak leaf cluster
|-
|
|Bronze Star
|-
|
|Purple Heart
|-
|
|Army Commendation Medal
|}
;Unit Award
{|
|
|Army Presidential Unit Citation
|}
;Service Medals
{|
|
|American Defense Service Medal
|-
|
|American Campaign Medal
|-
|
|European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with Arrowhead device, silver and bronze campaign stars
|-
|
|World War II Victory Medal
|-
|
|Army of Occupation Medal with 'Germany' clasp
|-
|
|National Defense Service Medal
|}
;Foreign Awards
{|
|
|British Distinguished Service Order
|-
|
|Legion of Honour (Grand Officer)
|-
|
|French Croix de guerre with Palm
|-
|
|Belgian Croix de guerre with Palm
|-
|
|Netherlands Order of Orange-Nassau (Grand Officer) with swords
|-
|
|Order of Alexander Nevsky (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)
|}
Dates of rank
{| class="wikitable"
! Insignia !! Rank !! Component !! Date
|-
|No insignia
|Private || Coast Artillery Corps || 7 April 1924
|-
|No insignia
|Cadet || United States Military Academy || 1 July 1925
|-
|13px|center
|Second Lieutenant || Regular Army || 13 June 1929
|-
|13px|center
| First Lieutenant || Regular Army || 1 November 1934
|-
|33px|center
| Captain || Regular Army || 13 June 1939
|-
|40px|center
| Major || Army of the United States || 10 October 1941
|-
|40px|center
| Lieutenant Colonel || Army of the United States || 1 February 1942
|-
|60px|center
| Colonel || Army of the United States || 25 September 1942
|-
|33px|center
| Brigadier General || Army of the United States || 23 September 1943
|-
|66px|center
| Major General || Army of the United States || 20 October 1944
|-
|40px|center
| Major || Regular Army || 13 June 1946
|-
|60px|center
| Colonel || Regular Army || 10 June 1948
|-
|33px|center
| Brigadier General || Regular Army || 2 May 1953
|-
|66px|center
| Major General || Regular Army || 13 July 1954
|-
|100px|center
| Lieutenant General || Army of the United States || 24 March 1955
|-
|100px|center
| Lieutenant General || Retired List || 31 March 1958
|-
| colspan="4" style="text-align: center;" | Source:
|}
Books
<!-- publishing info, ISSN/ISBN #s needed -->
Gavin authored five books:
- Airborne Warfare (1947), a discussion of the development and future of aircraft delivered forces
- War and Peace in the Space Age (1958), a discussion of why he left the army, what he considered the perilously inadequate state of US military, scientific, and technological development at that time, his views of the reasons for it, and precise goals he thought the US needed to achieve for its national defense
- France and the Civil War in America (co-authored with André Maurois; 1962)
- Crisis Now (with Arthur Hadley; 1968) offered specific solutions to end the Vietnam War, observations on what he thought were America's domestic problems, and proposed solutions for them
- On to Berlin: Battles of an Airborne Commander 1943–1946 (1976), an account of his experiences commanding the 82nd Airborne Division.
Memorials
The street that leads to the Waal Bridge in Nijmegen is now called General James Gavin Street. Near to the location of his parachute drop during Operation Market-Garden in Groesbeek a residential area is named in his honour.
A street in Thorpe Astley, a suburb of Leicester, England, was named Gavin Close in his honour. Thorpe Astley forms part of Braunstone Town in which Gavin was stationed at Braunstone Hall, prior to the D-Day landings.
There is also a small memorial in his native Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, where he grew up, commemorating his service. There are also two memorials in Osterville, Massachusetts, where he and his family spent summers for many years. In 1975, American Electric Power completed the 2,600-megawatt General James M. Gavin Power Plant on the Ohio River, near Cheshire, Ohio. The plant boasts dual stacks of 830 feet and dual cooling towers of 430 feet. It is the largest coal-fired power facility in Ohio, and one of the largest in the nation.
In 1986, the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment created the "Gavin Squad Competition". This competition was designed to identify the most proficient rifle squad in the regiment. The original competition was won by a squad from 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 3/505th PIR. Gavin was on hand to award the nine man squad their trophy.
The Gavin Cup is an award recognizing the top Company/Troop/Battery-level organization in the 82nd Airborne Division. Awarded on a quarterly basis, the award criteria are centered on unit readiness and competition amongst all Company/Troop/Battery-sized units in the division and is two-phased. The first is submission of unit readiness-based metrics data. The top three scoring units send teams deliberately selected on short notice to compete in marksmanship, physical fitness, and combat preparation. The top scoring unit is awarded the Gavin Cup.
The Fort Bragg and XVIII Airborne Corps Joint Innovation Outpost is formally named the LTG James M. Gavin Joint Innovation Outpost. The JIOP held its ribbon cutting in January 2026. It was named after him due to his understanding of the importance of innovation.
See also
- Robert Frederick
- Dean C. Strother
Explanatory notes
References
General and cited references
<!-- ISSN/ISBN #s needed -->
- Fauntleroy, Barbara Gavin. The General and His Daughter: The Wartime Letters of General James M. Gavin to His Daughter Barbara. New York: Fordham University Press, 2007.
- Gavin, James M. The James M. Gavin Papers. U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
- LoFaro, Guy. The Sword of St. Michael: The 82nd Airborne Division in World War II. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo, 2011.
- The General Gavin interview in Yank Magazine, April 1, 1945
External links
- "Military Security Blanket" Audio interview at Center for Study of Democratic Institutions
- James M. Gavin Collection US Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
- Generals of World War II
- United States Army Officers 1939–1945
|-
|-