GEN Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. USA (Retired)
Cullum: 20676
Class: '56
Cadet Company: A1
Date of Birth: August 22, 1934
Date of Death: December 27, 2012 - View or Post a Eulogy
GEN H. Norman Schwarzkopf, after attending Valley Forge Military Academy, attended the United States Military Academy, where he graduated 43rd in his class in 1956. He served as executive officer of A company in the 2nd Airborne Battle Group, 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, aide-de-camp to the Commanding General of the Berlin Brigade in 1960 & 1961, completed his masters degree at USC, and served at West Point as an instructor in the mechanical engineering department in 1965. He served as a task force adviser to the South Vietnamese Airborne Division and returned for his remaining two years as an instructor at West Point. Following that commitment, he returned to Vietnam, and in 1970, he was involved in rescuing men of his battalion from a minefield. He found the the men in the minefield and urged them to retrace their steps slowly. One Private remained, too badly injured to extract himself. Schwarzkopf crawled into the minefield, pinned down the private, so another could splint his leg. One soldier, who broke a tree limb to make a splint set off another mine, killing him and several others, and wounding at least one. Schwarzkopf led his surviving men to safety, by ordering the division engineers to mark the locations of the mines with shaving cream. That rescue earned him his third Silver Star medal.
Schwarzkopf attended the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, served on the Army General Staff at The Pentagon, was deputy commander of U.S. Forces Alaska under Brigadier General Willard Latham, and served as a brigade commander at Fort Lewis, Washington. He was promoted to Brigadier General, he was assigned at U.S. Pacific Command for two years, served as Assistant Division Commander as Community Commander of Mainz, West Germany, was promoted to Major General, and given command of the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division, at Fort Stewart, Georgia. From there he was sent to Grenada by the Army as an advisor to the Navy to make sure the Army units attached to the task force were used correctly. He was quickly named Deputy Commander of the Joint Task Force. Schwarzkopf returned to the Pentagon to serve as an assistant to Lieutenant General Carl Vuono (Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations). In 1986, he was promoted to Lieutenant General, and was appointed as Commanding General at Ft. Lewis. After only serving one year in command, he was called back to Washington to serve as operations Deputy Chief. In 1988, he was promoted to General and was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Central Command. Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, he directed the buildup of 700,000 U.S. and allied troops in Saudi Arabia and commanded the successful Desert Storm operations in the Persian Gulf War (1991), after which he retired from active service. In his retirement he wrote an autobiography, It Doesn't Take a Hero, published in 1992. In December 2000, Schwarzkopf was picked to serve as National Security Advisor and returned from retirement. Most recently he donated his time to charities, and community activities.
He was the recipient of the following
military decorations:
Defense Distinguished Service Medal
Army Distinguished Service Medal (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Navy Distinguished Service Medal
Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal
Silver Star (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Defense Superior Service Medal
Legion of Merit
Distinguished Flying Cross
Bronze Star (with Valor Device and 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Purple Heart (with Oak Leaf Cluster)
Meritorious Service Medal (with 6 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Air Medal (with award numeral 9)
Army Commendation Medal (with Valor Device and 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
He earned the moniker Stormin' Norman during the Persian Gulf War, when he became famous for planning a strategic military strike that almost immediately crippled Iraqi forces. His troops nicknamed him "The Bear", a moniker that Schwarzkopf preferred.
General Schwarzkopf is survived by his wife, Brenda, and his children Cynthia, Jessica and Christian.
The following links (in 3 parts)
is to his 1991 address to the Corps of Cadets:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0EkqbQ5XyQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAIhfw9bY5U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnaKS9FV-lA
