Norman Schwarzkopf Jr.
Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. was a United States Army general. While serving as the commander of United States Central Command, he led all coalition forces in the Gulf War against Ba'athist Iraq.
Born in Trenton, New Jersey, Schwarzkopf grew up in the United States and later in Iran. He was accepted by the United States Military Academy and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army in 1956. After a number of initial training programs, Schwarzkopf interrupted a stint as an academy teacher and served in the Vietnam War, first as an adviser to the South Vietnamese Army and then as a battalion commander. Schwarzkopf was highly decorated in Vietnam and was awarded three Silver Stars, two Purple Hearts, and the Legion of Merit. Rising through the ranks after the Vietnam war, he later commanded the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division and was one of the commanders of the invasion of Grenada.
Assuming command of United States Central Command in 1988, Schwarzkopf was called on to respond to the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 by the forces of Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Initially tasked with defending Saudi Arabia from Iraqi aggression, Schwarzkopf's command eventually grew to an international force of more than 750,000 troops. After diplomatic relations broke down, he planned and led Operation Desert Storm, an extended air campaign followed by a highly successful 100-hour ground offensive, which defeated the Iraqi Army and removed Iraqi troops from Kuwait in early 1991. Schwarzkopf was presented with military honors. He was, like his father, a freemason. He was also a Shriner and was a member of ANSAR Shrine until his death.
Schwarzkopf retired shortly after the end of the war and undertook philanthropic ventures, only occasionally stepping into the political spotlight before his death from complications of pneumonia. A hard-driving military commander, easily angered, Schwarzkopf was considered an exceptional leader by many biographers and was noted for his abilities as a military diplomat and in dealing with the press.
Early life and education
Schwarzkopf was born Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. on 22 August 1934, in Trenton, New Jersey, to Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Sr. and Ruth Alice. His father was a 1917 graduate of the United States Military Academy and veteran of World War I. His mother was a housewife from West Virginia who was distantly related to Thomas Jefferson. The senior Schwarzkopf later became the founding Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, where he worked as a lead investigator on the 1932 Lindbergh baby kidnapping case. In January 1952, the younger Schwarzkopf's birth certificate was amended to make his name "H. Norman Schwarzkopf", reportedly because his father detested his first name. The younger Schwarzkopf had two elder sisters, Ruth Ann and Sally Joan.Norman Schwarzkopf was described by childhood friends as active and assertive, protective of his sisters and a skilled athlete. He spent his childhood attached to his father, who subsequently became the narrator for the Gang Busters radio program. When Norman Schwarzkopf was eight years old, his father returned to the military amid World War II. His continuous absence made home life difficult, particularly for his wife. As a 10-year-old cadet at Bordentown Military Institute, near Trenton, he posed for his official photograph wearing a stern expression because, as he said afterwards, "Some day when I become a general, I want people to know that I'm serious".
In 1946, when Norman Schwarzkopf was 12, he moved with his father to Tehran, Iran. In Iran, he learned shooting, horseback riding, and hunting. Schwarzkopf developed a lifelong interest in Middle Eastern culture. The family moved to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1947, following a new military assignment for Herbert Schwarzkopf. The senior Schwarzkopf visited Italy, Heidelberg, Frankfurt, and Berlin, Germany during his military duties, and the younger Schwarzkopf accompanied him. By 1951 he had returned to Iran briefly before returning to the United States. Herbert Schwarzkopf died in 1958. From a young age, Norman wanted to be a military officer, following his father's example.
He attended the Community High School in Tehran, later the International School of Geneva, and briefly Frankfurt American High School in Frankfurt, Germany, and Heidelberg American High School in Heidelberg, Germany. He eventually graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy in 1952. He was also a member of Mensa. Schwarzkopf graduated valedictorian out of his class of 150, and his IQ was alleged to have tested at 168. Schwarzkopf then attended the United States Military Academy where he played football, wrestled, sang and conducted the West Point Chapel choir. His large frame was advantageous in athletics.
In his plebe year, he was given the nickname "Schwarzie", the same as his father, and he was often pushed by older cadets to imitate his father's radio show as a traditional act of hazing. Schwarzkopf gained great respect for certain military leaders at West Point, notably Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman and Creighton Abrams, believing them to be excellent commanders who nonetheless did not glorify war. He graduated 43rd of 480 in the class of 1956 with a Bachelor of Science degree. Later, Schwarzkopf earned a Masters of Engineering at the University of Southern California.
Career
Junior officer
into the Army as an Infantry second lieutenant, Schwarzkopf reported to the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he attended the Infantry Officer Basic Course and earned his Parachutist Badge from October 1956 to March 1957. His first assignment was as a platoon leader and later executive officer of E Company, 2nd Airborne Battle Group, 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He later recounted that it was then that he found chronic problems in military leadership, amid what historians have called a larger doctrinal crisis. Schwarzkopf later said there were many officers and NCOs he met on that assignment who "had no sense of duty or honor, and who saw the world through an alcoholic haze".He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1958. In July 1959, Schwarzkopf was assigned his first overseas assignment. He was a staff officer alternating with duties as a platoon leader, liaison officer, and reconnaissance platoon leader with the 6th Infantry Regiment in West Germany. In July 1960, Schwarzkopf was assigned as aide-de-camp to Brigadier General Charles Johnson who commanded the Berlin Brigade in West Berlin.
Schwarzkopf was promoted to captain in July 1961 and attended the Advanced Infantry School at Fort Benning for eight months and qualified for the Master Parachutist Badge. In June 1962, Schwarzkopf enrolled at the University of Southern California in a Master of Science in Engineering course studying missile mechanics. He graduated in June 1964 with a Master of Science in mechanical and aerospace engineering. He then returned to West Point to serve an obligatory tour as an instructor in the Department of Mechanics. He was assigned to teach at the Military Academy for three years, but after a year he volunteered for service in South Vietnam for faster career advancement with a combat tour. West Point approved his request in early 1965, stipulating that he would return and complete his remaining obligation afterwards.
Vietnam War
In the Vietnam War, Schwarzkopf served as a task force adviser to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Airborne Division. He was promoted to major shortly after arriving in Vietnam. After an initial orientation at Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, headquartered in Saigon, Schwarzkopf was sent north to Pleiku in the central highlands, in the II Corps Tactical Zone. He got his first combat experience on 3 August, when he was the senior adviser to a force of 1,000 South Vietnamese paratroopers sent to relieve a beleaguered South Vietnamese Army force at Đức Cơ Camp. The paratroopers took heavy casualties and a second, larger force was required to relieve them. That force too came into heavy contact. Schwarzkopf and his group fought continuously for several days. At one point, he braved heavy North Vietnamese fire to recover and treat a handful of wounded South Vietnamese soldiers and escort them to safety.By 17 August, the 173rd Airborne Brigade arrived and broke the siege, ending the Battle of Đức Cơ. General William Westmoreland later arrived to review the battle and congratulate Schwarzkopf. For his leadership in the battle, Schwarzkopf was awarded the Silver Star. On 14 February 1966, Schwarzkopf led an ARVN paratrooper assault on a Viet Cong position, during which he was wounded four times by small arms fire. However, he refused medical evacuation or to relinquish command until the objective had been captured and so he was awarded a second Silver Star and a Purple Heart.
After ten months of combat duty, Schwarzkopf was pulled from the front by MACV and reassigned as senior staff adviser for civil affairs to the ARVN Airborne Division. He returned to the United States and finished his teaching assignment at West Point where he was an associate professor in the Department of Mechanics. In 1968 he attended the Army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, completing the course in June 1969. During this time he met Brenda Holsinger, a flight attendant for Trans World Airlines. They were introduced at a West Point football game in 1967 and married the next year. The couple would later have three children: Cynthia, born in 1970; Jessica, born in 1972; and Christian, born in 1977.
In 1969, Schwarzkopf was promoted to lieutenant colonel and ordered to a second tour in Vietnam, leaving in June. He was assigned as executive officer to the chief of staff at MACV headquarters based at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon. Schwarzkopf later recalled this second tour of duty was very different from his first. There were now 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam, the strategy of Vietnamization was in full effect, and recent events such as the Tet Offensive and My Lai massacre had put U.S. combat troops under increased political scrutiny. In December 1969, he got his first field command, taking over the 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry, 198th Infantry Brigade at Chu Lai. He later said that the troops were initially demoralized and in poor condition, racked with rampant drug use and disciplinary problems as well as a lack of support from home.
Despite the brigade's otherwise-controversial performance record, Schwarzkopf was quickly regarded as one of its best combat commanders. He aggressively stepped up patrols and operations to counter Viet Cong infiltration in the battalion's sector. He developed his leadership attitudes during this command. Fellow commander Hal Moore later wrote that during his time in Vietnam, Schwarzkopf acquired his well-known short temper, and argued via radio for passing American helicopters to land and pick up his wounded men. He also showed a preference of leading from the front and prided himself on avoiding the rear areas, which he termed a "cesspool".
During this second tour, Schwarzkopf noted two incidents that haunted him. On 17 February 1970, two men in C Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry were killed by friendly fire from an American artillery shell that had been called in by Schwarzkopf but had struck a tree near their position on its way to a target. The parents of one soldier blamed him for the death of their son, a claim that Schwarzkopf strongly denied and termed an accident of war. On 28 May 1970, Schwarzkopf landed his helicopter when discovering troops of B Company who had stumbled into a minefield. Two company officers had been wounded and two soldiers were trapped, fearful of setting off more mines. Although a medevac was on its way, Schwarzkopf ordered his UH-1 Huey to remove the wounded. As he attempted to help the troops back out of the field, one soldier struck a landmine, breaking a leg, and began to panic. Fearing that he would set off another landmine, Schwarzkopf pinned the soldier to the ground while another soldier put a splint on the wounded man's leg. In doing so, another mine was set off, killing three and wounding Schwarzkopf's artillery officer.
Returning to the United States in 1970, Schwarzkopf was awarded a third Silver Star and a second Purple Heart for risking his life to protect the soldiers, as well as three Bronze Star Medals and a Legion of Merit for his command performance. Still, his experiences in Vietnam embittered him to foreign policy. Upon returning to the United States, he spoke of a wariness of future conflicts to author C. D. B. Bryan in 1971. He related those experiences under his real name, which was changed to Lieutenant Colonel Byron Schindler for the made for TV movie Friendly Fire in 1979.