US Army Training Center - Yearbook (Fort Polk, LA)

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HEADQUARTERS FORT POLK Oiiice of the Commanding General Fort Polk, Louisiana This book is about you and for you,'and in a large part you have written the story it tells. It is an old story, lived through by countless other men- fathers, brothers, and relatives. For you who have lived it for the first time, this book will serve as a reminder that you succeeded in making the difficult change from citizen to soldier. I trust that this book will remind you that there will be many other chal- lenges in your military careers. These challenges will call for the same spirit of dedication and hard work demonstrated in your first eight weeks of service. There is much yet to be done. I am confident that as challenges and obstacles arise, you will meet and conquer them in a manner in which you and the nation will be proud. t E JAMES H. SKELDON Maior General, U.S. Army Commanding

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i Major General James H. Skeldon was born on 3 July 1914 at Toledo, Ohio, Upon graduation from the United States Military Academy on 12 June 1937, he was appointed a second lieutenant in the United States Army. His first assignment was flight training at Randolph Field, Texas. The next year, 1938, he went to his first infantry assignment as a platoon leader with the 20th Infantry Regiment at Fort Francis E. Warren, Wyoming, With the 20th, he served further as both com- pany and battalion commander. In 1941, he served as Headquarters Commandant and Assistant G4 of the Panama Mobile Force at Fort Clayton, Canal Zone, and later as Assistant G4 of the Panama Canal Department. Returning to the United States in September, 1943, he was as- signed and served as an instructor at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia and also attended the Advanced Infantry Officers' Course at the station. In early January, 1945, General Skeldon, with selected members of the Infantry School staff, established an Infantry School in Fontainebleau, France and was assigned to Headquarters, Ground Forces Training Command, European Theater of Operations. Upon his return to the United States in August, 1945, General Skeldon was detailed to the War Department General Staff in Washington, D.C. Three years later the General attended the, Command and Gen- eral Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and then assumed command of the 2nd Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment at Fort Lewis, Washington. In August, 1950, he went to Korea with the 2nd Infantry Division, leading his battalion through the early heavy fighting of the Korean Conflict and receiving the nation's second highest award-the Distinguished Service Cross-on two occasions, for extraordinary heroism in action. In June of 1951 he was assigned as Executive Officer, Fort Myer, Virginia, and in 1953 he was graduated from the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. A three-year tour of duty followed in Oslo, Norway, as Assistant Chief of Staff, Logistics, Allied Forces, Northem Europe. In August, 1957, he attended the National War College and graduated in 1958. - Once again he was assigned to Europe and assumed command of the lst Battle Group, 21st Infantry, and later became Assistant Division Commander and Brigade Commander of the 24th Infantry Division, When units of the 24th returned from Lebanon, General Skeldon assumed command of the 1st Battle Group, 19th Infantry, and became Chief of Staff of the division in April, 1959. March, 1961 saw his promotion to Brigadier General and ap- pointment as Special Assistant to the Division Commander. He held this post until May, when he returned to the United States for duty with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During his two-year tour with the Joint Staff, he served as Special Assistant for Programs and Budget to the Director, Joint Staff, between June, 1961 and October 1962 and then as Deputy Director, J-5 CPlans and Policyy Direc- torate until July 1963. He was promoted to Major General in December, 1962. , General Skeldonls decorations include the Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster and V-device, the Purple Heart, the Combat In- fantryman Badge, and eight service medals. He assumed command of Fort Polk on 25 July 1963. 2 1 .bbtfi-?iJiwia??2'- 11 . 1 454 H ' . . ' 1 f .JAMES H. SKELDON l Major General, U. S. Army Commanding General ' Mi

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Brigadier General John M. Finn was born 31 August, 1913 at McCoy, Oregon. He graduated from the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, on 14 June, 1938, and was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry in the Regular Army. He was first assigned to the 23d Infantry, 2d Division at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. In August, 1940 he was reassigned to the newly formed 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord, Cali- fornia. Starting as a Company Commander in the 32d Infantry Regiment, General Finn was to advance through normal Com- mand and Staff assignments to command the Regiment through two major Pacific engagements. He left the Regiment on occupation duty in Korea in May, 1946. His only break in nearly six years duty with the 32d Infantry Regiment was a three months special duty tour as a student in the Infantry Battalion Commanders and Staff Officers Course at the In- fantry School, Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1952. While serving with the 7th Infantry Division, General Finn participated in the Aleutian Campaign CAttuJ, the Eastern Mandates Campaign fKwajaleinJ, the South Philippine Cam- paign CLeyteJ, and the Ryukyu Island Campaign fOkinawaj. After World War II the 7th Infantry Division was transferred to Korea from Okinawa and General Finn continued to serve as Regimental Commander, 32d Infantry. General Finn returned to the United States in 1946 and was assigned as Infantry Liaison Officer to the Ordnance Development and Proof Services at Aberdeen Proving Ground, 1 Maryland. In 1948 he was assigned to the Office Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, Department of the Army, in the Mobili- zation Branch, Operations and Training Division, The Pente- gon, Washington, D.C. In November, 1951, General Finn was assigned to Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers, Europe QSHAPEJ with duty as a student in the First Class of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Defense College, Paris, France. After complet- ing the course in May 1952 he was assigned to J-3, Allied Land Forces Central Europe, Fontainbleau, France, as Opera- tions and Training Oiiicer. He remained in this capacity until the summer of 1953 when he returned to the United States to attend the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsyl- vania, Following his graduation in 1954, he was assigned to Headquarters, 6th U. S. Army, Presidio of San Francisco, California. Here he served in the G-1 Section as Chief of Military Personnel and as Executive Officer to the G-1. In 1955 General Finn was assigned to the Military Assist- ance Advisory Group, Vietnam, as Advisor to the Secretary of Defense, Vietnam. After twenty-six months in Saigon, the capital of this newly free nation, he returned to the United States in 1957 and was assigned as Chief of Staff, 9th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado. General Finn arrived at Fort Polk in June 1962 where he first served as Commanding General of the Post and the Training Command prior to assuming his present duties as Deputy Commanding General, JOHN M. FINN Brigadier General, U. S. Army Deputy Commanding General