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

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$h$ uQSngff HEADQUARTERS FORT POLK Oflice of the Commanding General Fort Polk, Louisiana 71459 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 menafathers, 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 challenges in your military careers. These challenges will call f0r 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. MWM Ellis W. Williamson Major General, USA Commanding

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m .; n-u ,. mmm mm W Major General Ellis W. Williamson was born in Raeford, North Carolina, 2 June 1918. Through high school and college he was a member of the 120th Infantry Regiment, North Carolina . National Guard. Upon graduation from Atlantic Christian College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1940, he entered the Federal Service with his unit. General Williamson remained with the 120th Infantry Regiment throughout World War 11 serving in rank from private to colonel. Fol- lowing commissioning as a second lieutenant of infantry in March 1941, he served as a commander at platoon, company, battalion and regi- mental level and as a battalion and regimental staff officer. He was regimental commander at the time of the unitis return to state control in January 1946. The same year he was integrated into the Regular Army. For three years he was an instructor of tactics at the Infantry School. He gradu- ated from the Command and General Staff College in 1950 and was assigned to Headquarters X Corps in Korea. He participated in the amphibious landing at Inchon as Assistant Operations thcer, X Corps, later becoming Operations Officer. General Williamson was assigned in 1952 to the Office of the Army Chief of Staff, next attended the Armed Forces Staif College, and then returned to Washington for duty in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He assumed command of the 13th Infantry Regiment at Fort Carson, Colorado in 1956 and took this unit to Germany on Operation Gyro- scope. After 27 months as regimental commander, he became Chief of the Training Division, Headquarters Seventh U. S. Army. He returned home to qualify as a parachutist and attend the National War College. Following three years in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for -335? I ELLIS W. WILLIAMSON Major General, U. S. Army Commanding General Personnel at Department of the Army, General Williamson assumed command of the 173d Airborne Brigade tSeparatei upon its activation in Okinawa in July 1963. He organized and trained this unit for its mission as Pacific Theater Reserve Force during the next two years. General Williamsonis brigade, in May 1965, became the first U. S. Army ground combat unit to enter the coniiict in Vietnam. Under his command, it participated in actions designed to protect friendly in- stallations and to destroy enemy forces in the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau-Ben Cat areas and the mountain plateau areas of Pleiku and Kontom. General Williamsonis command in Vietnam included All Australian and New Zealand combat elements, plus some Vietnamese units. General Williamson's U. S. and foreign decorations include the Dis- tinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star with five Oak Leaf Clusters, the Legion of Merit with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal with nine Oak Leaf Clusters, the British Distinguished Service Order, the French Croix de Guerre with Silver Star, the Vietnamese CrOss of Gallantry with Palm, Vietnamese Army Disctlinguished Service Medal, and the First Class Vietnamese Service Me al. A 1962 graduate of the Harvard University Graduate School of Busi- ness, he earned his Master of Science degree in International Affairs at George Washington University in 1963. General Williamson is married to the former Margaret McNeill of Charlotte, North Carolina, and has two children, Dan and Nan. He assumed command of the U. S. Army Training Center, Fort Pork. Louisiana, 1 November 1966.

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Brigadier General Andy A. Lipscomb was born in Bessemer, Alabama, July 25, 1916. He graduated from the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, with a Bachelor of Science degree on J une 14, 1938, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry in the Regular Army. Following Infantry assignments in Panama and the United States, General Lipscomb became Battalion Com- mander of the 3rd Battalion, 311th Infantry, 78th Divi- sion, in February 1944. He accompanied this battalion to Europe and led it through the Ardennes-Alsace, Rhineland and Central European campaigns of World War II. He was assigned as Chief of the Infantry Training Sec- tion of the Joint Brazil-United States Military Commission from May 1946 until August 1947 and then became Regu- lar Army Advisor with the New York National Guard. General Lipscomb was transferred to Fort Myer, Vir- ginia, in August 1951 where he commanded the lst Bat- talion, 3rd Infantry, and for a short time, the 3rd Infantry Regiment. He also served as White House Aide to Presi- dent Harry S. Truman during this period. In 1953 he became Chief, Infantry Section, US. Army Group, Joint American Military Mission to Turkey. The following year he was transferred to Headquarters, Seventh United States Army, Stuttgart, Germany, and designated Deputy Army G-3 tPlans, Operations and Training. In June 1955, General Lipscomb assumed command of the 12th Infantry Regiment of the Fourth Infantry Division. From August 1956 until 1959, he was Assistant Chief of Staif, G-3, Second United States Army, Fort Meade, Md. In August 1959, General Lipscomb was transferred to ANDY A. LIPSCOMB Brigadier General, U. S. Army Deputy Commanding General Korea. Here he was assigned as Chief of Staff of the famous First Cavalry Division, which was engaged in patrolling the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. He returned to the United States in September 1960, and was assigned to the Office of the Secretary of Defense where he served as Military Staff Assistant in the newly-created United States Arms Control and Disarma- ment Agency. Upon being selected for promotion to Briga- dier General, he was transferred to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as Deputy Commanding General and Chief of Staff of the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, Stra- tegic Army Corps iSTRACL Eifective 17 April 1962 he was promoted to Brigadier General. In June 1963 General Lipscomb was transferred to Fort Wainwright, Alaska, where he became Commanding General, USARAL, Yukon Command and Fort Wainwright, and Deputy Commander, United States Army Alaska. On 15 January 1966, Gen- eral Lipscomb was reassigned as Deputy Commanding General, US. Army Training Center tInfantryL Fort Polk, Louisiana. General Lipscomb is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College, the Army War College and the Man- ggenhent Course for Executives of the University of Pitts- urg . He has been awarded the Silver Star, Legion of Merit tOfiicer Degreei, Soldiers Medal thk Leaf Clusteri, Bronze Star Medal thk Leaf ClusterI, Joint Services Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal thk Leaf ClusterL Purple Heart, and the Combat Infantry Badge. He is married to the former Hope Hawkins Hyde of Washington, North Carolina, and Washington, D. C.