Hugh Mott

MMI Cadet Corporal Hugh B. Mott of "C" Company, second year ROTC. (Credit: 1940 MIANA, MMI Archives)

Hugh Barbee Mott (August 14, 1920 – June 24, 2005)

Action at Ludendorff Bridge

On March 7, 1945, during the allied offensive to the Rhine River, Combat Command B of the 9th Armored Division arrived at the town of Remagen, discovering that the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine river was intact. A three-man detachment from 2nd Platoon, B Company (Lieutenant Hugh Mott, Staff Sergeant John Reynolds, and Sergeant Eugene Dorland) moved with the first squad of A/27th AIB to reduce the remaining explosives after the first unsuccessful bridge demolition by the Germans. They were the third, fourth, and fifth US soldiers onto the bridge. Crossing with lead elements, Dorland destroyed the main demolition switch box on the far shore. The remainder of B Company, 9th Engineers followed with the rest of A/27th AIB, finding and reducing more explosives on the bridge. After the crossing was initially secured, Lt. Mott led B Company in the hasty bridge repairs that allowed the first Sherman tanks to cross the bridge by 2200 that night.

In tribute to Major General Mott, the U.S. Army Engineer School, located at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, named the Bachelor Officer's Quarters building "Mott Hall" in his honor.

Later life

Mott remained in the military as a member of the Tennessee Army National Guard until November 1975. He attained the rank of major general, and commanded the 30th Armored Division from April 1968 to February 1969. Mott also served as the adjutant general of Tennessee from December 1968 to May 1971.