Jesse A. Ladd

Jesse Amos Ladd (21 September 188714 December 1957) was a United States Army general who served in World War I and World War II.

A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, ranked 20th in the class of 1911, Ladd served in the Hawaii and with the Pancho Villa Expedition in Mexico. Between the wars he was an instructor in tactics at West Point and the Infantry School at Fort Benning. During World War II he commanded Fort Richardson and Fort Glenn in Alaska, and commanded the Normandy Base Section in the European Theater of Operations. He commanded 9th Infantry Division in the Occupation of Germany, and retired in 1947.

Early life

Jesse Amos Ladd was born in Bradner, Ohio, on 21 September 1887, the oldest of a large family of seven boys and three girls. He attended Bradner High School, where he played halfback on the high school football team. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, on 15 June 1907. During his plebe year he played football with the plebe team, but joined the varsity football team, which was coached by Second Lieutenant Joseph Stilwell, the following year.

World War II With the prospect of war with Japan, the Territory of Alaska looked vulnerable. Ladd, who was promoted to brigadier general on 4 August 1941, assumed command of Fort Richardson, Alaska on 4 September 1941. He commanded the Allied troops at Fort Glenn, Alaska from 13 June to 15 September 1942, at Fort Richardson again until 20 January 1943, and at Fort Glenn again from 21 January to 3 December 1943. Ladd's next assignment was as commander of Camp Reynolds and the Army Service Forces Replacement Depot, from 17 December 1943 to 20 February 1945. Camp Reynolds was closed on 11 December 1944. Ladd then went to the European Theater of Operations, where he commanded the Western District of the Normandy Base Section from 27 February 1945 to 17 May 1945. Following the departure of Major General Henry S. Aurand, he also assumed command of the Normandy Base Section as well on 8 May 1945. He commanded the 9th Infantry Division in the Occupation of Germany from 22 May 1945 to 30 January 1946, but the war ended before it saw further action.

Post-war After the war, Ladd returned to Fort Benning, where he was a member of the Army Ground Forces Board. He was reduced to his substantive rank of colonel on 28 February 1946, and retired at his own request on 30 September 1947. He was promoted to brigadier general on the Retired List on 16 August 1948. Of the places that he had been stationed, Ladd liked the San Francisco area best, and Palo Alto, California. Ladd's younger son Jim also went to West Point. He graduated 587th in the class of 1946. He too reached the rank of colonel, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry in the Korean War. Ladd died from leukemia at Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco on 14 December 1957, and was interred in San Francisco National Cemetery.

Dates of rank