Leonard T. Gerow

Leonard Townsend Gerow (13 July 1888 – 12 October 1972) was a general in the United States Army who served with distinction in both World War I and World War II.

A 1911 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), Gerow served with the United States occupation of Veracruz and on the Signal Corps staff on the Western Front during World War I. After the war he attended the Infantry School, the Command and General Staff School, and the Army War College.

During World War II, he was the Chief of War Plans Division of the War Department General Staff. He would later be reprimanded for his actions in the lead up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He commanded the 29th Infantry Division and then the V Corps. As such, Gerow played a major part in the planning of Operation Overlord, the invasion of continental Europe. He was the first corps commander ashore on D-Day, 6 June 1944, and continued in command through the Battle of Normandy, which saw his divisions sustain heavy casualties. He became the first American major general to enter Paris after its liberation. In January 1945, he assumed command of the Fifteenth Army.

Early life Leonard Townsend Gerow was born in Petersburg, Virginia, on 13 July 1888, the son of Leonard Rogers Gerow, a railroad conductor, and Annie Eloise Saunders. The name Gerow was derived from the French name "Giraud". He had three brothers and a sister.

Gerow attended high school in Petersburg and then attended the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1911. He was three times elected class president, and was the recipient of the "Honor Appointment" which, at the time, permitted one man in each VMI graduating class to become a Regular Army second lieutenant without further examination. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Infantry Branch of the United States Army on 29 September 1911. His brother Lee S. Gerow graduated from the VMI in 1913, and eventually rose to the rank of brigadier general.

Early military career Prior to World War I, Gerow served in a series of assignments as a company grade officer in the Infantry. In 1915 he won commendation for his work in the 1915 Galveston Hurricane. He also participated in the United States occupation of Veracruz. He was promoted to first lieutenant on 1 July 1916 and later to captain on 15 May 1917, shortly after the American entry into World War I on 6 April 1917.

From 16 January 1918 to 30 June 1920 Gerow served on the Signal Corps staff on the Western Front. He participated in the Second Battle of the Marne, Battle of Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse–Argonne offensive. He was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel, in charge of purchasing all the radio equipment for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in Belgium and France. For his services during the war he was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal and the French Legion of Honour. The citation for his Army DSM reads:

After returning to the United States, he was promoted to the permanent rank of major on 1 July 1920. He attended the advanced course at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, in the fall of 1924. He graduated first in the class in 1925 from the Advanced Course at the Infantry School. Omar Bradley graduated second. Gerow attended the Command and General Staff School, where Dwight D. Eisenhower was his study partner. In 1931 he completed the Field Officer's Course in Chemical Warfare and Tanks, and took a course at Army War College. His first wife, Kathryn Getchell, died on 17 June 1933. He then married to Mary Louise Kennedy, who died on 29 October 1970. He had no children.

Gerow served in China in 1932 in the Shanghai sector during the Shanghai Incident. On 1 August 1935 he was promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant colonel. On 1 September 1940, prior to the American entry into World War II, he became a colonel in the permanent grade and a month later, on 1 October 1940, he became a temporary brigadier general.

World War II At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States into World War II in December 1941, Gerow was Chief of War Plans Division of the war Department General Staff. He was promoted to temporary major general on 14 February 1942. On handing over the position of the Chief of War Plans Division to Dwight Eisenhower, Gerow told him: "Well, I got Pearl Harbor on the book; lost the PI [Philippine Islands], Sumatra and all the NEI north of the barrier. Let's see what you can do."

Meeting of the War Plans Division in March 1942. Gerow is at the head of the table next to Dwight D. Eisenhower; his brother Lee S. Gerow is second from the left

In October 1942, Gerow became Commanding General (CG) of the 29th Infantry Division, an Army National Guard formation recruiting largely from Virginia and Maryland, although the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General George C. Marshall, had doubts about Gerow's ability. He received the Legion of Merit on 27 September 1943 for his work as a division commander and as Chief of Staff of the War Plans Division. Legion of Honour, Commander (France) Croix de guerre with palm (France)

Order of Leopold II, Grand Officer with Palm (Belgium) Croix de guerre with palm (Belgium) Order of the Oak Crown, Grand Officer (Luxembourg) Order of Military Merit (Chile), First Class Order of the Ayacucho, Grand Official (Peru) Order of Military Merit, Grand Officer (Brazil) Order of Aeronautical Merit, Grand Officer (Brazil)

Dates of rank