William E. DePuy

William Eugene DePuy (1 October 1919 – 9 September 1992) was a United States Army general and the first commander of the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. He is widely regarded as one of the principal architects of the restructuring of United States Army doctrine after the American withdrawal from Vietnam.

Early life and World War II DePuy was born in Jamestown, North Dakota. He was of French Huguenot and Scotch-Irish descent via Canada. His military career began when he enlisted in the South Dakota National Guard, eventually becoming a squad leader. He graduated from South Dakota State University in 1941 with a Bachelor of Science in economics,

He would later reflect that "the Division learned to fight for real against the Germans in Normandy--the Germans did the instructing.. in six weeks the 90th Division lost 100% of its strength in infantry soldiers and 150% of its officers." In 1953, DePuy began attendance at the Armed Forces Staff College, followed by assignment to the Office of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, where he worked on modernization of Army force structure, doctrine and training policies. In 1960, DePuy was a student at the Royal College of Defence Studies.

DePuy met Marjory Kennedy Walker of Salem, Virginia, a Far East specialist who served with both the Office of Strategic Services and the Central Intelligence Agency, and they were married in June 1951. A son, William E DePuy Jr. was born in July 1952, and daughters Joslin and Daphne in July 1953 and 1954, respectively. Also during his time as commander, he became known as having an "ax-swinging" style of officer management; having fired as many as 56 officers under him, including seven battalion commanders and many more majors, captains and sergeants major. This led Army chief of staff General Harold K. Johnson to say, "If every division commander relieved people like DePuy, I'd soon be out of lieutenant colonels and majors. He just eats them up like peanuts." DePuy later explained to an interviewer that his experience in World War II had informed him of the importance of good leadership in war as he had "fought in Normandy with three battalion commanders who should have been relieved in peacetime." He firmly believed that command was a privilege to be earned, not a right.

Post-Vietnam activities DePuy is perhaps best remembered for his efforts while he was the first commander of the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command from 1973 to 1977. DePuy outlined his strategic worldview in a June 1973 speech at Fort Polk, Louisiana, in which he claimed that a war in Europe against the Soviet Union would need to be fought quickly and decisively with a qualitatively superior army to negate the Soviets' advantage in manpower. In another speech that year, he emphasized the need for realistic training in highly maneuverable combined arms formations with tanks playing a leading role on the battlefield. This period of study resulted in TRADOC's first publication, a 1976 revision of the Army's FM 100-5 Operations, which promoted an attrition-based doctrine called "Active Defense". Its effect was:

DePuy's doctrine did not survive contact with war games and so his successor, Donn A. Starry, was left rethink a new one. and his wife died on 15 March 2002.

Decorations DePuy's awards included two Distinguished Service Crosses, five Army Distinguished Service Medals, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, three Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star Medal, two Purple Hearts, and Air Medal with "V" device. His foreign decorations include the Commander of the French Legion of Honor, the Knight's Cross of the German Order of Merit, the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, and the Republic of Korea Order of National Security Merit First Class. Badges

Decorations Distinguished Service Cross with bronze oak leaf clusterArmy Distinguished Service Medal with four bronze oak leaf clusters Air Force Distinguished Service Medal Silver Star with two bronze oak leaf clustersLegion of MeritDistinguished Flying Cross Bronze Star Medal Purple Heart with bronze oak leaf clusterAir Medal with V device Unit Award Army Meritorious Unit Commendation with bronze oak leaf cluster Service Medals American Defense Service MedalAmerican Campaign MedalEuropean-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with Arrowhead device and three bronze campaign starsWorld War II Victory MedalArmy of Occupation MedalNational Defense Service Medal with service starArmed Forces Expeditionary MedalVietnam Service Medal with silver and bronze campaign stars Foreign Awards