William Wilson Quinn

William Wilson "Buffalo Bill" Quinn (November 1, 1907 – September 11, 2000)

World War II Quinn participated in Operation Dragoon and on January 1, 1945 he was part of Operation Northwind.

On 29 April 1945, Quinn, Acting Chief of Staff of the G-2, IV Army Corps received word that Dachau had been liberated and the camp was under the control of the "International Prisoners Committee", and early the next morning he entered Dachau, through the main gate, with his officers in the 7th Army, a representative from the Office of Strategic Services and a group from his counter-intelligence corps division which was operating under his jurisdiction as G-2 of the 7th Army. He then commissioned each of those three divisions to separately prepare reports: "one was to take the camp; the other was to take the townspeople; the other was to take the organization and what happened and then to interrogate the internees", published as the Dachau report.

"When I read the three reports, I decided it was too big and I didn't have the time to put it all together so I decided to let each one of them tell their own story in their own way and I would do an introduction...The composition was the work of Major Al House, who just died not too long ago. He designed the cover, his concept of the SS. He did the artwork in the "townspeople" area of the German with the pipe and those drawings. The artwork was also done by John Denny and the copy preparation by Charles Denny. The photographs were the 163rd Signal Photo Company and the printing done by the 649th Engineer Compo. Battalion. This was done in the 7th Army, with government funds, so it’s a free document and there is no copyright to it and anybody can reproduce it at their will...I published this in early June, or maybe late May...I issued this to the troops...the press got copies of it, because it was in the Press Room...I sent copies also to the other G-2's who had the same kind of thing in Auschwitz"

Korea Quinn was in Korea from 1951 to 1952 and in August 1951 Quinn was wounded in Korea. While in Korea he was awarded the Silver Star, Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star with the "V" Device. He was also in the Battle of Inchon. While he was in Korea he was the commanding Officer of the 17th Infantry Regiment which was part of the 7th Infantry Division (the 17th Infantry was, and still is, nicknamed "the Buffalos").

Occupations He was Vice President of the Aerospace Group program at Martin Marietta Corporation until 1972; and then afterwards he established Quinn Associates, a consulting firm.

In 1991, General Quinn published his 486-page book, Buffalo Bill Remembers: Truth and Courage, detailing his time as a soldier during World War II and the Korean Conflict.

Awards and decorations

Army Distinguished Service MedalSilver StarLegion of Merit with oak leaf clusterBronze Star with V Device and oak leaf clusterPurple HeartAir Medal with 2 oak leaf clustersArmy Commendation Medal with 2 oak leaf clustersAmerican Defense MedalAmerican Campaign MedalEuropean-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with arrowhead and 5 campaign starsWorld War II Victory MedalArmy of Occupation MedalNational Defense Service Medal (Korea)Korean Service Medal with arrowhead and 5 campaign starsVietnam Service MedalOrder of the Legion of Honor, class of Officer (France)Order of St. George (Third Class) (Russia)Croix de Guerre (France)Gallantry Cross with palm (Republic of Vietnam)Republic of Korea Presidential Unit CitationUnited Nations Korea MedalVietnam Campaign Medal

Personal

Quinn was married to Sara Bette (née Williams), who is buried next to him at Arlington National Cemetery. Together they had three children: Donna, William W. Jr., and Sally Quinn.

He died in Washington, DC at Walter Reed Army Hospital at 92 years old.