Allegiance United States Role Jr. Name William Harrison, | Rank Lieutenant General Years of service 1917–1957 | |
Buried at Arlington National Cemetery Commands held Army Command and General Staff School
2nd Infantry Division
9th Infantry Training Division Battles/wars World War I
World War II
Korean War Died 1987, Bryn Mawr, Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, United States Education United States Military Academy Place of burial Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, United States Other work President of the United States Battles and wars World War I, World War II, Korean War | ||
Service/branch United States Army | ||
Lieutenant General William Kelly Harrison, Jr. (1895 – May 29, 1987) was a senior United States Army officer who fought in both World War I and World War II. He was head of the United Nations Command armistice delegation in the Korean War.
Biography
Son of Medal of Honor recipient William Kelly Harrison (himself a direct descendant of President William Henry Harrison) (this seems to have come from an obituary for General Harrison, but genealogical research indicates that while they might have a shared ancestry, both families being from Virginia, there is no evidence of a direct relation), he graduated in 1917 from West Point, and received a commission in the cavalry and was assigned to the 1st Cavalry at Camp Lawrence J. Hearn in California. Following that posting he returned to teach at West Point and served in France before the end of World War I, this was followed by assignments in the United States and the Philippines. In 1932 he was appointed as the commander of the Army Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, followed by a transfer to the War Department.
During World War II he served as assistant commander of the 30th Division, and was wounded in France, receiving the Distinguished Service Cross, the Legion of Merit, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with Cluster and the Purple Heart. In 1945 he was appointed as the commander of the 2nd Infantry Division, which was stationed in Czechoslovakia.
In 1946, after a brief stint heading Camp Carson in Colorado, he led the reparations section of the occupation of Japan under Douglas MacArthur. In 1950 he became the commander of the 9th Infantry Training Division at Fort Dix in New Jersey. In 1951 he became the deputy commander of the Eighth Army in Korea. He was picked to serve on the Korean Armistice Delegation under the United Nations Command. His work culminated in July 1953 with his signing the armistice documents as chief delegate for the United Nations Command in a ceremony in Panmunjom, Korea.
From 1954 to 1972 he was the president of the Officers' Christian Fellowship.