biography
| name: |
Van Fleet, James (Alward)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1892–1992)
|
| biography:
| US soldier, born in Coytesville, New Jersey, USA. He trained at West Point (1915), and during World War 1 he commanded a machine gun battalion in France. In World War 2 he held successively higher commands, culminating with that of the Third Corps. In 1948–50 he was in Greece to train and equip the Greeks fighting the Communist forces there. In 1951–3 he served in Korea, commanding the US Eighth Army during the gruelling period of hard fighting for little gain, while the armistice talks dragged on. Although he retired in 1953, he was recalled to active duty (1961–2) to help train US Army guerrilla fighters. He then lived a quiet life to reach the age of 100. |
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