Cummins, Joseph Michael, born in St. Louis, Missouri,
on 21-07-1881.B.A. from St. Louis University in 1901. Commissioned in the Infantry in 1903. Graduated from Command and General Staff School in 1923. Instructor at General Service Schools 1923-1926. Graduated from Army War College in 1927. Duty with the War Department General Staff 1930-1934. Director of the Infantry Board 1934-1936. Director of the War Plans Division at the Army War College 1936-1938. Brigadier General in February 1938.He was assigned Commanding General of 18th Brigade 1938-1939. Commanding General of the Atlantic Sector in the Panama Canal Department in 1939. Then appointed as Commanding General of 5th Division, nicknamed, “Red Diamond” or “Red Devils”
in 1940 until 23-07-1941 and succeeded by Major General Charles Hartwell Bonesteel.
The 5th ID crossed the Rhine River on the night of 22-03-1945. After capturing some 19.000 German soldiers, the division continued to Frankfurt-am-Main, clearing and policing the town and its environs, 27–29 March. In April the division, under Major General, Albert Eger Brown






Cummins son Lieutenant /Col. Joseph M. Cummins Jr.was KIA on 01-03-1945, age 34.
Joseph M. Cummins Jr. was born at Fort McKenzie, Sheridan, Wyoming, in 1911, the son of (later Major General) Joseph M. Cummins and Eileen Davis Cummins, the oldest of four children. After graduation from West Point, Joe Cummins, like his father and grandfather before him, joined the Infantry. His early service at Fort Banning then with the 3d “Foot’’ at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and in Panama. While at Fort Benning he married Jane Crea, also an “Army brat,” and they had two children. He was assigned to the 104th “Timberwolf” Division when it was activated early in World War II, trained with it in Oregon, and accompanied it to Europe where he commanded the 3d Battalion, 414th Infantry. In this capacity he was awarded the Bronze Star, Silver Star, and the Purple Heart for his performance in combat. Hr met his death from enemy artillery fire in his command post in Sindorf, near Cologne, Germany. Joe’s brother Tom (USNA ’35) died in the crash of a Navy plane in 1940.

Death and burial ground of Cummins, Joseph Michael.
Joseph Cummins retired in December 1942 and he died on 16-10-1959, age 60. Joseph Cummins is buried on the Arlington National Cemetery in Section 2. Close by in Section 2, the graves of the General, Commander 92nd “ Negro Division”
, Edward “Ned” Almond, Major General, Commander 8th Bomber Command Europe, Frederick Anderson, Rear Admiral, Commander Destroyer Greyson, Frederic Bell, Navy Admiral, “Operation Crossroads”, William Blandy, General, Commander 32nd Infantry Division
, Clovis Byers, Navy Admiral, Battle of the Leyte Gulf, Robert Carney






Leave a Reply