Harrison, William Kelly Jr.

Harrison, William Kelly Jr., born 07-09-1885 in Washington D.C., the son of Naval officer and future Medal of Honor recipient, William Kelly Harrison and his wife Kate Harris. William was a direct descendant of President William Henry Harrison.   He died age 68 on 04-04-1814 of pneumonia. William graduated in 1917 from West Point and received a commission in the cavalry and was assigned to the 1^st 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 30^th Division  , nickname “Old Hickory” or “Roosevelt’s SS” 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. Casualties of the 30^th Division during the war were 3.177 killed in action with 12.940 wounded. In 1945 Harrison was appointed as the commander of the 2^nd 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 9^th 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.

Death and burial ground of Harrison, William Kelly Jr..

From 1954 to 1972 he was the president of the Officers’ Christian Fellowship. Harrison died at the old age 91, on 25-05-1987 and is buried with his wife Eva T, who died age 80 in 1976, on Arlington National Cemetery, Section 2. Close by in Section 2, the graves of  the Lieutenant General, Commander 92^nd “ Negro Division” Edward “Ned” Almond, Major General, Commander 8^th Bomber Command Europe, Fredrick Anderson, Rear Admiral, Commander Destroyer Greyson, Frederick Bell, Navy Admiral, “Operation Crossroads”, William Blandy, General, Commander 32^nd Infantry Division, Clovis Byers, Navy Admiral. Battle of the Leyte Gulf, Robert Carney, Air Force General Lieutenant, Claire Chennault, Lieutenant General, Commander 4^th Corps, Italy Campaign, Willis Crittenberger, Brigadier General, First African-American General, Benjamin Davis,   Quartermaster Lieutenant General, John Lesesne De Witt, Major General and Head OSS, William “Wild Bill” Donovan, Brigadier General, Speck Easley, Marine Corps Major General, Commander 1^st Raider Battalion, Merrit “Red Mike” Edson, Lieutenant General, VIII Army, Robert Eichelberger, Navy Admiral, Commander Nord Pacific Fleet, Frank Fletscher and Navy Admiral, Commander VII Forces, William Fechteler, Navy Admiral, Commander Nord Pacific Fleet, Frank Fletscher, Lieutenant General, Commander 86^thInfantry Division, Ridgeley Gaither, Major General, Commander 29^th Infantry Division, D-Day, Charles Gerhardt and Admiral, U.S. Chief of Naval Material, John Gingrich.

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