Hoge, William Morris “Bill”.

During the interwar years, he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and from the Command and General Staff School. Hoge directed one of the great engineering feats of World War II, the construction of the 1.519-mile (2.450 km) ALCAN Highway in nine months. Later, in Europe, he commanded the Provisional Engineer Special Brigade Group in the assault on Omaha Beach. He then directed Combat Command B, 9^th Armored Division, nicknamed “Phantom”   in its heroic actions in the Ardennes and in its celebrated capture of the Ludendorff  Bridge over the Rhine at Remagen (see Alexander Drabik) (see Johannes “Hans” Scheller). Casualty figures for the 9^th Armored Division, European theater of operations, total battle casualties: 3.845, total deaths in battle: 728. By war’s end, Hoge commanded the 4^th Armored Division, nicknamed  “Fourth Armored Division” or “Name Enough”.  . Casualty figures for the 4^th Armored Division, European theater of operations, total battle casualties: 6.212, total deaths in battle: 1.366. During the Korean War, at General Matthew Ridgway’s request, Hoge commanded the IX Corps. General William Morris Hoge achieved his senior command in the Army as Commander in Chief, U.S. Army, Europe. Hoge was promoted to Major General in May 1945, Lieutenant General in June 1951 and General on 23-10-1953. He retired from active duty in January 1955 to his hometown of Lexington, Missouri, then turned to the private sector as Chairman of the Board of Interlake Steel.

Army commanders in the United States and certain overseas commanders meet with Secretary of the Army Frank Pace and General J. Lawton Collins, Army Chief of Staff, in the Pentagon in routine sessions, June 5, 1952. Lieutenant General William M. Hoge is sat on the extreme right, next to Lieutenant General Joseph M. Swing (left).

Hoge moved to his son’s farm in Kansas in October 1975 and he died suddenly on 29-10-1979, age 85, at Munson Army Hospital, Fort Leavenworth

  and is buried with his wife Nettie, born Fredendall, who died age 65 in 1959, on the Arlington Cemetery, Close by the graves of General, Commander 92^nd “ Negro Division”, Edward “Ned” Almond, General, Commander 92^nd“ Negro Division”, Edward “Ned” Almond , Major General, Commander 8^th Bomber Command Europe, Fredrick Anderson, Rear Admiral, Commander Destroyer Greyson, Frederic 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, Brigade General, Assistant Commanding General 45^th Division. John Huston Church, Lieutenant General, Commander 4^th Corps, Italy Campaign, Willis Crittenberger   Major General and commander of the 5^th Infantry Division, Joseph Michael Cummins, 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, Lieutenant General, Commander 86^th Infantry Division, Ridgeley Gaither, Major General, Commander 29^th Infantry Division, D-Day, Charles Gerhardt and Admiral, U.S. Chief of Naval Material, John Gingrich, U.S. Brigadier General, “ Merrill’s Marauders “ in Burma, Frank Down Merril, U.S. 4* Navy Vice Admiral. Commander U.S.S. Hornet, Doolittle Raid, Marc Mitscher

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Brigade General Courtney Whitney,