McAuliffe, Anthony Clement, GEN

Anthony Clement McAuliffe was born in Washington, D.C., 2 July 1898. He was trained at the United States Military Academy and twice graduated on 1 November 1918 and in July 1919. The first time was in relation to duty in Europe during the First World War, but the end of the war kept him in the Academy.

In September 1919, he was detailed to the Field Artillery School at Camp Zachary Taylor, Kentucky and graduated in August 1920. He was assigned to the 16th Field Artillery at Camp Lewis, Washington. In August 1922, he became Plans and Training officer for a battalion of the 76th Field Artillery at the Presidio of Monterey, California. In October 1923, he was assigned to the 11th Field Artillery at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, serving until October 1926. After that he went to Fort Riley, Kansas, with the 9th Field Artillery. In November 1927, he joined the 6th Field Artillery at Fort Hoyle, Maryland, and in November 1929 he was assigned to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade. In March 1932 he was attached to Brigadier General James G. Gowen as his aide in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. He became assistant to the Plans and Training officer of the Hawaiian Department in January 1935, also continuing his duties as aide to General Gowen. In July 1935, he was assigned to the 11th Field Artillery at Schofield Barracks.

In August 1936, he entered the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He graduated in June 1937, and was assigned to the 1st Field Artillery at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where in June 1938, he became an instructor at the Field Artillery School. He entered the Army War College in September 1939, and was graduated in June 1940. He then became assistant chief of the Development Section of the Requirements and Distribution Branch, Supply Division, War Department General Staff. He was designated chief of the Ordnance and Coast Artillery Section, Development Branch, Supply Division in January 1942, and the following March was assigned to the Requirements Division at Headquarters, Army Service Forces (then Services of Supply).

In August 1942, he joined the 101st Airborne Division at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, as artillery commander and subsequently sailed with it to Europe. During the invasion of Normandy, he parachuted into France the night of 5 - 6 June 1944. He commanded a task force which captured the town of Carentan. With the airborne invasion of Holland, General McAuliffe, commanded the Glider Echelon and entered Holland by glider on 18 September 1944. He commanded a task force of the division in the defense of the bridge and town of Veghel. In December 1944, in the absence of the division commander, he was the acting commander of the 101st Airborne Division and attached troops in the defense of the key road center of Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge. When surrounded by the German Army and given an ultimatum to surrender, he responded with a single word answer, "NUTS". That reply made him famous. He assumed command of the 103rd Infantry Division in January 1945. In March 1945, the 103rd Division broke through the Siegfried Line, and raced through Germany and Austria to capture Innsbruck and the Brenner Pass and make the historic link-up with the American Fifth Army troops from Italy. In July 1945, he assumed command of the 79th Infantry Division. WWII ended in August 1945 and he returned to the United States.

In September 1945, he was assigned to command the Airborne Center at Camp Mackall, North Carolina. In December 1945, he assumed command of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. A month later he became the U. S. Army Ground Forces advisor to Vice Admiral Blandy, commander of joint Army Navy Task Force One, for Operation Crossroads, the tests of the atomic bomb. He served at Bikini throughout the tests and returned in August 1946. He became Army Secretary of the Joint Research and Development Board at Army Headquarters at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. In December 1947, he was designated deputy director for Research and Development of the Logistics Division Army General Staff. He was sent to Japan in March 1949, and a month later assumed command of the 24th Infantry Division there. In September 1949, he was appointed Chief of the Chemical Corps at Washington, D.C. On May 23, 1951, he was assigned as Assistant Chief of Staff for Personnel at Army Headquarters. He became Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Administration at Army Headquarters in February 1953. In October 1953, he assumed command of the U.S. Seventh Army in Germany. In December 1954, he was named Commanding General, United States Army in Europe.

General McAuliffe retired from the U.S. Army on 31 May 1956. He died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on August 11,1975.