Freeman, Paul Lamar, Jr., GEN

Paul LaMarch Freeman, Jr. (June 29, 1907–April 17, 1988) was a United States Army four star general who served as Commander in Chief, U.S. Army Europe/Commander, Central Army Group (CINCUSAREUR/COMCENTAG) from 1962 to 1965 and Commanding General, U.S. Continental Army Command (CG CONARC) from 1965 to 1967.
 

Military career

Freeman was born June 29, 1907, in the Philippine Islands, son of Paul Lamar and Emma (Rosenbaum) Freeman. He graduated from the United States Military Academy on June 13, 1929, with a class ranking of 213 and commissioned in the infantry. His first assignment was at Fort Sam Houston with the 9th Infantry Division. While in Texas, he married Mary Ann Fishburn on August 18, 1932, and had one daughter. A month after getting married, he reported to Fort Benning to attend the Officer's Course at the Infantry School, then was assigned to Tianjin (then called Tientsin) in China with the 15th Infantry Regiment until 1936. Upon his return to the U.S. he was assigned to Fort Washington, Maryland and was a company commander in the 12th Infantry Regiment, and subsequently returned to Fort Benning for the Tank Course. He then spent a year as company and battalion Maintenance Officer with the 66th Infantry Regiment.
 

At the time of the United States entry into World War II, Freeman was in China again, in Beijing as a language student and concurrently as Assistant Military Attaché at the American embassy. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was assigned to the U.S. Military Mission to China, and a few months later reassigned to the staff of the China India Burma Theater as an instructor to Chinese and Indian Armies. He remained on the theater staff until September 1943, when he returned to Washington D.C., as a staff officer. Towards the end of the war in late 1944, he was sent to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as Director of Arms Training for the Joint Brazil-United States Military Commission, a position he held until October 1947. He returned to the Army General Staff in Washington D.C., working in the Latin American Branch of the Plans and Operating Division, then from 1948 to 1950, served as a member of the Joint Brazil-U.S. Military Commission, and was also a member of the U.S. Army delegation to the Inter-American Defense Board.
 

With the outbreak of the Korean War, he was deployed to that theater as the Commander of the 23rd Infantry Regiment in the 2nd Infantry Division, and remained in command until he was wounded in February 1951 at Chipyongni.
 

Returning from the war, he attended the National War College, graduating in 1952. In 1955, he assumed command of the 2nd Infantry Division, and in 1956 took command of the 4th Infantry Division, at that time stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington. After his second division command ended in 1957, he served as Senior Army Member to the Weapons System Evaluation Group in Washington D.C. He was named Deputy Commanding General for Reserve Forces (CONARC) in 1960. On May 1, 1962 he received his fourth star, and assumed duties as Commander in Chief, U.S. Army Europe]/Commander, Central Army Group (CINCUSAREUR/COMCENTAG), serving in that capacity until 1965. His final assignment was Commanding General, U.S. Continental Army Command (CG CONARC) from 1965 to 1967.

 

 

As commanding general of Continental Army Command (second from left), inspecting Cam Ranh Bay Supply Depot, 1967.
 

Freeman retired from the Army in 1967, and died in Monterey California on April 17, 1988.
 

Awards and decorations

His awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Cross, Army Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters and "V" device, Air Medal, Purple Heart, American Defense Service Medal with Star, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 4 Stars and Arrowhead, American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal with 4 Stars, Army of Occupation Medal, Philippine Liberation Medal with 2 Stars, Brazilian Order of Merit (Ordem do Merito), French Legion of Honor, French Croix de Guerre, Foreign Service with Palm, United Nations Service Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, Korean Presidential Unit Citation, and Combat Infantryman Badge with Star.

 (BRAZIL ORDER OF MERIT) (SOUTHERN CROSS)

Colonel Freeman, Paul L. Army
Distinguished Service Cross

Colonel Paul L. Freeman
U.S. Army

Commander, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division
Date of Action: January 31 - February 15, 1951

Citation:

The Distinguished Service Cross is awarded to Colonel Paul L. Freeman, Infantry, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving as commanding officer of the 23rd Infantry Regiment, from January 31 through February 15, 1951, in the vicinity of the Twin Tunnels area south of Chipyong-ni, Korea. On January 31, 1951, Colonel Freeman was ordered to move his regimental combat team to the vicinity of the Twin Tunnels area south of Chipyong-ni and prevent the enemy from occupying the area. Colonel Freeman, with two battalions, entered the Twin Tunnels area without effecting contact with the enemy in the late afternoon of January 31, 1951. Realizing that the enemy forces were not yet emplaced, he deployed his troops in a tight defensive perimeter for the night. At 0450 hours on February 1, 1951, the enemy struck, pressing the attack with such fury that the regimental lines were penetrated in two places. The fighting was intense and the issue hung in the balance throughout the day; however, under the skillful leadership and personal example Colonel Freeman, the task force finally succeeded in routing the enemy at bayonet point, shattering two regiments of the 125th Chinese Communist Division. When the hostile force had been dispersed, 2,855 enemy dead were counted in front of the regimental positions. Reorganizing the combat team, Colonel Freeman led his command forward and occupied positions surrounding the town of Chipyong-ni, a critical point in the United Nations defense line. On the night of February 13, 1951, the enemy struck those positions with overwhelming fury, employing five divisions in the assault. For forty-eight hours the enemy pressed the attack, striking at all sides of the friendly perimeter and placing intense mortar end artillery fire on the positions. Skillfully directing the defense and personally exposing himself to the intense hostile fire to restore breaks in the line, Colonel Freeman so inspired his troops that they successfully routed the fanatically superior hostile force and counted over 5,000 enemy casualties surrounding their positions at the conclusion of the engagement. Although wounded in the final phase of the engagement, he reorganized the combat team and deployed it in defense of the secured area.