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Lieutenant General Horace L. McBride, United States Army (retired) died on November 14, 1962, at the U. S. Air Force Hospital, Orlando Air Force Base, Florida., at 68 years of age.
General McBride was born in Madison, Nebraska, 28 June 1894. He was graduated from the U. S. Military Academy June 13, 1916, appointed a Second Lieutenant of Field Artillery and assigned to the Eighth Field Artillery at Fort Bliss, Texas. In May 1917, General McBride was transferred to Camp Robinson at Sparta, Wisconsin for a brief period. He served as an instructor at the Officers Training Camp, Fort Myer, Virginia, from June to August 1917, and then joined the Sixth Field Artillery Training Battalion there. In December 1917, he sailed for France.
After attending the First Army Corps School, General McBride was on the staff at Army Artillery Headquarters and joined the staff of the Chief of Artillery in June 1918. He became a Battalion Commander of the 347th Field Artillery, 91st Division, in August 1918, and participated in the Meuse-Argone Offensive. In February 1919, he joined the Provost Marshal General's Department in France and in June 1919, went to The Hague, Holland, as an assistant military attaché. He moved to Warsaw, Poland, in the same capacity in October 1919.
In July 1921, General McBride assumed command of a battalion of the 15th Field Artillery at Camp Travis, Texas. He enrolled in the advanced course at the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in September 1922, and was graduated in June 1923. For the next four years he was a Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Yale University. He was graduated from the Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in June 1928, and assigned as an instructor at the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill.
General McBride, in July 1932, was assigned with the 24th Field Artillery at Camp Stotsenburg, Philippine Islands, and remained there until January' 1935. His next assignment was as executive officer of the 16th Field Artillery at Fort Myer. On August 1935, he enrolled in the Army War College, was graduated in June 1936, and then served as an instructor at the Command and General Staff School for four years. He joined the Second Field Artillery Battalion at Fort Clayton, Panama Canal Zone, in May 1940, and from September 1940, until June 1941, was commanding officer of that battalion. He then became operations officer of the Panama Canal Department.
In April 1942, General McBride was assigned to the Army War College for duty with the Army Ground Forces at the Headquarters of Special Troops. In May 1942, he became artillery commander of the 80th Infantry Division at Camp Forrest, Tennessee, and in March 1943 became commanding general. In July 1944, he accompanied this division for duty in Europe.
The 80th Division joined the Third Army in Normandy on August 8, 1944, and served continuously with it in the sweep across France, Luxembourg and Germany to contact with the Russian Army on the Enns River in Austria. The 80th assisted in closing the Falaise Gap at Argentan, established the first American bridgehead across the Moselle River, breached the Maginot line in France, drove deep into the south flank of Von Rundstedt's armies in the bulge, penetrated the Siegfried Line east of Luxembourg City, made an assault crossing of the Rhine at Mainz. In the closing weeks of combat, the 80th swept east to Chemnitz before turning south into Austria, where it received the surrender of the Sixth German Army.
General McBride was the only division commander in World War II who trained and continued on through the entire war with the same outfit.
General McBride assumed command of the 20th Corps on 1 October 1945 and handled occupational duties in Southern Bavaria until the Corps was deactivated. In February 1946, he assumed command of the Ninth Division, which shared responsibility of occupational duties with the First Division in the American Zone of Germany.
The Ninth Division was deactivated in January 1947, and General McBride assumed command of the First Service Command at Boston, Massachusetts In August 1947, he became chief of the U. S. Army Group of the American Mission for Aid to Turkey, with station at Ankara. In October 1950, he became commandant of the Command and General Staff College.
On 1 April 1952, General McBride became Commander-in-Chief of the Caribbean Command, with station at Quarry Heights, Canal Zone. In June 1954, he was assigned to Office Chief of Staff, and retired from active service on June 30, 1954.
General McBride has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Silver Star with one Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Bronze Star Medal. His foreign decorations include the Polish Cross of the Brave; the French Legion of Honor (degree of Officer), and Croix de Guerre with Palm and Star; the Luxembourg Croix de Guerre and the Russian Order of Alexander Novsky and Order of War of Fatherland.
The General was buried with full military honors on Nov. 16 in Arlington National Cemetery. Present at the interment were Major General Max Johnson, Lieutenant Colonels George N. Craig, Edward R. Fleisher and E. Coe Kerr - all former members of his staff; Kenneth Campbell, who for four years was the General's driver, and Major General H. Dudley Ives, Deputy Inspector General of the Army, formerly of the 319th Infantry.
He is survived by his mother, residing in his native State of Nebraska, and His wife Irene, of Maitland, Florida.
R T Murrell, PNC Secretary/Editor 80th Division Veterans Association
Published in Blue Ridge, The Service Magazine Official Publication of the 80th Division Veterans Association.
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