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Contact Info
Last Address Hollywood
Date of Passing Jan 14, 2009
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
This is to Certify that
The President of the United States of America
Takes Pride in Presenting
THE
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS
to MENETREY, LOUIS C.
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Louis C. Menetrey (0-71395), Lieutenant Colonel (Infantry), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam, while serving with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2d Battalion, 28th Infantry, 3d Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. Lieutenant Colonel Menetrey distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 1 April 1968 as a battalion commander during a reconnaissance-in-force mission northwest of Ben Cat. Learning that one man had become separated from the rest of the unit during an encounter between a small security element and the Viet Cong, Colonel Menetrey personally led a platoon into the hazardous area. He and his men located an enemy base camp and received intense fire. Once he had successfully rescued the missing soldier, he brought two additional companies into the battle. Repeatedly exposing himself to the communists' barrage, Colonel Menetrey directed artillery, air strikes and maneuvers of his troops keeping the enemy entrapped and under constant pressure. With complete disregard for his own welfare, he moved to the forefront of the action and led repeated assaults on the enemy strongholds. On one occasion he assisted in moving a wounded tank commander to safety and then directed tank fire from an exposed position, killing several Viet Cong. After being knocked down by a claymore mine, he led a charge which eliminated the enemy troops who had detonated the device. His aggressive and skillful leadership resulted in the severe defeat of the Viet Cong force. Lieutenant Colonel Menetrey's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
HQ USARV GO 237 23 JAN 69
Other Comments:
General "Lou" Menetrey was born in Hollywood, California on August 19, 1929. In 1953, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the regular Army and awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles. He held a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from Georgetown University and an honorary Doctorate in Political Science from Kyung Hee University, South Korea. His military education includes completion of the Infantry School, United States Army Command and General Staff College, the Armed Forces Staff College and the National War College.
General Menetrey served in a variety of important and progressive command and staff positions during his military career. He began his military career as a member of first the Naval Reserves (1947) and then the Army Reserves (1952). Upon completion of his undergraduate degree, he was commissioned through the Reserve Officers Training program as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry in the United States Army. He entered active service at Fort Benning Georgia in June of 1953 where he completed the basic Infantry course, the Airborne school and the Ranger school. His first duty assignment was in Germany as a platoon leader in the 18th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division.
In 1967-1969 he was assigned to the Republic of Viet Nam where he served as Assistant Chief of Staff, 1st Cavalry Division; Commander, 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry; and G-3,1st Infantry Division.
After service in Washington, D.C. where he served as Coordinator of Army Studies, in 1972 General Menetrey began a three year tour with the 101st Airborne Division at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, where he served as Division G-3; Brigade Commander; Commander, Headquarters Command; and Assistant Division Commander.
General Menetrey was next assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea as Assistant Division Commander. In 1976, he was assigned to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas as Deputy Commander, Combined Arms Combat Development Activity.
In 1978, he assumed command of the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at Ft. Carson, Colorado. In 1980, he went to Ft. Hood, Texas where he was Commanding General, TRADOC Combined ArmsTest Agency and in 1981, to Washington D.C. where he was Director of Requirements for the Department of the Army.
Menetrey is promoted to lieutenant general in 1982.
In 1983, after promotion to Lt. General, it was back to Korea as Commanding General, Combined Field Army (ROK/US). Then, in 1985, he assumed command of the 5th United States Army at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas.
From 1987 through 1990, in his last active duty assignment, General Menetrey was the Commander in Chief of all forces in Korea, a Joint, Unified and Combined Command, which included United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, Commander U.S. Forces and Commander, Eighth United States Army, Korea. His duties as Commanding General, Eighth U.S. Army, made him only the second man in history to have commanded three different U.S. Armies. Eighth Army included the Trans-Korean pipeline and all the military oil shipping terminals and storage areas in Korea.
Among the awards and decorations received by General Menetrey are the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Distinguished Flying Cross (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Bronze Star Medal with V Device (with two Oak Leaf Clusters), 17 Air Medals, Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Army Distinguished Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Legion of Merit (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Army Commendation Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Combat Infantryman Badge, Senior Parachute Badge, Air Assault Badge, Army General Staff Identification Badge and numerous state and foreign awards and decorations.
General Menetrey retired from active military duty in July of 1990 after 43 years of distinguished service to his country. He became a consultant and speaker on military and strategic matters to several large organizations, government and private. In 1991, he became President of Environmental Marketing Options, Inc., a Colorado firm that designed remedial solutions to mandated environmental laws and regulations. In 2000, he moved to Bluewater Bay in Niceville, Florida and resided there until his death on January 14,2009.
General Menetrey is survived by his wife, A. Jane Menetrey; his children: Linda Hammond, Susan (Jon) Riedel, Kathleen (Rick) Bifulco; and Louis R. (Lisa) Menetrey; his brother, Walter Menetrey, ten grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.
The 2nd Division was first constituted on 21 September 1917 in the Regular Army.It was organized on 26 October 1917 at Bourmont, Haute Marne, France.
The 2nd Infantry Division is a formation of the United States Army. Its current primary mission is the pre-emptive defense of South Korea in the event of an invasion from North Korea. There are approximately 17,000 soldiers in the 2nd Infantry Division, with 10,000 of them stationed in South Korea,accounting for about 35% of the United States Forces Korea personnel.
The 2nd Infantry Division is unique in that it is the only U.S. Army division that is made up partially of South Korean soldiers, called KATUSAs (Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army). This program began in 1950 by agreement with the first South Korean president, Syngman Rhee. Some 27,000 KATUSAs served with the U.S. forces at the end of the Korean War. As of May 2006, approximately 1,100 KATUSA soldiers serve with the 2ID. There were also more than 4,748 Dutch soldiers assigned to the division between 1950 and 1954.
Twice during World War I the division was commanded by US Marine Corps generals, Brigadier GeneralCharles A. Doyen and Major GeneralJohn A. Lejeune (after whom the Marine Corps Camp in North Carolina is named), the only time in U.S. military history when Marine Corps officers commanded an Army division.
He organized and commanded the 5th Marine Regiment in World War I, and in France took command of the 4th Brigade, 2d Division, composed of the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments and the 6th Machine Gun Battalion. from 26 October to 8 November 1917, he served as commanding general, 2nd Division (United States), the first Marine officer to command a U.S. Army division. He returned to the United States, dying of influenza during the height of the global pandemic on 6 October 1918 at Quantico, Virginia.The 4th Brigade went on to win a historic victory in Belleau Wood. Brigadier General Doyen's contribution to these victories was recognized by the posthumous award of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the first to ever be awarded.
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina was named in his honor during World War II. Lejeune is often referred to in the present day as being the "greatest of all Leathernecks" and the "Marine's Marine."
Major General John A. Lejeune, U.S. Marine Corps, 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps (1920-1929)
MOH Recipient(s) Private Frank J. Bart U.S. Army, Company C, 9th Infantry, 2nd Division.
being on duty as a company runner, when the advance was held up by machinegun fire voluntarily picked up an automatic rifle, ran out ahead of the line, and silenced a hostile machinegun nest, killing the German gunners. The advance then continued, and when it was again hindered shortly afterward by another machinegun nest this courageous soldier repeated his bold exploit by putting the second machinegun out of action.
PVT Frank J. Bart
MOH Recipient(s) SFC Junior D. Edwards,U.S. Army, Company E, 23d Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division.
SFC Edwards, Company E, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. When his platoon, while assisting in the defense of a strategic hill, was forced out of its position and came under vicious raking fire from an enemy machine gun set up on adjacent high ground, SFC Edwards individually charged the hostile emplacement, throwing grenades as he advanced. The enemy withdrew but returned to deliver devastating fire when he had expended his ammunition. Securing a fresh supply of grenades, he again charged the emplacement, neutralized the weapon and killed the crew, but was forced back by hostile small-arms fire. When the enemy emplaced another machine gun and resumed fire, SFC Edwards again renewed his supply of grenades, rushed a third time through a vicious hail of fire, silenced this second gun and annihilated its crew. In this third daring assault he was mortally wounded but his indomitable courage and successful action enabled his platoon to regain and hold the vital strongpoint. SFC Edwards' consummate valor and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the utmost glory upon himself and are in keeping with the esteemed traditions of the Infantry and military service.
SFC Junior D. Edwards
MOH Recipient (s) Corporal Victor H. Espinoza,U.S. Army, Company A, 23d Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division.
For acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an Acting Rifleman in Company A, 23d Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division during combat operations against an armed enemy in Chorwon, Korea on 1 August 1952. On that day, Corporal Espinoza and his unit were responsible for securing and holding a vital enemy hill. As the friendly unit neared its objective, it was subjected to a devastating volume of enemy fire, slowing its progress. Corporal Espinoza, unhesitatingly and being fully aware of the hazards involved, left his place of comparative safety and made a deliberate one man assault on the enemy with his rifle and grenades, destroying a machinegun and killing its crew. Corporal Espinoza continued across the fire-swept terrain to an exposed vantage point where he attacked an enemy mortar position and two bunkers with grenades and rifle fire, knocking out the enemy mortar position and destroying both bunkers and killing their occupants. Upon reaching the crest, and after running out of rifle ammunition, he called for more grenades. A comrade who was behind him threw some Chinese grenades to him. Immediately upon catching them, he pulled the pins and hurled them into the occupied trenches, killing and wounding more of the enemy with their own weapons. Continuing on through a tunnel, Corporal Espinoza made a daring charge, inflicting at least seven more casualties upon the enemy who were fast retreating into the tunnel. Corporal Espinoza was quickly in pursuit, but the hostile fire from the opening prevented him from overtaking the retreating enemy. As a result, Corporal Espinoza destroyed the tunnel with TNT, called for more grenades from his company, and hurled them at the enemy troops until they were out of reach. Corporal Espinoza's incredible display of valor secured the vital strong point and took a heavy toll on the enemy, resulting in at least fourteen dead and eleven wounded. Corporal Espinoza's extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
