This Military Service Page was created/owned by
MAJ Mark E Cooper
to remember
Harkins, Paul Donal (Ramrod), GEN.
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Contact Info
Home Town Boston
Last Address Dallas, TX
Date of Passing Aug 21, 1984
Location of Interment U.S. Military Academy West Point Post Cemetery (VLM) - West Point, New York
Wall/Plot Coordinates Plot: Section IX, Row A, Grave 053
Gen. Paul Harkins was born on 15 May 1904 in Boston, Massachusetts. After enlisting in the Massachusetts National Guard, he gained appointment to West Point and graduated from the academy in 1929. During World War II he served on Gen. Patton's staff in all campaigns, and in 1962 President Kennedy appointed him as Commander of US Forces in Vietnam. In 1960 Harkins served as Deputy Commander-in-Chief, US Army, Pacific.
Harkins' other significant assignments included Commandant of Cadets at West Point in the late 1940's; Chief, Plans Division G3, Department of the Army in 1951; Chief of Staff, Eighth Army at the close of the Korean War; Commander of the 45th and later the 24th Infantry Divisions; and Commander of NATO's Allied Land Forces in Izmir, Turkey from 1957-1960.
Harkins retired in 1964 and four years later worked for Twentieth Century Fox as a military advisor for the movie Patton. He became an accomplished painter and authored When the Third Cracked Europe, about the Third Army's route during World War II.
Among Harkins' many awards are the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, and the Bronze Star Medal. He died on 21 August 1984.
