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MAJ Mark E Cooper
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Kittleson, Galen C. (Pappy), CSM.
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Contact Info
Last Address Toeterville, Iowa
Date of Passing May 04, 2006
Location of Interment First Lutheran Cemetery - Saint Ansgar, Iowa
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The passing of a hero: Command Sgt. Maj. Galen Kittleson
TOETERVILLE — The final battle of a distinguished soldier is finished.
Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Galen Kittleson died of cancer late Thursday.
He was 81.
“We won’t see another like Sergeant-Major,” 36-year-old Jon Henaman of St. Ansgar, a veteran of the Army airborne infantry, said of his mentor. “He was an incredible man who touched many lives, a legend in the military Special Forces.”
And among civilians of all ages who knew the man.
“Gay’s life was about core values — family, faith, love of country and respect for his fellow human beings,” 41-year-old Bob Collier of Austin, Minn., said. “His was a life of service and sacrifice.”
Kittleson’s distinguished military career spanned four decades, several continents and three wars — World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
One of the elite Alamo Scouts during World War II and a Green Beret in Vietnam, Kittleson rose through the ranks to become command sergeant major of the 1st Special Forces and the U.S. Army garrison on Okinawa.
His age and the affection he elicited from the thousands of young troops he trained at Fort Bragg, N.C., earned Kittleson the nickname “Pappy.”
There are medals — Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and more — of which he seldom spoke.
There is a book — “Raider” — chronicling Kittleson’s remarkable life of service.
Former Green Beret and military journalist Charles Sasser said of Kittleson, “He is a hero. Everyone in Special Forces knew him. Yet almost no one outside the military knows, because true heroes like Galen do not draw attention to themselves. They just live.”
As a 19-year-old in 1943, he carried a mortally wounded comrade out of the dense New Guinea jungle. He was awarded the Silver Star.
Even the span of 56 years could not erase the deep sadness in his dark eyes. “He didn’t make it,” Kittleson said in a 1999 interview.
At a tender age, Kittleson learned to face and overcome his deepest fears.
He was in Cabanatuan on Jan. 30, 1945 — part of the daring raid when the 6th Ranger Battalion and a handful of Alamo Scouts liberated some 500 American prisoners who survived the Bataan Death March.
He was there in the fall of 1957 — when the now famous “Little Rock Nine” took their first tentative steps into history, integrating Little Rock, Ark., Central High School.
He was there in 1970 — part of the POW raid on Son Tay near Hanoi in North Vietnam.
More than 30 years later, in a 2002 interview, frustration still lingered as Kittleson shook his head, saying “That one didn’t work out.”
When he retired in 1979, his beloved troops bronzed his beret before Kittleson returned to his rural Mitchell County roots with his wife, Darlene.
And once again, he was there for another generation — the teenagers of the Alamo Scout Troop he founded in 1982.
Collier and Army Sgt. 1st Class Elisa Feldt, now a decorated member of the elite Golden Knights Parachute Team, were among the first Alamo Scout alumni.
Kittleson, they say, was a commanding figure.
His manner was straightforward; his expectations, high. His lessons of honesty, self-discipline, self-reliance and respect shaped the adults they would become.
“Yet he was such a humble man, certainly never one to brag,” Collier said. “Not until I read the book, did I fully understand his accomplishments, his self-sacrifice.”
“Sergeant Major has been an inspiration in my life, the person behind my career in the military,” the 41-year-old Feldt said. “He taught me discipline. From him I learned about honor, about courage. I will always remember him in that uniform, standing tall.”
A poor farmer’s son from Iowa, Kittleson traveled far from his roots, finding courage and faith, said his son, Lance Kittleson, an ordained minister and chaplain in the Army Reserve. “And in doing so he earned the love of his family and the respect and gratitude of a nation.”
For Galen Kittleson — the soldier and the man — even in death, there is victory.
Leyte Campaign (1944-45)/Battle of Mindoro
From Month/Year
December / 1944
To Month/Year
December / 1944
Description The Battle of Mindoro was a battle in World War II between forces of the United States and Japan, in Mindoro Island in the central Philippines, from 13–16 December 1944, during the Philippines campaign.
Troops of the United States Army, supported by the United States Navy and U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF), made an amphibious landing on Mindoro and defeated Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) forces there. There was no significant opposition from the Imperial Japanese Navy, nor from the Japanese Army and Navy Air Forces, except for kamikaze (suicide) attacks on American ships.
The Japanese force in Mindoro was not large, and was eliminated in three days. The Army was assisted in the campaign by guerrillas from the local Filipino population.
The U.S. captured Mindoro to establish airfields there, which would be in fighter range of Lingayen Gulf in northern Luzon Island, where the next major amphibious invasion of the Philippines was planned. Ground-based fighter cover was necessary for this operation. Mindoro could also serve as the advanced base for U.S. troops going to fight in Luzon.
Battle
On 15 December, the invasion of Mindoro began. The clear weather allowed the full use of American air and naval power, including six escort carriers, three battleships, six cruisers and many other support warships against light Japanese resistance. Because of inadequate airstrip facilities in Leyte, the 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team came ashore in Mangarin Bay with the landing force instead of jumping. Destroyers provided fire support for the troop landings and anti-aircraft protection for the ships in the transport area. Two LSTs struck by kamikazes were abandoned and sank.
In one heroic action, the destroyer USS Moale (DD-693), under the command of Commander Walter M. Foster, went alongside the burning LST-738 (which was loaded with aviation fuel and ordnance) to rescue crewmembers. Several explosions aboard LST-738 caused damage to Moale as she pulled away. Some pieces of shrapnel were two feet square and they put four holes in Moale's hull. Gunner's Mate Ed Marsh reported that a one-gallon jar of vaseline from the LST's cargo splattered on one barrel of his twin 40 mm Bofors AA gun, providing unwelcome lubrication. Moale suffered one casualty and thirteen wounded. In addition, Moale also rescued 88 survivors.
There were 1,000 defending Japanese soldiers stationed on Mindoro. Another 200 survivors from ships sunk off Mindoro en route to Leyte were also present. The defenders were outnumbered and outgunned. Some 300 Japanese manning an air raid warning station at the island's northern end put up a stiff fight against a company of the 503rd, but except for mopping up, the island was secure within 48 hours.
Aftermath
The defending Japanese forces on Mindoro suffered some 200 killed and 375 wounded. The survivors fled into the jungles, where they lurked till the end of the war. The 24th Infantry Division lost 18 men and had 81 wounded.
By the end of the first day, Army engineers were at work preparing airfields. Two were completed in thirteen days. These airfields allowed U.S. aircraft to provide direct support for the Luzon invasion. The Mindoro airfields were also used by long-range bombers, especially USAAF B-24 Liberators, to attack Japanese shipping from Formosa to Luzon. These bombers also operated over the South China Sea, and combined with the Navy to blockade shipping between Japan and south-east Asia.
