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Contact Info
Home Town Woodbridge, VA
Last Address Charleston, SC
Date of Passing Apr 09, 1994
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Student Providence College (SC) 1932-34
Cadet, The Citadel 1939-41
Enlisted as Private 1942
First Sergeant 1942-43
Commissioned Second Lieutenant 1943
Advanced through grades to Lieutenant General 1969
Southern Base Sector Command of the European Theater of Operations 1943-45
Assistant Executive Officer to Chief of Ordnance 1946-49
Division Ordnance Officer, 7th Infantry Division 1950
Ammunition Supply Officer (Office of Assistant Ordnance Officer), Pusan Base Command 1950-51
Executive Officer to Director of Training, Ordnance School 1951-54
Executive Officer to Chief of Ordnance 1956-60
Student, Naval Postgraduate School 1960-61
Assistant Chief of Staff G-4 (Logistics), 4th Logistical Command 1961-62
Deputy Chief of Staff & Chief of Staff, 4th Logistical Command 1962-63
Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Communications Zone, Europe 1963-65
Commanding General, U. S. Army Communications Zone, Europe 1965
Special Assistant to Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Army Europe 1965
Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff (Logistics), U.S. Army 1966-68
Commanding General, 1st Logistical Command, Vietnam 1 August 1968-22 August 1969
Deputy Chief of Staff (Logistics), U.S. Army 1969-73
Retired 1973
Distinguished Service Medal (3) - Legion of Merit (2) - Bronze Star Medal - Air Medal (8)
Lieutenant General Joseph M. Heiser, Jr., was born on January 22, 1914 in Charleston, South Carolina and retired with over 30 years’ active duty in the U.S. Army. Throughout his career, his motto remained, “A well supported combat soldier is the backbone of an effective Army and it is the logistician’s job to provide that support.”
General Heiser, a son of Joseph Heiser and Alma Maetze Heiser, attended Providence College and The Citadel and received a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago. He was a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College and the Department of Defense's National War College.
He was a veteran of World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars, receiving several medals including the Distinguished Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters. He was appointed the first Honorary Colonel Emeritus of the Ordnance Corps and received the Society of Logistics Engineers' Founders Medal. He wrote two books, "A Soldier Supporting Soldiers'' and "Logistic Support.''
His rapid ascension through the ranks, from a First Sergeant to Second Lieutenant in 1943, is indicative of his outstanding organizational ability and resourcefulness. His name has become synonymous with two of the most successful programs in ordance: the closed-loop system and the logistics offensive. The closed-loop system maximized the utilization of material and substantially reduced acquisition requirements by effecting the overhaul of unserviceable materiel and its return to the supply system. The logistics offensive resulted in marked reduction in tonnages of supplies, greatly improved inventory and location accuracy, materially reduced response time required to meet unit requirements, significantly improved operational readiness rates, and upgraded combat readiness throughout the entire U.S. Army.
His career was characterized byprofessionalism of the highest order. His inspired leadership, competence, and devotion to duty profoundly affected the U.S. Army’s logistical effectiveness. He retired in 1973, and remained an active advisor on Ordnance matters. He served as the first Honorary Colonel of the Ordnance Corps from May 1987 until May 1990.
Description The European-Mediterranean-Middle East Theater was a major theater of operations during the Second World War (between December 7, 1941, and March 2, 1946). The vast size of Europe, Mediterranean and Middle East theatre saw interconnected naval, land, and air campaigns fought for control of the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The fighting in this theatre lasted from 10 June 1940, when Italy entered the war on the side of Germany, until 2 May 1945 when all Axis forces in Italy surrendered. However, fighting would continue in Greece – where British troops had been dispatched to aid the Greek government – during the early stages of the Greek Civil War.
The British referred to this theatre as the Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre (so called due to the location of the fighting and the name of the headquarters that controlled the initial fighting: Middle East Command) while the Americans called the theatre of operations the Mediterranean Theatre of War. The German official history of the fighting is dubbed 'The Mediterranean, South-East Europe, and North Africa 1939–1942'. Regardless of the size of the theatre, the various campaigns were not seen as neatly separated areas of operations but part of one vast theatre of war.
Fascist Italy aimed to carve out a new Roman Empire, while British forces aimed initially to retain the status quo. Italy launched various attacks around the Mediterranean, which were largely unsuccessful. With the introduction of German forces, Yugoslavia and Greece were overrun. Allied and Axis forces engaged in back and forth fighting across North Africa, with Axis interference in the Middle East causing fighting to spread there. With confidence high from early gains, German forces planned elaborate attacks to be launched to capture the Middle East and then to possibly attack the southern border of the Soviet Union. However, following three years of fighting, Axis forces were defeated in North Africa and their interference in the Middle East was halted. Allied forces then commenced an invasion of Southern Europe, resulting in the Italians switching sides and deposing Mussolini. A prolonged battle for Italy took place, and as the strategic situation changed in southeast Europe, British troops returned to Greece.
The theatre of war, the longest during the Second World War, resulted in the destruction of the Italian Empire and altered the strategic position of Germany resulting in numerous German divisions being deployed to Africa and Italy and total losses (including those captured upon final surrender) being over half a million. Italian losses, in the theatre, amount to around to 177,000 men with a further several hundred thousand captured during the process of the various campaigns. British losses amount to over 300,000 men killed, wounded, or captured, and total American losses in the region amounted to 130,000.