This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Elizabeth DeSaussure-Family
to remember
DeSaussure, Edward, MG.
If you knew or served with this Soldier and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Date of Passing Jul 11, 2002
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Major Geneneral Edward H. deSaussure, the 10th Commander of White Sands Proving Ground/Missile Range, the son of Colonel, USA, Retired, and Mrs. Edward H. deSaussure, was born on 26 November 1918, in El Paso, Texas. He grew up on various military posts in the United States and the Philippines and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1941. He served in the Pacific in the early days of World War II with the 4th Field Artillery Battalion and with various field artillery battalions in the United States for the remainder of the war.
In 1946, he served as Aide de Camp to General Jacob L. Devers, while the latter was commanding Army Ground Forces.
From 1947 to 1949, he studied at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and received a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering.
From 1951 to 1953 he commanded the 20th Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Division, in Germany; and from 1953 to 1954 he served as Group Executive Officer in the 30th Field Artillery Group in Germany. During the next six months he was assistant commandant of the Artillery OCS at Ft. Sill.
From 1955 to 1956, Major General deSaussure was on the Department of the Army General Staff, and from 1956 to 1959, he served as Military Assistant to the Deputy Secretary, of Defense.
From 1959 to 1960, he attended the Army War College and then spent a year of duty in Korea.
In 1961 he returned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma where his duties included that of director of the Guided Missi1e Department in the Artillery School and Commanding Officer of the 9th Field Artillery Missile Group. During both of these assignments, he participated in training the Army's Sergeant and Pershing Missile Battalions for deployment to Europe and the Pacific.
From June of 1964 to May of 1965, he served as the Army's member of the Chairman's Staff Group in the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His next assignment was as Assistant Division Commander/Support of the 25th Infantry Division. MG deSaussure then commanded the 196th Infantry Brigade from August 1966 to December 1966. From then until March 1967, he commanded the 1st Field Force Artillery and from March to July 1967 was Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Cavalry Division.
Upon his return to the United States, MG deSaussure was deputy chairman and then chairman of the JCS Special Studies Group from August 1967 to September 1968. From September 1968 until be assumed command of White Sands Missile Range, MG deSaussure commanded the Joint Task Force Eight and the Test Command, Sandia Base, NM. He assumed command of White Sands Missile Range on 8 April 1970.
MG deSaussure is married to the former Frances Pelzer Huger of Charleston. South Carolina. The couple has five children, Frances, Eleanor, Anita, Ted and Margaret.
Vietnam War/Tet Counteroffensive Campaign (1968)
From Month/Year
January / 1968
To Month/Year
April / 1968
Description This campaign was from 30 January to 1 April 1968. On 29 January 1968 the Allies began the Tet-lunar new year expecting the usual 36-hour peaceful holiday truce. Because of the threat of a large-scale attack and communist buildup around Khe Sanh, the cease fire order was issued in all areas over which the Allies were responsible with the exception of the I CTZ, south of the Demilitarized Zone.
Determined enemy assaults began in the northern and Central provinces before daylight on 30 January and in Saigon and the Mekong Delta regions that night. Some 84,000 VC and North Vietnamese attacked or fired upon 36 of 44 provincial capitals, 5 of 6 autonomous cities, 64 of 242 district capitals and 50 hamlets. In addition, the enemy raided a number of military installations including almost every airfield. The actual fighting lasted three days; however Saigon and Hue were under more intense and sustained attack.
The attack in Saigon began with a sapper assault against the U.S. Embassy. Other assaults were directed against the Presidential Palace, the compound of the Vietnamese Joint General Staff, and nearby Ton San Nhut air base.
At Hue, eight enemy battalions infiltrated the city and fought the three U.S. Marine Corps, three U.S. Army and eleven South Vietnamese battalions defending it. The fight to expel the enemy lasted a month. American and South Vietnamese units lost over 500 killed, while VC and North Vietnamese battle deaths may have been somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000.
Heavy fighting also occurred in two remote regions: around the Special Forces camp at Dak To in the central highlands and around the U.S. Marines Corps base at Khe Sanh. In both areas, the allies defeated attempts to dislodge them. Finally, with the arrival of more U.S. Army troops under the new XXIV Corps headquarters to reinforce the marines in the northern province, Khe Sanh was abandoned.
Tet proved a major military defeat for the communists. It had failed to spawn either an uprising or appreciable support among the South Vietnamese. On the other hand, the U.S. public became discouraged and support for the war was seriously eroded. U.S. strength in South Vietnam totaled more than 500,000 by early 1968. In addition, there were 61,000 other allied troops and 600,000 South Vietnamese.
The Tet Offensive also dealt a visibly severe setback to the pacification program, as a result of the intense fighting needed to root out VC elements that clung to fortified positions inside the towns. For example, in the densely populated delta there had been approximately 14,000 refugees in January; after Tet some 170,000 were homeless. The requirement to assist these persons seriously inhibited national recovery efforts.
