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Contact Info
Home Town White Sulphur Springs
Last Address Washington, DC
Date of Passing Oct 13, 1968
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
HINES, JOHN L. Brigadier General, U.S. Army
1st Infantry Brigade, 1st Division, A.E.F.
Date of Action: July 21, 1918 Citation:
The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to John L. Hines, Brigadier General, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Berzy-le- Sec, France, July 21, 1918. At a critical time during the battle southwest of Soissons, when liaison had been broken between the 16th Infantry and 26th Infantry, and repeated efforts to reestablish it had failed, General Hines, then in command of the 1st Infantry Brigade, personally went through terrific artillery fire to the front lines of the 16th Infantry, located its left flank, and, walking in front of the lines, encouraged the troops by his example of fearlessness and disregard of danger. He then succeeded in finding the right forward elements of the 26th Infantry and directed the linking up of the two regiments, thereby enabling the operations to be pushed forward successfully.
General Orders No. No. 10, W.D., 1920
John Leonard Hines (May 21, 1868–October 13, 1968) was an American soldier who served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army from 1924 to 1926. He retired in 1932, and in 1940 he was advanced to the rank of full General on the retired list.
Biography
Born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, Hines graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and was commissioned as a second lieutenant of Infantry on June 12, 1895. His first assignment was to the 2nd Infantry Regiment. Hines served with the regiment in Nebraska and Montana from 1891 to 1898 where he married Harriet Schofield "Rita" Wherry, one of the daughters of Brigadier General William M. Wherry and Alice Grammer.
Hines served in Cuba during the Spanish-American War and in the Philippines during the Philippine-American War. He was adjutant of the Mexican Punitive Expedition in 1916-17 under General John J. Pershing.
During World War I, Hines experienced a meteoric rise in rank as he was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel in May 1917, then to colonel, brigadier general, and, in August 1918, to major general—four grades in 16 months. He assumed successively larger commands—from regiment to brigade, division, and finally, corps.
Hines commanded the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, from May to August 1918 during which Hines time he received the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest U.S. Army decoration for valor, for "extraordinary heroism in action near Berzy-le-Sec, France, July 21, 1918."
On August 16, 1918, Hines took command of 4th Division. Hines commanded the 4th ID during the American operations at St. Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne until October 11, 1918. Hines then took command of III Corps, leading it during the final engagements of the war and the occupation of Germany.
His post-war commands included the 5th Division, the 2nd Division and the VIII Corps Area.
In December 1922, he was assigned as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, and became Army Chief of Staff on September 14, 1924. His Army biography states that as Chief of Staff, he "stressed the need for balance in funding and personnel for all parts of the permanent establishment, pointed up the effects of strength deficiencies upon Army capability to meet the provisions of the National Defense Act of 1920, and urged action on housing and promotions to promote personnel retention."
On May 7, 1925 Hines dedicated the landing field at the Vancouver Barracks in Vancouver, Washington to the memory of Lieutenant Alexander Pearson, Jr. who was killed on September 2, 1924 in Fairfield, Ohio while flying the Curtiss R-8 in preparation for the upcoming Pulitzer Trophy Race.
In 1926, after completing his tour as Army Chief of Staff, Hines took command of the IX Corps Area in California, which he led until 1930. In 1930, Hines became commanding general of the Department of the Philippines. He retired in May 1932.
Hines died in Washington, DC, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center at age 100. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The only American generals to have celebrated their 100th birthdays are John L. Hines, James Alward Van Fleet, and William Glascow as of 2006.
Family and Legacy
On May 5, 2000, the United States Postal Service issued the Distinguished Soldiers stamps in which Hines was honored.
Hines' son, Col. John L. Hines, Jr. (1905–1986), served in World War Two with the 6th Armored Division, commanding the division's Combat Command A from November 1944 to March 1945. He was twice decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross and was severely wounded outside Frankfurt, Germany when an 88mm antitank shell grazed his face.
Other Comments:
Awards and Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross Distinguished Service Medal Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (UK) Commandeur Légion d'honneur (France) Croix de guerre (France) Commander Order of Léopold (Belgium) Order of the Crown (Italy) Medal of Solidarity, 1918 (Panama)
John Leonard Hines (May 21, 1868-October 13, 1968) was an American soldier, who served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army from 1924 to 1926.
With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, he volunteered for combat duty and was awarded the Silver Star.
In 1900, Hines was promoted to Captain and served against the Moros in the Philippine Insurrection. Promoted to Major, he served with General John J. Pershing as adjutant general of the 1916 Mexican expedition in pursuit of Pancho Villa.
Following the U.S. entry in World War I, Hines became assistant adjutant general of the American Expeditionary Force in France.
Promoted to Colonel, he took command of the 16th Infantry Regiment in November, 1917. Shortly thereafter, Hines led a brigade of the First Division at the Battle of Soissons and the Second Battle of the Marne.
For "extraordinary heroism in action," he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. In August, 1918, Hines was promoted to Major General, commanding the Fourth Infantry Division during the American operations at St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne. Near the end of the war, Hines led the Third Army Corps during the occupation of the Rhineland. Hines was the only American officer during World War I to command successively in battle a regiment, brigade, division and corps.
In September 1924, he succeeded General Pershing as Chief of Staff of the Army. Hines retired in May, 1932, and was promoted to general in June, 1940. Hines died on October 13, 1968, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
World War I/St. Mihiel Campaign
From Month/Year
September / 1918
To Month/Year
September / 1918
Description St. Mihiel, 12 - 16 September 1918. By September 1918, with both the Marne and the Amiens salients eliminated, there remained but one major threat to lateral rail communications behind the Allied lines-the old St. Mihiel salient near the Paris-Nancy line. Active preparations for its reduction began with the transfer of Headquarters First Army, effective 13 August, from La Ferté-sous-Jouarre in the Marne region to Neufchateau on the Meuse, immediately south of St. Mihiel. On 28 August the first echelon of headquarters moved closer to the front at Ligny-en-Barrois.
American unite from Flanders to Switzerland were shifted into the area near the salient. The fourteen American and four French divisions assigned to the First Army for the operation contained ample infantry and machinegun units for the attack. But because of the earlier priority given to shipment of infantry (at the insistence of the British and French) the First Army was short of artillery, tank, air and other support units essential to a well-balanced field army. The French made up this deficiency by loaning Pershing over half the artillery and nearly half the airplanes and tanks needed for the St. Mihiel operation.
Shortly before the offensive was to begin, Foch threatened once again to disrupt Pershing's long-held desire to carry out a major operation with an independent American force. On 30 August the Allied Commander in Chief proposed to exploit the recently gained successes on the Aisne-Marne and Amiens fronts by reducing the size of the St. Mihiel attack and dividing the American forces into three groups-one for the salient offensive and two for fronts to the east and west of the Argonne Forest. Pershing, however, remained adamant in his insistence that the First Army should not now be broken up, no matter where it might be sent into action. Fina1ly a compromise was reached. The St. Mihiel attack was subordinated to the much larger offensive to be launched on the Meuse-Argonne front in late September, but the First Army remained intact. Pershing agreed to limit his operations by employing only the minimum force needed to reduce the salient in three or four days. Simultaneously he was to prepare his troops for a major role in the Meuse-Argonne drive.
The St. Mihiel offensive began on 12 September with a threefold assault on the salient. The main attack was made against the south face by two American corps. On the right was the I Corps (from right to left the 82d, 90th, 5th, and 2d Divisions in line with the 78th in reserve) covering a front from Pont-à-Mousson on the Moselle westward to Limey; on the left, the IV Corps (from right to left the 89th, 42d, and 1st Divisions in line with the 3d in reserve) extending along a front from Limey westward to Marvoisin. A secondary thrust was carried out against the west face along the heights of the Meuse, from Mouilly north to Haudimont, by the V Corps (from right to left the 26th Division, the French 15th Colonial Division, and the 8th Brigade, 4th Division in line with the rest of the 4th in reserve). A holding attack against the apex, to keep the enemy in the salient, was made by the French II Colonial Corps (from right to left the French 39th Colonial Division, the French 26th Division, and the French 2d Cavalry Division in line). In First Army reserve were the American 35th, 80th, and 91st Divisions.
Tota1 Allied forces involved in the offensive numbered more than 650,000-some 550,000 American and 100,000 Allied (mostly French) troops. In support of the attack the First Army had over 3,000 guns, 400 French tanks, and 1,500 airplanes. Col. William Mitchell directed the heterogeneous air force, composed of British, French, Italian, Portuguese, and American units, in what proved to be the largest single air operation of the war. American squadrons flew 609 of the airplanes, which were mostly of French or British manufacture.
Defending the salient was German "Army Detachment C," consisting of eight divisions and a brigade in the line and about two divisions in reserve. The Germans, now desperately short of manpower, had begun a step-by-step withdrawal from the salient only the day before the offensive began. The attack went so well on 12 September that Pershing ordered a speedup in the offensive. By the morning of 13 September the 1st Division, advancing from the east, joined hands with the 26th Division, moving in from the west, and before evening all objectives in the salient had been captured. At this point Pershing halted further advances so that American units could be withdrawn for the coming offensive in the Meuse-Argonne sector.
This first major operation by an American Army under its own command took 16,000 prisoners at a cost of 7,000 casualties, eliminated the threat of an attack on the rear of Allied fortifications at Nancy and Verdun, greatly improved Allied lateral rail communications, and opened the way for a possible future offensive to seize Metz and the Briey iron fields.
