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Contact Info
Home Town Palestine
Last Address El Paso, TX
Date of Passing Feb 05, 2005
Location of Interment Fort Bliss National Cemetery (VA) - Fort Bliss, Texas
From Private to Brigadier General - George Macon Shuffer, Jr.
Against his father's wishes, Shuffer ran off in June 1940 to join his brothers in the 25th Infantry Regiment at Fort Huachuca, AZ. Recruiting quotas were filled at the time, so Shuffer was "attached" to L company without pay. In August 1940, he was allowed to enlist and promoted to PFC because of the duties he had performed for months without a paycheck.
He was then transferred to Camp Wolters, TX into a training Bn as a CPL. BG Benjamin O. Davis visited his unit, and suggested that then SGT Shuffer apply for OCS.
2LT Shuffer was commissioned on 2 February 1943 after completing OCS at Fort Benning, GA.
He was then assigned as a platoon leader for the 2nd Airbase Security Regiment at Fort Swift, TX.
Shuffer moved to the Antitank Co. of the 368th Infantry Regiment in 1943. This regiment deployed to the Solomon Islands with the 93rd Infantry Division in January 1944.
The 93rd saw action at Benika, Morotai Island, and Zamboanga on Mindanao.
During the Korean War, Shuffer received two Silver Stars, a second Bronze Star, and was seriously wounded in April 1951. He was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Hospital.
Following duty in Europe, Shuffer was assigned to 2/2 Infantry as the Bn Commander.
This unit was detached from the 5th Infantry Division and deployed to Vietnam in October 1965 with the 1st Infantry Division. Shuffer's 2/2 IN received two Valorous Unit Awards while he was the commander.
Following a tour with II Field Force and military assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Shuffer took command of the 193rd Infantry Brigade, Panama Canal Zone in 1970.
A return to Europe saw Shuffer assigned as Deputy CofS for Personnel, USAEUR. After this assignment, Shuffer was the ADC for the 3rd ID in Wurzburg. He fractured his hip while running PT on the ice, and was medically retired after 35 years of service.
BG Shuffer was a fighter. He was in combat with his men - on the ground - through three wars. Following his retirement, he acted as a chaplain and regularly visited troops at William Beaumont Army Medical Center at Fort Bliss, TX.
Shuffer died at age 81 in 2005.
Other Comments:
Brigadier General George M. Shuffer, Jr., 81, (US Army Ret,) was called home to the Lord February 5, 2005; he was born in Palestine, Texas on September 27, 1923.
Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in February 1943, he went on to fight for our country in World War II as an intelligence and reconnaissance platoon leader, Korea as an Infantry Company Commander, and Vietnam as a Infantry Battalion Commander, rising in rank to Brigadier General over a thirty-five year career.
His list of citations and decorations included the Distinguished Service Medal, three Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars, five Air medals and the Purple Heart. In 1984 he was inducted into the Infantry Hall of fame.
He graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor Degree and later with a Masters degree. He graduated from the Command and General Staff College and the Army War College.
At age 48, while commanding the 193rd Infantry Brigade in the Panama Canal Zone, he earned the parachute badge after completing the 8th Special Forces group Airborne School.
Following World War II he married Cecilia M. Mann, and from this union came eleven children and sixteen grandchildren.
After retiring from the Army in 1975 he entered St. Charles Seminary and was ordained a Permanent Deacon for The El Paso Diocese in 1977. He was a true shepherd who served as a Chaplain at William Beaumont Army Medical Center for almost 30 years.
General Shuffer is survived by his wife, Cecilia, four sons: David of Colleyville, Tex; George III of San Clemente, CA; Joseph of Carlsbad, Cal and Peter of Oceanside, Cal; and seven daughters: Sister Gloria Shuffer, OSF of Denver, CO; Marlene Kuhn of Muskegon, MI; Rita Lloyd of Boca Raton, FL; Monica Thomas of Pearland, Tex; Rosemary McQuillan of Las Vegas; Maria Wallace of San Antonio, TX; Anita Shuffer of Marietta GA; his two brothers Jacob and Alfrez; and his sister Eunice Stamper.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his sisters Fannie Mae Shuffer and Willetta Saunders.
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase II Campaign (1966-67)
From Month/Year
July / 1966
To Month/Year
May / 1967
Description This campaign was from 1 July 1966 to 31 May 1967. United States operations after 1 July 1966 were a continuation of the earlier counteroffensive campaign. Recognizing the interdependence of political, economic, sociological, and military factors, the Joint Chiefs of Staff declared that American military objectives should be to cause North Vietnam to cease its control and support of the insurgency in South Vietnam and Laos, to assist South Vietnam in defeating Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam, and to assist South Vietnam in pacification extending governmental control over its territory.
North Vietnam continued to build its own forces inside South Vietnam. At first this was done by continued infiltration by sea and along the Ho Chi Minh trail and then, in early 1966, through the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). U.S. air elements received permission to conduct reconnaissance bombing raids, and tactical air strikes into North Vietnam just north of the DMZ, but ground forces were denied authority to conduct reconnaissance patrols in the northern portion of the DMZ and inside North Vietnam. Confined to South Vietnamese territory U.S. ground forces fought a war of attrition against the enemy, relying for a time on body counts as one standard indicator for measuring successful progress for winning the war.
During 1966 there were eighteen major operations, the most successful of these being Operation WHITE WING (MASHER). During this operation, the 1st Cavalry Division, Korean units, and ARVN forces cleared the northern half of Binh Dinh Province on the central coast. In the process they decimated a division, later designated the North Vietnamese 3d Division. The U.S. 3d Marine Division was moved into the area of the two northern provinces and in concert with South Vietnamese Army and other Marine Corps units, conducted Operation HASTINGS against enemy infiltrators across the DMZ.
The largest sweep of 1966 took place northwest of Saigon in Operation ATTLEBORO, involving 22,000 American and South Vietnamese troops pitted against the VC 9th Division and a NVA regiment. The Allies defeated the enemy and, in what became a frequent occurrence, forced him back to his havens in Cambodia or Laos.
By 31 December 1966, U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam numbered 385,300. Enemy forces also increased substantially, so that for the same period, total enemy strength was in excess of 282,000 in addition to an estimated 80,000 political cadres. By 30 June 1967, total U.S. forces in SVN had risen to 448,800, but enemy strength had increased as well.
On 8 January U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launched separate drives against two major VC strongholds in South Vietnam-in the so-called "Iron Triangle" about 25 miles northwest of Saigon. For years this area had been under development as a VC logistics base and headquarters to control enemy activity in and around Saigon. The Allies captured huge caches of rice and other foodstuffs, destroyed a mammoth system of tunnels, and seized documents of considerable intelligence value.
In February, the same U.S. forces that had cleared the "Iron Triangle", were committed with other units in the largest allied operation of the war to date, JUNCTION CITY. Over 22 U.S. and four ARVN battalions engaged the enemy, killing 2,728. After clearing this area, the Allies constructed three airfields; erected a bridge and fortified two camps in which CIDG garrisons remained as the other allied forces withdrew.
