This Military Service Page was created/owned by
LTC Bob Thompson
to remember
Lee, John C.H., LTG USA(Ret).
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
Home Town Junction City, Kansas
Last Address York, Pennsylvania
Date of Passing Aug 30, 1958
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Wall/Plot Coordinates Plot: Section 2, Site 3674 CWH
Lt. Gen. John C. H. Lee, 71, retired, a deputy commander under Gen. Eisenhower in the European theater in World War II, died Saturday in York hospital here. He had been in a serious condition with a cardiac disturbance since his admission to the hospital a week ago.
Lee was one of the second world war's most colorful officers with a reputation as a tough disciplinarian and a lavish entertainer. Because of his insistence on snappy salutes and spit polish regulations, he was widely known in GI circles as Court House Lee, a play on his middle initials, which stood for Clifford Hodges.
Lee was the center of a lively controversy in the final months of his active career abroad when his administration as commander of the army's Mediterranean theater was investigated by the inspector general after newspaper charges of brutal treatment of enlisted men and extravagance among officers.
Retired for Disability
The investigation led to a memorandum by Gen. Eisenhower, then army chief of staff, admitting "errors" in Lee's administration but asserting no wrong intent had been found. Lee applied for retirement before the investigation began in October, 1947, and was retired for physical disability on Jan. 2, 1948.
Before his assignment to the Mediterranean theater after the end of active fighting, Lee was in charge of supply and communications for the European theater. He shared responsibility for the big buildup for the invasion of Europe.
He was a native of Junction City, Kas., where he was born Aug. 1, 1887. He was graduated from West Point military academy in 1909 and spent his early army years in the engineering corps. He served on engineering projects in Guam, the Philippines, and Panama, and had charge of flood control and navigation problems on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
Awarded Croix de Guerre
He was both an engineering and intelligence officer in World War I, winning the distinguished service medal and the Croix de Guerre.
Upon his retirement, Lee accepted an unsalaried job as general secretary of the Brotherhood of St. Andrews, a laymen's organization of the Protestant Episcopal church. He moved to York, headquarters of his organization, to devote full time to his work.
His second wife, the former Eva B. Ellis, whom he married in 1945, and a son by his first marriage, Army Lt. Col. John C. H. Lee Jr., survive. Services will be held Tuesday in St. John's Episcopal church here, with burial Thursday in Arlington National cemetery.
A White House announcement Saturday described Lee as one of Mr. Eisenhower's principal assistants during the war and said the President was saddened at news of his death.
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.
