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Home Town Whiteburg, Iowa
Last Address Blacksburg, Virginia Buried at Memorial Gardens of the New River Valley, Blacksburg, Virginia.
Date of Passing Feb 13, 2013
Wall/Plot Coordinates Unknown
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Military Figure, Athelete, Educator. Acuff was a Brigadier General, former commandant of cadets at Virginia Tech, racquetball champion, and last surviving member of Castner's Cutthroats. He began his Army career as an ROTC student on a football scholarship at the University of Idaho. After his first duty station at Fort Ord with the 82nd Airborne Division, the Lieutenant was deployed to the Aleutian Islands as an executive officer of the 1st Alaskan Combat Intelligence Platoon (Castner's Cutthroats). On a remote island for months without breaking radio silence, Acuff was presumed dead and a rescue mission ensued. "I was living like a king. I was diving for king crab and eating fresh seafood and fowl - wild ptarmigan, ducks and geese - for dinner. They told me not to break radio sound unless I saw a Japanese plane, so I didn't. When the Alaskan Scouts came to 'rescue' me, they started thinking that maybe they'd like to stay with me." After the war, Acuff was a bush pilot, big game guide, and teacher near Cook Inlet. He re-entered service in 1949 at the Army's request, teaching Arctic survival. During the Korea War, he fought with the 7th Infantry Divison at the Battle of Pork Chop Hill and the Battle of Old Baldy, earning a Purple Heart, a Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, a Bronze Star with four Oak Leaf Clusters and Valor Device, and his second Combat Infantryman Badge. In 1965, he was invited to evaluate the Ranger training program at Fort Benning, Georgia. At 47 years old, he became the (then) oldest soldier to graduate from United States Army Ranger School. In 1966, he received a Master's degree in International Studies from George Washington University and worked for the State Department on Latin American affairs. During the Vietnam War, Acuff served as Commander of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division and the Deputy Post Commander at the U. S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning. He began teaching military science at Virginia Tech in 1970, and was subsequently promoted to Brigadier General and became the Commandant of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets in 1974. In his later years, Acuff was an accomplished athelte. He was the winner of 25 U.S. national and world senior gold medals, including nine U.S. national singles titles. He won the men's 75+ doubles crown at the Ektelon 31st U.S. National Doubles Championships (his seventh national doubles championship), the 1998 men's 80+ world title, and three other world seniors crowns. He was named a member of the University of Idaho Sports Hall of Fame, the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, and the USRA Racquetball Hall of Fame.
Description The American Theater was a minor area of operations during World War II. This was mainly due to both North and South America's geographical separation from the central theaters of conflict in Europe and Asia. Thus, any threat by the Axis Powers to invade the mainland United States or other areas was considered negligible, allowing for American resources to be deployed in overseas theaters.
This article includes attacks on continental territory, extending 200 miles (320 km) into the ocean, which is today under the sovereignty of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and several other smaller states, but excludes military action involving the Danish territory of Greenland, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Aleutian Islands. The most well known battles in North America during World War II were the Attack on Pearl Harbor (the first attack on US soil since the Battle of Ambos Nogales), the Aleutian Islands Campaign, the Battle of the St. Lawrence, and the attacks on Newfoundland.