This Military Service Page was created/owned by
LTC Bob Thompson
to remember
Hull, John Edwin, GEN USA(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Greenfield
Date of Passing Jun 10, 1975
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
GEN Hull was the Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations (G-3) at the War Department during World War Two. In this capacity, he was GEN George Marshal's chief planner for all Allied Operations of World War Two.
He served as the US Army Vice Chief of Staff from July 1951 - July 1953.
Prior to the US entry into World War I in April 1917, he was a pre-medical student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In October 1917 he joined the US army and was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant two months later and assigned to the 58th Infantry in France and saw combat action there. Following the end of World War I, he remained in France until 1923 when returned to the US. From 1923 through 1938 he served as a student and/or instructor at various US Army schools, including Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas , and the US Army War College in Washington DC. From 1938 until 1941 he taught Military Science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin and at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In November 1941 he was assigned to Headquarters US Army, Washington DC, in the War Plans Division, promoted to the rank of brigadier general, and the following July he became Chief of Theater Group, Operations Division. In October 1944 he was promoted to the rank of major general and became the Assistant Chief of Staff, Operations Division, in the US Army War Department General Staff. Following his promotion to the rank of lieutenant general, he worked as the Director of Plans and Operations for the US Army War Department General Staff. In July 1946 he was assigned to Fort Shafter, Hawaii as the Commanding General, US Army Forces, Middle Pacific, until February 1949 when he was reassigned to Washington DC as the Director of Weapons Systems Evaluation Group for the Secretary of Defense. In January 1951 he became the 1st Deputy Chief of Staff for Administration with Headquarters US Army until the following August when he was promoted to the rank of general and assigned as the 3rd Vice Chief of Staff at Headquarters US Army. In 1953 he became Commander-in-Chief of the Far East Command, serving simultaneously as Commander-in-Chief of the United nations Command, and retired in that position in May 1955 with 38 years of continuous military service. Among his military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal (with two oak leaf clusters), the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the World War I Victory Medal with four service stars, the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Korean Service Medal, and the Korean Service Medal. His foreign decorations include the Brazilian Order of Military Merit (Grand Officer), the Republic of China Order of the Cloud and Banner (Grand Cordon), the Most Excellent order of the British Empire (Commander), the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, the Philippine Legion of Honor (Commander), the Peruvian Military order of Ayacucho (Commander), the United Nations Service Medal for Korea, and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation Medal and Korean War Service Medal. In June 1954 he received an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He died at the age of 80.
Prior to the U.S. Army, Pacific, Hull was the Commanding General for Army Ground Forces in the Pacific. From 1953 to 1955 he was Commander in Chief of the Far East Command after the conclusion of the Korean War. This was his last major assignment before retiring on April 30, 1955.
Other significant assignments for Hull involved major staff duties in Washington, D.C. Among these were Director of the Weapons Evaluation Group and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Administration for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. At the outbreak of World War II he was assigned to the War Department. Hull died on June 10, 1975."