<p>
He was the only son of the Kentucky soldier whose name he bore, and of Delia Hayes Claiborne of Richmond, VA. The Buckner home, where he was born, was built in the early nineteenth century by his grandfather, and is close to Munfordville, KY.</p>
<p>
His father was distinguished both in a military and a civil career. Graduating from West Point in 1844, the year after Grant, he participated in five major engagements of the Mexican War, and was brevetted for gallantry to captain of infantry at Molino dei Rey. This war separated two details as instructor at West Point, first in Ethics, later in Tactics. In the Civil War, after joining the C.S.A. as a Brigadier General, the defection and virtual desertion of his superiors, Floyd and Pillow, with their commands, forced his surrender of Fort Donelson to Grant. After exchange a few months later, he served with distinction through the Perryville and Chickamauga campaigns as a Major General Commanding Divisions or Corps, and attaining rank of Lieutenant General in 1864 while in command of the Confederate forces of Eastern Tennessee. In high marks of his civil career, he appears as editor of the Louisville Courier, and as Governor of Kentucky (1887-1891), while never relinquishing his avocation as a gentleman farmer and scholar at his estate of Glen Lily where he died in 1914 at the advanced age of 91. After the Civil War he was a leading disciple of Lincoln’s charge to “bind up the nation’s wounds”. He saw much of Grant in the reconstruction days, never lost that friendship begun while cadets, and was a pallbearer at Grant’s funeral. At his death his fellow statesmen reverently called him “the leading citizen of Kentucky”. During his son’s cadet (Jays, the old gentleman was a visitor at our summer camps and those of us privileged to gather around him afternoons out at the visitors seats will never forget his distinguished, erect, and virile bearing although then over 80, his kindly manner, nor his stories of war days spun by the hour. His was a life and character to cast important influence on the career of his son; the lessons were well learned.</p>
<p>
<em>Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr</em>., was born July 18, 1886, the only child of his father’s second marriage. Of his boyhood days he once wrote for an article appearing in TIME:</p>
<p>
“I went barefooted, hunted, trapped, fished, swam, canoed, raised chickens, fought roosters, rode 6 miles daily for the mall, trained dogs, did odd farm jobs, learned not to eat green persimmons, and occasionally walked 8 miles to Munfordville to broaden my horizon by seeing the train come in, learning the fine points of horse trading, or listening to learned legal and political discussion on county court day”.</p>
<p>
After attending various schools near home, he spent two years at the Virginia Military Institute whence he received his West Point appointment from President Theodore Roosevelt, entering June 16, 1904 and graduating February 14, 1908, number 68 in a class finally numbering 108. He took his academic course in stride, holding his position about mid-class with little effort. In the battalion of that day, he was a corporal, a sergeant, and finally a lieutenant. Without excelling in athletics, he played scrub football, was a member of our indoor meet teams, and gave much time to boxing and wrestling under Tom Jenkins. He ranked high in “dis”, earning all the Christmas leaves possible under the demerit rules of that day, and had a standing date to spend each in Washington, where he was the bright spot of every party he attended. At each annual class meeting, he was always returned second ranking hop manager. He never enjoyed a joke better than when on himself. He was a great favorite at one of the quarters in Professors’ Row and one afternoon was pointing out the virtues of Toby, a cocker spaniel, to the owner, his hostess. In a moment of confusion between the dog’s name and the familiar name of the Professor, he remarked, “You know, ma’am, I think Gus looks almost human at times!” At every succeeding visit, company or no, this good lady would compel him to repeat the blasphemy, she foremost in the ensuing merriment save when the Professor was also present and himself took the lead.</p>
<p>
Upon graduation he was assigned to the 9th Infantry. To show how earnestly he took his chosen career, he devoted part of his graduation leave to a trip to the Canal Zone where the job was approaching its maximum swing. Here he stayed with the Chief Engineer who was very fond of him; he hiked for miles through the Cut and over the lock sites, rode dirt trains and pounded jungle trails for his first taste of what moving foot troops over such ground and in such climate would mean. Thus began the preparation for his supreme command. It might be said his whole career was ideally patterned for that climax but it will be enough in this sketch to name the more important details. He began to know the Philippines from a tour in Cebu from 1910 to 1912. After various details in the U.S. which included a year as Assistant Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds in Washington, he returned to the Philippines for another year in 1916, now with the 27th Infantry, spent between Manila and Baguio.</p>
<p>
While on this tour he went on leave to marry Miss Adele Blanc of a well-known New Orleans family, the wedding taking place in Louisville, Ky., December 30, 1916. Of this happy union were born three children: Simon Bolivar Buckner III at Louisville. KY., November 18, 1918; Mary Blanc Buckner at West Point, N.Y., August 22, 1922; and William Claiborne Buckner at Fort Leavenworth, KS., June 29, 1926. Simon is a veteran of World War II having come up through the ranks and served overseas with distinction through North Africa, Sicily, Italy and France with the 927th Signal Battalion, attaining the rank of Captain; he is now with an export-import firm in New York City. Mary graduated from Stanford University, in December, 1945, and is presently with her Mother in San Francisco. William is a cadet at West Point in the class of 1948 which will be graduated just 104 years after that of his illustrious grandfather—a family span of years, bridging but a single intervening generation, unique in the annals of the U.S. Military Academy.</p>
<p>
If Simon Buckner, Jr., was disappointed to miss action in the First World War, he contributed valuably to training the more fortunate, for at Kelly Field, TX., as Major in the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps, he successively commanded and put through the traces the 5th Provisional Regiment, S.C., and other units including the 1st and 3d Training Brigades. In August 1918, he was with the Operations Section of the Air Service in Washington, becoming in October a student at the War College. The next 17 years were to find him schooling most of the time and on each side of the teacher’s desk.</p>
<p>
In May 1919, after assignment to the 83d Infantry, came his first detail to West Point as Instructor of Infantry Tactics, commanding a battalion of cadets. After four years of this came a detail as student at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, followed by the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, which he completed as a Distinguished Graduate, remaining to instruct for an additional three years. Then came another four years at the Army War College where, after completing the one year course, he remained as Executive Officer till 1932.</p>
<p>
That year saw his return to West Point, this time as Assistant to the Commandant of Cadets for one year,—then as Commandant for three years until June 1936. His rule is remembered for constructive progressiveness, with a share of severity tempered with hard, sound sense and justice. On prior summer practice marches, cadets were used to having the comforts of straw supplied for pup tents. In the first practice march he conducted, the first captain complained when none appeared, to be told promptly by Buckner “nobody had heard anything about straw this year”, so the cadets slept on the ground. The growlers of that time later, silently thanked him when they came to the troop training courses of 1940 and 1941. When there was a kick about a punishment deemed by some cadets too severe, he addressed them in the mess hall and suggested, as a consideration for mitigation, they return from Philadelphia the following Saturday with the Navy’s football. His regime, as Commandant thus highlighted and typified, marks him as an outstanding leader among those to fill that important office. To honor his service, Camp Popolopen, now the summer training camp for the cadets, has been redesignated and named Camp Buckner.</p>
<p>
The succeeding four years found him on short details all over the country from Texas to Massachusetts: as umpire at maneuvers, taking refresher courses, organizing and training, attaining his colonelcy in January 1937. In July 1940 came his first real opportunity for important troop service when he was put at the head of the Alaskan Defense Command at Fort Richardson, attaining the rank of permanent Brigadier General on September 1st, one of the first of his class to wear the star with troops.</p>
<p>
His work in Alaska was that of a pioneer. He built roads, bases, personally tested types of clothing, boots and sleeping bags, and maintained high morale despite weather and terrain. Fully appreciating the value of cooperation with the other branches of the service, he gave a fine example of team work with the Navy. He spent much time flying around the Aleutian chain. He became a Major General, A.U.S., on August 4, 1941. On June 4, 1942, his fliers and those of the Navy located a fleet of Jap carriers, cruisers and destroyers patently bound for Dutch Harbor and drove them back, despite fog and rain, with heavy loss and damage, thus defeating the nearest actual threat to security of the Pacific Coast region. His was the training of the Army task force which finally recovered Attu in May 1943. On the 4th of this month he was promoted to Lieutenant General, A.U.S.</p>
<p>
During that summer of 1943 he made an official visit to Washington during which he was host at an impromptu class gathering held at Harvey’s. It proved to be the last time that so many of us were to be with him. His strong class feeling was proven by his making office visits on those whose duties kept them away from his party—managing to get all these tucked in between official demands. We found him unchanged, in superb physical trim, boyishly jovial as ever, loving his assignment, preaching his hobby of going all the way to instill into his troops the creed of cooperation with those In other arms of our service. He was so taken with the Alaskan country that he bought property at Anchorage for a permanent dwelling, and at Homer for a log cabin, planning to make the Territory his home after the war, an intention his family is proceeding to carry out. At Homer the American Legion Post has been named after him.</p>
<p>
In June 1944, he was assigned to Central Pacific Area, Fort Shatter, T.H., where he began training of units later to constitute the Tenth Army. Here he was most exacting in the physical tests and fitness demanded of his officers and men, and In the following silent months he was whipping his command into shape for one of the most vital campaigns of the whole war —Okinawa. How well this was done is given in words of Secretary Forrestal in citation for the Navy Department’s Distinguished Service Medal (Posthumous):</p>
<p>
“Charged with training and equipping the Tenth Army for the Okinawa Campaign, Lieutenant General Buckner developed each unit to a high state of combat readiness, integrating the whole as a formidable fighting command. Rendering invaluable assistance throughout the planning phase, he subsequently cooperated wholeheartedly with amphibious commanders during landing operations and immediately established his lines of supplies and communications when the beach heads were secured. Skillfully coordinating the fire power of all branches of the armed services under his command, he boldly executed maneuvers designed to neutralize savage Japanese resistance and despite the difficulties of extremely rugged terrain and adverse weather which frequently delayed the movements of both men and equipment, relentlessly pressed onward toward the objective, constantly rallying his tired, depleted troops and waging furious battle ... A dynamic leader and wise administrator, he had punctiliously established facilities for governing and care of thousands of the island’s civilians and his superb generalship and valiant conduct throughout the bitterly fought campaign were major factors in the ultimate conquest of this vital strategic base and reflect the highest credit upon Lieutenant General Buckner, his gallant command, and the United States Armed Services.”</p>
<p>
In the combined operation for which General Buckner commanded the Army troops, he launched the offensive on the Ryukyus when his 77th Division landed on Kerama Retto on March 26, 1945, and in three days secured all small islands in that chain and brought Okinawa, the key island, within artillery range. Then on April 1st, the XXIV Army Corps and III Marine Corps established beach heads along the west coast near Kadena. After a drive across the Island, the latter swung north and soon mopped up all the northern portion. The former, swinging south, ran into the stiffest, most stubborn opposition of the Pacific War requiring all the ingenuity and leadership of the commanding general to bring eventual success. The citation for his Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumous) says— “After planning and directing all phases of his army’s activities in the Okinawan operation, General Buckner had forced the Japanese to the southern tip of the island. Realizing that decisive action would undoubtedly result, he joined a forward regiment and proceeded to a battalion observation post approximately 300 yards behind the front lines closely to supervise the action of his troops. The inspiration attendant upon his personal presence gave great impetus to the attack, resulting in the annihilation of the enemy position. While in this advanced and perilous position (in vicinity of Mezato, June 18, 1945) General Buckner was killed by hostile artillery fire. The outstanding leadership, tactical genius, and personal courage of General Buckner thoroughly inspired his command, and culminated in final victory for the United States forces in Okinawa.”</p>
<p>
He had been struck by a shell fragment. Despite the efforts of a medical officer with him, General Buckner was pronounced dead ten minutes after being hit. Thus passed the officer of highest rank in the U.S. Army in this war to lose his life in action while exercising troop command. In a matter of hours the fighting in Okinawa was over, but it was written he might not witness the final victory. Had he been able so to read, his course would have been no different. He would not have complained. Through and through he was a soldier.</p>
<p>
The next day he was laid to rest beside comrades in the cemetery of the 7th Infantry Division, near Hagushi Beach, where he had led his men ashore that Easter Sunday—there to “find a soldier’s resting place beneath a soldier’s blow”.</p>
<p>
*****</p>
<p>
Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., while not as tall, was much like his father in face and manner. He had the same high forehead, blue eyes of unusual size and wide setting, slightly aquiline nose, finely moulded mouth, clear smooth skin, always in superb physical condition. He laughed with eyes as well as mouth and a boom that dominated the laughter of any gathering where he was present. His hair turned from deep brown to almost snow white, the sole change his Intimates noted in looks as the years went by, and he never lost that unique spirit of exuberant boyishness while off duty and in their company.</p>
<p>
Of the many traits of leadership he displayed, mention has been made of the “get along” spirit with which he inculcated his component of a mixed command. It is interesting to note the reaction of his Navy comrade’s. In the Alaskan days he worked closely with Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, and of this association the admiral writes: —</p>
<p>
“If the Jap forces penetrated to the eastward of a certain meridian. Army interests were to be considered ‘paramount’. If they remained to westward of that line, Navy interests were ‘paramount’. In each case the other commander was to cooperate with and to coordinate with, the commander having paramount interest.</p>
<p>
“As all of the operations were to the westward, the Navy was in direct command. General Buckner gave a full measure of cooperation. I could not have asked for greater courtesy and consideration.</p>
<p>
“General Buckner and I were resolved to make things go with the least possible interservice friction. We announced in loud tones that we did not give a damn how things got done, or by whom, provided they got done. We agreed that we would not back up our own subordinates but would decide each disagreement on its own merits. After the first shock of surprise, our subordinates began to settle their differences on their own levels and very few complaints were brought to us.</p>
<p>
“At General Buckner’s suggestion, he and his staff joined my mess when we moved to Adak. This did wonders toward developing mutual respect and understanding. Many minor problems, which might otherwise have loomed large, were settled across the luncheon table.</p>
<p>
“We made a point of consulting each other and of keeping each other informed. All important dispatches were discussed before sending, and they invariably ended with ‘Buckner concurs’ or ‘Kincaid concurs’ depending upon who was the originator.</p>
<p>
“After the Japs were driven out of the Aleutians and we separated to other duty, I often expressed the hope that when the war was over General Buckner and I would find ourselves in positions where we could work together to advance mutual understanding and respect between the services.</p>
<p>
“When General Buckner was killed on Okinawa I lost a friend whom I had learned to admire and trust, and the armed services lost a gallant and courageous officer of high integrity.”</p>
<p>
What a pattern to lay before those engaged in the study of future joint operations!</p>
<p>
Admiral R. A. Spruance, in same vein, says:—</p>
<p>
“During the planning for Okinawa, which lasted, so far as I was concerned, until my departure from Pearl Harbor the middle of January (1945), the relations existing between the naval commanders involved and General Buckner and his 10th Army were excellent. The detailed plans...were perfected between Admiral Turner, the Commander of the Joint Expeditionary Force, and General Buckner and their respective staffs with the greatest spirit of cooperation and good will.</p>
<p>
“During the actual fighting for Okinawa, which was of a very tough and prolonged character, both ashore and afloat, I was impressed by General Buckner’s stouthearted fighting qualities. He was active in getting about the entire area under his control and especially so in visiting the commands where the fighting was going on. . . .</p>
<p>
“It is my opinion, strongly reinforced by the experiences of this war, that the primary requisite for a commander in contact with the enemy is a willingness and desire to fight. General Buckner had this to a high degree. His death in action so close to the successful conclusion of the campaign for Okinawa was a great loss to the Army and to our country. Those of us in the Navy who had come to know him felt that, they had lost a personal friend as well as a comrade in arms.”</p>
<p>
Admiral R. K. Turner, who became more Intimately concerned with the development of the Okinawa plans and fighting, writes his impression in these words:—</p>
<p>
“I am a great admirer and a good friend of General Buckner ... I had never met him until, in the summer of 1944, he arrived in Saipan to observe our amphibious operations (which I commanded) for the capture of that and other islands of the Marianas group. His interest in the development of that adventure was, of course, very vivid and personal, as he recently had been assigned to command the Tenth Army ...</p>
<p>
“My interest in General Buckner was equally vivid, since I had been designated to command the Joint Expeditionary Force, composed of Army, Navy, and Marine Corps contingents which were to undertake these future operations. (Okinawa). Though of the same relative grade (he a Lieutenant General, I a Vice Admiral), he was considerably senior to me by date of commission; however, no one ever was made aware of that fact by anything that Simon Buckner ever said or did. Our personal and official relations were invariably cordial, cooperative, and most pleasant.</p>
<p>
“... Tenth Army plans were far-seeing, comprehensive, practical—and successful in the highest degree. The chief credit for the formulation and execution of these plans belongs personally to General Buckner, who showed himself to be a great military planner, and a leader who knew the secret of employing effectively all parts of his military machine. He enjoyed the complete confidence and devotion not only of his own Army troops, but also of the Marine Corps divisions and Navy land contingents which formed parts of the Tenth Army, and also of the naval and air forces operating in support of the Tenth Army. His strategic and tactful solution of the difficult problems confronting him was beyond all criticism.</p>
<p>
“I am very proud to have been associated with General Buckner in the stirring and arduous conditions which obtained throughout the decisive Okinawa campaign. General Buckner’s energy and courage were as boundless as his kindness and generosity. In fact, his courage, and his constant habit, of taking the same chances as he required from his comrades-in-arms lost to his country and to his friends this great military leader and great man”.</p>
<p>
On June 19, 1945, on the floor of the Senate, this tribute was paid by Senator Chandler of Kentucky:—</p>
<p>
“This ruddy-faced, white-thatched apostle of the vigorous life had seen the new United States Tenth Army drive deeper and deeper into enemy territory in Okinawa until at last he stood on the threshold of complete victory on that important battlefield. Fate deprived him of seeing the curtain run down on one of the most important acts that foretells the fall of Japan.</p>
<p>
“He leaves behind him a heritage as rich as that received from his father. It was the will to win that characterized Simon Bolivar Buckner as he met his death on Okinawa. A man who attacked life aggressively, he never asked the men under his command to do a job he would not do himself”.</p>
<p>
And Senator Barkley, first referring to the loss of 18 of our generals in this war, proceeded to add:—</p>
<p>
“No one of them had rendered a greater service to his country, no one of them had a greater or more sacred background of military tradition, no one of them will leave a heritage of more glorious memory and accomplishment than Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr.</p>
<p>
“We in Kentucky especially today feel a deep grief because of his untimely death, and the tragic circumstances of it, but I am sure that all over America, and wherever men love devotion and sacrifice and self-abnegation, they appreciate the fact that, as we plant the grain in the soil to give forth a plentiful harvest in the years to come, we have planted in the soil of democracy the fertile seed which in the years to come will burgeon forth into a bountiful harvest of liberty and democracy and equality among the men of the earth. It is in that spirit that we reconcile ourselves as Kentuckians and as Americans to the death of this great man and outstanding general and soldier, Simon Bolivar Buckner”.</p>
<p>
The press of the nation widely paid him compliment in editorials and one of them brought to mind an evening near the close of his tour as Commandant of Cadets when conversation drifted toward the Spirit of West Point. He mentioned a favorite poem that appeared anonymously in a cadet publication soon after World War I, and which should be immortalized if only for his own admiration of it. It runs:—</p>
<p>
“Oh Spartan Woman, I have peered behind<br />
Your stoic poise and found the Mother there<br />
At last—the proud grey eyes—the cool grey hair—<br />
The tender face a hundred years have lined<br />
“With sorrow for the still straight sons returned<br />
Upon their blameless shields—the quiet pride<br />
That they had lived by you, went forth and died<br />
The Doric way. Grey Mother, they have earned<br />
“Those shields. They have justified the trust<br />
You placed in them and come again to live<br />
And breathe as part of you. Today you give<br />
A burnished shield to me—to guard from rust—<br />
To hold before my heart—and bid me go.<br />
Stern Spartan, I salute you—but I know!”</p>
<p>
And as if in perfect continuity of the sentiment, the New York Sun spoke editorially:—</p>
<p>
“It was a bright, untarnished shield on which General Buckner was borne to rest beside his men...so far along the road toward the victory of which he was one of the major builders”.</p>
<p>
President Truman, in citation for award of the Purple Heart (Posthumous) sets forth that “in the unbroken line of patriots who have dared to die that freedom might live ... he lives—in a way that humbles the undertakings of most men”.</p>
<p>
His classmates and friends who glimpsed the early signs of his promising qualities take pride in all the words of high praise which acclaim their realization. And as we broadly view his whole career and personality, we may also humbly add, as one of them suggests, those lines of Kipling:—</p>
<p>
“E’en as he trod that day to God, so walked he from his birth,<br />
In simpleness and gentleness and honour and clean mirth.”</p>
<p>
<em>—A Classmate</em></p>
<p>
</p>