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John and his twin sister, Ellen, were the oldest of three children born to Beatrice and John Corley in Brooklyn, New York, on 4 August 1914. Growing up in a strongly Irish Catholic community and attending St. Paul’s Grammar School and St. Francis Prep instilled in John the moral values and deep religious convictions that so influenced his life.</div>
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Encouraged to attend the United States Military Academy by his former scoutmaster, Thorton B. Thayer, scion of West Point’s founder, Sylvanus Thayer, John received his nomination from the indomitable New York congressman, John Rooney, who was later to nominate John Jr. to the Class of 1967.</div>
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At West Point, John was “a skier of note” and a handball player of prowess, but his favorite sport was boxing. After World War II, John said, “Boxing to my way of thinking carried me through many times when things were rough in battle. Billy Cavanaugh was a real character builder. He made you keep fighting when you figured you didn’t have a chance.”</div>
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Upon graduation from the Military Academy, John was assigned to Randolph Field. He washed out of flight training, ending up at Fort Benning where he found his real love in the Army—the Infantry.</div>
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In 1939, John began a series of command positions from platoon leader to battalion commander with the 26th Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, rising from first lieutenant to lieutenant colonel in three years. As part of the first units to go overseas in World War II, John fought with the Big Red One from Africa to Czechoslovakia. Twenty-six awards and decorations tell the story of his service to his country.</div>
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Command Sergeant Major Ted Dobel, who fought through World War II with John, said, “He gave invincible courage to his troops because he was always in front with the attacking elements.” Colonel Tom Gendron added, “He was the idol of his troops, a man who fearlessly broke up enemy action in almost every battle.” Such action took place at El Guettar, Tunisia. John’s battalion, after fierce fighting, reached the foothills of Djebel Meheltat where the accurate fire of a well-placed machine gun nest stopped the advance. Detecting the position of the enemy gun, John with disregard for his own safety, worked himself around the hills and crawled to a position directly in its rear. From close range, with hand-grenades, he silenced the gun, killing one man, wounding two, putting four to flight, and taking two prisoners. The battalion was then permitted to advance a considerable distance without casualties. For this action, John was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Before the North African Campaign was ended, John also earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Soldier’s Medal, and Purple Heart.</div>
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In the campaign in Sicily, John was awarded the first of seven Oak Leaf Clusters to the Silver Star for continuing in the vanguard of the assault forces when other attacking units were forced to withdraw. One of his numerous citations stated that he inspired his men to supreme heights of courage and determination and drove relentlessly forward until the objective was taken.</div>
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Still commanding the 3rd Battalion, 26th Infantry when they landed at Omaha Beach, in the Normandy invasion, John won his third Silver Star for gallantry in action in the vicinity of St. Anne, Normandy, France, on 9 June 1944. The citation for this action reads, “When a flank element of his battalion was overrun by German infantry and armor, Colonel Corley fearlessly proceeded to the vulnerable area and, by his personal bravery and determination, encouraged the troops to resist further penetration of our lines. After checking the enemy onslaught, Colonel Corley seized the offensive and repeatedly risking his life to more advantageously maneuver personnel and weapons, assaulted and routed the hostile forces.” John’s battalion, thus, achieved the distinction of being the first organization in the 1st Division to reach its Army objective in the Normandy beachhead according to schedule.</div>
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In the breakthrough from St. Lo, John helped to lead the spearhead and fought through the bloody six-week battle for Aachen. Charles Whiting, in his book Bloody Aachen, wrote of John’s role, “Corley had suffered casualties enough in the final four day battle for the city. He was not going to risk the lives of his worn infantrymen unnecessarily in a frontal assault on the bunker. Instead, he ordered up one of his 155MM cannons. By midday it was in action pumping shot after shot into the defenses around the bunker at a range of less than two hundred yards. Soon it would turn fire on the bunker itself. Slowly the 26th Infantry was ripping the guts out of the last defense of Aachen.” When the garrison at Aachen was finally subdued on 21 October 1944, John had the honor of accepting the first unconditional surrender of a German city. For his leadership and gallantry in the capture of Aachen, he was awarded the third Oak Leaf Cluster to his Silver Star.</div>
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After again personally leading his battalion during fierce fighting in the Huertgen Forest in November 1944, John was awarded his fifth Silver Star. Then in frigid December came the Battle of the Bulge. The 1st Division was rushed into position around Buten-bach. John’s battalion was outnumbered and surrounded. In eight days of attack, they did not yield one inch of ground. The Big Red One held back the elite 12th Panzer Division which was the spearhead of the drive to Spa and Liege.</div>
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Following the war, John served at the war crime trials of the Nazi leaders in Nurnberg. He returned to the United States in February 1946, and was assigned to West Point as a tactical officer. His staff career began as Chief of Plans and Operations Division at the First Army Headquarters in 1947 following graduation from the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.</div>
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Shortly after the beginning of the Korean Conflict, John was one of twenty-one infantry commanders personally requested by General Douglas MacArthur for duty in Korea. He was assigned to the 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, as a battalion commander. He fought in the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter, won his second Distinguished Service Cross, and received a battlefield promotion on Bloody Mountain when his regimental commander was wounded. He commanded the 24th Infantry Regiment in the breakthrough to Kusan and in the mopping up of guerillas in the Chicksan area. He saw fierce combat action in the drive to the Yalu, in the withdrawal south of Seoul, and in the drive north again to the Han. During this action he won three more Silver Stars.</div>
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Upon returning from the Far East in May 1951, he was assigned as Chief of the Infantry Branch, Army Field Forces, Fort Monroe, Virginia. He was selected to attend the Army War College and upon graduation in 1954, was designated Assistant Chief of Staff, G-l, Headquarters, Seventh United States Army, Europe. He held that position until his reassignment to The Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, in August 1957, as Director of the Communications Department. In March 1958, he was appointed Director of the Infantry School’s Ranger Department. While at Fort Benning, he was instrumental in improving infantry communications and in developing a physical combat proficiency test which was later adopted by the Army to evaluate physical fitness for combat.</div>
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John was assigned in 1960 as Deputy Chief of Staff at Headquarters, U.S. Army Element SHAPE, Paris, for duty with NATO land forces in Denmark. After nomination for promotion to brigadier general in July 1962, John was ordered to Fort Benning for duty as the Assistant Division Commander, 2nd Infantry Division. He was named Chief of Staff, First United States Army, Governor’s Island, New York, in July 1964. He assumed duties as Deputy Commanding General, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, 16 January 1966, from which he retired 30 September 1966.</div>
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The 1967 Guiness Book of World Records cited John for being awarded the most Silver Stars to date. His decorations included the Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Silver Star with seven Oak Leaf Clusters, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star with three Oak Leaf Clusters, the Soldier’s Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Purple Heart.</div>
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John married the former Mary Elizabeth Buckley of Cambridge, Massachusetts in July 1942, before he left for overseas. He took great pride and pleasure in their seven children. He was a kind, loving husband and father. General Bob York, a classmate, wrote, “John was a man of great faith. He loved his God, his country, his family, and his fellow-man—in that order. He gave his all to each. He never had any trouble choosing "the harder right rather than the easier wrong.’ I know John had a favorable impact on my life and I’m sure on hundreds of others too—just being John.”</div>
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He is survived by his wife Mary; three sons, James W., Robert E., and Michael J. Corley; three daughters, Mrs. G. Lauren (Mary) Powers, Major Ellen E. Corley, ANC, and Carol A. Corley; his brother, James F. Corley; and three grandchildren. First Lieutenant John Thomas Corley, Jr., USMA 1967, was killed in combat in Vietnam in 1968.</div>
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John is remembered lovingly and with great admiration by his family and friends as a truly great soldier who epitomized that willingness to fight and survive against great odds. He served his country well. In the motto of his beloved 1st Infantry Division, he found “No mission too difficult, no sacrifice too great, duty first.”</div>
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<em>The Family</em></div>