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<em>James M. Gavin</em> enlisted in the Army at 16 in order to escape from his harsh early life as an orphan in a coal town. Though he had not completed high school he passed the examination to enter the Academy with the Class of 1929. His foster parents, who wanted him back in the coal fields to support them in their old age, threatened to force him out of West Point by telling the authorities that he had lied about his age on enlistment. This burden he carried throughout his years at the Academy. He determined not to stand too high in his class for fear that so doing would make them exercise their threat. It was also at the Academy, he told friends later in life, that he learned about courage. He said he found nothing in combat or parachuting more fearful than jumping bareback.</p>
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On graduation Gavin tried to become a military pilot but failed the course and joined the 25th Infantry in Arizona. Here occurred a story he loved to tell about himself. Ordered to have his pup tent lined up and identical with all the other lieutenants’ tents, he complied. But several days later around his pup tent he planted bunches of sweet-peas. He had created his special place. He had a sense of self that permitted him to venture mentally and physically into areas where others feared to tread. However, in evaluating some of those areas, such as Jim’s claim that he prepared for battle by never sleeping on a bed after Pearl Harbor, we should remember that among all that he was, Gavin was also an Irishman with a gift for an occasional tall tale.</p>
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His war service was and is the stuff of legend. Leaving the Academy’s Department of Tactics as a captain in 1941, he went through jump school and by 1942 was a colonel in command of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. In July 1943 he jumped with his parachute spearhead in Sicily and did the same at Salerno that September. That same month he was promoted to brigadier general and became assistant division commander of the 82nd Airborne. As such he jumped with his men into Normandy the night of D-l. He assumed command of the division in August, becoming the youngest major general and division commander since the Civil War. He led the 82nd in Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge and the Spring Offensive into Germany.</p>
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Right after the war Jim married Jean Emert. It is impossible to envisage Jim’s life, both during and after the Army, apart from Jean and his family. One source of Gavin’s magnetism was his unreconstructed romanticism. Jean helped him see the world whole. At home with his wife and family, daughters Barbara, Caroline, Patricia, Aileen, and Chloe, Gavin could relax and display that humor and affection he often kept hidden in his public life. Incidentally he taught his daughters to parachute jump by having them leap from the second-story window of their Massachusetts house into the snow banks outside. At his death the family included nine grandchildren and one great-grandson.</p>
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As he had been in World War II, Gavin continued to be an innovative Army leader. He promoted such then revolutionary ideas as the use of satellites, sky cavalry, and helicopters. In 1958 as a lieutenant general, Gavin showed that his moral courage was the equal of his physical courage, when he resigned from the Army rather than have to continue to defend before Congress military programs he felt endangered American security.</p>
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At the time of his resignation his decorations included the Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster; the Distinguished Service Medal; the Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster; the Purple Heart; Combat Infantryman Badge; Parachutist Badge with four Combat Jump Stars and Distinguished Unit Emblem. His foreign decorations included the Belgian Order of the Crown with Palm, Grade of Commander; Croix de Guerre with Palm; Fourragere; the French Legion of Honor, Grand Rank of Officer; Croix de Guerre with Palm; Fourragere; the British Distinguished Service Order; the Italian Order of the Crown, Grand Officer; The Netherlands Order of Orange-Nassau, with Swords, Grand Officer; Orange Lanyard; the Morocco Order of Quissam Alaouite Cherifien, Grade of Grand Officer; and the USSR Russian Order of Alexander Nevsky.</p>
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Jim was ambivalent about his life after he left the service. One day he would rejoice that, as CEO of Arthur D. Little, his world had broadened and life had become easier for Jean and his children. At other times he would lament that however important his civilian work, he felt outside of events. He missed being at the center of his country’s actions and problems. Indeed, he left private life briefly to become President Kennedy’s Ambassador to France, and continued all his life to serve on a number of important government, corporate, and charitable boards.</p>
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Gavin’s last major public involvement concerned that divisive and corrosive issue, the Vietnam War. He had written at length about his emotional and intellectual involvement with the Vietnam/ Indo-China problem, beginning with his work for his friend and mentor, General Matthew Ridgway, at the time of Dien Bien Phu. Little need be added here. Once again Jim was in his own special place. He never saw the war as morally wrong; he was certain ours was the better side; but he was equally certain the war was a strategic mistake. In his battles and ideas about Vietnam, such as the enclave theory, or his short drive for the Presidency, Gavin was sustained by the support of many of his classmates and service friends, who knew that while he might often march to the beat of a different drummer, he always marched with the flag.</p>
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Somehow he found time to write five books: Airborne Warfare, War and Peace in the Space Age, France and the Civil War in America, Crisis Now and On To Berlin.</p>
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His country will remember him for his military vision, inventiveness and the depth of his physical and moral courage. His friends will remember him for the delight of his smile, the warmth of his trust, and the reach of his mind.</p>
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A Gavin Scholarship Fund, administered by the Association of Graduates, has been established to help candidates in whom the Academy is interested obtain the academic credits they lack for admission.</p>