Born in Spartanburg County, South Carolina on March 26th, 1914 was William Westmoreland. He went from being an Eagle Scout in his local Boy Scout troop to a lieutenant colonel in World War II and a United States Army General in the Vietnam War.
William started his career by enrolling in West Point Academy. By the time of his graduation, he had become the corps first captain and received the Pershing Sword in honor of his success as a cadet. He was later assigned to artillery officer in WWII, but the end of the war he worked his way up to chief of staff in the 9th Infantry Division.After the War he went on to enroll himself into Harvard Business School.
He later earned the title of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam in the Vietnam War. Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense, bragged to president Lydon B. Johnson that Westmoreland was, “the best we have, without question. ” In 1964, Westmoreland commanded 16,000 men in Vietnam with aggressive strategies. Him and his men won a series of battles, one of them being the Battle of Dak To.
In early 1968, he lead his men to fight against the VietCong that had invaded into South Vietnam and was victorious. However, later that year he was replaced Creighton W. Abrahams and became the Army Chief of Staff. William retired in 1972 to run as the Republican candidate for governer of South Carolina, but he lost.
HE went on the write a book called, “A Soilders Report,” that was published in 1980. On July 18th, 2005, William Westmoreland died of natural causes in Bishop Gardens Retirement Home.
