Eagle Scout: September 23, 1930
Birth: March 26, 1914
Death: July 18, 2005
Burial: West Point Cemetery, United States Military Academy
Find A Grave | Spartanburg Herald-Journal, January 18, 1970, page C1
Gen. William Westmoreland, Army Chief of Staff, 1969
(Official U.S. Department of Defense photo, public domain)
Troop 1 raises funds for West Point marker for General Westmoreland | (Photo via Troop 1 Archives)
William Childs Westmoreland grew up in Spartanburg County, the son of James Ripley Westmoreland and Eugenia Talley Childs. He joined Troop 1 at the Episcopal Church of the Advent and earned his Eagle Scout rank in September 1930, becoming the second Eagle Scout in South Carolina, after fellow Troop 1 Scout Dr. George Dean Johnson.
After a year at The Citadel, Westmoreland was appointed to West Point on the nomination of family friend and U.S. Senator James F. Byrnes, graduating in 1936 as First Captain, the top cadet leadership post in his class. He saw combat in World War II with the 9th Infantry Division in North Africa and Europe. In 1947 he married Katherine “Kitsy” Stevens Van Deusen, whom he had met years earlier while stationed at Fort Sill; the couple remained married for the rest of his life and raised three children. He went on to command a parachute infantry regiment in the 82nd Airborne and an airborne regimental combat team in Korea, and was promoted to brigadier general in 1952 at age 38 — one of the youngest generals in the post-war Army. He later commanded the 101st Airborne Division and served as Superintendent of West Point from 1960 to 1963.
Westmoreland commanded U.S. forces in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968, leading an American commitment that grew from roughly 16,000 troops to more than 500,000, and was named Time magazine’s Man of the Year in 1965. He went on to serve as Army Chief of Staff until his 1972 retirement, later ran for Governor of South Carolina, and was grand marshal of a 1986 Chicago parade that welcomed home Vietnam veterans.
General Westmoreland died on July 18, 2005, in Charleston, at age 91, and was buried at West Point following services at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church. In 2006, Troop 1 raised funds to help place a marker in his honor at West Point.
Sources: Wikipedia, “William Westmoreland”; Troop 1 archives; Post and Courier death notice, July 2005.
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