In Memory of a President's Son - for D-Day

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Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. in France.  Short and bandy legged.  A man who needed a cane and had a bad heart; 57 years old and looking older.  He was the first General ashore leading his men on D-Day

In memory of Brigadier General  Theodore Roosevelt Jr.,  awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Normandy June 6, 1944.

Citation:  “for gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 6 June 1944, in France. After 2 verbal requests to accompany the leading assault elements in the Normandy invasion had been denied, Brig. Gen. Roosevelt’s written request for this mission was approved and he landed with the first wave of the forces assaulting the enemy-held beaches. He repeatedly led groups from the beach, over the seawall and established them inland. His valor, courage, and presence in the very front of the attack and his complete unconcern at being under heavy fire inspired the troops to heights of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice. Although the enemy had the beach under constant direct fire, Brig. Gen. Roosevelt moved from one locality to another, rallying men around him, directed and personally led them against the enemy. Under his seasoned, precise, calm, and unfaltering leadership, assault troops reduced beach strong points and rapidly moved inland with minimum casualties. He thus contributed substantially to the successful establishment of the beachhead in France .”

Imagine it is D-Day, June 6, 1944, and you are a young private.

You are hitting Utah Beach in the very first wave, into the teeth of the German army, against a rainfall of enemy gunfire, artillery shrapnel and gore. You are filled with fear.

And there on the beach in front of you, stands an old man.  An American brigadier general - bull frog-voiced, pop-eyed, 5-foot-8 inches tall, and directing traffic with his cane.  Calm as a man can be in combat, he is Ted Roosevelt Jr., the son of the famous president and the only general on the beach.

General Roosevelt was 57 years old.  After serving in first world war he had been instrumental in forming the American Legion in 1919.  He later served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Governor of Puerto Rico, Governor General of the Philippines, a Vice-President of Doubleday Books and Chairman of American Express.  During the second world war he served as a Brigadier General.

Ted was the eldest son of President Theodore Roosevelt and First Lady Edith Kermit Carow. He was born at the family estate in Cove Neck, Oyster Bay, New York, when his father was just starting his political career. As the son of President Theodore Roosevelt, we now refer to him as “Jr”, but he was actually Theodore III and one of his own sons was Theodore IV. His siblings were brothers Kermit, Archie, and Quentin; sister Ethel; and half-sister Alice.

Ted attended the private Groton School and then graduated from Harvard in 1909.  He had some military training prior to the outbreak of World War I.  A military summer camp had been organized at Plattsburg New York to provide training for business and professional men at their own expense.

This summer training program provided the base of a greatly expanded junior officers’ corps when the country entered World War I. During that summer, many well-heeled young men from some of the finest east coast schools, including three of the four Roosevelt sons, attended the military camp. When the United States entered the war the armed forces offered commissions to the graduates of these schools based on their performance. The National Defense Act of 1916 continued the student military training and the businessmen’s summer camps. It placed them on a firmer legal basis by authorizing an Officers’ Reserve Corps and a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).

When the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, Ted volunteered to be one of the first soldiers to go to France. There, he was recognized as the best battalion commander in his division.  According to the division commander. Roosevelt braved hostile fire and gas and always led his battalion in battle.

So concerned was he for his men’s welfare that he purchased combat boots for the entire battalion with his own money. He eventually commanded the 26th Regiment in the 1st Division as a lieutenant colonel. He fought in several major battles, including America’s first victory at Cantigny.

Ted was gassed and wounded in the leg by machine gun fire at Soissons during the summer of 1918. In July of that year, his youngest brother Quentin had been killed in air combat.

Ted received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions during the war. France conferred upon him the Chevalier Légion d’honneur. Before the troops came home from France, Ted was one of the founders of the soldiers’ organization that developed as the American Legion.

During World War II upon his arrival in North Africa, Roosevelt became known as a general who often visited the front lines. He had always preferred the heat of the battle to the comfort of the command post, and this attitude would culminate in his actions in France on D-Day.

Roosevelt led the 26th Infantry in an attack on Oran, Algeria, on November 8, 1942 as part of Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa. During 1943, he was the Assistant Division Commander (ADC) of the 1st Infantry Division in the campaign in North Africa under Major General Terry Allen. He was cited for the Croix de guerre by the military commander of French Africa, General Alphonse Juin.

Roosevelt however did not escape criticism.  Roosevelt’s collaboration and friendship with his commander, the hard-fighting, hard-drinking Major General Terry Allen, and their unorthodox approach to warfare did not escape the attention of General George Patton, the Seventh Army commander in Sicily who disapproved of such officers who “dressed down” and were seldom seen in regulation field uniforms, and who placed little value in Patton’s spit-shined ways in the field.  Patton thought them both un-soldierly for it and wasted no opportunity to send derogatory reports to General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Patton would live to carry Roosevelt’s casket as a pall bearer at his funeral.

No one, but no one expected this 57 year old eldest son of a President, with a cane and a bad heart, to hit the beach on D-Day. Yet he insisted that he accompany his troops.  And he insisted in writing.  After being turned down twice his request was approved the third time.  Major General “Tubby” Barton approved the request with grave misgivings; he did not expect to see T.R. Jr. alive again and bid him farewell.  Instead Teddy met General Barton on the beach when he came ashore.

Roosevelt would be the only General  on D-Day to land with the first wave.  He was the first soldier off his landing craft as he led the U.S. 4th Infantry Division’s 8th Infantry Regiment and 70th Tank Battalion landing at Utah Beach.  Omar Bradley later said seeing T. R. Jr. directing men on the beach was the bravest thing he ever saw.

At the same time, his son Quentin Roosevelt II was landing with the First Division on Omaha Beach; the only father and son at Normandy.

His men loved him.  General Patton not so much.

Theodore  Roosevelt Jr. died of a heart attack near St. Mere-Eglise on the evening July 12, 1944 after spending the day with his son Quentin who had visited him from Omaha Beach.  They spoke of what they each would do when the war was over.

Later that evening Ted suffered a massive heart attack.  He was spending the night in an abandoned German truck with his men.  He never knew that his bravery was to win him command of his own infantry division and that he would be awarded the Medal of Honor.

He is buried with his men at the American Cemetery at Normandy, next to his brother Quentin Roosevelt who died in air combat in the Great War.

Think about a time when the sons and grandsons of Presidents led the way.

We will never see their like again.

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General Patton at the funeral of Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

This is so well written, informative and moving, I think I'm better off for having read it. Ignorant me, I never knew of this exemplary man. During my 20 years in the Navy, I routinely heard the word "leadership" discussed and admit to being far better at repairing Navy jets than I was at leading men. I did my best, though. Here in Theodore Roosevelt Jr, I see a man who had it all.

[toritto]

Thanks for the kind remarks Sam. Glad you liked. I've always been fascinated with history and especially those events that few remember or learn about anymore. I too did my best, serving 4 years in the Army during Vietnam. I never went to the war zone. I went where I was sent (Africa), did what I was ordered and did nothing which my country or I should be ashamed. Best regards from Florida.