Albert Coady Wedemeyer
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Albert Coady Wedemeyer (9 July 1897 - 17 December 1989) was an American soldier, who served primarily in the Second World War in Asia. His most notable command was the China theater in the South-East Asia Theatre. During the Cold War, Wedemeyer was a chief supporter of the Berlin Airlift.
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[edit] Life and Military Career
Albert C. Wedemeyer was born on July 9th, 1897, in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1919, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Wedemeyer ranked at Lieutenant Colonel and was assigned as a Staff Officer to the war-plans division of the United States War Department. Notably, in 1941 he was the chief author of the Victory Program, which advocated the defeat of Germany's armies in Europe as the prime war objective for the U.S. This plan was adopted and expanded as the war progressed. Additionally, Wedemeyer helped to plan the Normandy Invasion.
In 1943, Wedemeyer was reassigned to the South-East Asia Theatre to be Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander of the South East Asia Command (SEAC), Lord Louis Mountbatten. In October 1944, with the dismissal of General Joseph Stilwell, Wedemeyer was selected as Chief of Staff to the Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and commander of American forces in China. In this time period, Wedemeyer gained valuable knowledge of the capabilities of the Allied Aircraft as they flew from India over the Hump into China to resupply the Nationalist Chinese Army and American forces. Such forces included the United States Twentieth Air Force partaking in Operation Matterhorn and the Fourteenth Air Force operated by General Claire Chennault.
Wedemeyer served in China into 1946 and eventually was promoted to Army Chief of Plans and Operations. In 1948, he supported General Lucius D. Clay's plan to create an airbridge during the Berlin Crisis. His past experience in the war helped the plan and the commander of the airbridge over the Hump, Lieutenant General William H. Tunner, was placed in command of the Berlin Airlift operation.
In 1951, Wedemeyer retired, but was promoted to Full General in 1954. In 1958, Wedemeyer published his wartime memoir, Wedemeyer Reports!, which enjoyed repeated publishings. On December 17th, 1989, Wedemeyer died at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
[edit] Books
- Albert C. Wedemeyer, Wedemeyer Reports!, New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1958. Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 58-14458.
[edit] See also
- His son Albert Dunbar Wedemeyer, Captain, United States Army and a Central Intelligence Agency Operative.
