General Alexander Haig, Rest in Peace.
Submitted 20FEB2010
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This morning, America lost one of her finest members of the warrior class. Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. passed away this morning at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 85.
General Haig graduated from West Point in 1947 and continued his academic studies at Columbia with an MBA in 1955 and a Masters in International Relations from Georgetown in 1961, his thesis focused on the role of the military officer in the making of national policy.
His military career is extensive as well, during the occupation of Japan he was on General MacAruthur’s staff, during the early part of the Korean war he was responsible for MacArthur’s morning briefings and map/situation room. Haig saw combat in Korea where he earned two Silver Stars for heroism and a Bronze star with Valor Device, his battle experience included 7 campaigns including the Battle of Inchon and the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. He then received the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest medal in the military, for his actions during the battle of Ap Gu in March 1967. The citation reads thusly:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918 (amended by act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Lieutenant Colonel (Armor) Alexander M. Haig, Jr. (ASN: 0-50790), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam, while serving with while serving with Headquarters, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. Lieutenant Colonel Haig distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 31 March and 1 April 1967 while serving as battalion commander during an attack by a numerically superior Viet Cong force near Ap Gu. When two of his companies were engaged by a large hostile force, Colonel Haig landed amid a hail of fire, personally took charge of the units, called for artillery and air fire support, and succeeded in soundly defeating the insurgent force. Before dawn the nest day, when a single mortar round fell near the perimeter, Colonel Haig recognized it as the registering round prior to a massive attack and immediately alerted his entire unit. Within five minutes a barrage of 400 rounds was fired by the Viet Cong, but it was ineffective because of the warning and preparations by Colonel Haig. As the barrage subsided, a force three times larger than his began a series of human wave assaults on the camp. Heedless of the danger to himself, Colonel Haig repeatedly braved intense hostile fire to survey the battlefield. His personal courage and determination, and his skillful employment of every defense and support tactic possible, inspired his men to fight with previously unimagined power. Although his force was outnumbered three to one, Colonel Haig succeeded in inflicting 592 casualties on the Viet Cong. Lieutenant Colonel Haig’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
I include the entire citation because it is important to place the man with the deeds.
In 1969, he was appointed as Military Assistant to Henry Kissenger, the Presidential Assistant for National Security Affairs.By 1973 Haig was appointed chief of the Army. He was then chief of staff for Nixon in the final months of Nixon’s administration.
nato photo 1977
This is taken from wiki, it is accurate, I like the detail: Haig served as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and Commander IN Chief US Army Europe, (CinCUSEUR), the Commander of NATO forces in Europe, from 1974 to 1979. A creature of habit, Haig took the same route to SHAPE every day and this pattern of behavior did not go unnoticed by terrorist groups. On June 25, 1979, Haig was the victim of an assassination attempt in Mons, Belgium A land mine blew up under the bridge on which Haig’s car was traveling, narrowly missing Haig’s car but wounding three of his bodyguards in a following car. Authorities later attributed responsibility for the attack to the Red Army Faction (RAF). In 1993 a German Court sentenced Rolf Clemens Wagner, a former RAF member, to life imprisonment for the assassination attempt.
Haig was then named as Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of State and served there from 1981 to 1982. It was in this position, just before the handover of power after Reagan was shot that Haig proclaimed his famous and most misrepresented comment:
“Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the President, the Vice President and the Secretary of State in that order, and should the President decide he wants to transfer the helm to the Vice President, he will do so. He has not done that. As of now, I am in control here, in the White House, pending return of the Vice President and in close touch with him. If something came up, I would check with him, of course.
—Alexander Haig , Alexander Haig, autobiographical profile in TIME Magazine, April 2, 1984[19]”
I wasn’t talking about transition. I was talking about the executive branch, who is running the government. That was the question asked. It was not, “Who is in line should the President die?”
—Alexander Haig, Alexander Haig interview with 60 Minutes II April 23, 2001
Of course, the biased asses on the left mis-represented what he said entirely, which is nothing new for the MSM. Haig was a man of action, a leader, and a warrior, qualities that his detractors will never attain. Rest in Peace, General.
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