Willis D. Crittenberger

Lieutenant General Willis Dale Crittenberger (December 2, 1890 – August 4, 1980) was a senior officer of the United States Army.

He was a career soldier who served with distinction during the Italian campaign of World War II Crittenberger was born in Baltimore, Maryland on December 2, 1890.

In February 1942, two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the German declaration of war on the United States four days later, Crittenberger was promoted to the temporary rank of major general on February 16 and assumed command of the division while Patton was sent to command the I Armored Corps.

At the same time, Lieutenant General Jacob L. Devers, Commanding General (CG) of the North African Theater of Operations, United States Army (NATOUSA), was seeking a corps commander for the U.S. Fifth Army's IV Corps for the Italian campaign and Crittenberger was chosen.

Crittenberger commanded IV Corps, still part of the Fifth Army, now commanded by Lieutenant General Lucian Truscott (like Crittenberger, a cavalryman whom Crittenberger had taught while he was an instructor at the U.S. Army Cavalry School), after Lieutenant General Clark was promoted to the command of 15th Army Group, as the western arm of the Allied thrust through northern Italy (codenamed Operation Grapeshot) to the Po River, capturing large numbers of German troops, and which ultimately ended with the surrender of the remaining German forces in Italy on May 2, 1945.

Corporal Townsend Woodhull Crittenberger (born May 13, 1925) was killed in action during the Rhine River crossing on March 25, 1945, during the final days of World War II, aged just 19.

[2][7] Colonel Dale Jackson Crittenberger (USMA 1950) (born May 27, 1927) commanding the 3rd Brigade of the 9th Infantry Division during the Vietnam War was killed in a mid-air collision on September 17, 1969, while directing combat operations, aged 42.

[2] Lieutenant General Willis Dale Crittenberger died in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on August 4, 1980, at the age of 89.

At West Point in 1913
On the left, Major General Willis D. Crittenberger and, on the right, General George C. Marshall , the U.S. Army Chief of Staff , at Fort Benning , Georgia , June 1942
Chaplain Paul J. Maddox conducting Easter sunrise services for men of IV Corps, Castelluccia, Italy, April 1, 1945. In front is the commander of IV Corps, Major General Willis D. Crittenberger.
Army commanders in the United States and certain overseas commanders meet with Secretary of the Army Frank Pace and General J. Lawton Collins , Army Chief of Staff, in the Pentagon in routine sessions, June 5, 1952. Lieutenant General Willis D. Crittenberger is sat third from the left, between Lieutenant General Edward H. Brooks (left) and General Collins.
The grave of Lieutenant General Willis Dale Crittenberger at Arlington National Cemetery