Lemnitzer graduated from the Coast Artillery School in 1921, and then served at Fort Adams in Rhode Island and in the Philippines. He was an instructor at West Point from 1926 to 1930.
At the start of World War II Lemnitzer served with the 70th Coast Artillery Regiment and then the 38th Coast Artillery Brigade. In May 1941, Lemnitzer, then a colonel, was assigned to the War Plans Division of the Army staff, and then to the staff of the Army Ground Forces.
World War II
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Lyman Lemnitzer with his personal M-16 rifle. Known somewhat for his eccentric personality, General Lemnitzer preferred to use an M-16 as his personal firearm, rather than an M1911 semi-automatic pistol which was the standard firearms for general officers.[3]
Lemnitzer was promoted to brigadier general in June 1942 and commanded the 34th Coast Artillery Brigade. He was subsequently assigned to General Dwight D. Eisenhower's staff, where he helped plan the invasions of North Africa and Sicily and was promoted to major general in November 1944. Lemnitzer was one of the senior officers sent to negotiate the Italian fascist surrender during the secret Operation Sunrise and the German surrender in 1945.
As chairman, Lemnitzer approved the plans known as Operation Northwoods in 1962, a proposed plan to discredit the Castro regime and create support for military action against Cuba by orchestrating false flag acts of terrorism and developing "a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington". Lemnitzer presented the plans to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on March 13, 1962. It is unclear how McNamara reacted, but three days later President John F. Kennedy told the general that there was no chance that the US would take military action against Cuba. Within a few months, after the refusal to endorse Operation Northwoods, Lemnitzer was denied another term as chairman.[4]
In November 1962, Lemnitzer was appointed as commander of U.S. European Command and as NATO'sSupreme Allied Commander Europe, which was a positional demotion from being chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His time in command saw the Cyprus crisis of 1963–1964 and the withdrawal of NATO forces from France in 1966. Known somewhat for his eccentric personality, instead of carrying in place a regulation M1911semi-automatic pistol which was commonly used by general officers, General Lemnitzer preferred to carry a long-barrelledM-16 Rifle as his personal firearm.[5][6] Lemnitzer is the only person to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs Staff and then serve in another U.S. military command after his term as chairman ended.[5][6]
Lemnitzer retired from the military in July 1969. His 14-year tenure as a four star general on active duty is the second longest at that rank in the history of the U.S. Army, after General William T. Sherman who held that rank from 1869 to 1884. He was the only person in history to serve as Army Chief of Staff, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as Supreme Allied Commander for NATO.
General Lemnitzer is one of only four officers in the history of the United States Army to have actively served as a general during three major wars (World War II, Korea and Vietnam). The others were Winfield Scott (War of 1812, Mexican War, Civil War), Douglas MacArthur (World War I, World War II and Korea) and Lewis Hershey (World War II, Korea, Vietnam).
^Rearden, Steven L. (2012). Council of war : a history of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. NDU Press for the Joint History Office, Office of the Director, Joint Staff, Joint Chiefs of Staff. p. 175. ISBN978-1-78039-886-0.
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