DUANE
Duane's take
The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of a man from a small Texas town who ended up shaping the course of a world war — and then some. This is Duane, and this one comes straight off the historical record. Chatfield, Texas.
Navarro County. January 9, 1895. A boy named Lucian King Truscott, Jr. came into the world in a place most folks would drive right past without a second thought.
Nobody watching that cradle could have guessed what was coming. When World War I was raging across Europe, young Truscott was harboring a secret ambition — he wanted a commission in the U.S. Army.
He got it. But the overseas duty in France he might have imagined never materialized. Instead, he was assigned to the 17th Cavalry on the Mexican border.
Not exactly the grand stage he may have had in mind. But here's the thing about men like Lucian Truscott — they do the work in front of them, and they wait. The years between the wars were, by the marker's own accounting, typical for an Army officer.
Transfers. Posts. Military education.
The slow, deliberate building of a man into something the Army would one day desperately need. And then the world caught fire again. Truscott's first World War II assignment sent him to the British Isles to study something that hadn't really been done right yet — amphibious landings on a hostile shore.
Study it he did. And while he was there, he created the first unit of Army rangers. Just like that.
Something that didn't exist before him, existed after him. His first major action came on August 19, 1942 — the allied raid on the fortified French port of Dieppe. It failed.
That's how the marker puts it, plainly. A failed raid. Truscott was there, and he walked away from it knowing things that only hard experience teaches.
Next came North Africa, where he was selected to command one of Major General George S. Patton's task forces. He excelled.
Within four months, he was given command of the 3rd Infantry Division and set about preparing them for something enormous — Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, July 1943. Then Italy. Then, by spring of 1944, command of the U.S.
VI Corps. And if that weren't enough, he planned the allied amphibious invasion of southern France in August 1944. The man had studied amphibious landings once.
Now he was designing them. By November 1944, Lucian Truscott earned command of the Fifth U.S. Army in Italy.
He led them into the 1945 spring offensive — an effort the marker says was instrumental in compelling German forces to surrender. Think about that word. Compelling.
Not chasing. Compelling. Now here is where the story takes a turn that catches you off guard.
At war's end, Truscott was assigned command of the Third U.S. Army and the military district of Bavaria. And with that came administrative responsibility for the Nuremberg trials, 1945 into 1946.
The boy from Chatfield was helping to administer the reckoning of history. He retired from the Army. But in 1951, the CIA came calling, and he went to West Germany, coordinating the collection of intelligence on the Soviet Union.
The Cold War had a new player, and it was the same old man. During those years with the CIA, he was promoted to general. He retired from that work in 1959.
Lucian King Truscott, Jr. died September 12, 1965. The marker notes something that stops you cold if you let it. He is the only American officer in World War II to command in battle a regiment, a division, a corps, and a field army.
Not one of the few. The only one. From Chatfield, Texas, to the summit of American military command — and the record stands, all these years later, unmatched.
What the marker says
(Jan. 9, 1895 - Sep. 12, 1965) Chatfield native Lucian King Truscott, Jr. rose through the ranks of the U.S. Army to serve in World War II and the Cold War with distinction. He is the only American officer in World War II to command in battle a regiment, a division, a corps, and a field army. His leadership proved essential to victory. As World War I raged in Europe, Truscott harbored a secret ambition to obtain a commission in the U.S. Army. He did not see overseas duty in France, but instead was assigned to the 17th Cavalry on the Mexican border. His years between the World Wars were typical for Army officers, involving transfers to various posts and continued military education. Truscott's first World War II assignment was to the British Isles to study amphibious landings on a hostile shore. Here, he created the first unit of army rangers. He saw his first major action in the failed August 19, 1942, allied raid on the fortified French port of Dieppe. Next he was selected to command one of Maj. Gen. George S. Patton's task forces in North Africa. Here he excelled and within four months he was given command of the 3rd Infantry Division and prepared them for Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily (July 1943). Major General Truscott's 3rd Division fought hard in Italy and by spring 1944, he was moved up to command of the U.S. VI Corps and planned the allied amphibious invasion of southern France in August 1944. By November 1944 he earned command of the Fifth U.S. Army in Italy and participated in the 1945 spring offensive that was instrumental in compelling German forces to surrender. At war's end, he was assigned command of the Third U.S. Army and the military district of Bavaria, with administrative responsibility for the Nuremburg trials in 1945-1946. After army retirement, in 1951 he served the C.I.A. in West Germany, coordinating the collection of intelligence on the Soviet Union. During his years with the CIA, he was promoted to general, retiring in 1959. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836 - 2011