Hamilton Hawkins Howze (December 21, 1908 – December 8, 1998) was a

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. He was a developer and advocate of helicopter-borne

air mobility Air assault is the movement of ground-based military forces by vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft—such as the helicopter—to seize and hold key terrain which has not been fully secured, and to directly engage enemy forces behind e ...

warfare.

Early life

Howze was born on December 21, 1908 in

West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York, West Point was identified by General George Washington as the most important strategic position in America during the Ame ...

, while his father, Major General

Robert Lee Howze Robert Lee Howze (August 22, 1864 – September 19, 1926) was a United States Army major general who was a recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions during the American Indian Wars. Howze graduated from the United States Military Academy i ...

, an 1888 West Point graduate, was serving as Commandant of the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

Early career

Howze attended West Point, graduating in the Class of 1930. He was commissioned into the 6th Cavalry. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Howze served as Operations Officer of the 1st Armored Division,Atkinson, Rick, ''An Army At Dawn'', Macmillan Press (2003), , , p. then as the commander of: 2nd Battalion, 13th Armor Regiment (1943); 13th Armor Regiment (1943–44); 1st Armored Division, Italy (1944–45). Three years later he attended the

National War College The National War College (NWC) of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. History The National War Colle ...

, which was followed by an assignment in the office of the G-2 from 1949 to 1952. After promotion to

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

in 1952 he became Assistant Commanding General, 2nd Armored Division,

European Command The United States European Command (EUCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States military, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Its area of focus covers and 51 countries and territories, including Europe, Russia ...

, until 1954.

Air Mobile

Howze is recognized as the intellectual force behind the concept of air-mobility and current United States Army Aviation doctrine. While serving as the first Director of

Army Aviation An army aviation unit is an aviation-related unit of a nation's army, sometimes described as an air corps. These units are generally separate from a nation's dedicated air force, and usually comprise helicopters and light support fixed-wing airc ...

, Department of the Army, from 1955 to 1958, he developed new tactical principles for the employment of Army Aviation, and was instrumental in helping the Aviation Center and School become fully established in its new home at

Fort Rucker Fort Rucker is a U.S. Army post located primarily in Dale County, Alabama, United States. It was named for a Civil War officer, Confederate General Edmund Rucker. The post is the primary flight training installation for U.S. Army Aviators and ...

, Alabama. He then became Commanding General of the

82d Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an airborne infantry division of the United States Army specializing in parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops Magazine'', 25 November 2012. Archived from thorig ...

. In 1961, as Chairman of the Tactical Mobility Requirements Board, Howze led the development in airmobile theory and doctrine. The army's adoption of the recommendations in the

Howze Board The Howze Board was the informal name given to the Tactical Mobility Requirements Board created at the direct request of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to review and test new concepts integrating helicopters as close air support into the Uni ...

changed mobile warfare. Its revolutionary concepts – based on the use of aviation – changed military attitudes in a similar manner to the way the tank affected ideas on mobility 50 years earlier. Two years later the

11th Air Assault Division The 11th Airborne Division ("Arctic Angels") is a United States Army airborne formation, first activated on 25 February 1943, during World War II. Consisting of one parachute and two glider infantry regiments, with supporting troops, the div ...

was formed to test and validate these concepts. As a result of Howze's leadership, foresight and perception, two airmobile divisions, the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) and the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile), were eventually established. These divisions, which adhered to the fundamentals of Howze's airmobility doctrine, went on to provide mobile and combined arms capabilities that are required in today's ground combat conditions. Howze is credited with starting the convention of naming United States Army helicopter types after Native American tribes, because he found the names suggested by the manufacturers too insipid. The

Bell H-13 The Bell H-13 Sioux is an American single-engine light helicopter built by Bell Helicopter and manufactured by Westland Aircraft under license for the British military as the Sioux AH.1 and HT.2. Development In 1947, the United States Army ...

, which had already been in service for some years, was renamed "

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...

" at his suggestion and the tradition continues to the present day.

Final commands

Howze served as the commander of the

XVIII Airborne Corps The XVIII Airborne Corps is a corps of the United States Army that has been in existence since 1942 and saw extensive service during World War II. The corps is designed for rapid deployment anywhere in the world and is referred to as "America ...

from 1961 to 1962 and briefly acting Commanding General,

Third United States Army Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

from 1962 to 1963. In October 1962 he assumed command of the armed forces deployed to support the enrolment of

James Meredith James Howard Meredith (born June 25, 1933) is an American civil rights activist, writer, political adviser, and Air Force veteran who became, in 1962, the first African-American student admitted to the racially segregated University of Mississ ...

at the segregated

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

. Howze's last assignment was as Commanding General,

Eighth United States Army The Eighth Army is a U.S. field army which is the commanding formation of all United States Army United States Forces Korea, forces in South Korea. It commands U.S. and South Korean units and is headquartered at the Camp Humphreys,

, Commander-in-Chief of United States Forces in Korea, a four-star

United Nations Command United Nations Command (UNC or UN Command) is the multinational military force established to support the South Korea, Republic of Korea (South Korea) during and after the Korean War. It was the first international unified command in history, an ...

position involving United States and

Republic of Korea Army The Republic of Korea Army (ROKA; ko, 대한민국 육군; Hanja: 大韓民國陸軍; RR: ''Daehanminguk Yuk-gun''), also known as the ROK Army or South Korean Army, is the army of South Korea, responsible for ground-based warfare. It is the l ...

troops, from 1963 to 1965. General Howze retired from active duty in 1965 to

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

Retirement and legacy

Howze remained active after leaving the army and became an executive and consultant for

Bell Helicopter Bell Textron Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A subsidiary of Textron, Bell manufactures military rotorcraft at facilities in Fort Worth, and Amarillo, Texas, as well as commercial helicopters in M ...

in Fort Worth. As a 1957 Charter Member of the Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA), he served for four years as the organization's Senior Vice President and President. He was also a member of the Army Aviation Hall of Fame and was the Chairman of the AAAA's Board of Trustees. Howze died on December 8, 1998, and was buried next to his father at the

United States Military Academy Post Cemetery West Point Cemetery is a historic cemetery in the eastern United States, on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. It overlooks the Hudson River, and served as a burial ground for Revolutionary War soldiers and early ...

. The Howze Gunnery Award is presented by the AAAA and is sponsored by

Rockwell International Corporation Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avionics and industrial products. R ...

(in the memory of General Hamilton H. Howze), and is presented annually to the top AH-1 &

AH-64 The Boeing AH-64 Apache () is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night visi ...

crew in the annual GEN Hamilton H. Howze Gunnery Competition.

Awards and decorations

Army Aviator Badge : US Army Airborne basic parachutist badge

Airborne badge : Distinguished Service Medal ribbon

Army Distinguished Service Medal The Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a military decoration of the United States Army that is presented to soldiers who have distinguished themselves by exceptionally meritorious service to the government in a duty of great responsibility. Th ...

Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

with

Valor Device Valor, valour, or valorous may mean: * Courage, a similar meaning * Virtue ethics, roughly "courage in defense of a noble cause" Entertainment * Valor (band), a Christian gospel music group * Valor Kand, a member of the band Christian Death * ' ...

Italian Military Valor Cross : Tong-il Security Medel Ribbon

South Korean Tong-il Medal (1st Class) :1962 AHS International Vertical Flight Society "Honorary Fellow" :1974 Army Aviation Association of America Hall of Fame inductee

Popular culture

General Howze was represented in a fictional account of

W. E. B. Griffin William Edmund Butterworth III (November 10, 1929 – February 12, 2019), better known by his pen name W. E. B. Griffin, was an American writer of military and detective fiction with 59 novels in seven series published under that name. Twenty-one ...

's "Brotherhood of War" series of books as General "Triple H" Howard.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howze, Hamilton Military personnel from New York (state) National War College alumni United States Army generals United States Military Academy alumni Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Recipients of the Silver Star Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the War Cross for Military Valor Order of National Security Merit members United States Army personnel of World War II 1908 births 1998 deaths People from West Point, New York Burials at West Point Cemetery Commanders, United States Forces Korea United States Army aviators