Lieutenant General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
William Wilson "Buffalo Bill" Quinn (November 1, 1907 – September 11, 2000)
was a
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
officer, who served in intelligence during
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 opposing ...
. Born in Crisfield,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
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, Maryland and a 1933 graduate of West Point, Quinn retired as a lieutenant general on March 1, 1966 as the commanding general of the
Seventh United States Army. He died in Washington, DC at
Walter Reed Army Hospital
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC)known as Walter Reed General Hospital (WRGH) until 1951was the U.S. Army's flagship medical center from 1909 to 2011. Located on in the District of Columbia, it served more than 150,000 active and ret ...
at 92 years old.
Education
Quinn graduated from Crisfield High with the class of 1925 and then from
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 ...
with the class of 1933, and in 1938 attended
United States Army Infantry School
The United States Army Infantry School is a school located at Fort Benning, Georgia that is dedicated to training infantrymen for service in the United States Army.
Organization
The school is made up of the following components:
* 197th Infantr ...
. In 1942 he graduated from
Command and General Staff College
The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...
. In August 1947 he graduated from the
National War College.
Commands held
From 1933–1935 at
Fort McKinley Quinn was the commanding officer of Company L,
5th Infantry Regiment. 1935–1936 General Quinn was assigned to Company D and then from 1936–1938 assigned to the Headquarters Company of the
31st Infantry Regiment. In 1940 he was the Command of Headquarters Company of the
4th Infantry Division, and the Commanding Officers of Company D,
8th Infantry Division. In July 1942 he became the Chief of Staff of the G-2,
IV Army Corps.
In 1949 Quinn was the Commanding Officer of the 3rd Battalion,
34th Infantry Regiment. In April 1949 he became Chief of the Training Sub-section,
I Corps I Corps, 1st Corps, or First Corps may refer to:
France
* 1st Army Corps (France)
* I Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars
* I Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French A ...
. In January 1950 he became the Assistant Chief of Staff of the G-3, I Corps from February to March. In January 1951, Quinn was the Commanding Officer of the
17th Infantry Regiment,
7th Infantry Division in Korea. In 1952 Quinn became the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Pentagon and Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning Coordination of the Office of Chief of Staff, and then eventually became the Chief of Staff of the Pentagon. In 1953 Quinn was transferred to Greece and to be the Head of the Army Section, Joint Military Aid Group to Greece.
In January 1957 he was the Commanding Officer of the 4th Infantry Division of the Strategic Army Corps at
Fort Lewis. In July 1958 he became the Deputy Chief of Staff for the G-2 Intelligence of the United States Army. From 1959–1961, Quinn served as the Army's Chief of Information, and in 1959 he became the Chief of Public Information of the Department of the Army. In 1961 Quinn became the Deputy Director of the
Defense Intelligence Agency
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, specializing in defense and military intelligence.
A component of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the ...
and promoted to lieutenant general.
From 1964–1966, Quinn was the Commanding General of the
United States Army Europe
United States Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF) is an Army Service Component Command (ASCC) /Theater Army responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICO ...
and
Seventh United States Army, commonly referred to as 7th Army, in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany.
On March 1, 1966 Quinn retired and became Honorary Colonel of the 17th Infantry, nicknamed "The Buffalos".
Following his retirement from the Army, he served as chief of operations of the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
.
World War II
Quinn participated in the
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...
,
Operation Dragoon and on January 1, 1945 he was part of
Operation Northwind
Operation Northwind (german: Unternehmen Nordwind) was the last major German offensive of World War II on the Western Front. Northwind was launched to support the German Ardennes offensive campaign in the Battle of the Bulge, which by December ...
. He helped liberate the
Dachau concentration camp, later saying "'the atrocities
€¦were just too horrible to describe."
Seeing the need to document and preserve what he saw, Quinn commissioned the
Dachau report.
Korea
Quinn was in Korea from 1951 to 1952 and in August 1951 Quinn was wounded in Korea. While in Korea he was awarded the Silver Star, Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star with the "V" Device. He was also in the
Battle of Inchon. While he was in Korea he was the commanding Officer of the 17th Infantry Regiment which was part of the 7th Infantry Division (the 17th Infantry was, and still is, nicknamed "the Buffalos").
Occupations
He was Vice President of the Aerospace Group program at
Martin Marietta Corporation
The Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of Glenn L. Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin.
History
Martin M ...
until 1972; and then afterwards he established Quinn Associates, a consulting firm.
Awards and decorations
Personal
![ANCExplorer William Wilson Quinn grave](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/ANCExplorer_William_Wilson_Quinn_grave.jpg)
Quinn was married to Sara Bette Williams, who is buried next to him at Arlington National Cemetery. Together they had three children: Donna, William Jr., and
Sally Quinn
Sally Sterling Quinn (born July 1, 1941) is an American author and journalist, who writes about religion for a blog at ''The Washington Post''.
Early life
Sally Quinn was born in Savannah, Georgia, to Lt. General William Wilson "Buffalo Bill" ...
.
References
External links
Arlington National CemeteryQuinn portrait from Fort Lewis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, William Wilson
1907 births
2000 deaths
Military personnel from Maryland
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
Martin Marietta people
Military intelligence
People from Crisfield, Maryland
Recipients of the Air Medal
Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)
Recipients of the Legion of Merit
Recipients of the Silver Star
United States Army generals
United States Army personnel of World War II