Background
Hodes was born on March 19, 1899, Washington, District of Columbia, United States. He was the son of Harry Ketcham Hodes and Mary Sophie Shaw. Around 1900 his father moved his medical practice to Houston, Texas.
Hodes was born on March 19, 1899, Washington, District of Columbia, United States. He was the son of Harry Ketcham Hodes and Mary Sophie Shaw. Around 1900 his father moved his medical practice to Houston, Texas.
Hodes completed high school in 1918. He entered the U. S. Military Academy in June 1918, and graduated from the accelerated wartime course on July 2, 1920. Although commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry, Hodes soon joined the cavalry and graduated from the Cavalry School at Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1921.
He entered the Command and General Staff School, from which he graduated in 1937.
In 1939, still a captain, he was ordered to the Army War College, which was the customary preparation for promotion. Upon graduation in June 1940, he was immediately assigned to the War Department General Staff.
Advancement came slowly during the years of routine peacetime duty at a series of western posts and a tour in the Philippines. Hodes was promoted to captain in August 1935. Besides being a highly capable troop commander, Hodes became an able staff officer.
War brought quick promotions, and after he became colonel, Hodes established the troop movements section, theater group, of the Operations Division in April 1942. Anxious for a combat command, Hodes won assignment to England in January 1944 to command the 112th Infantry Regiment. This was a National Guard regiment unready for combat, and Hodes established a rigorous training program. The 112th went into action on July 23 as part of the 28th Infantry Division, and was soon in the stiff fighting of the breakout from Normandy.
Hodes was a leader who kept close to the front line, and on August 7 he was wounded, though not seriously. On August 29, 1944, Hodes led his regiment down the Champs Élysées in the famed parade through liberated Paris. His regimental command ended suddenly in the Luxembourg Ardennes on September 19, when he was severely wounded and evacuated to the United States.
After recuperating from his wounds, Hodes returned to Washington in January 1945 as a brigadier general and assistant deputy chief of staff. He remained until August 1947, working on the shift of forces to the Pacific and the problems of postwar reorganization.
After duty as chief of staff of the Fourth Army in Texas, he was ordered to Japan in April 1949, as assistant commander of the 16th Cavalry Division and later of the 7th Infantry Division. When the Korean War began, the 7th Division lost many of its best men to other units, and had to be rebuilt hurriedly to be able to follow the Marines at the Inchon landing in September 1950. Hodes personally led the assault that crossed the Han River and captured Nam San, the high ground overlooking Seoul.
By November, Hodes was on the banks of the Yalu River, and he again distinguished himself during the difficult retreat in the face of large Chinese forces. In January 1951 he became deputy chief of staff of the Eighth Army, and a month later he was promoted to major general. For five frustrating months (July-December) Hodes also served as chief army representative at the armistice negotiations. In October 1951 he was promoted to deputy army commander, and when relieved as negotiator, he commanded the 24th Infantry Division for six weeks, until the division moved to Japan. For the next two years Hodes was commandant of the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In March 1954 he went to Germany, where he held posts of increasing responsibility for five years, commanding the VII Corps and then the Seventh Army, and becoming a lieutenant general in August 1954. From May 1956 until March 1959, Hodes was commander in chief of the U. S. Army in Europe, with the rank of general. He again emphasized training, with frequent surprise visits to troops on maneuvers.
He was less successful in his efforts to bring more American ground troops to Europe, a policy not in line with the fiscal or military priorities of the Eisenhower administration. Hodes enjoyed the social as well as the military aspects of high command, making special efforts to maintain good relations with both civilian and military authorities in Germany.
Hodes died in San Antonio, Texas.
Hodes is remembered for his long and prolific military service. He was one of the most notable and highly decorated officers of the United States Army. Sometimes known as "Hammering Hank" in Korea, Hodes was very much a product of the army system, and his career was marked by consistent, solid achievement rather than any single outstanding event. Hodes's major decorations include three awards of the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit twice, the Silver Star for both Normandy and Korea, the British Distinguished Service Order, and the Korean Order of Military Merit, Taiguk. Upon his retirement he was honored with the first postwar Grosser Zapfenstreich, the traditional torchlight retreat parade.
As Brigadier General M. N. Huston recalled, Hodes was "a fearless forthright leader, always conspicuous on the battlefield, with a flare for instilling confidence" among his troops. "
On July 9, 1925, Hodes married Laura Celeste Taylor. He had two daughters and one son.
