Background
Simon Bolivar buckner was born near Munfordville on July 18, 1886, the son of a general in the Confederate army.
Simon Bolivar buckner was born near Munfordville on July 18, 1886, the son of a general in the Confederate army.
He entered the Virginia Military Institute in 1902, and in 1904 was appointed to the United States Military Academy, West Point, from which he graduated in 1908 and commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry.
From 1910 to 1912, and again from 1915 to 1917, Buckner served in the Philippines. In 1917 he was transferred to the aviation section of the Signal Corps, and was assigned to train fliers at Kelly Field in Texas. In August 1918 he was transferred to Washington, D. C. , where he served in the operations section of the air service and studied at the Army War College. From 1919 to 1923 Buckner was an instructor in infantry tactics at West Point, after which he attended the Infantry School, the Command and General Staff School, and the Army War College. From 1929 to 1932 he served as executive officer of the Army War College, and in 1932 he was again on duty at West Point. In 1933 he became commandant of cadets there, serving until 1936. In 1940 Buckner became a brigadier general in the regular army and chief of staff of the Sixth Division, and in July 1940 he was appointed commander of United States troops in Alaska. In 1941 he was promoted to major general. Buckner later commanded defense troops who drove off Japanese forces which had succeeded in gaining a foothold in the Aleutians. In 1943 he was promoted to lieutenant general, and in June 1944 was transferred to the South Pacific area, where he was placed in command of the Tenth Army. His troops invaded Okinawa in April 1945. Buckner was killed in action toward the end of the Okinawa campaign, on June 18, 1945.
Buckner was married to Adele Blanc Buckner (1893–1988). They had three children: Simon Bolivar Buckner III, Mary Blanc Buckner, and William Claiborne Buckner.