Background
Willis Dale Crittenberger was born on December 2, 1890 in Anderson, Indiana, United States. Son of Dale Jackson and Effie Alice (Daniels) Crittenberger.
Willis Dale Crittenberger was born on December 2, 1890 in Anderson, Indiana, United States. Son of Dale Jackson and Effie Alice (Daniels) Crittenberger.
After growing up in Anderson, Indiana, he was appointed to the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York in 1909, graduating four years later on June 12, 1913 with the West Point class of 1913, two years ahead of fellow cadet, friend and infantry officer, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Commissioned Second lieutenant, United States Army, 1913, and advanced through the grades to Lieutenant general (temporary), June 3, 1946. Military intelligence officer, Manila, P.I., 1932-1934. Assigned 1st Cavalry (mechanized), 1934, and from that time associated with development of mechanization in army.
On duty Office of Chief of Cavalry, Washington, District of Columbia, 1938-1940. Chief of staff 1st Armored Division, Fort Knox, Kentucky, 1940-1941. Commanding general, 2d Armored Brigade, 2d Armored Division, 1941-1942, 2d Armored Division, February-July 1942, 2d Armored Corps, 1942-1943.
Organizer and commander III Armored Corps (later redesignated XIX Corps), 1943. Commanding general XIX Corps, England, January-March 1944. Commanding general IV Corps, Italian Campaign, 1944-1945, the corps fighting continuously for 401 days, northward from Rome and across Po River.
Received unconditional surrender of German Ligurian Army, April 29, 1945. Commanding general Caribbean Defense Command and Panama Canal Department, with headquarters Quarry Heights, Canal Zone, from October 1945.
Lieutenant General Willis Dale Crittenberger died in Chevy Chase, Maryland on August 4, 1980 at the age of 89. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia with his wife and sons, Townsend and Dale.
Crittenberger married Josephine Frost Woodhull (1894–1978) on June 23, 1918, during World War I.
He served in the U.S. Army in World War II with the 10th Armored Division, rising from lieutenant to lieutenant colonel during the war, retiring as a major general. He later was a spokesman for the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Colonel Dale Jackson Crittenberger (USMA 1950) (born May 27, 1927) commanding the 3rd Brigade of the 9th Infantry Division during the Vietnam War was killed in a mid-air collision on September 17, 1969 while directing combat operations, aged 42. Dale served as a White House military aide to President Eisenhower in 1959 and as a newly commissioned major received his new badge of rank from his father's old friend, the President.
Townsend Woodhull Crittenberger (born May 13, 1925) was killed in action during the Rhine River crossing on March 25, 1945 during the final days of World War II, aged just 19.
