US Army General. A combat veteran of World War II, he rose in rank to become the Commander of 10th US Army. The son of Confederate General and Kentucky Governor Simon Bolivar Buckner, Sr. he attended the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia before receiving an appointment to the US Military Academy at West Point, New York and graduated in 1908. His early military career saw him serving two tours in the Philippines and during World War I he was a discipline instructor for new aviation cadets. Following World War I he served a tactical officer at West Point for four years, a student at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, followed by four years at Army Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, four years at the Army War College at Washington DC, and four years as the Assistant Commandant and Commandant of Cadets at West Point. In September 1936 he was assigned to Fort Sam Houston, Texas as the Executive Office for the 23rd Infantry Regiment. In January 1937 he was promoted to the rank of colonel and became commander of the 66th Infantry at Fort Meade, Maryland and the following year he was assigned as commander of the 22nd Infantry at Fort McClellan, Alabama. From November 1939 until August 1940 he had staff assignments at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, Fort Benning, Georgia, and Camp Beauregard, Louisiana. He was then promoted to the rank of brigadier general and given command of the Alaska Defense Command and promoted to the rank of major general in August 1941. After the US declared war on Japan on December 7, 1941, the Japanese invaded Alaska's outer Aleutian Islands of Kiska and Attu the following June. From May to August 1943 he helped to direct the invasion of US forces to drive out the Japanese, and he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. In June 1944 he was assigned to Hawaii to organize the 10th Army in preparation for the invasion of Okinawa. The Battle of Okinawa commenced in April 1945 and it became the largest, slowest, and bloodiest sea-land battle in American military history. On June 18, 1945, while inspecting a forward observation post, he was mortally wounded by Japanese artillery fire and died at the age of 58. He was one of the four highest ranking military officers to die during World War Ii and was the highest ranking to be killed by enemy fire. His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Purple Heart, the World War I Victory Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of general on July 19, 1954
