1994 Distinguished Graduate Award
CITATION
H. NORMAN SCHWARZKOPF
As a military commander, staff officer, soldier-statesman and peerless combat leader, H. Norman Schwarzkopf has rendered extraordinary service to his country, to the United States Army and to his fellow soldiers. In successive positions of increasing responsibility in the national interest, General Schwarzkopf has exemplified outstanding devotion to the principles expressed in the motto of the United States Military Academy: Duty, Honor, Country.
General Schwarzkopf's thirty-five years of military service stand as a matchless example of a professional soldier's selfless preparation to answer his nation's call to arms whenever it might
come. As a junior officer, he mastered his craft, serving with small infantry units and attending infantry basic and advanced courses. As the nation's military involvement in Vietnam
escalated, he volunteered for combat assignment as a task force advisor with the elite Vietnamese Airborne Brigade. In nine months of combat, he accompanied his task force in seven military operations, earning two Silver Stars, three Bronze Stars, two Air Medals, a Commendation Medal for Valor and the Purple Heart for wounds received in action.
The middle years of his career were spent perfecting his military competence and leadership skills. After attending the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, he again
volunteered to serve in Vietnam, where he took command of an Infantry battalion of shattered morale and combat effectiveness. In six months of command, his inspired leadership and indomitable concern for the welfare of his soldiers restored unit confidence and brought tactical success to a revitalized battalion. Always with his troops at the point of heaviest combat, his valor and competence again were recognized with the award of his third Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, seven Air Medals and his second Purple Heart for wounds in combat.
After returning to the United States he was selected to attend the Army War College. Brigade command assignments followed in both Alaska and the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis.
Promoted to Brigadier General in 1979, the next steps in his preparation for high command were assignments to joint staff duty as an operations planner on the staff of Pacific Command and a
tour as Assistant Division Commander in the 8th Infantry Division in Europe. Upon his promotion to Major General in 1981, he was assigned as Director of Military Personnel Management in the
office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel in the Pentagon. This assignment was followed by his selection as the Commander of the 24th Infantry Division, Mechanized, at Fort Stewart, Georgia. While assigned at Fort Stewart, General Schwarzkopf was temporarily detailed to serve as the United States Army advisor to Vice Admiral Metcalf, the United States Military Commander of the military operation to intervene in Grenada. After the initial landing of Marine and Army forces on the Island, Vice Admiral Metcalf ordered General Schwarzkopf to assume operational direction and coordination of land forces for the final phases of the operation.
In 1986 General was promoted to Lieutenant General and assumed command of I Corps at Fort Lewis. A year later he returned to the Pentagon as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Military Operations, Department of the Army.
General Schwarzkopf's final preparation for the highest field command came with his promotion to General and assignment as Commander-in-Chief, Central Command. As CINC CENTCOM, he was responsible for all United States military contingency planning and military assistance activities in the Middle East region. It was as CINC CENTCOM that General Schwarzkopf made his indelible mark in the annals of our nation's military history.
General Schwarzkopf's superb conduct of the Gulf War is an extraordinary feat of generalship unparalleled in its decisiveness.
In recognition of his incomparable service to the United States and the United Nations in leading the coalition forces to victory, General Schwarzkopf was awarded the Defense
Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Service Medals of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard. On July 3, 1991, President Bush, in the name of a grateful nation, awarded General Schwarzkopf the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
His lifetime of outstanding service epitomizes the very finest qualities of the American soldier. He was steadfast and fearless in battle, dauntless in pursuit of combat readiness, and ever mindful of welfare of his troops and their families.
Throughout a military career of uncommon devotion to his country and its Army, he was dedicated to the principles and ideals reflected in the motto of West Point. Accordingly, the
Association of Graduates takes great pride in presenting the 1994 Distinguished Graduate Award to H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Class of 1956.