Walter Bedell Smith

Military Person

1895 – 1961

 Credit ยป
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Who was Walter Bedell Smith?

Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith was a senior U.S. Army general who served as General Dwight D. Eisenhower's chief- of-staff at Allied Forces Headquarters during the Tunisia Campaign and the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943. Beginning in the next year, he was General Eisenhower's chief-of-staff at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in Western Europe from 1944 through 1945.

Smith enlisted as a private in the Indiana National Guard in 1911. During World War I he was commissioned as an officer in 1917, and he was wounded in the Aisne-Marne Offensive in 1918. After World War I, he was a staff officer and an instructor at the U.S. Army Infantry School. In 1941, he became the Secretary of the General Staff. Then in 1942 he became the Secretary to the Combined Chiefs of Staff. His duties involved taking part in discussions of war plans at the highest level, and Smith often briefed President Franklin D. Roosevelt on strategic matters.

Smith became chief of staff to Eisenhower at Allied Forces Headquarters in September 1942. He acquired a reputation as Eisenhower's "hatchet man" for his brusque and demanding manner. However, he was also capable of representing Eisenhower in sensitive missions requiring diplomatic skill. Smith was involved in negotiating the Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces, which he signed on behalf of Eisenhower. In 1944, he became the Chief of Staff of SHAEF, again under Eisenhower. In this position, Smith also negotiated successfully for food and fuel aid to be sent through German lines for the starving and cold Dutch civilian population, and he opened discussions for the peaceful and complete German capitulation to the Canadian Army in the Netherlands. In May 1945, Smith met representatives of the German High Command in Reims, France, to conduct the surrender of the German Armed Forces, and he signed the German Instrument of Surrender on behalf of General Eisenhower.

Famous Quotes:

  • You may be great to serve under, difficult to serve alongside, but you sure are hell to serve over!

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Born
Oct 5, 1895
Indianapolis
Nationality
  • United States of America
Education
  • U.S. Army War College
  • Butler University
Employment
  • Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
    (1950 - 1953)
Lived in
  • Indianapolis
Died
Aug 9, 1961
Washington, D.C.
Resting place
Arlington National Cemetery

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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