Alvan Cullom Gillem, Jr. – Lieutenant General, United States Army

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Lieutenant General Alvan C. Gillem, Jr.

Commanding General
Third Army
June 19, 1947 to August 31, 1950

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Lieutenant General Alvan Cullom Gillem, Jr., started and completed his illustrious military career at Fort McPherson, Georgia.

After enlisting in the Regular Army in January, 1910, he served as a Private and a Corporal with the 17th Infantry at Fort McPherson. On 11 February 1911, while still at Fort McPherson, he was appointed as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry.

The photograph above was taken in April, 1945, when he was a Major General with the XIII Corps in the European Theater of Operations.

As the first commanding general of the 3rd Armored Division, Brigadier General Gillem “helped instill, by word and deed, the fiercely proud esprit de corps which lingered with the new ‘Spearhead' long after he had been promoted to higher command.” [Spearhead in the West, 1941-45]

Lieutenant General Gillem returned to the Atlanta area in June, 1947, to assume command of the Third U.S. Army. When the Third Army headquarters was moved from downtown Atlanta to Fort McPherson in December, 1947, General Gillem also assumed command of the post.

Following his retirement from the U.S. Army in August 1950, General Gillem lived in Atlanta and remained active in its many civic organizations. From 1959 to 1963 he consolidated purchasing for all State of Georgia agencies. Following this he served for four years as executive director of the National Foundation for the March of Dimes.

General Gillem passed away in Atlanta, Georgia, on 13 February 1973.

NOTE:  The General's father, Alvan C. Gillem, Colonel, United States Army, is also buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

GENERAL ALVAN C. GILLEM JR., 85, COMMANDER OF 3RD ARMY, DIES

FORT MCPHERSON, Georgia – February 13, 1973- Lieuenant General Alvan C. Gillem, Jr., who served in the 1960's as Executive Director of the National Foundation of the March of Dimes, died in an Atlanta hospital today.  He was 85 years old.

General Gillem was commander of the Third Army from 1947 to 1950 and had held the rank of Lieutenant General since June of 1945.

He enlisted as a Private at Fort McPherson in 1910 and rose to three-star rank in a 40-year career that closed with his retirement in 1950.

He served in the Philippines, with General John J. Pershing on the Mexican Border and in combat commands in World Wars I and II.

Following World War II, he became chairman of the Pentagon's Board on Utilization of Negro Manpower, the forerunner of integration efforts in the United States Army.

General Gillem later served as assistant to General George C. Marshall on a Presidential mission to China, where  bhe became special assistant to the commander of the United States forces in Nanking, commander of the China Service Command in Shanghai and later American Commissioner in Peking.

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GILLEM, ALVAN CULLOM JR

  • LTG USA
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 08/08/1888
  • DATE OF DEATH: 02/13/1973
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 6  SITE 9547-A-1
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

GILLEM, VIRGINIA HARRISON WIFE OF GILLEM, ALVAN GULLOM

  • DATE OF BIRTH: 12/18/1895
  • DATE OF DEATH: 10/25/1964
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 6  SITE 9547-A-1
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
  • WIFE OF AC GILLEM JR., LT GEN ARMY

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