Herbert J. Michau – Colonel, United States Army

Submitted by his eldest son, Dan Michau.

Born in Bremerhaven, Germany in 1918, my father came to the United States with his parents, three brothers and two sisters in 1929.

He enlisted in the Army in 1940, and fought in the Pacific Theater during WWII. A Major by the end of the  war, he decided to make the military his career.

He had married in 1942 after  graduating from Officer Candidate School, and for the next three decades he and his wife, Ann, lived Army life in the MP Corps, completing tours of various lengths in the United States, Japan and Europe, earning the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star, and, in the process, raising three sons and two daughters.

Because of his national background, the Army saw fit to return my father to Germany for three separate tours of duty. In the mid-1950’s, after attending the Army’s Command and General Staff College he was chosen to establish and lead the first Military Police School for the newly-founded Bundeswehr (West German Army) in Sonthofen, Bavaria; in the early 1960’s he was posted to Headquarters, United States Army, Europe (USAREUR), as Deputy Provost Marshal. The late 60’s saw another stint in Germany with the honor of being assigned, as a full Colonel, to the post of Brigade Commander of the 15th Military Police Brigade, Kaiserslautern.

Stateside tours included Fort Dix, New Jersey; Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Fort Totten, New York; Fort Myer, Virginia, and Fort Meade, Maryland. Colonel Michau retired to Severna Park, Maryland in 1971.

Stricken with Alzheimer’s Disease in the late 1980’s, he passed into God’s hands on January 20, 1995, his wife and sons at his bedside. He is buried in Section 60 at Arlington, and is survived by his wife, five children and nine grandchildren.

hjmichau

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