Three-war Soldier named Honorary Sergeant Major of the Army

WASHINGTON (Army News Service) -- Retired Lt. Gen. David Grange Jr. recalled a jump into Holland in 1944 during World War II.

Soldiers were moving toward the enemy line, ducking behind stacks of hay in a field along the way, he related. Grange was then a young enlisted Soldier. His senior non-commissioned officer was behind one of the hay stacks, but wasn't moving forward. So the advance stalled.

The platoon leader asked why the NCO wasn't moving forward. A junior NCO said, "because he's dead." So the junior NCO took over and said "but I'm coming." He moved the column forward. "He came."

Grange then looked out at some 200 NCOs who had come to the Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition, Oct. 3, to honor the winners of the Best Warrior competition. And he told them, "You were called up too and you came and you did your duty. What you do is not very pleasant, but it's got to be done for the good of the nation."

A combat veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, Grange was recognized as the Honorary Sergeant Major of the Army by Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel A. Dailey.

The title is given to a Soldier who has shown extraordinary dedication to the Army, Soldiers and their families.

WORLD WAR II

In 1943, Grange served with the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. His unit participated in battles in Italy, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany.

Throughout those campaigns, Grange said he looked up to his NCOs for their leadership.

"When the war was over, I wanted to stay in the Army. I wanted to stay with those kinds of people because they were such wonderful folks to be around," he said.

His first sergeant encouraged Grange to take college classes after duty and go to Officer Candidate School, so he did, receiving his commission in May 1950.

KOREAN WAR

In June 1950, less than a month after receiving his commission, Grange deployed with the 82nd Airborne Division's 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment to Korea, just as war started.

"What a way to start life as a second lieutenant," he said, referring to earning his lieutenant bars and almost immediately deploying to combat.

At first, things seemed to go smoothly, he said. The Soldiers pushed through Seoul, the capital of South Korea, then through Pyongyang, which now is the capital of North Korea. They moved all the way to the Yalu River, which marks the border with China.

Everyone was talking about being home before Thanksgiving, and definitely Christmas, he said.

Then there were sporadic reports about seeing Chinese crossing the Yalu into Korea. No one believed the reports at first, he said, but soon it became evident that they were facing a new enemy.

So many Chinese crossed into Korea that the Soldiers soon found themselves outnumbered and outgunned, he said. "They pushed us past Seoul, south to Suwon."

"We thought we might become part of a re-enactment of the Bataan Death March," Grange added, referring to the World War II surrender of the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines to the Japanese. The Japanese forced tens of thousands of U.S. Soldiers to march 65 miles to prisoner of war camps. Hundreds died or were killed along the way.

As the Soldiers in Korea continued their retreat southward, "morale was bad, the food was bad, the weather was cold, we had no cold-weather equipment," he said. Winter was upon them.

Grange's thoughts of the death march didn't come to pass. The Army regrouped and stood its ground. The dramatic turnaround was credited to the leadership of Gen. Matthew Ridgeway, who had recently taken command of the Eighth Army.

Ridgeway made the announcement to Eighth Army: "Get ready to fix your bayonets. We're going north. We don't care where the demilitarized zone is, we're just going to go up there and whip the enemy," Grange related.

"He turned that Army around," Grange said, "but what really turned it around were the wonderful sergeants we had. What a place to start your officer career with great sergeants around you. They were giants. They held the Army together. They never got the credit they should have gotten."

VIETNAM

Grange served two tours in Vietnam, first as an advisor and then as commander of 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division from 1963 to 1964.

When Grange returned from Vietnam, he was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He said he had sergeants returning from Vietnam who were put in training billets who didn't want to be there.

Those sergeants didn't want to stay at Fort Campbell, he said. "Most of them told me, 'sir, I want to stick with that platoon I've been training and go back to Vietnam with them,'" he said.

"That's what saved the Army" during those three wars, he said. "These wonderful people wearing stripes who are so dedicated."

And "you are just like them," he told the NCOs. "You returned again and again to Iraq and Afghanistan. You answered the call and came."

ABOUT THE AWARD

Grange became the second honorary sergeant major of the Army. The honorary SMA title was first awarded last year, to retired Gen. Gordon Sullivan, a former Army chief of staff and recently retired president of AUSA.

Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel Dailey said the award goes to a person who has demonstrated lifelong support and commitment to the NCO corps, the Army, Soldiers and their families.

To receive the annual award, three former sergeants major of the Army must nominate the person. Those who nominated Grange were: retired Sgts. Maj. of the Army Raymond F. Chandler, Kenneth O. Preston and Jack L. Tilley.

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