Muscogee County GaArchives Photo Person.....Livsey, Jr., General William J. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 April 28, 2007, 7:45 pm Source: Special Sesquicentennial Supplement IV Ledger-Enquirer Name: General William J. Livsey, Jr. Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/photos/livseyjr12679gph.jpg Image file size: 162.1 Kb The General Livsey Brings Informal Style to Fort Benning By Joliene Hutto Ledger Staff Writer You'll almost always find Bill Livsey with two things: a long El Producto cigar and a well-worn wooden stick. Although he said he smoked a few cigars when he was 12 or 13, he didn't start smoking them regularly until about 15 years ago. "I didn't like cigarettes," he admitted, while watching the smoke from the cigar. "Besides, I don't think they're bad for me. I don't inhale. And I don't smoke in people's homes or big conference rooms." The two-foot cotton wood stick is just something he picked up one day about five years ago while out at Fort Carson. Colo., he explained with a faint smile. "I was in one of the training areas, and I picked up the stick to draw something on the ground. I kept it when I got into the jeep." Over the five years it's been broken three times. The last time, he had to use a metal rod and some "wonderful glue" to get it back together. "Oh, I've been given several beautiful swagger sticks. But they're in their boxes in some closet somewhere. The stick just feels right." Feels right." That's a phrase that, seems to fit Bill Livsey, a man who doesn't seem taken with the idea that he’s a general or that he's commandant at Fort Benning. "We've got tremendous talent in the Army," he I said. "You know it's interesting who makes general in this Army. For every man lucky enough to make general, I could show you 15 colonels who could have been." It's been said that William J. Livsey, Jr., may well be one of the most unlikely generals in the United States Army. First of all, he looks more like a gnarled non-commissioned, officer than the commander of the Army's infantry center. And he talks with a good-ol’-boy informality that seems to match his lifestyle. "Informality fits my personality. It's the way I am as a human being," he explained while putting his boots up on his desk. "While I love my dress uniforms, I feel more comfortable with my fatigues. Don't be surprised if you see me in a receiving line in fatigues. It's not that I want to lose the Army's heritage. I like ceremonies. I just don't want them, overdone." That's apparent when you watch him at an Advanced Individual Training graduation on Dickman Field. From the bleachers, you see three figures on the field, shaking hands with the honor graduates in front of the 500 soldiers in formation. The first two figures walk in perfect military precision in front of the troops, shaking hands at the same precise angle each time and presenting each award so meticulously that it looks like a chorus line of arms. Then there is Livsey. He kind of hunkers along out there, smiling often as he twirls a wooden sticken in his left hand. As he reaches each soldier he shake his hand warmly and chat a moment or two. He'll gesture a little and sometimes you can see the soldier break into a broad smile. It's clear there was some conversation besides yes-sirs and thank-you-sirs. "If you saw him in the Officer's Club or in the Krystal or in the Waldorf Astoria, he'd still be the same Gen. Livsey," said one of his military associates. "A lot of Army officers play a role- that a general should be hardnosed and difficult to reach. Gen, Livsey doesn't do that. His standards are high, but his approach is to listen and convey to people that he’s listening to them. And that's a quality a lot of officers lose as they move up the totem pole." Livsey's own climb up , the totem pole perhaps best explains why he doesn't appear to have wrapped himself around the top of it. "I didn't decide way back in high school or grammar school that I wanted to be in the military. I never even thought about it. Actually I had some aspiration to go to the University of Georgia and play baseball . .. I've been a jock all of my life. But they said I was kind of young and had some growing to do." Livsey ended up attending North Georgia College, then a military school, where he majored in physical education and enrolled in ROTC. He still had ideas about becoming a coach, but instead was called to active duty in 1952 upon, graduation. Although he liked the Army, he said his initial decision to stay after his first tour was a pragmatic one- his young wife Bena gave birth to twin sons, Jim and David, after he finished his training at Benning. The Livseys had two more sons within the next two years. John, who's now 23 and Tim, who's now 21. Tim plans on entering the Army as a second lieutenant this summer, just as his father did 25 years ago. The motivation for joining the Army was soon replaced, Livsey said, by his dedication to the service. By the time he made general, his career had taken him through a diverse collection of assignments, including several years as a psychology professor at West Point, combat duty in Vietnam and Korea and two stints as the handpicked personal aide to the late Gen. Creighton Abrams, former Army Chief of Staff. Livsey explains that these assignments have contributed to the military philosophy he's using at Benning: a combined arms , team and the rest of the armed forces must be prepared to win the first battle and "all the others in between," But to win those battles, soldiers need positive motivation. "I'm as hard-nosed as anyone I know. But there's no need to be cantankerous," he said.. "I'm sold on the idea that a soldier responds better to positive motivation than negative motivation. Sure, there's a time when you have to kick people in the butt. But given the right kind of positive leadership, I'm convinced soldiers will fight magnificiently.” Since Camp Benning was established 50 years ago, it's had 33 commandants, with, Livsey taking over July 25, 1977. Most commandants have stayed 22 months, with Lt. Gen. George I. Forsythe, Maj, Gen. George E. Lynch, Maj. Gen. CampbeIl King and Brig. Gen. Asa L. Singleton being among the exceptions. Forsythe stayed two months, from June to August 1969, while Lynch stayed three months, from May 13, to Aug. 20, 1956. King was at Benning a little over four years, from May 4, 1929, to May 31, 1933, while Singleton stayed almost four years, from Oct. I, 1936, to Aug. 31, 1940. One of the most famous Benning commandants has to be Omar Bradley, the Army's only living five star general. He was a brigadier general when he was at Benning March 4, 1941, to Feb. 10, 1942. Other commandants have included Col. Henry E. Eames, Oct. 5, 1918 to April 22, 1919; Maj. Gen. Charles S. Farnsworth, April 23, 1919 to July 31, 1920; Maj. Gen. Walter H. Gordon, Sept. 11, 1920 to Nov. 8, 1923; Brig. Gen. Briant H. Wells. Nov. 9, 1923 to March 8, 1926; Brig. Gen. Edgar T. Collins, March 9, 1926 to May I, 1929; Brig. Gen. George H. Estes, Sept. 25, 1933 to Sept. 30, 1936; Brig. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges, Oct. 7. 1940 to March 3. 1941; Maj. Gen. Charles H. Bonessteel, Sept. 30, 1943 to June 27, 1944; Maj. Gen. Fred L. Walker, July 24, 1944, to July 11, 1945; Maj. Gen. John W. O'Daniel, July 12, 1945 to June 1, 1948; Maj. Gen. Withers A. Burress, July 13, 1948 to Jan. 21, 1951; Maj. Gen. John H. Church, March 3, 1951 to May I, 1952: Maj. Gen. Robert N. Young, June 9, 1952 to Jan. 15, 1953; and Maj. Gen Guy S. Meloy Jr., Jan. 15, 1953 to June 13, 1954. Those commandants still living besides Lynch and Forsythe are Maj. Gen. Leven C. Allen, Feb. 14, 1942 to Sept. 18, 1943; Maj. Gen. Joseph H. Harper, June 14, 1954 to May 12, 1956; Maj. Gen. Herbert B. Powell, Aug. 20, 1956 to April 8. 1958; Maj. Gen. Paul L. Freeman, May 1, 1958 to April 8. 1960: Maj. Gen. Hugh P. Harris, April 19, 1960 to July 31, 1961: Maj. Gen. Ben Harrell, Aug. 1, 1961 to Feb. 15, 1963: Maj. Gen. C. W. G. Rich, Feb. 25, 1963 to Aug. L 1964; Maj. Gen. John Heintges, Aug. 1, 1964 to July 1965; Maj. Gen. Robert H. York, July 1965 to July 1967; Lt. Gen. John, M. Wright Jr., July 1967 to May 1969; Maj. Gen. Orwin C. Talbott, September 1969 to Feb. 15, 1973; Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Tarpley, Feb 16, 1973 to Aug. 26, 1975 and Maj. Gen. Willard Latham. Aug. 28, 1975 to July 25, 1977. ( My husband told me that Gen. Livsey retired as a 4 Star General in about 1984 or 86. His last assignment was with the 8th Army Commander in Korea. CGT) Special Sesquicentennial Supplement IV Ledger-Enquirer, Sunday May 7, 1978, S-18. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/photos/livseyjr12679gph.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 9.4 Kb