Do generals fight in battles? Not often, but sometimes.
Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. landed in the first wave at Utah Beach in Normandy, around the same time his son Captain Quentin Roosevelt landed in the first wave at Omaha Beach. He had to argue his case to the upper brass to do it, but he was a decorated combat vet from World War I, had served up front in Africa, Sicily and mainland Italy, and finally convinced higher command to let him do it.
This, despite the fact that Generals Omar Bradley and George Patton disapproved of Roosevelt’s methods of leading from the front, believing it weakened the discipline of officers and enlisted men.
On Utah, however, Roosevelt’s role proved crucial. The first landings were a mile south of where they were supposed to be. He was unruffled, saying “We’ll start the war from right here.”
T.R. reconnoitered the beach (walking with a cane due to arthritis) and re-directed troops inland, greeting each wave of troops as they landed. Continually under fire, he made decisions on the fly that kept troops on track to their first-day objectives.
Many of his fellow generals didn’t expect him to survive that day, but survive he did, even under constant fire. Omar Bradley later said Roosevelt was the most heroic officer he saw during the landings.
Roosevelt died of a heart attack five weeks after the Utah landings. Generals Patton and Bradley were pallbearers at his funeral.
Photo of Theodore Roosevelt Jr. in Normandy
A 1925 image of cracks in the dome of the Pantheon in Rome. You begin to realise the enormous proportions of the building when you see how small and insignificant those two men look beside the major damage.
