Julian Ewell | |
|---|---|
 Major General Ewell, 9th Infantry Division commander, 1968 | |
| Born | November 5, 1915 Stillwater, Oklahoma, US |
| Died | July 27, 2009 (aged 93) Fairfax, Virginia, US |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1939–1973 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Commands | II Field Force 9th Infantry Division 9th Infantry Regiment 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment 3rd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment |
| Battles / wars | World War II Korean War Vietnam War |
| Awards | Distinguished Service Cross Army Distinguished Service Medal (4) Silver Star (3) Legion of Merit (2) Bronze Star Medal Purple Heart Air Medal |
Julian Johnson Ewell (November 5, 1915 – July 27, 2009) was a career United States Army officer who served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He commanded the 9th Infantry Division and II Field Force in Vietnam, and attained the rank of lieutenant general.
The son of a career Army officer, Ewell graduated from the New Mexico Military Institute and the United States Military Academy. Commissioned as a second lieutenant of infantry in 1939, he volunteered for paratrooper training at the start of World War II. During the war, he commanded 3rd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Division. He took part in a parachute jump into Normandy during the D-Day invasion, and continued to take part in combat against the Nazis in Europe. Ewell later commanded the 501st Regiment, which included participation in Operation Market Garden and the defense of Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge. He received the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism at Bastogne.
After the war, Ewell continued his Army career, and his command assignments included the 9th Infantry Regiment in South Korea during the Korean War, Assistant Commandant of Cadets at West Point, Assistant Division Commander of the 8th Infantry Division, and Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff for the Combat Developments Command.
During the Vietnam War, Ewell commanded the 9th Infantry Division (1968–1969) and II Field Force (1969–1970). He later served as military advisor to the U.S.-South Vietnamese delegation at the negotiations for the Paris Peace Accords and Chief of Staff of the NATO Southern Command. Ewell's Vietnam service generated controversy, especially over concerns that his focus on "body counts" as a measure of success caused his subordinates to inflate their numbers by counting civilian dead as enemy combatants and by committing atrocities. Among the most well-known operations he took part in was Operation Speedy Express, which was estimated by internal Department of Defense documents to have killed as many as 5,000 to 7,000 civilians.[1] David Hackworth alleges that among those in the 9th Division he had commanded, this earned him the nickname the "Butcher of the Delta".[2] According to Geoffrey Ward and Ken Burns in The Vietnam War: An Intimate History, Ewell was apparently proud of this nickname, and saw nothing wrong with what the soldiers under his command had done.[3]
Ewell died in Virginia in 2009, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
- ^ Ward, Geoffrey C.; Burns, Ken (2017-09-05). The Vietnam War: An Intimate History. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 356–357. ISBN 9781524733100.
- ^ "Peoples Century | Guerrilla Wars | Col. David Hackworth". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
- ^ Ward, Geoffrey C.; Burns, Ken (2017-09-05). The Vietnam War: An Intimate History. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 356–357. ISBN 9781524733100.