Charles A. Willoughby | |
|---|---|
 Charles Andrew Willoughby | |
| Birth name | Adolf Karl Weidenbach |
| Nickname(s) | Sir Charles |
| Born | 8 March 1892 Heidelberg, German Empire |
| Died | 25 October 1972 (aged 80) Naples, Florida |
| Place of burial | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1910–1951 |
| Rank |  Major General |
| Service number | O-4615 |
| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | |
Charles Andrew Willoughby (8 March 1892 – 25 October 1972) was a major general in the U.S. Army who was General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's chief of military intelligence during World War II and the Korean War.
An immigrant from Germany who graduated from Gettysburg College in 1913, Willoughby was commissioned in the infantry in August 1916 under the name Adolph Charles Weidenbach. He served in France in World War I in the American Expeditionary Force with the 1st Infantry Division and the United States Army Air Service as an instructor at the American Aviation School at Issoudon. In May 1918 he was transferred to Washington, D.C., where he helped organise the United States' first airmail delivery service, and changed his name to Charles Andrew Willoughby.
After the war, Willoughby returned to the infantry as a company and battalion commander in the 24th Infantry, one of the two U.S. Army's two African-American regiments, and the Puerto-Rican 65th Infantry. Fluent in English, Spanish, German and French (and later Japanese), he then became a military attaché, and served at the American legations in Caracas, Venezuela, Bogota, Colombia and Quito, Ecuador.
During and after World War II Willoughby was the assistant chief of staff for intelligence (G-2) on MacArthur's United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) staff during the 1941–1942 Philippines campaign, during which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for valor. He accompanied Douglas MacArthur's escape from the Philippines in PT boats in March 1942, and served as G-2 with General Headquarters (GHQ) Southwest Pacific Area in Australia, New Guinea and the Philippines. In August 1945, he met the Japanese surrender delegation headed by Lieutenant General Torashirō Kawabe to negotiate the details of the Occupation of Japan.
Willoughby continued to serve MacArthur as G-2 at GHQ of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) and the Far East Command (FECOM). Willoughby's contribution during the Korean War is subject to significant controversy, due to the failure to anticipate the outbreak of the war and the Chinese intervention in it. After MacArthur was recalled in April 1951, he chose to retire from the Army in September. He was the editor of the Foreign Intelligence Digest until 1961, and published a book on MacArthur's campaigns in the Pacific.