Walter T. Kerwin Jr. | Four-star general, 91 Posted on July 23rd
Walter T. Kerwin Jr., 91, a retired four-star general who was the Army’s second-highest-ranking officer in the mid-1970s and an architect of the all-volunteer Army, died July 11 in Alexandria, Va.
As the Army’s deputy chief of staff for personnel, Gen. Kerwin helped create a policy that scrapped the draft and led to the launch of an all-volunteer Army in 1973.
The voluntary enlistment program has been in place for 35 years and is credited with the development of a more effective and professional fighting force.
In 1974, Gen. Kerwin was named vice chief of staff, the Army’s No. 2 official. During his four years as vice chief, he sought to raise salaries, educational standards and morale.
Born in West Chester, Gen. Kerwin was a 1939 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy.
As an artillery officer during World War II, he helped coordinate a massed barrage that helped Allied forces make a successful beach landing at Anzio, Italy. He also fought in North Africa and Sicily before being wounded in December 1944 in France.
After the war, he held positions in intelligence before being assigned to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico in 1953.
After attending specialized Army training schools, Gen. Kerwin was sent to Germany in 1961 to command an artillery division. He moved on to Allied military headquarters in Paris in 1963 as the officer responsible for nuclear targeting in Europe.
Gen. Kerwin served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1969 and took on his role as deputy personnel chief at the Pentagon in 1970. He retired in 1978.
- Washington Post