
Edward Mallory Almond (December 12, 1892 – June 11, 1979) was a senior United States Army officer who fought in World War I, World War II, where he commanded the 92nd Infantry Division, and the Korean War, where he commanded the U.S. X Corps.
Biography[]
Born in Luray, Virginia and was the first son of Walter, a farm equipment salesman, and Grace Popham Almond. Another boy name Malcolm, joined the family in 1895, as did a sister, Judy, in 1897. When he was young, Edward nicknamed "Ned" by his family, grew up being told stories by his paternal grandmother about the American Civil War. Almond's maternal grandfather, Thomas Popham, along with his great-uncle, William Barton Mallory, had both served in the Confederates during the war. In Almond’s youth there were still many veterans of the Civil War all over Virginia although Almond himself stated in later life that neither his grandparents nor the older people who had been involved spoke much about the conflict. He did note, however, that there seemed to be an undertone of bitterness for having lost the war. In 1915, Almond graduated from the Virginia Military Institute and became an infantry officer in 1916, serving in France with the US 4th Division during the final months of World War I were he fought in the Meuse–Argonne offensive of late 1918 as the commander of the 12th Machine Gun Battalion of the 4th Division, commanded then by Major General George H. Cameron. During his service in France, he was wounded in action and received a Silver Star Citation (later upgraded to the Silver Star decoration). Of his being wounded, which occurred in early August 1918. He graduated from the Command & General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1930. After a tour of duty in Philippines he attended the Army War College in 1934. From 1934 to 1938 he was attached to intelligence Division of the General Staff. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in September 1938, he completed the course at Naval War College in 1940 and in January 1941 was assigned staff duty at VI Corps HQ, Providence, Rhode Island. Promoted to the temporary ranks of Colonel October 1941, Brigadier General March 1942, when was named assistant commander of the 93rd Infantry Division located in Arizona.

Almond in 1944.
Serving with black troops[]
Almond was for a time highly regarded by George Marshall, also a VMI graduate, who was Army Chief of Staff during World War II. This regard accounted in part for Almond's promotion to Major General ahead of most of his peers and subsequent command of the 92nd Infantry Division, made of almost exclusively African-American soldiers, a position he held from its formation in October 1942 until August 1945. He led the division in combat in the Italian campaign to 1944-45. Although Marshall picked Almond for this assignment because he believed Almond would excel at this difficult assignment, the division performed poorly in combat. Almond blamed the division's poor performance on its largely African-American troops, echoing the widespread prejudice in the segregated Army that blacks made poor soldiers—and went on to advise the Army against ever again using African-Americans as combat troops. Almond told confidants that the division's poor combat record had cheated him of higher command.
The postwar occupation in Japan[]
In 1946 Almond was transferred to Tokyo as chief of personnel at Douglas MacArthur's General Headquarters . Normally a dead-end job, Almond handled the sizable challenge of staffing the occupation forces in Japan as the American forces rapidly demobilized, standing out among MacArthur's lackluster staff officers. Having won MacArthur's confidence as a capable and loyal staff officer Almond was the logical choice to become GHQ Chief of Staff in January 1949, when the incumbent, Paul Mueller, rotated home.
Commanding the X Corps[]
In 1950, MacArthur split X Corps from the 8th Army then placed Almond, who had no experience with amphibious operations, in command of the main landing force just before the amphibious invasions of Inchon and Wonsan. Almond earned the scorn of Marine officers when, during the early phase of the Inchon landing, he asked if the amphibious tractors used to land the Marines could float. During this invasion Almond failed to capture most of the opposing North Korean Army as they retreated from the 38th parallel to defensive positions above Seoul.
During this time, Almond had many conflicts with Major General O. P. Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division, which was part of X Corps (and therefore under Almond's overall command) from October until December of 1950. Likewise Almond had a poor relationship with Lieutenant General Walton Walker, commander of the US 8th Army. Historians have criticized Almond for the wide dispersal of his units during the X Corps invasion of the north-eastern part of North Korea, in November–December 1950. This dispersal contributed to the defeat of X Corps by Chinese troops, including the destruction of Task Force Faith, and the narrow escape of the Marines at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. Almond was slow to recognize the scale of the Chinese attack on X Corps, urging Army and Marine units forward despite the huge Chinese forces arrayed against them. Displaying his usual boldness, he underestimated the strength and skill of the Chinese forces, at one point telling his subordinate officers "The enemy who is delaying you for the moment is nothing more than remnants of Chinese divisions fleeing north. We're still attacking and we're going all the way to the Yalu. Don't let a bunch of Chinese laundrymen stop you." As stated by a close associate: "When it paid to be aggressive, Ned was aggressive. When it paid to be cautious, Ned was aggressive" Despite these mistakes and partly due to his close relationship with MacArthur, the new Eighth Army commander Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway retained Almond as head of X Corps. Ridgway admired Almond's aggressive attitude, but felt he needed close supervision to ensure his boldness did not jeopardize his command. Almond and X Corps later took part in the defeat of the Chinese offensives during February and March 1951, as well as the Eighth Army's counter-offensive, Operation Killer. In February of 1951, Almond was promoted to Lieutenant General.
Death[]
In July 1951, Almond was reassigned and became commandant of the United States Army War College and retired on 31 January 1953 and worked as an insurance executive until his death in 1979, aged 86. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia near his son, Edward Mallory Almond Jr who was a captain in the 157th Infantry Regiment, killed in action on March 19, 1945 in France.