Officers of the Division

From its activation for war in 1942 until the end of its active wartime service in 1945, the 103rd Infantry Division had a host of field grade and general officers commanding the division itself and its various major components, as well as a dedicated core of staff officers who kept the division trained, paid, supplied, and fighting. The command structure of the U.S Army during World War II was heavily focused on creating large and mobile fighting units. The lowest level of command that an officer would command would be a platoon. Platoons were normally run by either a new Second Lieutenant or First Lieutenant and would have thirty to fifty men under their command. The next command level for officers would be the company. Normally, a company was led by a First Lieutenant or a Captain and comprised of at least two platoons for an average of anywhere between 100 and 300 soldiers. Multiple companies were organized into the next level of command called battalions.

Battalions during World War II were comprised of approximately four companies, and a battalion commander could have as many as a thousand men under their command. A battalion commander normally carried the rank of Major, or more commonly a Lieutenant Colonel. Two or more battalions would then be combined into regiments, such as the various infantry regiments of the 103rd Infantry Division. A regiment was almost always commanded by a Colonel except in special circumstances where a Lieutenant Colonel would lead. A regimental commander would ideally have around 2000 men under their command when the regiment was at full strength. At the top of the organizational chart for the 103rd Infantry Division was the divisional commander. The division commander was always at least a Brigadier General, and this person was responsible for the thousands of soldiers under his command. The division commander was responsible for the well-being of the entire division and all of the units that were under their command. They relied on their staff, including the intelligence, logistics, and other officers, to issue orders to the various unit commanders.

The men of the 103rd Infantry Division staff and general officers carried out an overwhelming number of tasks and jobs from training before the unit was deployed, to ensuring that all of the units of the division functioned at the highest level while fighting throughout Europe. There were various individuals who worked as staff officers for the 103rd Infantry Division, and each job vital for the division during their entire existence. The brief biographies of the men who commanded the Division and its major combat commands are included below.

Major General Charles Haffner Jr.

(Division Commander, November 1942 to January 1945)

Charles “Red” Haffner Jr. was born on March 15, 1895 in Orrville, Ohio, the son of the owner of a leather goods factory. As a young man, he excelled at school and after high school, he attended Yale University. While there, he joined the newly-formed Yale reserve officers training corps as a sergeant. When World War I was declared in 1917, Haffner served as a captain in the 301st Field Artillery Regimen in France, where he saw brief front-line service under French command. After the war, he returned to finish his degree at Yale and went into the banking business, although his thoughts never were far from military life. In 1925, he was commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel in the Reserves and from late 1927 to 1940, he commanded the 124th Field Artillery Regiment which was part of the 58th Field Artillery Brigade of the 33rd Infantry Division (Illinois National Guard). By 1940, Haffner rose to the rank of Brigadier General in 1940. The Illinois Guard was nationalized in 1940 and by 1942, Haffner was a Major General in the regular army.

When the 103rd Division was placed on active status in 1942, General Haffner assumed command as the Division commander. He took the Division through its training at Camps Claiborne and Howze and was with the men as they shipped out and crossed the Atlantic in late 1944. He commanded the Division as it went into combat in November 1944 until January of 1945, when medical concerns (combat fatigue and mild hypothyroidism) required him to leave active combat service. He briefly commanded the Infantry Advance Replacement Training Center at Camp Rucker in Alabama before retiring from the army in 1945. Haffner was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal for “exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War II.”

After the war, Haffner became the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of R.R. Donnelly and Sons, Chicago. The company was the largest commercial printing company in North America and was the printer of choice for eight of the top ten U.S. publishers. He later went back to banking and served on the boards of several banks and on the board of the Chicago Association of Commerce. Charles Haffner died in February of 1979 at the age of 83 and is buried at Lake Forrest Cemetery in Lake Forrest, Illinois.

Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe

(Division Commander, January 1945 to July 1945)

Anthony C. McAuliffe was born on July 2, 1898 in Washington, D.C. He attended West Virginia University from 1916 to 1917. After this, he enrolled at West Point in 1917. McAuliffe was part of an accelerated program and graduated shortly after the end of World War I, in November 1918.  Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant of Field Artillery, he graduated from the Artillery School in 1920. He was promoted to Captain in 1935 and attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth.  In June 1940, McAuliffe graduated from the United States Army War College. Just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he was promoted again, temporarily becoming a lieutenant colonel with the Supply Division of the War Department General Staff. While in this position, McAuliffe supervised the development of such new technology as the bazooka and the jeep.

Promoted to Brigadier General in August, 1942, McAuliffe went on to command the division artillery of the 101st Airborne Division when it parachuted into Normandy on D-Day.  He also landed by glider in the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden later that year.  In December 1944, the German army launched the surprise attack that became the Battle of the Bulge.  In December 1944, during the siege of Bastogne, Belgium, McAuliffe was acting commander of the 101st in Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor’s absence. McAuliffe became famous as the 101st Airborne commander who replied “NUTS” to the German’s demanding the cut-off Division’s surrender.  For his actions at Bastogne, McAuliffe was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by General George Patton on December 30, 1944.  McAullife also received the Army Distinguished Service Medal twice, the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit for his WWII service. 

Immediately after Bastogne, McAuliffe was promoted to Major General and given command of the 103rd Infantry Division on January 15, 1945, his first divisional command.  Under McAuliffe, the 103rd reached the Rhine Valley on March 23, and engaged in mopping up operations in the plain west of the Rhine River. In April 1945, the division was assigned to occupational duties until April 20, when it resumed the offensive, pursuing the enemy through Stuttgart and taking Münsingen on April 24.  On April 27, elements of the division entered Landsberg, where Kaufering concentration camp, a subcamp of Dachau, was liberated.  The 103rd crossed the Danube River near Ulm on April 26.  On May 3, 1945, the 103rd captured Innsbruck, Austria, with little to no fighting.  It then seized the Brenner Pass and met the 88th Infantry Division of the U.S. Fifth Army at Vipiteno, Italy, thereby joining the Italian and Western European fronts. McAuliffe left the division for his next assignment in July 1945.

After the war, McAuliffe held many posts. In 1946, General McAuliffe served at Bikini Atoll during the testing of atomic bombs and then became Army Secretary of the Joint Research and Development Board. He served as Chief Chemical Officer of the Army Chemical Corps, and G-1, Head of Army Personnel.  He returned to Europe as Commander of the Seventh Army in 1953. He was promoted to four-star general in 1955 and made the Commander-in-Chief of the U. S. Army in Europe. In 1956, McAuliffe retired from the U.S. Army.  After a career in industry, McAuliffe died on August 10, 1975 at the age of 77.  He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Brigadier General John N. Robinson

(Division Commander, August 1945 to September 1945)

John Nicholas Robinson was born in South Haven, Michigan in 1893. He attended West Point and graduated in 1915, as part of the “The Class the Stars Fell On",” so called for the impressive and famous World War II leaders from that class, including such men as Dwight David Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley, and James Van Fleet. Robinson served as an infantry officer after leaving the Academy and was later a graduate of the Command and General Staff School. He was promoted to Colonel in June 1941, right before the U.S. entered the war. His early World War II service included a tour commanding the 201st Regiment (1940-1943), as the commandant of Fort Richardson in Alaska (1943-1944); and as the Assistant Division Commander of the 89th Division (1944-1945). General Robinson took command of the 103rd Infantry Division on August 7, 1945. He was in command of the Division during the last period of occupation duty around Innsbruck, Austria as they assisted in government and military oversight and recovered from the fight. Robinson was the last of the Division’s commanding officers dring the war, seeing it through to its trip home to the United States and its deactivation.

Brigadier General John Nicholas Robinson was awarded the Legion of Merit “for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States during World War II.” He retired from the army in 1949, but was later recalled for service in the Korean War. He passed away in 1978 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Brigadier General John T. Pierce

(Assistant Division Commander, 1942 to 1945)

John Theodore Pierce was born in Flagstaff, Arizona in November of 1892. He attended the University of Wyoming and graduated with a bachelors degree in 1915. The next year, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant of Calvary in the U.S. Army. He served as a cavalry officer in WWI. He stayed in the Army after the war and rose through the ranks, attending the Command and General Staff School, the Equitation School, the Chemical Warfare School, and the U.S. Army War College, among other billets. In the interwar years, he was often posted to the Quartermaster Corps. He was promoted to Colonel in October 1941, just before the U.S. entered the war and was promoted to Brigadier General in June 1942. Before joining the 103rd, Pierce commanded the 14th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Riley, Kansas and the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division.

General Pierce joined the 103rd Infantry Division at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana as Assistant Division Commander. He was with the Division through its training and deployment to the European Theater of Operations. On February 23, 1945, Pierce assumed temporary command of the Division in General McAuliffe’s absence. About one month later, the Germans attacked the 103rd in the area around the town of Niederschlettenbach, Germany. On March 21, General Pierce went forward from Headquarters to contact a regimental commander and to observe the results of heavy artillery fire. Pierce provided advice and information that aided in the capture of the town. He disregarded sniper and artillery fire that landed within fifteen yards of his position. The following day, Pierce entered Niederschlettenbach, despite active sniper activity. He delivered information that was vital to subsequent offensive actions from the division commander. For exhibiting “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity” and superior leadership, Pierce was awarded the Silver Star. He served as the Assistant Division Commander of the 103rd until the Division’s deactivation in September 1945.

General Pierce was then transferred to the 6th Infantry Division in the Pacific; he commanded the 6th Division from September to October, 1946 during the Division’s occupation of southern Korea. General Pierce was listed as disabled in the line of duty and he retired from the Army on November 30, 1947. General Pierce died in 1976 at the age of 83; he is interred at the Roseburg National Cemetery in Oregon.

Brigadier General Roger M. Wicks 

(Division Artillery Commander, November 1942 to September 1945)

Roger Manning Wicks was born in 1894 in Utica, New York. His brother Glenn Wicks was a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot who served during World War I in the 17th Aero Squadron, AEF and was killed in France on October 5, 1918. Roger entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1916 and graduated in the class of 1918. He was subsequently assigned to the European Theater and served there for six years. He returned to West Point as an instructor and backfield coach for the Army football team. Later he served as an instructor at the Army’s Field Artillery School in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He attended the Command and General Staff School in 1937. At Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Wicks commanded the 79th Field Artillery Regiment, serving as the Corps Artillery Officer, IV Army Corps. He was promoted to Colonel in July, 1942.

In November of 1942, Wicks became Division Artillery Commander of the 103rd Infantry Division while they organized and trained at Camp Claiborne. He served in that capacity as the Division trained and entered combat in Europe. In November of 1944, Wicks received the Bronze Star Award for meritorious achievement during the operations of November 19-24 in France. This was the period of intense combat in the Vosges Mountains, when the 103rd crossed the Meurthe River and fought the Germans out of a series of towns, including Saint Die. In late March 1945, an Oak Leaf Cluster was added to Wick’s Bronze Star Award for meritorious action during Operation Undertone on March 15-25, 1945. The 103rd pushed into Germany, crossing the Siegfried Line. In the citation for the award, it stated Wicks exhibited “superior leadership, anticipatory planning, and aggressive personal reconnaissance, which was largely responsible for the superlative artillery support during the breakthrough across the line into Germany.” Wicks assumed overall command of the Cactus division twice; once in the absence of Brigadier General Pierce early in June 1945 and again at the beginning of August 1945, shortly before the Division was deactivated. He remained the Division artillery commander until the unit’s deactivation in September 1945. 

General Wicks was transferred to the Pacific after the 103rd deactivated, where he served in a number of important posts from 1946 to 1950, including as Commanding General Korea Base Command and Commanding Officer Artillery, 7th Infantry Division [Korea]. He finished his Army career as Assistant Chief of Staff (G-3), Army Field Forces. Ricks retired from the army in May, 1950. General Ricks died at the age of 77 in July of 1972 and he is buried in the United States Military Academy’s Post Cemetery.

Colonel Guy S. Meloy Jr.

(Division Chief of Staff, April 1944 to September 1945)

Guy Stanley Meloy, Jr. was born in Lanham, Maryland on September 4, 1903. After graduating from McKinley Technology High School in Washington D.C., he was appointed to the United States Military Academy. He graduated from West Point in 1927 with a Bachelor of Science degree and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the infantry. One of Meloy’s early assignments was with the first tank destroyer battalion to be organized in the United States Army. He followed this assignment by attending the British Army's anti-tank school, and upon his return to the U.S. was assigned to Camp Hood, Texas as one of the first five officers at the now defunct Tank Destroyer Center. He also attended the Command and General Staff School in 1939. He was promoted to Colonel in December of 1944.

While the 103rd was at Camp Howse, Texas, Meloy joined the Division and became the Chief of Staff on April 20, 1944. He was with the Division through its advanced infantry training and its transition to the European Theater of Operations. He received the Bronze Star Medal for “meritorious actions” against Axis troops in eastern France between November 9, 1944 and January 8, 1945. He later received the Oak Leaf Cluster for his Bronze Star for meritorious service in both France and Germany during March 15-25, 1945, where Meloy’s “superior coordination of all staff functions contributed greatly to the Division’s successful penetration and ultimate breakthrough of the Siegfried Line.” He served as the Cactus Division’s Chief of Staff until it was deactivated in September, 1945.

Meloy had a long and distinguished career with the Army in the post-war era. In the 1950s, he deployed to the Korean War. He was seriously wounded in action while serving as the Commanding Officer, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, an action that resulted in him receiving the Distinguished Service Cross. In 1961, he received his fourth star and became the commander-in-chief of the United Nations Command, Korea and commander United States Forces Korea. He went on to serve as Commanding General of 8th US Army and Commander-in-Chief of US Army Europe/7th US Army in Stuttgart, Germany. He retired from the Army in 1963 and died on December 14, 1968; he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His son, Guy S. Meloy III was also a highly decorated U.S. Major General with combat service in the Vietnam War.

Colonel Charles N. Stevens

(Commander, 409th Infantry Regiment, 1942-1944)

Charles Nash Stevens was born in Braintree, Massachusetts on May 19, 1895. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant of Infantry in 1916 and served in World War I. By 1930, he had been promoted to Major (in the Reserves) and was a professor at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1939 and was made a Colonel in the Regular Army on June 11, 1942. He was assigned to the 103rd Division and became the 409th Infantry Regiment's first commander. He was with the Division during much of its initial training at Camp Claiborne, but he was listed as “disabled in the line of duty” early in 1944. He departed the 103rd before the Division left for training at Camp Howze.

Stevens officially retired from the Army on June 30, 1945 with the rank of Colonel. He moved to Florida and died May 30, 1967 at the age of 72. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Colonel Claudius L. Lloyd

(Commander, 409th Infantry Regiment, Spring 1944-September 1945)

Claudius Leo Lloyd was born on April 30, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. Lloyd was a private in the 5th Infantry of the Maryland National Guard from July 1916 to February 1917 and rose to the rank of sergeant. He was discharged as an enlisted soldier on July 9, 1917 and promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army the next day. Later that month, he served in the Aisne-Marne; Meuse-Argonne campaign and was wounded slightly on July 19, 1918. Lloyd was awarded the French Croix de Guerre (Palm) for meritorious service when “near Courchamps, at the head of a platoon of his company, he skillfully succeeded in taking a strong nest of machine guns, thus permitting his battalion to advance and to inflict heavy losses on the enemy. Wounded in the leg he refused to be evacuated. Was forced to leave his post after receiving a second wound.” Lloyd returned to the United States and continued in the army, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in July of 1940. During those years, he attended the Infantry Line Offices Course, Tank School, Chemical Warfare School, and Line and Staff Officers course.

In March of 1944, he was promoted to Colonel and assumed command of the 409th Infantry Regiment upon the departure of Colonel Stevens, taking the regiment through its training at Camp Howze and embarkation to Europe. One of his soldiers, Bill Tolleson, later described Lloyd as “… a tough old soldier in his sixties [he was actually 49] with graying temples and wire rim GI glasses. He wore a vintage World War One uniform with dress shoes and leggings, even in combat. His raspy voice held no shortage of harsh language and tough commands for his soldiers.”[1]

On November 9-10, 1944 Lloyd was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service at the beginning of the 103rd’s active combat role. He subsequently received the Silver Star for “gallantry in action” on March 23, 1945. Lloyd was in command of Task Force Rhine, a joint tank and infantry task force near Silz, Germany. While observing from a forward position, anti-tank gunfire hit one of his tanks. This caused the occupants of two other tanks to dismount, and the infantry started retreating. Disregarding German mortar, artillery, and anti-tank fire, Colonel Lloyd calmly directed his forces forward into a proper deployment. Lloyd’s command of the situation eliminated the German anti-tank position and brought forward movement of the assault into Munchweiler and Klingenmunster. Lloyd remained in command of the 409th Infantry Regiment until its deactivation in September 1945.

Lloyd died on December 17, 1957 at 62 years of age; he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Colonel Henry J. P. Harding

(Commander, 410th Infantry Regiment, October 1944 to September 1945)

Henry James Pitt Harding Sr. was born on April 2, 1901 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England. He entered West Point in June of 1919 (where he was on the soccer team) and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1923. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant of Infantry that same year. He served at a number of army posts (including Fort Benning in Georgia and Camp Gaillard, Panama Canal Zone), being promoted to Captain in 1935 and Major in July of 1940. Harding was trained at the Command and General Staff School, the Tank School, and the Infantry School’s Company Officer course during those years. He was promoted to Lt. Colonel just after the U.S. entered the war on December 24, 1941.

In March of 1943, he was promoted to Colonel. Harding was the commander of the 103rd Division’s 410th Infantry Regiment for some of its later training and during its combat phase in the European Theater of Operations. On November 9-10, 1944, at the very beginning of active combat campaigns, Harding received the Bronze Star for meritorious service. He later received an Oak Leaf Cluster on the Bronze Star for “meritorious service [in] the planning and execution of the attack of his regiment in its advance through the Siegfried Line” in the vicinity of Gumbrechtshoffen and Birkenhördt, Germany during March 15-25, 1945. Harding served as the commander of the 410th until the Division was inactivated in 1945.

Harding continued his military career after the war, serving in a number of posts including as the commander of the ROTC battalion at Harvard University in the early 1950s. He retired from the Army on September 30, 1954. Henry James Pitt Harding Sr. died on August 11, 1982; he is buried in Parkhill Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia.

Colonel Donovan P. Yeuell

(Commander, 411th Infantry Regiment, October 1944 to

September 1945)

Donovan Paul Yeuell was born in Pennsylvania on June 3, 1894. Yeuell was a student at the Miami Military Institute of Ohio. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant of Infantry in the U.S. Army Reserve through the ROTC program at Fort Sheridan, Illinois in August of 1917. He served in the interwar army in various posts, being trained at the Infantry School and in the Company Offices course in 1925. He was promoted to Colonel in the regular army in October of 1942.

Yeuell commanded the 411th Infantry Regiment from its training to deactivation. An active officer who often lead from the front, Yeuell received the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service during military operations in France on November 22, 1944. The 1st Battalion took the village of Saulcy and crossed the Meurthe River, while most of the 411th Regiment took the village of La Planchette. Next spring, Yeuell received the Silver Star for gallantry in action on March 21, 1945. The day after the capture of Nieder Schelettenbach, the 411th—supported by the 762nd Tank Battalion—captured the high ground to the northeast of the town. The award citation detailed the story: “heavy automatic weapon fire from two bypassed pillboxes threatened the advance of the 411th Infantry and caused numerous casualties. Locating the pillboxes, Colonel Yeuell left his covered position, and disregarding intense enemy small arms, mortar and artillery fire, ran 100 yards over open terrain to a nearby tank. Colonel Yeuell then hammered on the hatch of the lead tank with his pistol butt, and after pointing out the position of the two pillboxes, remained beside the tank and directed its fire. The pillboxes were knocked out, three of the enemy killed, and seven enemies taken captive. Colonel Yeuell’s actions enabled his regiment to continue its advance...” Yeuell’s men viewed him as a no-nonsense, hard-charging commander who loved to be in the thick of things - whether training or during operations. He gained his men's respect for being a commander who would not send soldiers into areas where he personally would not go.

Colonel Yeuell retired from the army on February 28, 1951. He passed away at the age of 59 on September 14, 1953 and is buried in Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery in Phoenix, Arizona. Both of his sons, Donovan Paul Yeuell, Jr. and Owens Herbert Yeuell were West Point graduates. Lt. Owens Yeuell was killed in action in Normandy in July, 1944; Donovan Yeuell Jr. went on to have a distinguished military career with service in WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.