Military commanders

[arghton 6,692]

Israeli Generals are a tough bunch, usually.

 

IDF/unspecified:

Eli Zeira (1928) Major General. Disgraced director of Aman, Israel's military intelligence, during the Yom Kippur War. Allegedly leaked the identity of Ashraf Marwan, Mossad's most useful informant in Egypt, and assessed that Egypt and Syria would not attack Israel before the Yom Kippur War, despite receiving a telegram warning of imminent war.

Amos Horev (1924) Major General, former Chief Scientist of the IDF.

David Ivry (1934) Major General, former Deputy Chief of the IDF, Commander of the Israeli Air Force 1977-1982 and one of the commanders during the 1982 Lebanon War. Initial National Security Advisor 1999-2001, longtime Vice President of Boeing International and also served as Ambassador to the United States and Director of the Israeli National Security Council.

Ori Orr (1939) Skilled IDF General and later Knesset Rep. for Labor Party. Removed from his political positions for remarks on Moroccan Jews. Obese.

Avner Shalev (1939) Brigadier General more known for serving as Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate of The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority for nearly three decades.

Amnon Reshef (1938) Major General, co-founder of Commanders for Israel's Security.

Dov Tamari (1936) Brigadier General and initial Chief Intelligence Officer of the IDF.

 

 

IAF:

Dan Tolkowsky (1921) Major General, WWII RAF pilot. Relic, but doing well for his age.

Yaakov Turner (1935-2024) Brigadier General, also served as the head of Israel's Police Force. Mayor of Beersheba 1998-2008 representing the Israeli Labor Party. Founded the Israeli Air Force Museum.

Avihu Ben-Nun (1939) Commander of the Israeli Air Force between 1987 and 1992. Diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1995 and has been in very poor health for more than a decade.

 

Israeli Navy:

Ze'ev Almog (1935) Commander of the Israeli Navy 1979-1985. The other 1982 Lebanon War commander still living.

Avraham Ben-Shoshan (1940) Almog's less notable successor, Commander of the Israeli Navy 1985-1989.

 

Other:

Nahum Admoni (1929) Director of Mossad 1982-1989.

Efraim Halevy (1934) Director of Mossad 1998-2003. Described a hard-headed pragmatist.

Haim Eshed (1933) Brigadier General of the Military Intelligence Directorate.

 

Unrelated, but I wonder if Mohammad-Hossein Shaker is still alive. One of the first Iranian Army commanders post-revolution, he'd be around 96 now.

[drol 11,886]

Director of Mossad Nahum Admoni is going strong and soon 95.

[YoungWillz 21,014]

On 03/01/2024 at 16:51, Ulitzer95 said:

Sir Frank Kitson was the earliest appointed full British Army general (in 1982) still living.

Surviving full British Army generals appointed in the 20th century:

(1984) Sultan of Brunei (b. 1946) honorary
(1988) Sir Robert Pascoe (b. 1932)
(1990) Sir John Waters (b. 1935)
(1991) Sir Peter de la Billière (b. 1934)
(1992) Sir John Learmont (b. 1934)
(1992) Lord Charles Guthrie (b. 1938)
(1992) Sir Garry Johnson (b. 1937)
(1994) Harald V of Norway (b. 1937) honorary
(1994) Sir Jeremy Mackenzie (b. 1941)
(1995) Sir Michael Rose (b. 1940)
(1996) Sir Roger Wheeler (b. 1941)
(1997) Lord Michael Walker (b. 1944)
(1997) Sir Samuel Cowan (b. 1941)
(1998) Sir Alexander Harley (b. 1941)
(1998) Sir Rupert Smith (b. 1943)
(2000) Sir Mike Jackson (b. 1944)

Come July all will be aged 80+

(side note: in the 21st century there have been 20 people appointed as full generals. All 20 are still living.)

General Sir Mike Jackson reportedly dead: 

 

[Summer in Transylvania 2,157]

On 03/01/2024 at 16:51, Ulitzer95 said:

(2000) Sir Mike Jackson (b. 1944)

Sir Mike Jackson reportedly dead at 80.

 

Edit: .

[Ulitzer95 12,569]

25 minutes ago, YoungWillz said:

General Sir Mike Jackson reportedly dead: 

 

Appreciate that not many others here are from a military background, but Sir Mike Jackson's military CV is on the "what the actual fuck?" end of impressive. Quite an extraordinary talent.

[YoungWillz 21,014]

1 hour ago, Ulitzer95 said:

Appreciate that not many others here are from a military background, but Sir Mike Jackson's military CV is on the "what the actual fuck?" end of impressive. Quite an extraordinary talent.

Telegraph confirms Mike Jackson's demotion from life: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/15/general-sir-mike-jackson-former-army-chief-dies/

[Ulitzer95 12,569]

5 minutes ago, YoungWillz said:

Telegraph confirms Mike Jackson's demotion from life: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/15/general-sir-mike-jackson-former-army-chief-dies/

*Promotion, my pessimistic friend.

"Promoted to glory", as the Salvation Army would say!  

[drol 11,886]

On 12/09/2022 at 21:17, arghton said:

 

7. Ma Xinchun 马辛春 (1925-) Vice Admiral and former North Sea Fleet commander. Joined the army ca. 1938.

 

 

As of April 2024 the list has been updated with CRT's March 2024 list of the living survivors.

Ma Xinchun dead at 99.

[Sinbabad 1,108]

On 03/10/2024 at 13:59, arghton said:

Israeli Generals are a tough bunch, usually.

 

IAF:

Dan Tolkowsky (1921) Major General, WWII RAF pilot. Relic, but doing well for his age.

Yaakov Turner (1935) Brigadier General, also served as the head of Israel's Police Force. Mayor of Beersheba 1998-2008 representing the Israeli Labor Party. Founded the Israeli Air Force Museum.

Avihu Ben-Nun (1939) Commander of the Israeli Air Force between 1987 and 1992. Diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1995 and has been in very poor health for more than a decade.

Yaakov Turner dead at 89.

[YoungWillz 21,014]

On 17/01/2024 at 19:36, arghton said:

General Jaakko Valtanen, former Chief of Defence of Finland (1983-1990) and WWII veteran, dead at 98. He criticized the 1960s peace movements, as Chief of Defence greatly strengthened the Defence Forces and let more Finnish peacekeepers go on UN Middle East missions. He died at the Kauniala veterans hospital.

 

I think this possibly leaves David Musuguri the last chief/head of defence of a sovereign state to have fought in WWII.

 

And as Major General Stig-Erik Malmén died a couple of days before him, the three oldest living Finnish General officers are kontra-amiraali Jorma Kaisalo (95), Lt. General Martti Alatalo (93) and Lt. Gen Veikko Vesterinen (91) who was aide-de-camp to gen. Yrjö Keinonen and President Mauno Koivisto.

David Musuguri reportedly dead: https://dailynews.co.tz/general-musuguri-dies-at-104/

[arghton 6,692]

Interesting stuff on him on a local forum, written by a journalist. Not much of this is on Wikipedia. There's some in English and some in Swahili(?) translated by Google:

 

In 1942, Musugiri enlisted in the King's African Rifles (KAR), beginning as a private. As KAR, he fought in the Second World War which enabled him to fight in the battlefield in many countries, including India, Burma, Seychelles, Canada, until Japan where he was wounded by a bullet in the thigh. He bled and lost consciousness. He was carried by another Tanzanian soldier named Marega - this one is from Ngoreme. With that act of saving him, (Musuguri) continued to be his close friend until he died.

While in the army, he got an education in reading and writing, and he was able to develop himself to do various military courses in Canada and China. He later served with the KAR in Madagascar.  By 1947 he was a sergeant and acted as an instructor at Kahawa Barracks in Nairobi, Kenya. While there he met future Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, who was a pupil of his. In 1957, the British administration introduced the rank of effendi into the KAR, which was awarded to high performing African non-commissioned officers and warrant officers (it was not a true officer classification). Musuguri was given the rank.

General ‌Musuguri also fought the MAUMAU war in Kenya after World War II as part of the KAR army.

He retired from the army in 1988 and since then he lived at his home in Butiama (Headquarters of Butiama District) engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. He was the Chairman of Butiama Village Government from 1990 to 1991.

At different times, General Musuguri had received treatment in various hospitals, Butiama District Hospital, Bugando Referral Hospital, Lugalo Army Hospital, Muhimbili National Hospital, and hospitals abroad such as China, Russia, London - England, Germany, ‌Pretoria – South Africa and New Delhi, India.

 

I doubt all of it is true..."He was the first African to meet and shake hands with Queen Elizabeth II" doesn't sound like it is. Google translate isn't good at translating that language, shown by this gem in the comments:

Pollinate the bereaved

[drol 11,886]

On 18/09/2023 at 10:51, arghton said:

Djamila Boupacha has apparently been quite ill recently with some hospital visits, but the image is from last year and she was doing better earlier this year. Tahar Zbiri made an made an appearance in April and looked like he usually does, Khatib hasn't declined much.

 

However Djamila Bouhired, another Algeria independence fighter/resistance icon (and former DDP Pick) was visited a few days ago by the Mujahideen Ministry and looks a bit frail:

Tahar Zbiri dead at 95.

[YoungWillz 21,014]

Death notice for Sir Christopher Drewry, former commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, aged 77: https://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/marketplace/advert/drewry-notices_59591

[arghton 6,692]

On 24/06/2024 at 19:33, arghton said:

Is there anything anywhere on who the oldest Soviet/Russian General officers living are? Most of the prominent ones born in the 1920s are long dead, ru Wiki has a lot of ones that are very likely dead, but here are the earliest-born ones who've received media attention in recent years:

 

1) Boris Kravtsov (1922) Soviet Minister of Justice 1984-1987. State Justice Counselor 1st Class, comparable to the rank of Colonel General. 

2) Oleg Kulabukhov (1923) Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops who fought in Stalingrad and later lead a group of liquidators during the Chernobyl disaster, suffering radiation poisoning and vomiting blood during the first weeks. 

3) Alexey Zazulin (1924) Major General of the MVD. Looked quite well earlier this year.

4) Ivan Slukhay (1924) Major General, Chairman of the Moscow Committee of War Veterans. Decrepit, regularly appears in local media.

4) Viktor Chvyrev (1926) Major General of the Medical Service.

5) Yefim Leonov (1927) Lieutenant General.

6) Pavel Gutenko (1927) Belarusian. Lieutenant General, Chief of the Engineering Troops of the BVO. Met Xi Jinping some years ago. Quite decrepit in recentish images.

7) Nikolai Kizyun (1928) Colonel General.

8) Mikhail Bordyukov (1931) Prominent Major General and USSR State Prize recipient.

9) Rasim Akchurin (1931) Colonel General. Tatar born in what is now Uzbekistan. Seems to be in good health.

10) Konstantin Kochetov (1932) General of the Army and the oldest living with this title. Seems to keep a low profile due to his involvement in the massacre of Tbilisi

11) Petro Gusev (1932) Lieutenant General. Ukrainian.

Alexey Zazulin, MVD Major General who had connections to Marshal Zhukov, dead at 100 (Facebook link, lots of Russian news sites seem to be filled with viruses these days). Lt. Gen Petro Gusev also died last month according to Wiki.

[Toast 16,124]

54 minutes ago, arghton said:

Marshal Zhukov

 

 

[YoungWillz 21,014]

On 12/04/2024 at 11:03, drol said:

List of surviving elderly commanders of Chinese military regions:

 

Nanjing

Liang Guanglie (1940)

 

Not a large number indeed.

Liang Guanglie reportedly dead: https://weibo.com/2656274875/OFW0CB9Bm

[Ulitzer95 12,569]

Times death notice for Lieutenant General Sir Maurice Robert Johnston (wiki), aged 95.

Mentioned at least twice on the forum before.
 

Spoiler

JOHNSTON Lt Gen Sir Maurice KCB CVO OBE died serenely at home on 10th November, aged 95. Beloved husband for 64 years of Belinda and proud father and grandfather. There will be a private family funeral. A celebration of his distinguished life to be announced in due course.