Military commanders

[arghton 6,331]

On 20/10/2021 at 13:38, arghton said:

Remaining Chiefs of Defence born before 1930:

Tahar Zbiri (1929-) Algeria's first Chief of Staff of the People's National Army, 1964-1967. Frail and was hospitalised with covid a year ago.

David Musuguri (1920-) Chief of Tanzania People's Defence Force 1980-1988. Has diabetes, Uganda's Idi Amin was Musuguri's pupil. Also helped overthrow Amin. Served in WWII

Sumio Murai (1925-) Chief of Staff, Joint Staff of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces 1983-1984

Hiroshi Mori (1928-) Chief of Staff, Joint Staff of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces 1986-1987

Tin Oo (1927-2024) Myanmar Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services 1974-1976. Frail.

Rahimuddin Khan (1926-2022) Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Pakistan Armed Forces 1984-1987

Fidel V. Ramos (1928-2022) Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines 1984-1985, 1986-1988 and later President of the Philippines

Liu Ho-Chien (1926-2023) Chief of the General Staff (Republic of China) 1991-1995

Karel Pezl (1927-2022) Chief of the General Staff (Czech Republic) 1993 and Chief of the General Staff (Czechoslovakia) 1991-1992

Jaakko Valtanen (1925-2024) Chief of Defence (Finland) 1983-1990. Served in WWII

Wolfgang Altenburg (1928-2023) Inspector General of the Bundeswehr (Germany) 1983-1986, Chair of the NATO Military Committee 1986-1989

Stamatis Vellidis (1928-2021) Hellenic National Defence General Staff (Greece) 1989-1990

Ion Coman (1926-) Chief of the Romanian General Staff 1974-1976

David Craig, Baron Craig of Radley (1929-) Chief of the Defence Staff (United Kingdom) 1988-1991

Phillip Bennett (1928-2023) Chief of the Defence Force (Australia) 1984-1987 first as Chief of Defence Force Staff

Chi Haotian (1929-) Head of the General Staff Department of the People's Liberation Army 1987-1992

Othmar Tauschitz (1925-2022) Chief of the General Staff (Austria) 1987-1990 

Updated for the deaths of Tin Oo and others. Not many left.

 

Is Ion Coman still alive? Last interview seems to have been in 2010 when he was "frail with arthritis".

[drol 10,754]

Former Italian chief of staff Claudio Graziano commits suicide at 70.

[drol 10,754]

K. M. Shafiullah, first chief of Bangladesh Army staff and commander during their independence war, hospitalised in critical condition.

[arghton 6,331]

Salah Aboud Mahmoud, Iraqi Lt. General and one of Saddam's top henchmen during the Gulf War, dead at around 82.

 

Main commander in the battle of 73 Easting against US and UK forces, described the "last great tank battle of the 20th century". He wasn't a major name anymore during the invasion of Iraq and wasn't in the most-wanted Iraqi playing cards. 

[The Immortal 591]

Brigadier General William Weise, a Marine commander in the Battle of Dai Do in the Vietnam War, is still alive at the age of 95 but I haven't seen any public news of him in the last five years. 

[arghton 6,331]

1 hour ago, The Immortal said:

Brigadier General William Weise, a Marine commander in the Battle of Dai Do in the Vietnam War, is still alive at the age of 95 but I haven't seen any public news of him in the last five years. 

Latest I could find is this video from 2021.

 

On South Vietnam's Generals, I found this page recently. More names there than on my previous list, but it also seems to imply Brig. Gen Chương Dzềnh Quay and Lt. Gen Trần Văn Trung would still be alive, which I do not believe. The latter was gravely ill and in coma in April 2012 and not expected to survive, either he's dead or has been in some kind of horrible condition since. Both lived in France, Chương Dzềnh Quay in Bagneux and Trần Văn Trung in Paris.

[drol 10,754]

Xinhua has visited some Long March veteran last week. Min JIngde is now completely unable to move or speech and Ma Zhixuan looks already dead. The other are doing relatively well.

 

 

[Ulitzer95 11,601]

Sanford K. Moats (wiki), U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General and fighter ace (and mentioned on DL Forums before), died off radar in December 2023, aged 102.

Another WWII ace gone.

[drol 10,754]

On 13/03/2023 at 11:05, arghton said:

Chinese full General (promoted 1994), WWII veteran and Commander of the Beijing Military Region 1993-1997 Li Laizhu dead at 90.

 

As far as I know there are a few older Generals living, by far the oldest being Wan Haifeng who fought in the Long March.

 

Edit: Wan Haifeng's the oldest, Tiananmen butcher Chi Haotian is the second-oldest (but nine years younger than Wan Haifeng) and then there's Fu Quanyou, Cao Pengsheng and Dai Xuejiang from 1930, Yu Zhenwu, Zhang Lianzhong, Yu Yongbo, Ding Henggao, Wang Ke and Gu Shanqing from 1931, Sui Yongju from 1932, Liu Jingsong from 1933 and Zhang Zhijian from 1934.

 

Wan Haifeng, Chi Haotian and Wang Ke are the last ones to have enlisted before the end of WWII/fought in it.

Gu Shanqing dead at 92.