Sharpen Your Bayonets

The first full-length biography of World War II general and Cold Warrior John Wilson "Iron Mike" O’Daniel, featuring "the very essence of the man… who spent more time under fire with his front-line troops than behind the safety of his office desk." ― ARGunners.com

John Wilson “Iron Mike” O’Daniel was one of the U.S. Army’s great fighting generals of the 20th century. He began his military career with the Delaware Militia in 1914, served on the Mexican border in 1916, received a Distinguished Service Cross in World War I, was Mark Clark’s man for hard jobs in the early days of World War II, and commanded the storied 3rd Infantry Division from Anzio to the end of the war in Europe, ending the war in Salzburg after liberating Munich, and Hitler’s Berghof and Eagle’s Nest on the Obersalzberg, Bavaria, Germany. “Iron Mike “commanded I Corps in Korea 1951–1952 and ended his career as the Chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Vietnam in the early days of American involvement there.

LTC Stoy paints a vivid picture of this great American warrior who played an important role in World War II, became an ardent anti-Communist crusader after duty in Moscow as Military Attaché 1948–1950 as the Cold War intensified, laid the foundation for the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and remained an ardent supporter of President Ngo Dinh Diem while serving as Chairman of the American Friends of Vietnam from his retirement in 1956 until 1963, shortly before Diem’s assassination.

Table of Contents

Foreword, Major General Anthony A. Cucolo, III.
Acknowledgements
Introduction

1. Early Days
2. WWI
3. Nogales and the 25th Infantry Regiment
4. The Interwar Years
5. WWII - ETO and Operation Torch with the 168th Infantry Regiment
6. Arzew, Algeria; Italy - including Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, and Rome
7. France, Germany, and Austria
8. The Infantry Center and School at Fort Benning, Georgia
9. Moscow and Army Ground Forces
10. Korean War and Command of I Corps
11. Indochina and Vietnam
12. The American Friends of Vietnam and the Final Years
13. Conclusion

Appendices
Bibliography and Sources

Timothy R. Stoy is a retired Army lieutenant colonel who served 31 years as an infantry officer and as a foreign area officer. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and earned a master’s degree at Georgetown University. Stoy served as Historian of the Society of the 3rd Infantry Division and is currently the president and historian of the 15th Infantry Association. Among his many honors, Stoy is a recipient of the Society of the 3rd Infantry Division’s Audie Murphy Award.