Laurence B. Keiser

Major General Laurence B. "Dutch" Keiser (1895–1969) was an American general who served in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.

Life until 1950

Laurence Bolton Keiser was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 1, 1895. He graduated from West Point along with J. Lawton Collins, Matthew B. Ridgway, and Mark W. Clark in 1917. He won the Silver Star for several courageous actions during the Romagne campaign in the First World War. He had an uneventful peacetime career and he was a colonel when the U.S. went into World War II. He served as VI Corps chief of staff during the Italian campaign and was an army chief of staff in Texas. In January 1944, Keiser was promoted to brigadier general. Six years later, he was given yet another promotion, this time a major general's.

Korea and beyond

In 1950, Keiser was given the command of the 2nd Infantry Division when the unit was ordered to join the IX Corps in South Korea. Keiser was considered by some officers to be slightly too old for an outstanding division commander, and displayed lack of knowledge of his division's situation when he was confronted by Walton Walker, the American commander in Korea. His division repulsed a strong North Korean assault. The Second Division fought in the U.N. victories in North Korea and Keiser deployed his division north of his headquarters in Kunuri.

In late November 1950, a large Chinese force crossed over the Yalu River and launched a surprise attack on the U.N. forces. A strong unit of Chinese forces attacked Kunuri, launching surprise assaults on units in the locale. Colonel Paul L. Freeman led his 23rd Infantry Regiment north of Kunuri in a delaying action, but some Chinese broke through and slipped up to the division headquarters during the night of November 29. The Americans were shocked. During the afternoon, a close friend of Keiser's, Major General Frank Milburn, the commander of I Corps, which was stationed west of IX Corps, had made contact with Keiser. Milburn asked how things were going. "Bad," Keiser answered. "We're getting hit in my command post." "Well, come out my way," suggested Milburn, meaning that Keiser should enter the I Corps sector. Keiser replied that General John B. Coulter, the IX Corps commander, had said that Keiser's men could only come out on the road to Sunchon, where the rest of the corps was rallying around.

As the situation became increasingly worse, Keiser was instructed to fall back from Kunuri toward Sunchon. However, along a narrow stretch of road known as "The Gauntlet," the division was bogged down by Chinese troops who picked off American soldiers as they made their way through. Keiser's bodyguard and assistant operations officer were both killed, and, as he walked along the road, he stepped on a prone soldier, who cursed him.

"My friend, I'm sorry," the stunned commander replied (In his Korean War account The Coldest Winter, journalist David Halberstam writes that this was an adequate epitaph for the day). Finally, the division arrived in Sunchon. From there, it moved on to Pyongyang. Keiser was summoned to Seoul, where he met with General Lev Allen, the Eighth Army chief of staff, where he was relieved of divisional command.

Allen had relieved Keiser of his command for supposed medical reasons, but the general felt as if the command staff was using him, as he was the commander of the division in question, as a scapegoat. On October 20, 1969, Major General Laurence B. "Dutch" Keiser died in San Francisco, California.

Sources

1. Encyclopedia of the Korean War-Spencer Tucker, editor
2. "We're getting hit in my CP"-The Coldest Winter-David Halberstam, author
3. "My friend, I'm sorry"-The Coldest Winter-David Halberstam, author