T. Harry
Williams Center for Oral History Collection
INTERVIEWEE
NAME:
Joseph Dale COLLECTION:
4700.0731
IDENTIFICATION: [1920-2002] World War II Vet, Former Commandant of
Cadets LSU
INTERVIEWER: Jack Fiser
PROJECT: World War II
DATES: August 12,
1995; August 17, 1995 FOCUS DATES: 1948-1995
ABSTRACT:
T
1057
Brief
biography of Joseph Dale by Jack Fisher; attending LSU ROTC summer camp in Fort
Benning, Georgia; reporting for active duty to Fort Sill in 1942; being a
volunteer for assignments while in the military; training as a 2nd
Calvary Division horseman; assignment to the 8th Armored Division as
an executive officer as an artillery battery; assignment as a battery commander
with a separate artillery battalion; assignments and movements once landing in
Europe after D-Day; assignments after World War II; commission in the Regular
Army in 1946; serving as aide-de-camp to General James Gavin who had commanded
the 82nd Airborne Division in Europe in World War II; serving as
aide to Lieutenant General Stephen Chamberlin, who had been General MacArthur's
G3 operations officer; involvement in the Korean War; assignment to the First
Corps as the artillery officer; becoming an aide to General Ridgway; assignment
after the Korean War to a National Guard unit as a Regular Army advisor to an
artillery unit; reassignment to Iran as a member of a Military Assistance
Advisory Group Training Team working with the Shah's army; establishing command
at Mashhad and Russian activities; an example of an incident with the Russians;
becoming the Commandant of Cadets at LSU; efforts to revitalize the cadet corps
at LSU (Cadets of the Ole War Skule); the effort to establish the LSU War
Memorial Commission; becoming connected to LSU as the Director of Campus Safety;
becoming the Director of the Employee Benefits Office.
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1058
Dale's
father's involvement in World War I; Dale's grandfather who was a steamboat
river captain on the Mississippi; the LSU ROTC sponsor program where each cadet
had a female sponsor; getting his commission in the Regular Army; his
activities as an artillery battery commander as part of the later phases of the
Normandy invasion; working with General Patton's 3rd Armored
Division; getting wounded during World War II for which he received a Bronze
Star; meeting the Russian troops; reaction after the agreements had been signed
on V-E Day; becoming an aide to General Gavin; becoming an aide to General
Chamberlin; trying to become involved with the Gulf War; training in the Army
Winter Warfare School in Alaska; Dale's view of how an early Officer's
Preference Statement effected his ability to rise higher in command positions;
becoming the Commandant of LSU ROTC Cadet Corps; incentive programs to attract
recruits into joining the LSU ROTC Cadet Corps; working with the Army Special
Forces; being the first live person to jump out of a C141 aircraft by
parachute; Dale's reflection on his career and his one regret.
TAPES:
1057;
1058 TOTAL
PLAYING TIME: 1.5 Hours
#
PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 39
OTHER
MATERIALS: Interviewer
Release Form; Interviewee Release Form; Photography Copy Release Form;
Correspondence; Interview Index.
RESTRICTIONS: None.