Lieutenant General John Breitling Coulter (April 27, 1891 – March 6, 1983) was a senior United States Army officer. Enjoying a distinguished 40-year military career, Coulter served during World War I, World War II and the Korean War.
Early life and military career
Born on April 27, 1891, in San Antonio, Texas, he graduated from West Texas Military Academy in 1911, and in 1912 obtained a commission as a second lieutenant in the Cavalry Branch of the United States Army.
He initially served with the 14th Cavalry Regiment in Texas until 1916, including participation in the Pancho Villa Expedition. After the American entry into World War I he served on the Western Front, initially as aide-de-camp to Major General William Abram Mann, then commander of the 42nd (Rainbow) Division. After returning to the United States for five months as adjutant of the 154th Brigade of the 77th Division, at Camp Meade, Maryland, he went back to France as commander of the 2nd Battalion, 508th Pioneer Infantry Regiment, an African-American unit.
Between the wars
Remaining in the army after the war, which ended on November 11, 1918, and in the subsequent interwar period, Coulter served in the War Department's Personnel Branch, and then assumed command of the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. In 1922 he graduated from the U.S. Army Cavalry School and was assigned to the War Department as the Cavalry chief of materiel, later serving as executive officer (XO) to the Chief of Cavalry.
Coulter graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1927, and then took command of a squadron in the 8th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Bliss, Texas, afterwards serving as assistant plans and training officer for the 1st Cavalry Division. He was subsequently assigned to the General Staff's Military Intelligence Division as a specialist in Latin American affairs.
In 1933 Coulter graduated from the U.S. Army War College, and he completed the Naval War College in 1934. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on August 1, 1935 and was assigned as XO of the 4th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Meade, South Dakota. In December 1940 he became the regiment's commander. On June 26, 1941, he was promoted to the temporary rank of colonel.
World War II
In 1941 Coulter was assigned as commander of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade in Phoenix, Arizona, receiving another temporary promotion to the one-star general officer rank of brigadier general on October 31, 1941. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, which brought the United States into World War II, his men patrolled the Mexican border, and Coulter received an additional assignment as the Western Defense Command's commander of the Southern Land Frontier Sector. In early 1942 Coulter was briefly assigned as Commanding General (CG) of the 2nd Cavalry Division.
In May 1942 he became the Assistant Division Commander (ADC) of the 85th Infantry Division (nicknamed "The Custer Division"), one of the first conscript (or "draftee") divisions formed in the war, which had been reconstituted after World War I. The division commander was Major General Wade H. Haislip. Coulter was promoted to the permanent rank of colonel on July 1, 1942, and assumed command of the division in February 1943, after Haislip was promoted to the command of XV Corps. On March 12, 1943, Coulter again received a promotion, this time to the temporary rank of major general. Brigadier General Lee S. Gerow, the younger brother of Major General Leonard T. Gerow, succeeded Coulter as the 85th's ADC and remained in this position for the rest of the war.
After training throughout the United States the 85th Division left for North Africa in late 1943 and trained there until March 1944. The 85th, along with the 88th Infantry Division, was one of the first all-draftee divisions to leave the United States for overseas service. The division was sent to the Italian front in late March 1944, where it initially came under the command of II Corps, commanded by Major General Geoffrey Keyes, which itself was part of Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark's U.S. Fifth Army. Under Coulter's command, the 85th Division fought with distinction in the Fourth Battle of Monte Cassino, and later during the severe fighting around the Gothic Line, and finally in Operation Grapeshot, which brought an end to the war in Italy. During the campaign Major General Coulter earned a reputation as an expert in military mountaineering and alpine warfare.