Major General Wilton Burton Persons, Jr., United States Army (Retired). The Judge Adwcate General of thehmy (1975-1979)

• Author: Major Michael E. Smith
• Pages: 03

I Introduction

Major General Xdton B. Persons was one of the most influen-tial The Judge Adxocate Generals (TJAGI because no TJAG before or after him held such critical jobs at such watershed time and had mch a positive impact on the Judge Advocate General's (JAG1 Corps and the Army. From his involvement in the Civil Disturbance Commission at the Pentagon during the Vietnam War to the ere. ation of the Tnal Defense Senice, Major General Persons shaped Army policy and elevated the role of judge advocates This article 1s

primarily based on two oral historiee taken of Major General Persans in 1986, one by two graduate COUTSB etudents. Major Dan Wright and Captain James Rupper, the other by two students at the Army War College. Calanels Herbert J. Green and Thomas Y

E. SMITH'

Crean This article didills Major General Persons' ~n\aluable, but ioluminau8. oral hisrories and captures his distinguished E ~ T ~ I C ~

record for future judge advocates By studying the programs Major General Persons initlared and his views on leadership, on comma". ders. and on the Army in general. youngjudge advocates 1~1-111

benefit

from his example of senice. devotion to duty. and tenaciouc pursuit ofcontrorersial programs he knew would benefit his client.

I1 Family

To understand XIajar General Persons accomplishments and character one muit exemme his rich heritage His grandfathe,. Frank Stanford Persons. was the youngest of ten childien from B

poor family in llontgomev. Alabanmz What Frank lacked in physical stature, he made up for in determination He was not satisfied with his position in life and went to nork at a drug 3 x 0 ~

Frank

worked hard. saved his monq, and eventually baughr the drug store Frank married Kate Porter. rhe granddaughrer of the famous Judge Benjamin Faneuil Porter cofounder of the first female college in Alabama Kate and Frank had five sons and a daughter Seth Gordon. John Wiliiami, Frank Stanford. Jo Robert. Wilton Burton. and Katie The Honorable Seth Gordon Persons considered the came the Governor of Alabama At seven-]he" Perrons. Franks second s>~.lied about

hie age and joined the R ~ a l

Canadian Air Force during World Kar

I After the war, Willie returned to Xlontgomeq and bought a neii HarIeyDawdsan motorcycle. For B time. he dated the beautiful and daring Zelda %>re but B young lieutenant fiom the North with a passion for proae. F Scott Fitzgerald. rtole her away

Pursuing his I O F ~ of flying &illie jmned the United Srates Air Force and eventually flew every type of United States plane in service at the time He served as director of punnerb training for the Air Farce in World Kaar I1 After the iiar. he commanded Randolph.Am Field in San .%ntamo. Texas Willie remembered his father ai a stern disciplinarian who never made hallow cammitmenrs. 'Papa

oris to :he Graduate Course 0

.. . .. . .

taught me to make m) promises slow and keep 'em fast 'I4 With such discipline. Willie YOE~to the rank of major general in the Unired States Air Force.

The Reverend Frank Stanford Persons junior attended the Virginia Theological Seminary and was ordained as an Episcopal pnest HIS first preaching assignment was to live among the mountaineer moonshiners near Charlotteswlle. Virginia. In the early 1950s. Frank had a church in Opelika, Alabama, where he entour. aged interracial attendance. On several occasions, Frank U ~ S U C C ~ S E - fully lobbied his brother, Goxernor Persons, to commute the dearh sentences of convicted murderers

Jo Robert Persons u-as a successful businessman in Se\i Orleans and died in 1946 Katie. the only girl, died when she was eight years old after drinking some t-hoid infected well water.

Wilton Burton "Burt"5 Persons was his mother's pet All the boys attended Starke University School in Montgomery. but Burt worked harder than the others. He went an to Alabama Polytechnic Institute horn known as Auburn) where he was captain of the drill team Burt placed great importance on bemgborn on Robert E. Lee's bmhday. January 19

%'hen the United States entered World War I, Burt left for Boston to apply for the officer training corps. When he got to the recruiting office, he discovered he was three and one.half pounds below the minimum welght. He went next door to a drug store and drank water and ate bananas until he gained the weight After eompleting his officer training, Burt commanded B battery of howitzers in France.

After Korld \Vu I. the Army sent Burt to teach militar). tactics at the Umversity of Minnesota, and later Harvard, where he studied business admimstratian As a captain, Burt ended up in the office of the Assistant Secretary of W'q where one of his duties was to furnish information about Army appropriations to the House Military Affairs Committee Burt became close friende with a young major down the hall named Eisenhower who worked in the office of General Douglas MacArthur, the Chief of Staff

In 1941, defense spending became a critical issue. Because of his expertise, Burt Persons roee through the ranks quickly, erentu-ally becoming the Army's Chief Le&lative Liaison on Capital Hill Burt tned ~er?hard to participate in the war ovemeas and was set to go to Africa when General Marshall interceded "There are few

Burrerfielc ozdpm note 2. at 166

Bur: Perions wap a130 known a;'Jern''

men in the Army I consider irreplaceable. and Persons E one of them."6

In 1949, Burt retired and became superintendent of Staunron Militar? Academ: in Virginia In 1951, his old friend "Ike Eisenhower called and brought him back on active duty to become liaison officer at Supreme Allied Headquarters in Rocquencourt. France During this time. Burt encouraged his friend Ike to run far President.

President Eiienhoaer appointed Burt Persons as one of his White House aides Burt Persons was Special Assistant to the President from January 1963 to September 1953 He aeried a i Depur? Araistant to the President from September 1953 to September 1958. In September 1956 President Eisenhower piomated Burt to I\'hite House Chief of Staff where he served until Januari 1961 E He retired to Florida where he died in 19;i.

I11 Childhood

Wiltan Burton Persons, Jr was barn on 2 December 1923 in Tacoma. \\-aa-hington His father, Wilton Burton "Burt" Pereons. Sr. was stationed ar Fort L m i a and his mother. Charlotte Caldiieli was a Tacoma native HE parents divorced nhen he rai four years old, and his mother remarried and mmed to Kansas Cit? Missouri Kilton spenr the school year wrh his mother srep-father, three half-sisters and half-brother in Kansas City and the summers with his father wherever he was xatmned -l

Burt thought that his fourteen year-old son lacked direction and he took Wilton to Montgomery, Alabama to attend the same preparatory school Burt had attended more than thirty years before.12 Starke University School was still run by "Old Man Starke."'3 Students had to recite every day 1x1 every subject and If someone made a mistake, they would have to come hack in the afternoon.14 If a student failed to satisfactorilj complete the lesson by Friday, Professor Starke would declare, "I have been here every Saturday for the last forty-five years. I'm going to be here this Saturday, and if you want to join me just keep on goofing off."16

Professor Starke did not tolerate misbehavior Students who committed serious transgressions were summoned before the entire school and administered a whipping an the hand with a witch cut by the etudent.16 Professor Starke wa8 accommodating. though, because he gave the offender the cholce of having all twentyfive lashes on one hand or twelve on one hand and thirteen on the other 1: While times were difficult at Starke, years later Major General Persons reminisced that his high school education taught him how to work. and it made the yest of his academic life seem easy le

At seventeen, Wilton had enough credits to get into college.19 Continuing to fallow in his father's footsteps,20 Wiltan enrolled at Alabama Polytechnic Institute. In 1943, after two year8 at Alabama Polytechnic Institute, he applied for an aviation cadet training pro-gram.21 Bad eyesight prevented him from flying, and Wilton finished BE a meteorology cadet at the Umversit: of Chicago 22

Wilton tried for some time to get into West Point, hut he failed to win an appointment 23 Burt had a unique way of motivating his son. and Wilton once remarked that "he [hie father. Burt1 thought I was nut8 when I wanted to go to West Point. He didn't think I was

._

.. .

Id "Old \Ian Srarke' muaf haw pm cofr over the ,ears Major General mlhe Personr remembered the number a1 :trike: being larr)-mne It used to be Flit> until B bar lamed at firw Butterfield. suom note 2 st 186 1) WaF Colleee. 'Upre note 1 at 7 i9 id

Major General Person? also indicated that coat may have been B factor id at 9Id22 Idzs Grad Course voI I, dupm note 1. at 157

strong enough or smart enough. That was his techmque 1'24

Perseverance paid off, and on 1 July 1943, Wilton entered West Point.23

W. West Paint

Z had learned enough not to throw up my hands and gimup, Instead, shrug your shoulders, pull your helmet a little lower oueryour ears and carry mZ6

During World War 11, the Academy operated an an accelerated sehedule-graduation was in two and onehalf years for Some. three years for others. to include Cadet Persons?' The war had a tremen. dous impact on life at West Point. During the plebe year, in addition to memorizing a plethora of trivial Information, the cadets had to be prepared to recite what was going on in every theater of the war every dayza Some faculty members did not hide then desire to deploy, rather than "baby-sit a bunch of ~adete."~~

Upperclassmen

"were stramng at the leash . . to get out

Cadet Persons did ueq well at Wedt Point, finishing 83d out of a class of 873.31 However, the war ended before he graduated. which posed a special problem for Cadet Persons and his classmate^.^^ The

21 Id sf 166 4t the end of his plebe year, he met his father ~n Kea...