James William Snee was born on 4 Jul 1910 in Palo Alto, CA. He was destined to become—if not a Yankee Doodle Dandy—certainly one of Uncle Sam’s truly dedicated soldiers, to his country and to West Point.
James and Margaret Snee were in California at the end of the famed gold rush when they had their son. With the riches of gold not forthcoming, they moved back to Wilkes-Barre, PA, where starting over was not easy for either the family or Jim Snee.
Graduating from high school in Wilkes-Barre, Jim attended a local prep school, Wyoming Seminary, and joined the National Guard. His National Guard commander, a West Pointer, put him on the road to the Academy, though the routing was somewhat unusual.
His commander’s mother was born at West Point and heard of Jim’s desire to go. She loaned him the money to attend Mallard prep school in Washington, DC, for six months. Tuition was $60 a month and provided one meal a day (that was all he had). As an indicator of Jim’s character, every cent loaned was paid back to the kind lady following graduation years later. He passed the USMA exams and entered the Academy with the Class of ’34 in July 1930.
Commissioned into the Cavalry, he served in the 8th Cavalry at Ft. Bliss, TX; the 2d Cavalry and the Cavalry School at Ft. Riley, KS; and the 11th Cavalry, which he was someday to command, at the Presidio of Monterey, CA.
His Cavalry upbringing was extraordinary. While at Ft. Riley, he dated a young lady named Patton. After the movies, they would sit in the kitchen of then COL George S. Patton, Jr. and talk. COL Patton frequently joined the couple. While it may not have been romantic, it certainly ensured that the young lieutenant knew about the future role of Armor in the United States Army. With WWII looming and still a lieutenant, Jim Snee found himself in the 2d Armored Division at Ft. Benning, GA, in late 1940. GEN Patton was the CG, and he remembered to give his young protege a challenging task: “mixing” with doughboys being converted to Armor ways. The task was ominous enough for Patton but barely possible for the likes of a lieutenant such as Jim. He endured many a detail that can only be described as “character building” in a camp under strong Infantry influences.
In January 1944, as a lieutenant colonel, Jim was the Staff Armor Officer to the 23d Headquarters Special Troops, deployed to support the sweep across Europe. In this tactical deception organization, Jim was a pioneer. The 23d conducted 21 operations. In one instance, from 15-22 Sep 1944, Jim acted as a Task Force Commander, successfully portraying a fictitious 6th Armored Division in a wide gap northwest of Metz, France, until relieved by Infantry. The operation established the pattern for many others using decoy dummies, spoof radio, sonic machines, and the special effects of shoulder patches, headquarters signs, bumper markings, etc., for the line-crossing enemy agents who collected information. At the war’s end, there were few accolades for this small band of professionals because their operations were highly classified.
The information has since been released, and official records state:
“The 23d Headquarters was truly an unorthodox unit. Never before had there been such a unit, one specifically developed for tactical deception. During the brief period that the unit spent in action, it served under more armies and corps than any other unit. It also perhaps operated over a larger area, serving in France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, and Germany. Rarely, if ever, has there existed a group of such few men that had so great an influence on the outcome of a major military campaign.”
The Korean War had Jim where his abilities were vital. He was G-3 of the 24th Infantry Division when the North Koreans invaded and played a major role in the rush to stop their advance. As a peacetime constabulary occupying Japan, the 24th Division was a poor substitute for what was needed, but they made it to the Korean peninsula and bought time for MacAthur’s famed Inchon Landing.
Jim earned a Silver Star for a relief operation around Taejon that saved the remnants of Guy Meloy’s regiment, the 19th Infantry, surrounded and facing certain annihilation. His rescue force consisted of four or five light tanks, operating without recoil oil for their cannons and just machine guns working, but he took temporary command and got them out safely.
As a four-star general, Guy Meloy ’27 went on to be the United Nations Commander in Korea following the conflict.
The traits of a seasoned soldier established, Jim, now a colonel, headed for the Air War College to do mock battle with the flyboys. He held his ground at the Pentagon and, later, as the Headquarters Commandant for Seventh Army in Germany under GEN Bruce C. Clarke, who promised Snee a command. Jim headed to Fulda and the 11th Cavalry, where he commanded the regiment impeding any Russian advance during a most frigid period of a long Cold War.
Retiring in 1964 to a family of two adult children from a prior marriage, Jim and Kathy Snee, and two adult boys, Jim and Larry Fleeger, from his marriage in 1947 to Louise Morgan Fleeger, he had nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
When his ashes were interred, in addition to his wife of 49 years, Louise, his children, and only living stepson, Jim Fleeger ’55, every grandchild but one (who was taking final exams), was there.
Duty, Honor, Country. “Well done.”
His family and classmates