Join the National Museum of the Pacific War for our December Untold Stories of WWII webinar entitled, "Danger 79er: A Texan Goes to War". During this 30-45 minute webinar, registrants will hear from Dr. James Willbanks about Lt. Gen. James F. Hollingsworth, a native son of Sanger, Texas, was one of the most highly decorated general officers in the history of the U.S. Army. He was a three-time recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross along with four Silver Stars, six Purple Hearts, and a host of additional medals and commendations. His career spanned wars both cold and hot, and throughout, “Holly” was a hard-charging, hands-on soldier who could be irreverent and brash but always “led from the front.”

Hollingsworth entered the US Army as a second lieutenant upon graduation from the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University). In World War II, while leading tanks in Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army, Hollingsworth and his unit encountered dug-in German defenders. He lined up his thirty-four tanks and issued a command rarely heard in modern warfare: Charge! Patton later recognized Hollingsworth as one of the two best armored battalion commanders in the war.

The story of this remarkable man is one of selfless service and leadership; in many ways, he embodies the “Greatest Generation” who played such a seminal role in the victory during World War II and then went on to serve at more senior levels in later conflicts.

Dr. James H. Willbanks is Professor Emeritus of Military History at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He retired from CGSC in April 2018 after forty-nine years of combined federal service. For two years before retiring, Dr. Willbanks served as the General of the Army George C. Marshall Chair of Military History. Dr. Willbanks joined the CGSC faculty in 1992, when he retired from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel with twenty-three years’ service as an Infantry officer, including a tour as an infantry advisor with a South Vietnamese regiment during the 1972 North Vietnamese Easter Offensive. He also served in the 3rd Infantry, 7th Infantry, 9th Infantry, 1st Cavalry, and U.S. Southern Command.