Colt Model 1903 General Officer’s Pistol Issued to Major General Benjamin Franklin Taylor, WWII CBI
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NOT FOR SALE
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Benjamin Franklin Taylor, 75, a retired Army major general who later became a Washington businessman, died of cancer May 15 at Fairfax Hospital.
Gen. Taylor served 37 years in the Army before he retired in 1970 as chief of staff of the U.S. Army in Europe. From 1972 until 1985 he was president of International General Industries, a holding company consisting of three industrial firms associated with the International Bank of Washington.
Since 1982 he had been president of the Olmsted Foundation, an organization that subsidizes postgraduate study for college graduates.
A resident of McLean, Gen. Taylor was born in Washington, Pa. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1937.
He served in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II and in the War Department’s operations division. After the war he served in Germany. He was chief of staff of the I Corps in Korea during the conflict there. He then attended the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa.
Gen. Taylor later served in Germany as assistant division commander of the Third Infantry Division, chief of staff of the VII U.S. Army Corps and commanding general of the 24th Infantry Division.
From 1963 to 1966 he was in Washington as director of the Army budget in the Office of the Army Comptroller, then returned to Europe as chief of staff of NATO’s Central Army Group. His military decorations included the Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal.
Gen. Taylor was a member of the Washington Golf and Country Club, the Army Navy Country Club, the Army & Navy Club and the Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville.
His marriage to Mary Taylor ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife, Sarah L. Kirkman Taylor of McLean; two daughters by his first marriage, Linda T. Drustrup of Alexandria and Joan T. Moore of Lake Oswego, Ore.; a stepdaughter, Sister Ellen Karena Taylor of Lipa City, the Philippines; a sister, Roxanna T. Davis of Longwood, Fla.; six grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.
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Army Distinguished Service Medal
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING Vietnam War
Service: Army
Rank: Major General
GENERAL ORDERS:
Department of the Army, General Orders No. 42 (October 4, 1966)
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Major General Benjamin Franklin Taylor (ASN: 0-20779), United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility, during the period from August 1963 to July 1966.
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Army Distinguished Service Medal
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING Vietnam War
Service: Army
RANK: Major General
GENERAL ORDERS:
United States Military Academy Register of Graduates
CITATION:
(Citation Needed) – SYNOPSIS: Major General Benjamin Franklin Taylor (ASN: 0-20779), United States Army, was awarded a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Second Award of the Army Distinguished Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to the Government of the United States as Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Europe, from 1968 to 1970.
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Legion of Merit
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING World War II
Service: Army
RANK: Lieutenant Colonel
GENERAL ORDERS:
United States Military Academy Register of Graduates
CITATION:
(Citation Needed) – SYNOPSIS: Lieutenant Colonel (Infantry) Benjamin Franklin Taylor (ASN: 0-20779), United States Army, was awarded the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States in the China-Burma-India Theater from 1943 to 1944.
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