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10th Commander
White Sands Missile Range
Page 10 of 26
Major
General Edward deSaussure
Commander
Apr 8,1970 - May 31, 1972
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Major Geneneral Edward H. deSaussure, the 10th
Commander of White Sands Proving Ground/Missile Range, the son of Colonel,
USA, Retired, and Mrs. Edward H. deSaussure, was born on 26 November 1918,
in El Paso, Texas. He grew up on various military posts in the United States
and the Philippines and graduated from the United States Military Academy in
1941. He served in the Pacific in the early days of World War II with the
4th Field Artillery Battalion and with various field artillery battalions in
the United States for the remainder of the war.
In 1946, he served as Aide de Camp to General Jacob L.
Devers, while the latter was commanding Army Ground Forces.
From 1947 to 1949, he studied at the Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore, Maryland, and received a Masters Degree in
Electrical Engineering.
From 1951 to 1953 he commanded the 20th Field Artillery
Battalion, 4th Division, in Germany; and from 1953 to 1954 he served as
Group Executive Officer in the 30th Field Artillery Group in Germany. During
the next six months he was assistant commandant of the Artillery OCS at Ft.
Sill.
From 1955 to 1956, Major General deSaussure was on the
Department of the Army General Staff, and from 1956 to 1959, he served as
Military Assistant to the Deputy Secretary, of Defense.
From 1959 to 1960, he attended the Army War College and
then spent a year of duty in Korea.
In 1961 he returned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma where his
duties included that of director of the Guided Missi1e Department in the
Artillery School and Commanding Officer of the 9th Field Artillery Missile
Group. During both of these assignments, he participated in training the
Army's Sergeant and Pershing Missile Battalions for deployment to Europe and
the Pacific.
From June of 1964 to May of 1965, he served as the
Army's member of the Chairman's Staff Group in the Office of the Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His next assignment was as Assistant Division
Commander/Support of the 25th Infantry Division. MG deSaussure then
commanded the 196th Infantry Brigade from August 1966 to December 1966. From
then until March 1967, he commanded the 1st Field Force Artillery and from
March to July 1967 was Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Cavalry
Division.
Upon his return to the United States, MG deSaussure was
deputy chairman and then chairman of the JCS Special Studies Group from
August 1967 to September 1968. From September 1968 until be assumed command
of White Sands Missile Range, MG deSaussure commanded the Joint Task Force
Eight and the Test Command, Sandia Base, NM. He assumed command of White
Sands Missile Range on 8 April 1970.
MG deSaussure is married to the former Frances Pelzer
Huger of Charleston. South Carolina. The couple has five children, Frances,
Eleanor, Anita, Ted and Margaret.
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