Highest military rank that gets its hands dirty?

Factual Questions
21

There was one General killed in Vietnam, in the Army IIRC. I’m thinking his chopper was shot down while he was checking out some fighting.

My input on the OP is;

While, as has been pointed out several times already, anyone is at risk of having to pitch in at some time for a variety of reasons above some rank it starts getting rare. IMO that rank is Lt. Col. at the battalion commander level. If you are commanding more than a battalion you have just too many responsibilities, too many people relying on your keeping your eye on the bigger picture, and too large of a physical area to watch to be doing someone else’s job.

This is backed up by my personal experience as a Marine in Vietnam. Our battalion commander was in the field with us a few times, perhaps 4-6 weeks in total. Any rank above that was rarely more than a quick visit. As it probably should be.

22

Well it seems I Don’t Remember Correctly. A quick visit to one of the virtual walls gives the following:

General CARROLL EDWARD ADAMS JR May 12, 1970 Chopper crash

General WILLIAM ROSS BOND November 22, 1969 Small Arms Fire

General EDWARD BURKE BURDETT November 18, 1967 Plane crash

General GEORGE WILLIAM CASEY July 7, 1970 Chopper crash

General CHARLES JACK GIRARD January 17, 1970 Illness

General ALFRED JUDSON FORCE MOODY March 19, 1967 Heartattack

Admiral REMBRANDT CECIL ROBINSON May 8, 1972 Crash at sea

General RICHARD JOSEPH TALLMAN July 9, 1972 Misadventure

General WILLIAM JOSEPH CRUMM July 7, 1967 Crash at sea

General JOHN ALBERT B DILLARD JR May 12, 1970 Crash on land

General BRUNO ARTHUR HOCHMUTH November 14, 1967 Crash on land

General KEITH LINCOLN WARE September 18, 1968 Crash on land

General ROBERT FRANKLIN WORLEY July 23, 1968 Crash on land

23

I have flown with several Generals, the highest ranking being a 3-Star. Since that aircraft is in fact a combat aircraft, it wouldn’t be impossiblr to be flying with them in a wartime situation.

Sorry that wasn’t much help, but it does illustrate that they don’t all go to HQ all the time. They do sometimes get out and do what they were initially trained to do.

24

The general we always heard about stepped out of a chopper and then onto a small mound, while not stooping over. The rest of the story is rather messy.