In Memoriam: Brigadier General Henry J. Muller

Courtesy Photo | Brig. Gen. Henry J. Miller was born on April 7, 1917, in Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. He moved to Santa Barbara, California, with his family in 1927, and later earned degrees in geology and political science. He entered the Army as a second lieutenant in the Infantry Reserve in 1940, and commissioned into the Regular Army in 1942.  

FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES

03.28.2022

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence

by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian

Born on April 7, 1917, in Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, Henry Muller moved to Santa Barbara, California, with his family in 1927. He earned degrees in geology and political science prior to entering the Army as a second lieutenant in the Infantry Reserve in 1940. He received his Regular Army commission in 1942.

In May 1943, then Maj. Muller was assigned as the G-2 of the 11th Airborne Division in the Pacific. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in September 1944. When his division arrived in the Philippines, Colonel Muller learned about a Japanese prison camp at Los Baños, thirty miles behind enemy lines on Luzon. He personally gathered intelligence from photo reconnaissance, guerilla reports, maps, and scouting missions conducted by his Provisional Reconnaissance Platoon. In collaboration with the division G-3, Muller developed a plan for a surprise three-prong land, amphibious, and airborne attack on the camp. Launched on 23 February 1945, the successful raid liberated 2,147 American and Allied civilians with almost no casualties. Nearly fifty years after the raid, Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the raid “the textbook airborne operation for all ages and all armies,” and the 11th Airborne Division commander, Gen. Joseph Swing, recalled that it could not have succeeded “without perfect intelligence.”

Following the war, Muller served as assistant G-2 of the U.S. Eighth Army during the occupation of Japan. He returned to the United States in 1947 as assistant G-2, Army Ground Forces, at Fort Monroe, Virginia. From 1950 to 1953, Lt. Col. Muller was appointed special assistant for current intelligence to the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In this capacity, he helped prepare and present weekly intelligence briefings to President Harry Truman.

After completing the Spanish course at the Army Language School, he made use of his language skills in El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Argentina, as well as in the Panama Canal Zone as commandant of the Army's Jungle Warfare Training Center. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, then Col. Muller commanded the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment in the 82d Airborne Division. His regiment was designated to be first to jump into Cuba shortly before the operation was canceled when Soviet freighters carrying missiles to Cuba turned back.

After his promotion to brigadier general in March 1967, General Muller served as assistant division commander of the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam and commanded the U.S. Army Advisory Group in the I Corps Tactical Zone. His final assignment was commanding general of the Infantry Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, until his retirement in July 1971. He passed away on 31 January 2022 at the age of 104.

• Date Taken: 03.28.2022
• Date Posted: 03.28.2022 14:17
• Story ID: 417321
• Location: FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, US