SIGNED GENERAL LUCIUS D CLAY WWII Germany BERLIN AIRLIFT Nazi Trials EISENHOWER for Sale

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SIGNED GENERAL LUCIUS D CLAY WWII Germany BERLIN AIRLIFT Nazi Trials EISENHOWER For Sale

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SIGNED GENERAL LUCIUS D CLAY WWII Germany BERLIN AIRLIFT Nazi Trials EISENHOWER:
$94.97

You are offerding on a signed photograph of Lucius D. Clay. He was a very important figure in the history of post-war Germany and an outstanding military hero.
The photo is signed by Lucius D. Clay. and is inscribed to somebody, but I can\'t quite make out the name of who it is inscribed to. The photo is 7\" tall by 5\" wide. It is on a heavy card stock and not a flimsy piece of paper.
About Lucius D. Clay (from wikipedia):
General Lucius Dubignon Clay (April 23, 1898 – April 16, 1978) was an American officer and military governor of the United States Army known for his administration of occupied Germany after World War II. Clay was deputy to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1945; deputy military governor, Germany (U.S.) 1946; commander in chief, U.S. Forces in Europe and military governor of the U.S. Zone, Germany, 1947–49. He retired in 1949.
Clay orchestrated the Berlin Airlift (1948–1949) when the USSR blockaded West Berlin.
Clay did not see actual combat but was awarded the Legion of Merit in 1942, the Distinguished Service Medal in 1944, and received the Bronze Star for his action in stabilizing the French harbor of Cherbourg, critical to the flow of war materiel. In 1945 he served as deputy to General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The following year, he was made Deputy Governor of Germany during the Allied Military Government.
He would later remark regarding the occupation directive guiding his and General Eisenhower\'s actions, \"there was no doubt that JCS 1067 contemplated the Carthaginian peace which dominated our operations in Germany during the early months of occupation.
Clay heavily influenced United States Secretary of State James F. Byrnes\' September 1946 speech in Stuttgart, Germany. The speech, \"Restatement of Policy on Germany\", marked the formal transition in American occupation policy away from the Morgenthau Plan of economic dismantlement to one of economic reconstruction. Clay was promoted to lieutenant general on 17 April 1945 and to general on 17 March 1947.
On March 15, 1947, Clay succeeded Eisenhower as military governor of occupied Germany—the head of the OMGUS, the \"Office of Military Government, United States\". Clay\'s responsibilities covered a wide spectrum of social issues related to Germany\'s recovery from the war in addition to strictly military issues.[3] He commissioned Lewis H. Brown to research and write \"A Report on Germany,\" which served as a detailed recommendation for the reconstruction of post-war Germany, and served as a basis for the Marshall Plan. Clay promoted democratic federalism in Germany and resisted US politicians who sought to undo a conservative constitution adopted in Bavaria.[4] He also closed the borders of the American Zone in 1947 to stem the tide of Jewish refugees who were generating tension with the local populations.
Clay was responsible for the controversial commuting of some death sentences; for example, convicted Nazi war criminals Erwin Metz and his superior, Hauptmann Ludwig Merz, to only five years imprisonment (time served). Metz and Merz were commanders of the infamous Bergba, Thuringia slave labor camp in which 350 U.S. soldiers were beaten, tortured, starved, and forced to work for the German government during World War II. The soldiers were singled out for looking or sounding Jewish. At least 70 U.S. soldiers died in the camp or on a later forced \"death march\", some by the hand of Metz himself.[6][7] At the time West Germany was considered strategically vital in the Cold War developing between the West and Eastern Bloc nations. Releasing the offenders early had the intended effect of boosting German public opinion towards the United States.
He also reduced the sentence of Ilse Koch, the \"Beast of Buchenwald\", who had been convicted of murder at Nuremberg and who had infamously (and perhaps inaccurately) been accused of having gloves and lampshades made from prisoners\' skin. The reductions in sentences were based on the hasty convictions of some Buchenwald personnel following the end of the war; evidence was sometimes questionable and many witnesses claimed to have been beaten by Allied interrogators.[8] Clay confirmed several death sentences as valid, commuted several and had some, including Ilse Koch, released after serving a reduced sentence due to questionable evidence.[9] Under the pressure of public opinion Koch was re-arrested in 1949 and tried before a West German court and on 15 January 1951 was sentenced to life imprisonment.
On June 26, 1948, two days after the Soviets imposed the Berlin Blockade, Clay gave the order for the Berlin Airlift (only afterwards receiving authorization from President Truman).[3] This was an act of defiance against the Soviets, an incredible feat of logistics[10] (at one point cargo planes landed at Tempelhof every four minutes, twenty four hours a day), a defining moment of the Cold War, and a demonstration of American support for the citizens of Berlin.
Clay is remembered for ordering and maintaining the airlift, which would ultimately last 324 days, ending on September 30, 1949. He resigned his post days after the May 12, 1949 lifting of the blockade.
On May 15, 1949, Clay left Germany and was replaced by John McCloy as civilian high commissioner for Germany. In the same year he was elected as an honorary member of the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati. In 1950 he became chairman of the Continental Can Company for 12 consecutive years.[11][12] He retired from Continental Can in 1962 to become a Senior Partner in Lehman Brothers investment banking house until his retirement in 1973.
Here is a great opportunity to add a special item to your collection!
Great gift idea!
(Inventory: Autograph Closet - Envelope 2)

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