Edward L. Rowny
some for fire support, some to transport soldiers and supplies, and some, of course,
for command and control purposes.
Q ..
Wasn't the 1 lth Air Assault Division (Test) formed about this time?
A ..
Actually, the test division had already been formed. The 11th Airborne Division
was recalled to active duty on February 15, 1963, and redesignated the 11th Air
Assault Division. The Secretary of Defense had instructed the chief of staff of the
Army to form this unit so it could carry on experiments which had been conducted
by the Howze Board and by our ACTIV team in Vietnam. General Earle Wheeler,
then the Army's chief of staff, issued the necessary orders to activate the division.
Q ..
Was it organized as a full-blown division?
A ..
No. The concept was that it would grow by stages. Taking men and equipment
from the active Army, it was to start out as a battalion, then build up to a brigade
and then fmally to a division. The first battalion to join the division was the 3d
Battalion of the 187th Infantry, commanded- by Lieutenant Colonel John J.
Hennessey, who had commanded the battle group of the 82d Airborne Division that
conducted our Howze Board tests.
Q ..
Who commanded the division, and had he taken part in the Howze Board tests?
A ..
The test division was commanded by Major General Harry W. 0. Kinnard.
Kinnard had not been a member of the Howze Board but was an ideal choice for
the job. He was a paratrooper and a highly decorated war hero who had jumped
into Normandy. A wax statue of him exists in a museum in Bastogne, where he
had been a hero of the Battle of the Bulge as a 29-year old colonel. Kinnard was
highly intelligent, aggressive, and a real believer in air mobility. He came to the
division from the 101st Airborne Division, where he had been an assistant division
commander under Major General Charles Rich. Kinnard prevailed upon Rich to
give him some of the 101st Division's best officers and enlisted men to get started,
including Colonel E. B. Roberts who became Kinnard's chief of staff.
Q ..
Did the 1 lth Air Assault Division carry out the same kinds of tests you had
conducted in Vietnam?
A
No, not initially. The Army's idea was to organize and test a light division which
could take its place in Germany to fight a conventional war. Having just come
back from Vietnam, I was more interested in having the division organize and train
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