Edward L. Trobaugh (November 7, 1932 – May 20, 2024) was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Major General.

Early life and education

Trobaugh graduated from Kokomo High School in 1950.

Career

Trobaugh attended

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

graduating in 1955 and was commissioned a second lieutenant after graduation.

1955-1967

He served with the 3rd Armored Division in West Germany from 1959-61.

Vietnam War

From 1967 to 1968 Trobaugh served in

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

in the 1st Infantry Division. In April 1970 Trobaugh was appointed to command the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment replacing Lt Col. Hannas who had been seriously wounded in a

People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national Military, military force of the Vietnam, S ...

(PAVN) attack on Firebase Jay on 29 March. 2-7 Cavalry moved to a new base, Firebase Atkinson after the attack on Jay and it too came under attack in the early hours of 16 April 1970 and Trobaugh was slightly wounded while leading the defense of the base.

1970s to 1987

From 1971-3 he attended the

United States Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army staff college in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, with a Carlisle postal address, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instru ...

. In 1975 he took command of the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. In July 1980 BG Trobaugh became assistant commandant of the

United States Army Infantry School The United States Army Infantry School is a school located at Fort Benning, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia that is dedicated to training Infantry Branch (United States), infantrymen for service in the United States Army. Organization The school ...

. In 1981 Trobaugh was promoted to major general and from August 1981 he served as

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, Spain. Trobaugh served as commander of the

82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry division (military), division of the United States Army specializing in Paratrooper, parachute assault operations into hostile areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops ...

from 24 June 1983 to 19 June 1985 and during this time led the division in the US invasion of Grenada. During the operation the

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces Chairman: appointment; gra ...

, General John Vessey, reportedly called MG Trobaugh and said “We have two companies of Marines running all over the island and thousands of Army troops doing nothing. What the hell is going on?” His final assignment was as deputy commander, Fifth Army. Trobaugh retired from active service in 1987.

Personal life and death

After retiring from the U.S. Army in 1987, he returned to Kokomo, Indiana. He died in

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on May 20, 2024, at the age of 91. He was buried at the U.S. Military Academy Post Cemetery at West Point.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trobaugh, Edward 1932 births 2024 deaths United States Army generals Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Recipients of the Silver Star People from Logansport, Indiana United States Military Academy alumni United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War Military personnel from Indiana People from Kokomo, Indiana