Charles L. Mullins Jr.

{{Infobox military person

| name = Charles L. Mullins Jr.

| nickname = Moon, Bud

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1892|9|7|df=y}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|1976|3|1|1892|9|7|df=y}}

| birth_place = Gretna, Nebraska

| death_place = Palo Alto, California

| image = Charles L. Mullins, Jr. (2).jpg

| image_size =

| caption =

| allegiance = United States

| branch = {{flag|United States Army}}

| serviceyears = 1917–1953

| rank = 24px Major General

| commands = {{plainlist|

}}

| battles = {{plainlist|

}}

| awards = {{plainlist|

}}

Charles Love Mullins Jr. (7 September 1892 – 1 March 1976) was a United States Army major general. During World War II, he commanded the 25th Infantry Division on Luzon in 1945 during the Philippines campaign. Before the war, he helped establish the Academia Militar de Nicaragua and served as its first director.

Early life and education

File:Charles L. Mullins, Jr. (1).png

Mullins was born in September 1892 in Gretna, Nebraska and graduated from Broken Bow High School in 1910.{{cite news |url=http://digital-library.usma.edu/digital/collection/assembly/id/17668/rec/1 |title=Charles Love Mullins Jr. |date=September 1977 |volume=XXXVI |issue=2 |pages=129–130 |magazine=Assembly |access-date=2023-03-27}}{{cite web |url=https://history.nebraska.gov/collection_section/charles-love-bud-mullins-jr-1892-1976-rg1311-am/ |title=Charles Love "Bud" Mullins, Jr., 1892–1976 |date=17 November 2010 |publisher=History Nebraska |access-date=2023-03-27}} He entered the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York in June 1913, graduating, 105th out of 139, in April 1917, shortly after the American entry into World War I, with a commission in the infantry. Mullins graduated from the Infantry School Company Officer Course in May 1925 and Advanced Course in June 1930. He graduated from the Air Corps Tactical School in 1932, the Command and General Staff School in 1934 and the Army War College in 1939. Mullins also attended the Air Corps Primary Flying School from March to May 1927 and received an air observer rating.

Military career

After commissioning, Mullins was assigned to the 12th Infantry Regiment. During World War I, he served as a temporary captain from August 1917 to August 1918 and temporary major from August 1918 to June 1920 but was never sent overseas during the war, which ended in November 1918. Mullins then taught military science and tactics at the University of Illinois as an assistant professor from May to November 1919. He was then given command of the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry at Camp Meade, Maryland from December 1919 to June 1920.{{cite book |url=http://digital-library.usma.edu/digital/collection/p16919coll3/id/17623/rec/4 |title=Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York since its establishment in 1802: Supplement, 1910–1920 |date=September 1920 |volume=VI-B |page=1902 |publisher=Seemann & Peters, Printers |access-date=2023-03-27}}

Reduced in rank to captain, Mullins served as a company commander from July 1920 to January 1921 in California and Hawaii. He then became an aide-de-camp to Major General Charles G. Morton until August 1921, before serving on the headquarters staff of the Hawaiian Department from August 1921 to June 1924. Returning to the mainland, he taught tactics at West Point from July 1925 to February 1927.

In May 1927, Mullins was reassigned to the 25th Infantry Regiment in Arizona. He was promoted to major in January 1933. Mullins joined the 29th Infantry in September 1934 as executive officer of the 1st Battalion until June 1935 and then adjutant of the regiment until February 1936.{{cite book |url=http://digital-library.usma.edu/digital/collection/p16919coll3/id/23539/rec/7 |title=Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York since its establishment in 1802: Supplement, 1920–1930 |date=March 1931 |volume=VII |page=1214 |publisher=R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company, The Lakeside Press |access-date=2023-03-27}}

File:Dalton with Krueger.jpg (left) shakes hands with General Walter Krueger, commanding the Sixth Army, on Luzon, March/April 1945. In the center is Major General Charles L. Mullins Jr., the 25th Division's commander.|alt=Two men in uniform shake hands. One is bear headed; Krueger wears his garrison cap. With them is a man wearing a steel helmet. A jeep is parked behind them.]]

After Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza asked American President Franklin D. Roosevelt for aid in establishing a military school modeled on the U.S. Military Academy, Mullins was assigned to the American Military Mission to Nicaragua in 1939. In August 1939, he became director of the new Academia Militar de Nicaragua and was made a colonel in the Nicaraguan National Guard. Mullins was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army in July 1940 and then received a temporary promotion to colonel in January 1941. He was promoted to brigadier general in the Nicaraguan National Guard in February 1941.

Mullins returned to the United States in early 1942, shortly after America's entrance into World War II, and received a temporary promotion to brigadier general in July 1942.{{cite book |url=http://digital-library.usma.edu/digital/collection/p16919coll3/id/18312/rec/3 |title=Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York since its establishment in 1802: Supplement, 1930–1940 |date=April 1941 |volume=VIII |page=337 |publisher=R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company, The Lakeside Press |access-date=2023-03-27}} In August 1942, Mullins became combat commander for the 11th Armored Division at Camp Polk, Louisiana and Camp Barkeley, Texas.

In December 1943, he was reassigned to the 25th Infantry Division in the Pacific theatre. Mullins assumed command from Major General J. Lawton Collins, a fellow West Point classmate, and received a temporary promotion to major general in February 1944. After its 1943 combat operations, the division was re-equipped and retrained in New Zealand and New Caledonia before joining the fight for Luzon in January 1945. Mullins received the Army Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star Medal, Bronze Star Medal and Air Medal for his actions while serving as commanding general (CG) of the 25th Division.

File:SC 337218 - Major General Charles L. Mullins, Jr., CG, 25th Infantry Division, points out the meaning of the insignia on a captured Japanese officer's saber to Lt. Col. V. L. Johnson (52208849526).jpg, Luzon, January 1945.]]

After the war, Mullins remained in command of the division during the military occupation of Japan until May 1948, when he relinquished command to Brigadier General Everett E. Brown. His wartime promotion to major general had been made permanent in January 1948. Mullins next served as deputy commander of the Second Army at Fort Meade (formerly Camp Meade), Maryland from August 1948 to October 1949. He then served as chairman of the American delegation to the Joint Brazil–United States Military Commission for three years.{{cite book |url=http://digital-library.usma.edu/digital/collection/p16919coll3/id/20829/rec/2 |title=Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York since its establishment in 1802: Supplement, 1940–1950 |date=December 1955 |volume=IX |page=234 |publisher=The Association of Graduates, U.S. Military Academy |access-date=2023-03-27}}{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BPwuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA348 |chapter=“Tropic Lightning” Commanding Generals |title=The 25th's 25th in Combat: Tropic Lightning, 1 Oct. 1941 – 1 Oct. 1966, 25th Infantry Division |date=1966 |pages=348–349 |publisher=Albert Love Enterprises, Inc. |location=Doraville, Georgia |access-date=2023-03-27}} He retired from active duty on 31 January 1953.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GpRHAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA912 |title=Official Army Register: United States Army Active and Retired Lists |date=1 January 1954 |volume=I |page=912 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |access-date=2023-03-27}}

Other honors

Mullins received the Medalla Militar al Mérito Presidencial primera clase from Nicaragua. A Nicaraguan airmail postage stamp commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Academia Militar de Nicaragua in 1959 depicting General Mullins, President Somoza and President Roosevelt was issued in January 1961.{{cite web |url=https://touchstamps.com/Stamp/Details/707452/charles-l-mullins-anastasio-somoza-franklin-d-roosevelt |title=Stamp: Charles L. Mullins, Anastasio Somoza, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Nicaragua 1961) |publisher=TouchStamps |access-date=2023-03-27}}

Mullins was also an honorary graduate of the Escuela Superior de Guerra de Brasil.

Family and later life

In 1933, Mullins met and married Jane Dooley (29 January 1894 – 16 February 1997).{{cite web |url=https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/index.html#/search-all/results/1/CgdNdWxsaW5zEgRKYW5lGgFE/ |title=Mullins, Jane D |website=ANCExplorer |publisher=U.S. Army |access-date=2023-03-27}} They had one daughter.

After his retirement, Mullins and his wife settled in Nogales, Arizona. In 1961, they moved to San Francisco, California. He died in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, California and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.{{cite news |url=https://images.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2020/266/59551493_2cb47904-ebe8-40c1-855d-7832226769c0.jpeg |title=Deaths: Mullins, Charles Love Jr. |date=2 March 1976 |newspaper=The San Francisco Examiner |access-date=2023-03-27}}{{cite news |title=Charles L Mullins |magazine=Death Index, 1940-1997 |publisher=State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics |location=Sacramento, California}}{{cite web |url=https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/index.html#/search-all/results/1/CgdNdWxsaW5zEgdDaGFybGVzGgFMOggxODkyLV8tXw--/ |title=Mullins, Charles L |website=ANCExplorer |publisher=U.S. Army |access-date=2023-03-27}}