A respected military strategist and decorated veteran of two wars, General Frederick M. Franks Jr. graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1959 and most recently saw action in combat as the commander of the Gulf War coalition VII Corps before retiring from the service in 1994. Franks fought with the 11^th Armored Cavalry Regiment in the Vietnam War and received multiple medals, including the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, and two Purple Hearts. One of Franks’s injuries resulted in the amputation of his lower left leg. Despite his disability, he successfully lobbied to remain in a combat unit before transitioning to administrative and command duties. 

 

After Vietnam Franks served as a member of Army Staff at the Pentagon and earned the rank of brigadier general in 1984. He assumed command of Corps VII in 1988. Under his command, Corps VII’s five armored divisions used his noted “left hook” maneuver to defeat 14 Iraqi divisions in the land battle to free Kuwait from Iraqi occupation in Operation Desert Storm. Corps VII mounted a furious assault that spanned less than five days, in which fewer than 100 of the Corp’s 146,000 troops were lost to hostile fire. Franks recounted his career and success in Iraq in “Into the Storm: A Study in Command,” co-authored with Tom Clancy.

 

Franks concluded his active-duty career by leading the Army Training and Doctrine Command. Since retirement he has worked with Gulf War veterans groups and teaches in the Army’s Battle Command Program. Appointed by President Bush to the ABMC in 2001, he served until 2009.