Becton: Autobiography of a Soldier and Public Servant

By Julius W. Becton Jr.

Book Overview

This autobiography, published in cooperation with the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), highlights Lieutenant General Becton's remarkable career, reflects on his youth, his almost forty years of service in the U.S. Army, and his subsequent civilian appointments. Devotion to leadership, education, service, race, and his spiritual upbringing are all central themes in the book.

Becton enlisted in a segregated Army at age eighteen and rose to the rank of lieutenant general over the course of nearly four decades. After receiving his commission as a second lieutenant of infantry, he subsequently fought with distinction in the Korean War. Integrated into the Regular Army in 1951, he went on to earn degrees in mathematics and economics and held combat commands in the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam and the legendary 1st Cavalry Division in 1975-76. Promoted to lieutenant general in 1978, he served as commanding general of the U.S. VII Corps in Germany and deputy commander of Training and Doctrine Command and the Army Inspector of Training before retiring in 1983.

Following retirement, he entered fields of international disaster assistance, emergency management, and education.

In 2007 Becton was selected to receive the George Catlett Marshall Medal, the highest award presented by the AUSA for being a soldier, combat commander, administrator, educator, public servant, government leader, and role model.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591140218
• ISBN13: 9781591140214
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
• Length: 318 Pages
• Weight: 1.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A great commander, a great person, a great American

I had the priviledge of serving under then Lt. Col. Julius Becton when he commanded the highly successful 2/17th Cavalry, 101st Airborne Division Fall of 1967 to 1968. Julius Becton was an inspiring leader who led from the front. Under his command we were a very aggressive unit but not reckless in our approach to operations. He valued all of his troopers and they knew it. The loyalty he inspired extended from his staff all the way down to the most junior soldiers. He actively encouraged feedback from his subordinates but it was clear that when he announced "Gentleman, The time for discussion has passed" he would be making the decisions - and time and time again he made the right decisions. My only regret about the book is he did not include enough about his Vietnam combat experience. Given everything General Becton has accomplished in his life, he is an amazingly modest person, always giving credit to his subordinates. The truth is, he has inspired everyone who has ever worked with him to strive to be a better person. Many years later I had the opportunity to tell him that, next to my father, he was the most influential person in my life. He was uncomfortable with me telling him that but it was the truth. He is a great person - always giving of himself. A great American.

He Is One of America's Heros

LTG (Ret.) Becton has served this country honorably for over 40 years. His autobiography is outstanding and demonstrates that hard work will win out over all obstacles. He is truly one of this Nation's great heros and I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about his life.

Excellent, Readable Memoir of a Very Great Man

Personal memoirs of famous or near famous people can be risky investments for a reader. General Becton's book has no such risk though, and it makes for enjoyable, informative reading without any of the jargon that often can make military matters tedious to the layperson. In fact, Gen. Becton frequently shows an obvious effort to explain technical points in terms that keep everything well inside the reader's comfort zone. Autobiography of Becton compares very favorably with those of a number of other senior professional officers whose names are quite familiar to the general public and which were issued over the last 15 years or so by some of the larger and more prominent national publishing houses. Julius Becton is far less known in America today than he deserves to be. Not only does he have a public service career spanning more than 60 years, but it is a career highlighted by taking up tough jobs that entailed a lot more criticism than material reward. These included FEMA, presidency of a historically Black college in the South at a time when those institutions were becoming increasingly strained by the end of segregation at larger state universities and, the hottest potato of all, taking charge of the pathetic District of Columbia school system to root out the graft and incompetence, while fighting off the incessant backbiting from the power centers that benefited by the old ways of doing things. And he did this while in his 70's, postponing a well-deserved retirement. My own interest in the book was mainly in General Becton's military career. Although he had quite a successful one, it was a career marked by competence and solid performance, rather than the glamour, slogans and catch phrases, goofy reorganization plans or personality stunts that accompanied so many general officers I saw during my service years in the 70s and which were such a burden on their subordinates, at no gain to the service. I was also gratified to see several of General Becton's observations on Army inspections, personnel policies and run-ins with overinflated egos along the career paths. Oddly enough, I had crossed paths with some of those people (at a far lower level on my part) or heard a great deal about them, and in every case agreed with his polite, but negative assessments. At this point I should note that I had one fleeting contact with the author more than 35 years ago, when he swore me and my graduating class into the Army. The word "charisma" is terribly overused and not necessarily informative, so I won't use it here. I will say that General Becton was a man of monumental dignity, seriousness and personal magnetism. This was most noted by the families who were present at the time, who didn't discuss anything else about the ceremony other than what a stunningly impressive, yet approachable, pleasant and civil individual this was (and this was at a time when a member of an ethnic minority as a military general officer was much less usual than in

The tale of a great American who spent 60 years in public service

"Becton's" autobiography is the tale of a great man of humble beginnings. Born the son of a handy-man, he took advantage of the opportunities life presented and he still serves as the role-model of someone we should all aspire to be. Lt Gen Julius Becton enlisted in the Army just after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Beginning the war as a private, he ended it as a second lieutenant. The book follows his military career through the hot wars in Korea and Vietnam, and finished with the Cold War in West Germany. Having led at every organization level in the Army, he retired as a Lt General with 39 years of service. After serving our nation in the profession of arms, he came out of retirement to run another organization that greatly benefitted from his proven abilities at international diplomacy and crisis management. He ran the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), which coordinates United States assistance to other countries that have suffered man-made or natural disasters. After fixing OFDA he was asked to head the newly-formed Federal Emergency Management Agency. From there, he returned to his Alma Mater of Prairie View A & M University, this time as President, and saved it from going into receivership. He continued his pattern of restoring desperately needed leadership to (at the time) dysfunctional organizations one more time for the District of Columbia Public School system before finally retiring. Lt Gen Becton's career predated another famous Black American's military career by just a few years. Similar to General Colin Powell's "My American Journey", both books recount the experiences of two men who were very successful in the environment provided by the US armed forces. Gen. Powell's biography benefitted from a professional writer resulting in smoother flow through the book. The author could have also helped elicit more when it came to Lt Gen Becton's incredible accomplishments. In some cases, Lt Gen Becton's humility when relating his proudest moments whet our appetites, but left us wanting "The Rest of the Story". Lt Gen Julius Becton's life story is an incredible one. Becton's candid story-telling provided examples of what worked, balanced with his introspection as to what he could have done better. This critical self-assessment combined with Becton's 13 principles of the "First Team Philosophy" provides the reader with a very powerful lesson in applied leadership.