Remembering ‘superb soldier’ Maj. Gen. Jarrett Jackson Robertson

We have a long list of military veterans to thank this Friday on Veterans Day, a patriotic time when we honor everyone who served in our country’s armed forces whether during war or peace. One of Ozark County’s most famous and highly-decorated veterans was Gainesville High School graduate and 30-year Army officer Jarrett Jackson Robertson of Theodosia (1940-1993).

A real talent for music

Robertson was the only child of Ozark County champion fiddler Lonnie Robertson and his musical partner and wife Thelma (granddaughter of early Lutie/Theodosia settler Benjamin Jones). 

During the 1930s and 1940s Lonnie and Thelma were stars on KWTO radio and other stations. They published several songbooks which sometimes sold over 8,000 copies. 

Jarrett began performing with his parents on radio shows and concerts all over the country when he was only four years old. The first song he sang on the radio was “Happy Rovin’ Cowboy.” 

He traveled on the road with Lonnie and Thelma as The Homefolks.

Thelma recalled taking Jarrett as a “scrawny little fellow” with them to Kansas City for a recording session. Afraid he would be too noisy, Thelma put him in the studio engineer’s booth away from the microphones. During the recording session Jarrett looked up at the engineer and said “They sure are good, aren’t they?” The engineer assured Thelma they would have a good future in radio “if you’ll take this boy along as your promoter.”  

Jarrett graduated from Gainesville High School in 1958 and continued to play music throughout his college years at Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University). 

He sang and played banjo and guitar with a popular trio called the Missourians. The group played at civic clubs and social events throughout southwest Missouri. On campus they appeared at school functions, club meetings, assemblies, and fraternity parties (he was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity).   

Jarrett also joined several productions presented by the SMS theater department. In 1961 he was cast as the male lead in “Finian’s Rainbow,” co-directed by Dr. Leslie Irene Coger and Byrne Blackwood. The play was selected for a seven-week U.S.O. tour in Europe. 

In 1962 he joined the cast of the annual “Folio Follies,” directed by Dr. Robert K. Gilmore, and he was in the dance chorus of “Pajama Game.”   

A mandatory year in ROTC

Such success might suggest a future career in the music business. But a special talent for military science and tactics became evident from his first year in the mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program at SMS. He excelled as a cadet and soon became a staff sergeant, then a second lieutenant. 

A Baptist preacher-turned-sergeant urged Robertson to go ahead and join the Army after graduation, reasoning that: “You’re going to face the draft anyway, so if you have to be in the Army you might as well be an officer.” Robertson concluded it was a good deal since he also got an ROTC stipend of $27.50 a month (today the ROTC stipend is $500 a month). 

Upon graduating from SMS in 1963 Robertson received an ROTC commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. His first assignment was in the cavalry at Fort Carson, Colorado. 

Robertson spent most of his career in the cavalry. Historically, the cavalry is associated with armed warriors charging to battle on horseback. Today’s cavalry goes to war armed with helicopters, tanks and other mechanized vehicles.

‘Outstanding leadership and mature decisions’

In 1965, the Army sent Robertson to Vietnam where he worked as an adviser to the Vietnamese army. 

The job may seem simple, but it could be very dangerous, according to another of Ozark County’s finest, Col. Clay Pettit (ret.), who worked as advisor to the Iraqi Army during the Iraq War: “It’s not good to be an adviser. You never know who’s your enemy and who’s your friend. You can’t speak the language. You could be shot in the back.”

Robertson considered his options in the Army. 

An ROTC commission as second lieutenant would not guarantee advancement to a better rank or position. He would have to pursue further training for a career. He said, “I decided things couldn’t get any worse, so I applied for a regular Army commission and just never got out.” 

In 1966, he went to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he received a year of regular officer training before returning to Vietnam as a Captain.  

On Nov. 9, 1968, Robertson was ordered to take command of Troop B, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment of 400 soldiers in Vietnam when its commander was killed. Troop B was engaged in heavy combat near Loc Ninh and had become disorganized. 

His leadership in the position earned him the first of two Silver Stars awarded in his career.  

According to the official Silver Star citation, Capt. Robertson “quickly and professionally demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities in gaining control of the situation.” 

As the battle progressed, he “moved from position to position under a relentless hail of enemy small arms, automatic weapons and antitank rocket fire.” His “outstanding leadership ability and mature decisions” inspired the men under his command as they turned back enemy attackers.

Earning the title ‘Desert Fox’

After this second tour in Vietnam, Robertson continued pursuing his military career ambitions by attending the Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. The school teaches officers how to be effective leaders in uncertain environments and prepares them for command positions.

He was honored by being selected to attend the National War College, a post-graduate program for U.S. military officers as well as members of the CIA, FBI and other agencies of the Department of State. The objective of the program is to provide professional military training in strategic leadership. 

In 1971, Robertson earned a Master of Science degree in history at the University of Missouri.  

He continued to move up the ranks in the Army. 

By 1974, he was a Major serving at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 

While at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, Robertson commanded an armored cavalry squadron of 1,500 men. 

By the time he left in 1989, he was the 62nd commanding officer of 4,300-member 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. 

About 5,000 regiment soldiers, Robertson’s family, a few civilians and the Army Band attended a ceremony for Robertson’s departure from El Paso in July 1989. The group included the 32nd colonel of the 143-year-old regiment, Col. James H. Polk, who served in Gen. George Patton’s Third Army during World War II.  

At the ceremony, post commander Maj. Gen. Donald Infante noted Robertson’s “mastery of armored tactics” and called him the “Desert Fox.” The nickname attributes Robertson with skills comparable to World War II German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, who was known for aggressive tank warfare.  

Robertson’s next assignment was in Schweinfurt, West Germany, where he was assistant division commander of the 3rd Infantry Division. He was promoted to Brigadier General and later to Major General.

Other positions include Deputy Commanding General of the 3rd Infantry Division, Deputy Commanding General of the 1st Armored Division during Operation Desert Storm, and Deputy Commanding General, V Corps, U.S. Army Europe. 

Gen. Frederick Franks, Jr. chose Robertson to be his Gulf War coalition 7th Army Corps chief of staff in June 1991. In Tom Clancy’s book “Into the Storm: A Study in Command,” Gen. Franks noted that Jarrett “had an infectious confidence born of competence and experience. He was a superb soldier and a great cavalryman.”

In 1993, Robertson became the deputy commanding general of the 5th Army Corps at the Army’s chief European combat center in Frankfurt, Germany.

An unexpected death

On Feb. 23, 1993, Jarrett was returning from a meeting at the U.S. European Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, in a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. 

As the helicopter came close to the landing strip near the Wiesbaden control tower, the helicopter burst into flames and crashed onto the ground. Lt. Col. Dick Bridges said “It just fell from the sky.” 

Robertson and three other officers were killed. He was 52 years old. The pilot and an enlisted Army member were hospitalized for burns.

Maj. Gen. Jarrett Robertson left behind his wife Debra and five daughters from his previous marriage with Diana.

As a team of investigators arrived in Wiesbaden to determine the cause of the crash, Maj. Gen. Jarrett Robertson was given a full-honors military funeral at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery. Ceremonies included a riderless horse with boots on backward and a 13-gun salute. His wife Debra received the burial flag from the casket. 

Final funeral services were at the True Hope Baptist Church in Theodosia, and he was buried at Lutie Cemetery. 

Jarrett’s mother Thelma Robertson endured losing her eyesight in the 1960s and survived the death of her husband Lonnie in 1981. She said that losing Jarrett was “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to face.” 

In 1994, Southwest Missouri State ROTC alums dedicated a 43-foot rappelling tower in his memory. 

Lt. Col. Daniel Murphy said that the rappelling tower generated interest in military science programs and promoted awareness of the ROTC program (now called Bear Battalion). 

At the dedication ceremony, keynote speaker Lt. Gen. John E. Miller commended Robertson for “selfless service which acts a standard for the present and future.” 

Thelma Robertson and four of her five grandchildren attended.

‘Soldiers like Jarrett Robertson aren’t supposed to die in freak accidents…’

Thelma died in 2000, at the age of 89. Unfortunately, she did not live long enough to know that at least some justice for her son’s death would be decided. 

In 2002, the Black Hawk pilot, the surviving enlisted man and the widows of the four deceased Army officers filed a negligence and product liability suit against United Technology Corporation, who created a system that suspended two 230-gallon fuel tanks on the sides of the helicopter. 

At the time of the crash, the fuel tanks had unequal fuel loads and caused the helicopter to crash.

The district court record summarized the event: “As the helicopter approached the airfield’s helipad, it began a shallow right turn to line up with the pad on the parking ramp. When the pilot attempted to level the helicopter out of the turn there was ‘no response’ from the flight controls. The aircraft continued to turn steeply to the right. It completed an approximate 360 degree turn and crashed on its right side causing the right external tank to explode.” 

The helicopter had an unacceptable “asymmetric right lateral center of gravity” at the time of the crash.

After an 11-day trial, the jury awarded the plaintiffs $22.9 million in compensatory damages. The UTC filed an appeal, but it was denied.

In a tribute to Robertson, Virginia War Memorial Director Dr. Clay Mountcastle wrote: “Soldiers like Jarrett Robertson aren’t supposed to die in freak accidents.” They are “expected to grow old and tell war stories or, perhaps, to die on the battlefield,” not lost to a helicopter crash.

Among his many awards were two Silver Star awards, four Legion of Merit ribbons, three Bronze Star medals, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medals, Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal and a Combat Infantryman Badge.

The “million dollar” Theodosia bridge over Bull Shoals Lake is named the Jarrett Robertson Memorial Bridge in his honor.

So, this Veterans Day, when you awake in this great nation of ours, take a moment to remember the men and women who, despite the risk and sacrifice, raised their hands to serve and defend this beautiful land. 

To Jarrett Roberston and all of the other veterans out there, we applaud your service. 

Author’s note: I’d like to extend my gratitude to another Ozark County veteran, Col. Clay Pettit (ret.) for being my advisor in Army protocols and officer ranks. Pettit recently retired from a long career from the Army and is currently employed as a military contract worker at the Pentagon.