George A. Taylor


George Arthur Taylor was an officer of the United States Army. He is most famous for the leadership of his men in World War II on Omaha Beach during the Normandy landings, June 6, 1944, where he served as commander of the 16th Infantry Regiment and for which he earned a Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism.
He served most of his career during World War II with U.S. 1st Infantry Division, where he was assigned as deputy commander of the division.

Prewar years

George Arthur Taylor was born in the small village Flat Rock, Illinois, in the southeast of Illinois. His family later moved to Pryor Creek, Oklahoma, where he graduated from high school in 1916. He was a graduate of the United States Military Academy, class of 1922, and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant.
During 1920s and 1930s Taylor held a variety of infantry assignments, beginning with an infantry unit at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, and followed by posts in Hawaii, Washington, North Dakota, and San Francisco.
In 1937, he was finally detached to the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth for further staff training until the next year. Then he returned to the field duty and was assigned to the Fort William McKinley at the Philippines, where he served with the Philippine Scouts.
After returning from the Philippines, Taylor was assigned to the 16th Infantry Regiment, where he was promoted to the Intelligence Officer of the 1st Battalion. In June 1941, he was transferred for a short while to the Caribbean, where he served with US Forces at the Headquarters as assistant chief of staff.
After a month of service, he returned to the United States and became Instructor of tactics at the Infantry School in Fort Benning, Georgia.

Second World War

After entry of the United States into the war, Taylor was transferred to North Africa, where he served as a staff member of Advanced Echelon Amphibious Forces, Atlantic Fleet, and in October as a staff member to the Naval Operating Base Commander in Oran, Algeria. In February 1943, Taylor briefly led 26th Infantry Regiment and on 20 April of the same year, he was transferred back to the 16th Infantry Regiment, where he replaced Colonel d'Alary Fechet as regimental commander.
He then commanded the Regiment during the Allied invasion of Sicily and Omaha Beach.

Omaha Beach

He arrived on the beach in a later wave, about 0800. A colonel at the time, he was still the regimental commander for the 16th Infantry Regiment, which took many casualties in the initial assault. He found the remnants of his exhausted and shell-shocked men pinned down along the seawall. He was able to motivate, organize and lead the attack inland.
His famous quote from Omaha Beach:
Taylor is sometimes confused with General Norman Cota, who was also on the beach that day, but in a different sector with a different unit, the U.S. 29th Infantry Division. Both officers rallied the troops under fire. In the film The Longest Day General Cota was given Taylor's line.

Distinguished Service Cross

For this action, George Taylor was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. The official U.S. Army citation for Taylor's Distinguished Service Cross reads:

End of the War

Taylor was promoted to Brigadier General on 1 August 1944 and became the assistant commander of the 1st Division from Oct 1944 to July 1945.
During the final days of the War, U.S. 1st Infantry Division reached the area of western Bohemia, near the city of Karlovy Vary. German XII Army Corps under command of general of artillery Herbert Osterkamp was located in this area and surrendered to the Western Allies. Command of U.S. 1st Division accepted the German surrender and arranged a meeting in the nearby town of Loket. The representatives of the U.S. forces present were Brig. General Taylor, Col. Harrold and Maj. Wich. On the German side, it was general Osterkamp and some other staff officers.
When General Taylor checked the surrender document, he noted that the place of surrender was written as the city "Elbogen, Sudetenland". Taylor struck out the location "Elbogen, Sudetenland," adding a note "does not exist," and wrote "Loket, Czechoslovakia" instead, changing its name back to before the Nazi invasion. This act brought him great respect in Czechoslovakia.

Postwar Life

General Taylor stayed with 1st Division in Europe during the rest of the year 1945 and finally retired in 1946 with the rank of Brigadier General on health grounds. Brigadier General George Taylor died on 3 December 1969 in the city of Palo Alto, California, after prolonged illness caused by a stroke.
Director Samuel Fuller served under Taylor during the war and mentioned his name in several of his films.

Medals and decorations