Benjamin H. Vandervoort

Benjamin Hayes "Vandy" Vandervoort (3 March 1917 in Gasport, New York – 22 November 1990 in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina) was a Colonel in the United States Army, who fought in World War II. He was twice awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He was portrayed by John Wayne in the D-Day movie The Longest Day.

Education
Vandervoort attended Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, where he was a member of the Washington Players drama club, the YMCA, the Mount Vernon Literary Society, and the football and track teams. He was also an officer of the Theta Chi fraternity. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1938, having enlisted in the army as a private on 23 July 1937. He was commissioned with the rank of second lieutenant on 16 March 1938.

World War II
Vandervoort transferred to the newly established paratroops in the summer of 1940, and was promoted to first lieutenant on 10 October 1941. Promoted to captain on 3 August 1942, he served as a Company Commander in the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and was promoted to major on 28 April 1943, and served as Operations Officer (S-3) in the 504th Parachute Regimental Combat Team at the invasion of Sicily and in the landings at Salerno.

Promoted to lieutenant colonel on 1 June 1944, he was the Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion, 505th PIR, during the airborne landings in Normandy. Vandervoort led his battalion in defending the town of Sainte-Mère-Église on 6 June in "Mission Boston", despite having broken his ankle on landing. During "Operation Market Garden" in September 1944, he led the assault on the Waal Bridge at Nijmegen while the 3rd Battalion, 504th PIR, made the assault crossing. General Matthew B. Ridgway described Vandervoort as "one of the bravest and toughest battle commanders I ever knew". At Goronne he was wounded by mortar fire, so was unable to take part in the divisions' advance into Germany.

Post war
He was promoted to colonel on 7 July 1946, and retired from the army on 31 August. After studying at Ohio State University he joined the Foreign Service in 1947. He served as an Executive Officer in the Department of the Army in 1950-54, acting as joint political adviser to the Commanding General United Nations Forces and UN Ambassador, Korea, in 1951-52, and was studied at the Armed Forces Staff College in 1953. He served as a military attaché at the US Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1955-58, and was assigned to the Department of State in 1958-60. He then served in the Executive Office of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), from 1960–66, also serving as a consultant on politico-military affairs to the US Army Staff in 1960, and as a plans and program officer on the Army Staff, Department of Defense, in 1964.

Benjamin Vandervoort died on the 22 November 1990 at the age of 73 years at a nursing home from the effects of a fall.

He had two children with his wife Nedra; a son and a daughter.

Awards and decorations
In the early 1990s, the United States Army Center for Leadership at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, selected one or two colonels or lieutenant colonels from every American War from the Revolution through Vietnam. Colonel Vandervoort was selected as the outstanding ground battle commander for World War II. He is honored by a brief biography and several photographs in what is known as "Leadership Hallway" located on the second floor of Bell Hall.

Portrayed in film
Vandervoort was portrayed by actor John Wayne in the film version of Cornelius Ryan's history of D-Day, The Longest Day. The role was actively sought by Charlton Heston, but the last-minute decision of John Wayne to take a role in the film prevented Heston from participating. At the time of filming in 1962, Wayne, at 55 was 28 years older than Vandervoort had been on D-Day; Vandervoort being a decade younger than Wayne.

In Museum
Original WWII uniforms and memorabilia of Col. Ben Vandervoort are on display at this museum :

DECEMBER 44 MUSEUM - Battle of the BULGE - La Gleize, Belgium