Doyle Overton Hickey

Doyle Overton Hickey was an officer in the United States Army who served in World War I, World War II and the Korean War, finishing his military career as a Lieutenant General.

Biography
Hickey was born on July 27, 1892 in Rector, Arkansas. Hickey graduated from Hendrix College in 1913 and studied law until deciding to enlist for World War I. He joined the Army, attended Officer Candidate School at Leon Springs, Texas, and in 1917 was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Artillery. Hickey was assigned to the 31st Infantry Division and served in France until the end of the war.

After the war, Hickey continued his Army career, attending the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma and the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

In the early 1930s he served with the 7th Field Artillery Regiment at Madison Barracks, New York, afterwards being assigned to duty as Director of the United States Park Police in Washington, D.C.

From 1938 to 1940 he served in the Philippines, and from 1940 to 1941 he commanded the 9th Infantry Regiment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In 1941 he was assigned as executive officer of the Field Artillery Replacement Center.

In 1942 Hickey joined the 3rd Armored Division during its World War II training in southern California, assuming command of Combat Command A and receiving promotion to Brigadier General. He assumed command of 3rd Armored Division after the death of Major General Maurice Rose and was promoted to Major General. The 3rd Armored had already taken part in combat during the Battle of Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge, and after Hickey assumed command the division continued to fight, taking the city of Cologne in March, 1945, and crossing the Saale River. On April 11, 1945, the 3rd Armored discovered the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp. After World War II the division carried out occupation duty near Langen, and was inactivated in November, 1945.

After World War II Hickey served as Chief of the Research and Development Division for Headquarters, Army Ground Forces, in Washington, D.C.

After serving as deputy Chief of Staff for the Far East Command in Tokyo during Doulgas MacArthur's command, in 1951 Hickey was assigned as Chief of Staff, receiving promotion to Lieutenant General, serving under Matthew Ridgway and Mark Clark, and playing an important role in the planning and execution of operations during the Korean War.

General Hickey retired in 1953, and became an executive with the Continental Motors Corporation.

Hickey died at his home in Pass Christian, Mississippi on October 20, 1961 and was buried in Pass Christian's Episcopal Church Cemetery.

General Hickey's decorations included two awards of the Distinguished Service Medal, four of the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star.