Vietnam era photo provided by Bud Carlson, D/1-6 Inf 1970.

LTC Frederick F. Woerner Jr.           Commander, 1st Bn 6th Inf            20 Jul 70 - 9 Jan 71	General Frederick F. Woerner Jr.         Chairman, American Battle         Monuments Commission 2001

The soldiers of the 1st Battalion 6th Infantry were fortunate to have General Woerner as their commander while he served in Vietnam in 1970-71 as a Lieutenant Colonel.  When he assumed command, the unit operated in large, slow moving company sized daylight operations that went from one defensive position to another, usually on prominent terrain.  When he realized that the Viet Cong were able to plant mines and booby traps along anticipated routes and within probable defensive positions, he changed the entire operational concept for the unit.  Night combat air assaults, night movement and small unit saturation ambushes reduced US casualties dramatically, and produced numerous enemy casualties.  See his report to General Abrams, the commander of all forces in Vietnam, for details about the transition in tactics.

[The following information is from the 1st Bn 6th Inf change of command brochure dated 9 Jan 71;
biographical information contained in the Unit History Files now located in the National Archives II,
and General Woerner's curriculum vitae from Boston University]

Lieutenant Colonel Frederick F. Woerner Jr., a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, successfully
commanded the 1st Battalion, 6th United States Infantry from 20 July 1970 to 9 January 1971.

Lieutenant Colonel Woerner entered active duty in 1955 after graduating from the United States
Military Academy at West Point where he earned a Regular Army Commission.  After attending
the Infantry Officer Basic Course, airborne training and ranger training at Fort Benning, Ga, he
served with the 21st Battle Group of the 25th Infantry Division as a Platoon Leader and as assistant
S-3 Staff Officer.  He became Aide-de-Camp to the Commanding General of the 25th Infantry
Division, and in 1959 served as assistant operations and training officer with the G-3 section.  Later
that year he studies Spanish at the Defense Language School at The Presidio, Monterey, Cal.

He returned to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he was a statistical officer with the Infantry Center,
and then attended the advanced course.  He then served for eight months as the Commander of
Company D, 2nd Battle Group, 23rd Infantry, until he moved on to serve as an assistant battalion
S-3 with the 23rd Infantry.

In 1962, LTC Woerner attended the U.S. Army Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg, N.C..  His
first tour in Vietnam began in May 1962, when he was assigned to the Military Advisory and Assistance
Group and served as the senior advisor to the 27th Civil Guard Battalion, ARVN, located in IV Corps.
Upon his return to CONUS in 1963, LTC Woerner attended Command and General Staff College
at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,  In 1964 he attended the University of Arizona and received his Master's
Degree in Latin America History.  For the next year, he took part in the Foreign Area Specialist
Training Program in Colombia, South America.

Lieutenant Colonel Woerner's fluency in the Spanish language took him to South America for there
years as Civic Actions Advisor with the U.S. Military Group, Guatemala.  For his outstanding contri-
bution in this position, LTC Woerner was awarded the Legion of Merit in 1969.  He then attended
the Uruguayan General Staff College in Montevideo, which he completed later that year.

In January 1970, LTC Woerner began his second tour in Vietnam as an assistant G-3 of XXIV Corps
in Da Nang.  On July 7, 1970, he assumed command of the 1st Battalion 6th Infantry, 198th Infantry
Brigade, Americal Division.  Upon his return to CONUS, LTC Woerner began his new assignment
with the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Force Development.  [End of information in brochure
and biographical sheet]

[Following his service in Vietnam, General Woerner went on to a distinguished career in the Army and
in government service.]

After graduating from the U.S. Army War College, he continued on at the College as the Director of
Latin American Studies for four years.  Following assignments as the Commander of the 3rd Basic
Combat Training Brigade at Fort Leonard Wood, and Chief of Staff of the 24th Infantry Division, he
was promoted to Brigadier General in 1979, and served as Commanding General of the 193rd Infantry
Brigade in Panama.  He was promoted to Major General in 1984 and to Lieutenant General in 1986.

As Commanding General of the Sixth US Army at the Presidio of San Francisco, General Woerner
was responsible for ensuring readiness for mobilization of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve
in the twelve western states  He was promoted to General in 1987.  In his final tour of active military
service, General Fred F. Woerner was Commander in Chief of the U.S. Southern Command, responsible
for implementing US national security policy and strategy in Latin America. [end of CV]

[It should be noted that although he had just retired from active duty, his war plans were used in the
swift and successful combat operations in Panama that ousted the Noreiga regime.]

After retiring from active duty in November, 1989,  he became a tenured Professor of International
Relations at Boston University, teaching courses in Latin America and U.S. national security.  He was
appointed by the President in 1994 to serve as Chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission.
In that capacity, he has overseen the development of the WW II memorial in Washington, DC.

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