Lucius D. Clay
| General Lucius D. Clay | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Birth name | Lucius Dubignon Clay |
| Born |
April 23, 1898 Marietta, Georgia |
| Died | April 16, 1978 (aged 79) Chatham, Massachusetts |
| Place of burial | West Point Cemetery |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch |
 United States Army
|
| Years of service | 1918–1949 |
| Rank |
 General
|
| Commands held | Military Governor |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Awards |
Distinguished Service Medal (3) Legion of Merit Bronze Star Bundesverdienstkreuz |
| Relations | Son of US Senator Alexander Stephens Clay (Georgia) Father of General Lucius D. Clay, Jr. and Major General Frank Butner Clay |
General Lucius Dubignon Clay (April 23, 1898 – April 16, 1978) was an American officer and military governor of the United States Army known for his administration of occupied Germany after World War II. Clay was deputy to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1945; deputy military governor, Germany (U.S.) 1946; commander in chief, U.S. Forces in Europe and military governor of the U.S. Zone, Germany, 1947–49. He retired in 1949.
Clay orchestrated the Berlin Airlift (1948–1949) when the USSR blockaded West Berlin.
Clay was born in 1898 in Marietta, Georgia, the sixth and last child of Alexander Stephens Clay, who served in the U.S. Senate from 1897 to 1910. Lucius Clay graduated from West Point in 1918 and held various civil and military engineering posts during the 1920s and 1930s, including teaching at West Point, directing the construction of dams and civilian airports, and by 1942 rising to the position of the youngest brigadier general in the Army. All the while he acquired a reputation for bringing order and operational efficiency out of chaos, and for being an exceptionally hard and disciplined worker, going long hours and refusing to even stop to eat during his workdays.
Clay did not see actual combat but was awarded the Legion of Merit in 1942, the Distinguished Service Medal in 1944, and received the Bronze Star for his action in stabilizing the French harbor of Cherbourg, critical to the flow of war materiel. In 1945 he served as deputy to General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The following year, he was made Deputy Governor of Germany during the Allied Military Government.
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