Former USFAA chairman LTG® David Ott dies at 81

FA Journal, July-August, 2004

On 21 June, Lieutenant General (Retired) David E. Ott died peacefully with his children around him at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, DC. The Field Artillery community, the US Army and America have lost a great military leader.

General Ott was the second President of the US Field Artillery Association from 1 December 1996 until 25 April 2001 when the reorganization of the Association moved him up to Chairman of the Board, a position in which he served until 2 October 2002. At that time he retired from the board during the Association's Annual Meeting at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and the current chairman, General (Retired) Donald R. Keith, became Chairman.

Among his many accomplishments, General Ott was a combat veteran of three wars, the Father of Artillery Tactics in Vietnam, Chief of Field Artillery and Commanding General of Fort Sill, Commanding General of VII Corps in Germany, originator of and instrumental in the development of military retirement facilities for couples and charter President of the FA Association chapter, The Capital Cannoneers, in Washington, DC.

David Ewing Ott was born 31 July 1922 at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and grew up on Army posts where his father Edward Stanley Ott, a Field Artilleryman (who retired as a Brigadier General), was stationed. He graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1944 and was a Forward Observer and the Provisional Battery Commander with the 65th Infantry Division in Europe during World War II, earning a Bronze Star Medal for Valor during this period.

He served in Frankfurt and Berlin, returning to the US for parachutist training before becoming a Gunnery Instructor at the FA School at Fort Sill. During this assignment, he married his high school sweetheart, Joyce Helmick.

From Fort Sill, he went to Korea during the Korean War where he served as Executive Officer and S3 in the 64th Field Artillery, 25th Infantry Division.

This duty was followed by a Pentagon assignment with the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations on the Army General Staff; schooling at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; and then an assignment as the S3 of the 82d Airborne Division Artillery. He then went to Germany as the Commander of the 2d Howitzer Battalion, an 8-inch howitzer unit of the 83d Field Artillery, V Corps, and, later, served on the Seventh Army Staff as the War Plans Officer. After attending the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, he became a Plans Officer for the Strike Command, Tampa, Florida.

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General Ott then fought in Vietnam, assuming command of the 25th Infantry Division Artillery. In Washington, DC, he became Chief of the Artillery Branch at the Army Personnel Office and was the architect of the separation of the FA and Air Defense Artillery branches.

As he was promoted to Brigadier General, he took command of the US Army in Thailand, a command established to contain the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. This tour was followed by an assignment as the Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence at the Pentagon. Later he became the Director of the Vietnam Task Force, an agency that worked directly under the Secretary of Defense and was created to coordinate the total withdrawal of US forces from Vietnam.

From 1 June 1973 until 24 September 1976, then Major General Ott served as the Chief of FA--Commandant of the Field Artillery School and Commanding General of the Field Artillery Center and Fort Sill. He was promoted to Lieutenant General for his final assignment as Commander of VII Corps in Germany.

He retired in 1978 in Fairfax County, Virginia, and became involved in community volunteer work. He also worked for Teledyne Systems and, later, served as a consultant for a wide range of military equipment and programs.

As the President of the Board of the Army Distaff Foundation, he initiated an expansion of military life care retirement facilities, including homes for military couples. The Fairfax on Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and the Army Retirement Residence in San Antonio, Texas, were the results of his ideas and support.

He also was active in forming and defining the Field Artillery Association chapter in the Washington area, The Capital Cannoneers. He was the chapter's first President and served as a Director on the Board and as an advisor. This chapter brings the Chief of Field Artillery to Washington every year to brief active Field Artillerymen and retirees on the ongoing FA activities.

General Ott was the author of many articles for several magazines and the book, Field Artillery, 1954-1974, which is based on a series of articles he wrote for the Field Artillery Journal. These articles and the book established him as the Father of Artillery Tactics in Vietnam.

Among other awards and citations, General Ott was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal (three awards), the Legion of Merit (four awards), the Distinguished Flying Cross (for valor), the Bronze Star Medal (two awards, one for valor), the Air Medal (six awards) and the Army Commendation Medal. His international awards include the Grand Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Gold Star.