Vernon E Prichard 1892-1949

PRICHARD

Posted By: Connie Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2012 at 21:22:52

The Stars and Stripes
Monday July 11, 1949

Gen Prichard Killed in Yacht Blast
Col Biddle Saves Wife of Victim

Washington, July 10 (AP)-Maj. Gen Vernon E Prichard, chief of the Army’s public information division was killed today when a 50-foot pleasure boat exploded and burned here in the Potomac River.

Eight others were aboard the craft, including former Ambassador and Mrs. Anthony J Drexel Biddle, Jr. The Biddles escaped with minor injuries but the condition of at least two other survivors was reported “very serious” All were injured.

Cause of the blast was not immediately determined. Witnesses said the boat blew up and burst into flames as it was loading gasoline. The party had just left the Corinthian Yacht Club on the Potomac River, a mile or so south west of the Capitol.

Reports from the scene said Prichard died instantly. Biddle was credited with diving into the wreckage-strewn water to find Prichard.

Others abroad the craft were identified as: Mrs. Prichard; Mrs. Biddle; two Navy officers, Capt S. N. Ferris Luboshez and Commander A.M. Painter; Henry Dudley, Washington attorney; Johannes B. Johannesen, steward of the yacht club and Thomas L. Miller, brother-in-law of Johannesen.

Officials of the Corinthian Yacht Club said the vessel, the Halcyon was owned by Bolling L. Powell, Jr. He reportedly was in New York.

All abroad were pulled from the water and burning wreckage by bystanders and other yachtsmen. However, witnesses credited Biddle with bring about the rescue of his wife and Mrs. Prichard in a show of “extraordinary nerve”. Prichard left the Zone in December 1948 to take over as chief of the Army’s public information division in Washington succeeding Maj. Gen. Bryant E. Moore.

From October 1947 till the time he left for Washington, Prichard was director of OPOT (operational, plans organization and training), EUCOM, a task which he assumed when he was a colonel.

On April 5, 1948 Prichard was promoted to brigadier general a rank he held until his promotion to major general this year.

Prichard graduated from West Point in 1915. The previous year he was captain and quarterback of the West Point eleven. Another player on the team was Omar N. Bradley, now Army Chief of Staff.

Prichard served in World War I as a Captain with the 2d Inf. Div and later as a major with the 7th Corps of the AEF. In World War II he was chief of staff and a group commander in the 4th Armed Div in the U.S. Later, as a temporary major general, he organized and commanded the 14th Armed Div. He assumed command of the 1st Armed Div in Italy in June 1944 and led it until a month after the war ended in June 1945.

Prichard was born in the small Iowa town of Smithland, Jan. 26, 1892, but in recent years he made his home at Onawa, Iowa. He is survived by his wife and a daughter, Carletta.

Biddle, the solon of two noted Philadelphia families has had a varied career as sportsman, diplomat and soldier.

During World War I Biddle was an Army captain at the age of 29. But it was in the period immediately preceding into World War II that Biddle gained his reputation as a Statesman and soldier.

In 1934 President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him minister to Norway, his first big diplomatic job,. From there he went to Poland, where he served as ambassador from 1937 to 1940.

He returned to London, where he became ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the exiled governments.

When the A Mies were preparing for the Normandy invasion of June 1944, Biddle became a lieutenant colonel and served as deputy chief of European Allied Contact section

In July 1946 while serving as chief of the Allied Contact Section, with headquarters in Frankfurt, Biddle married the former Mrs. Margaret Atkinson. Leughborough, of New Brunswick Province, Canada, who was then UNRRA liaison Officer at USFET. The ceremony was performed in the Roundup Chapel, Frankfurt..