Throughout the history of the state, many Arkansans have stepped up in time of war and bravely served their country. Gen. Doyle Hickey was one of those men. He served in three wars and was highly decorated for his heroics.
Doyle Overton Hickey was born in Rector in Southeast Arkansas in July 1892. He was one of four children. His father was a contractor. The family eventually moved to Camden where he would attend area schools. In 1909, he graduated from Camden High School and moved on to Hendrix College in Conway.
After graduating from Hendrix in 1913, Hickey initially sought a career as an attorney. Instead of law school, Hickey apprenticed himself to an attorney in Conway and soon became a member of the bar. He had settled into a comfortable career, but he was soon caught up in world events.
In 1917, the United States entered World War I. Hickey enlisted in the National Guard and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the artillery. He had just married Sophronia Brown of Mississippi in April, but the war would soon take him far away. Hickey was assigned to the 31st Infantry Division and sent to France where he served until the end of the war in 1918. After the war, he decided to stay in the army. He was sent to the Field Artillery School at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, and went on to serve in the 7th Field Artillery Regiment in New York. In 1936, he would graduate from the Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, a specialty school for up-andcoming army leaders.
As World War II approached, he was transferred to several different sites. Starting in 1938, he spent two years in the Philippines before commanding the 9th Infantry Regiment at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. He was soon put in command of the field artillery replacement center and then sent to Washington, DC, in 1941 as Chief if the Training Division, helping organize army training for recruits as war appeared on the horizon. In 1942, just months after the United States entered the war, Hickey was promoted to brigadier general and assigned to the 3rd Armored Division in California.
After the Allies landed in Normandy in 1944, Hickey’s 3rd Armored Division was active in some of the fiercest battles of the war. He led troops through the long and bloody Battle of Hurtgen Forest, a three-month long battle in Belgium from September to December 1944 that eventually forced the Nazis out of the area. Soon afterward, the Nazis had reorganized and launched the desperate Battle of the Bulge in late December. Allied troops repelled the German offensive with heavy casualties.
By early 1945, Allied pressure had broken the German lines. Hickey led his troops into western Germany and captured the city of Cologne by March, one of the largest cities and most important strategic centers in the region. After the death of Gen. Maurice Rose in combat, Hickey was promoted to major general and assumed command of the division, where they helped secure the entire Ruhr Valley in western Germany as Allied troops poured into Germany. By early April, his troops liberated the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp. Weeks later, the Nazis surrendered to the Allies.
In November 1945, Hickey was assigned to head the army’s Research and Development Division in Washington, DC. In 1948, he was assigned as chief of staff of the Far Eastern Command under Gen. Douglas MacArthur. When the Korean War erupted in 1950, Hickey helped organize the military tactics that ultimately rescued South Korea. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1951. In 1953, he retired after 36 years of service, a career that included earning the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, four Silver Stars, one bronze star, the Presidential Unit Citation for the actions of the 3rd Armored Division, and the Air Medal.
After his retirement, he and his wife moved to Pass Christian, Mississippi. He became a very active part of the community, becoming a member of the local Masonic Lodge and serving as president of the local Rotary Club and on the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce. An active churchgoer, he also led several community charity drives. In October 1961, he fell ill suddenly and died at a hospital in nearby New Orleans at age 69.
