MG Louis Rachmeler
MG Louis Rachmeler was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 16 February 1923. He attended City College from 1940 until 1943 when he began his military career as an enlisted man. A year later, he received an appointment to the U.S. Army Military Academy. After graduating in 1947 with a bachelor's degree in science, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. General Rachmeler also earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1954. His military education included the Ground Service School at Fort Riley, Kansas in 1947; the Armor School in 1948; the Ordnance School in 1957; the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1960; and the U.S. Army War College in 1966.
After completing Armor School in 1948, General Rachmeler spent the next 4 years in Germany and France. Returning to the United States in 1952, he spent much of the next 2 years as a student. From August 1954 to September 1956, he served as a Project Officer in the Research and Development Division at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. In December 1957, he completed an advanced ordnance course at Aberdeen and in 1956 was assigned to Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands as Ordnance Officer for Joint Task Force 7.2.
In 1959, General Rachmeler was sent to Fort Leavenworth as the Administrative Officer in the Department of Nuclear Weapons. From 1960 to 1963, he was an instructor in the employment of nuclear weapons. He then spent another year in Kansas as a Battalion Commander with the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley before being sent back to France in August 1964 for a year.
In June 1966, General Rachmeler began a 2-year tour at the Pentagon as a staff officer in the Department of Army's Special Warfare Division, Office Chief, Research and Development. Beginning in November 1968, he spent an 18-month tour in Vietnam. From 21 September 1970 to 8 October 1973, General Rachmeler was the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Army Missile Command (MICOM). He then served 4 years in Washington, D.C., before returning to Redstone Arsenal for a third tour on 30 September 1977. This time, he served as Commanding General of the U.S. Army Missile Materiel Readiness Command (MIRCOM) until 1 July 1979, when MIRCOM and the U.S. Army Missile Research and Development Command were disestablished and MICOM was reinstituted. MG Rachmeler then served as the MICOM Commander until 31 July 1980.
General Rachmeler's decorations and citations included the Legion of Merit (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters), the Air Medal, the Army Commendation Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal, the National Defense Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Ribbon, and the Good Conduct Medal.