Most Americans know him from those four years, but he was a celebrated soldier before he set foot in Vietnam.
He was born in Spartanburg, S.C., attended the Citadel military academy in Charleston and was appointed to West Point. By graduation in 1936, he became first captain -- the top position -- and received the Pershing Sword, given each year to the most militarily proficient cadet, along with a handshake from the 75-year-old general of the armies himself.
The young Westmoreland entered the field artillery, and during World War II he commanded a battalion in North Africa and Sicily before landing at Utah Beach on June 10, 1944. He fought through France, Belgium and Germany. In March 1945, he and members of his 9th Armored Division captured and held the bridge at Remagen, the last bridge standing on the Rhine River. Westmoreland and his men defended it for two weeks, despite continuous bombardment.
This daring feat allowed time for construction of three Allied bridges across the Rhine. Military historians have cited the taking of the bridge at Remagen as one of the most decisive actions in hastening the end of the war in Europe.
During the Korean War, he commanded paratroopers. He later attended the management program at Harvard Business School and then headed the Pentagon's manpower office. He also was secretary to the general staff under Chief of Staff Maxwell Taylor, which put him in touch with many leading national politicians. He was promoted to major general at 42, the youngest major general in the Army's history at the time. He became superintendent of West Point in 1960.
Westmoreland was sent to Vietnam in late 1963 and began urging Johnson to expand the military commitment there. In 1965, Time magazine named him its Man of the Year.
He retired from the military in 1972 and became a much-in-demand public speaker, attracting protesters as well as supporters.
In 1982, enraged by a CBS news documentary "The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception," he filed a $120 million libel lawsuit. The 90-minute program charged that Westmoreland directed a "conspiracy" to "suppress and alter critical intelligence on the enemy" by understating enemy strength in 1967 and 1968 in order to deceive Americans into believing the war was being won.
The highly publicized lawsuit was funded by one of the country's richest men and financier of right-wing causes, Richard Mellon Scaife. But after four months, it was settled out of court, and CBS acknowledged that the documentary had been seriously flawed. Much like in Vietnam, Westmoreland withdrew and declared victory.
He ran unsuccessfully in 1974 for the Republican nomination for governor of South Carolina.
Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Katherine Stevens Van Deusen Westmoreland of Charleston; three children; and six grandchildren.
