Charles Lawrence Bolte – General, United States Army

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From a contemporary press report:

Charles Lawrence Bolte, 93, a decorated combat veteran of both world wars who retired from active duty in 1955 as a 4-star general and the Army’s Vice Chief-of-Staff, died February 11, 1989 at Mount Vernon Hospital, Virginia, after a stroke. He lived in Alexandria.

During World War I, was a company commander and served with the 4th Infantry Division. He participated in the St Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Aisne-Marne offensives.

As a major general in World War II, he commanded the 34th Infantry Division in Italy, leading it through the Gothic Line and the winter Appenines campaign, and in the capture of Bologna. After that war, he held a variety of senior staff posts, including Army Ground Forces Chief 0f Staff, assistant Chief of Staff for operations and deputy Chief of Staff for plans. He also served as chairman of the Inter-American Defense Board. In 1952 and 1953, he commanded the 7th Army in West Germany and was Army Commander-in-Chief in Europe. His final post, from October 1953 to April 1955, was as the army’s number-2 soldier, Army Vice Chief of Staff.

His medals included two Distinguished Service Medals, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit and the Purple Heart.

After retiring from active duty, settled in Alexandria, Virginia. From 1955 to 1958, he was special assistant to the board chairman of American Car & Foundry Industries. He then served for a time as board chairman of the Advanced Growth Capital Corp before retiring a second time in the 1960s.

He also had been active in charitable work, serving in the 1950s as chairman of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Washington, DC area chapter’s Hope Chest Drive and as chairman of the Cancer Crusade of the Fairfax-Falls Church unit of the American Cancer Society. Also in the 1950s, he was elected president of the Army & Navy Club and grand paramount Carabao of the Military Order of the Carabao.

General Bolte received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at what is now the Illinois Institute of Technology in his native Chicago in 1917. Later that year, he went on active duty as an infantry officer. Between the wars, he served in China and Germany, and graduated from the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Army War College. He also served on the faculty or staff of those institutions.

Survivors include his wife of 65 years, the former the Adelaide Carleton Poore, of Alexandria; 3 children, retired Army Brigadier General Philip L. Bolte of Burke, retired Army Colonel David E. Bolte of Alexandria, and Damara Bolte of Leesburg; a brother, Roswell A, of Boise, Idaho; 8 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren.

May 8, 1895-Feb 11, 1989.

He is buried in Section 7-A of Arlington National Cemetery.

From a contemporary press report:

Adelaide Carleton Poore Bolte, 98, a daughter, wife and mother of Army Generals who was a 1990 recipient of an Outstanding Civilian Service Medal from the Army secretary for support of Army programs, died of cardiac arrest January 8, 1998 at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, Virginia.

Mrs. Bolte (pronounced “Bowl-tee”), a resident of the Mount Vernon Nursing Center in Alexandria, Virginia, was born at Fort Sam Houston, Texas on December 28, 1899. She attended Holton Arms Academy in Washington.

Her father was Benjamin Andrew Poore, who retired from the Army as a major general. In 1923, she married then-Captain Charles Lawrence Bolte, who later would retire as a four-star General after serving as Army Vice Chief of Staff and European Army commander. Charles Bolte died in 1989.

Over the years, Mrs. Bolte lived in more than 70 places, including Asia, Alaska and Europe. During World War II, she was a Red Cross Gray Lady in Richmond. After that, until the early 1950s, she was a nurse’s aide at the old Gallinger Hospital in Washington.

Mrs. Bolte, an accomplished needleworker, had served on the board of the Woodlawn Plantation, where she co-founded the Needlework Exhibit and belonged to Neelie’s Needlers, a group of needleworkers and Woodlawn Plantation fund-raising supporters.

She was a past national president of the Daughters of the United States Army and a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Alexandria. She did needlework for St. Luke’s and other area churches.

Survivors include two sons, retired Army Colonel David E. Bolte of Alexandria and retired Army Brigadier General Philip L. Bolte of West Union, S.C.; a daughter, Damara Bolte of Leesburg; nine grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

BOLTE, CHARLES L

  • United States Army
  • VETERAN SERVICE DATES: Unknown – 04/30/1955
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 05/08/1895
  • DATE OF DEATH: 02/11/1989
  • DATE OF INTERMENT: 02/16/1989
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 7A  SITE 16
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

BOLTE, ADELAIDE P

  • DATE OF BIRTH: 12/29/1899
  • DATE OF DEATH: 01/08/1998
  • DATE OF INTERMENT: 01/15/1998
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 7A  SITE 16
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
  • WIFE OF CL BOLTE

clbolte-gravesite-7a-062803

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