Emil Frederick Reinhardt was born on October 27, 1888, in Bay City, Bay County, Michigan. He was the son of Christopher L. Reinhardt and Sybilla Louise Tomhafe Reinhardt. He was married to Laura Bishop Reinhardt. A 1910 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Infantry Branch. He began his career with the 26th Infantry Regiment at Fort Wayne, Michigan. He later served in Texas and the Philippines with the 8th Infantry Regiment, earning promotions to first lieutenant in 1916 and captain in 1917.

During World War I, Reinhardt was promoted to temporary major and served within the United States as a skilled instructor in infantry tactics and machine-gun operations, stationed at Camp Fremont, Camp Pike, and Camp Hancock. After the war’s end, he commanded the 41st Machine Gun Battalion and later the Camp Custer Convalescent Center in Michigan.

In the interwar years, Reinhardt was assigned to the 50th Infantry Regiment and completed advanced military education at the Command and General Staff School in 1923 and the U.S. Army War College in 1931. He served as Professor of Military Science and Tactics at the University of Dayton and the Miami Military Institute from 1923 to 1928, later becoming an instructor with the Pennsylvania National Guard from 1934 to 1938. Promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1935 and colonel in 1939, he was appointed executive officer of the Washington Provisional Brigade in Washington, D.C., in 1938.

Reinhardt commanded the 20th Infantry Regiment until April 1941, when he was promoted to brigadier general and made assistant division commander of the 7th Infantry Division. He later led the Infantry Replacement Training Center at Camp Wolters, Texas. After the United States entered World War II, Reinhardt completed the Divisional Commanders Course at Fort Leavenworth and was promoted to major general on April 17, 1942, becoming the first commanding general of the 76th Infantry Division. From December 1942 to December 1943, he commanded XIII Corps. In September 1944, Reinhardt assumed command of the 69th Infantry Division, which deployed to Europe that December. Under his leadership, the division entered combat in January 1945, crossed the Rhine in March, captured Leipzig in April, and became the first American unit to meet Soviet forces at the Elbe on April 25, 1945.

Following the German surrender, the division performed occupation duties until Reinhardt’s return to the U.S. in August 1945. He then commanded the Infantry Replacement Training Center at Camp Robinson, Arkansas, until his retirement on September 30, 1946. He died on July 24, 1969, and is now buried in the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, en.wikipedia.org