Description

History

Enters USMA at 18 (1931) as part of class of 1935. Graduates tenth in his class. Reports to Fort Knox to be one of the first officers to complete the Armor Branch school. Works extensively with Colonel Van Voorhis on his formation of the 7th Cavalry Brigade (MECH) and when it expands into the 1st Armored Division (1AD), 1LT Rivers assumes command of A Co, 1st Tank Btn, 1st Armored Regiment. Participates in First and Second Army Louisiana Maneuvers, and the First Army Carolina Maneuvers. Arriving back in Ft Knox on 07 Dec 1941, the 1AD entrains to Brooklyn and from there to Ireland and North Africa. He participates in the disastrous first battle of Kasserine Pass. His company is one of the leading elements in Patton's II Corps and it's race to Tunis. With the completion of this evolution, CPT Rivers is transferred to 4AD to be a battalion operations officer and to provide the newly-arriving armored units with some experienced fighters prior to their first deployment in Operation Overlord. Once ashore, 4AD and the 37th Tank Btn rapidly go into the fight. CPT Rivers is promoted to Major, and works extensively to keep the battalion in the fight. MAJ Rivers objects when Task Force Baum is ordered to break through to a POW camp nearly sixty miles in the rear of German lines, arguing strongly to be granted even a battalion of airborne troops to be dropped on the camp first, and then have TF Baum race into the area to extract the forces in the pocket. His advice overturned, several days later--when only 35 men are recovered from a force of 331 men and officers of TF Baum and the 1500 officers in the POW camp--his advice seems to be reconsidered. MAJ Rivers finishes the European war with 4AD, and rapidly requests transfer over to 1st Cavalry Division in the Pacific, but only arriving in time to assist their arrival in Tokyo. MAJ Rivers remains with 1CAV for the occupation. With the breakout of the Korean War, now-Lieutenant Colonel Rivers, commanding 8th Cavalry Battalion (MECH), leads his troops in the fighting retreat to Pusan, and from there the breakout up to the Yalu River. Promoted again to full-bird Colonel, Rivers is fleeted up to Combat Command A of 1CAV. Attempts repeatedly to modernize the way the US Army employs it's combined-arms elements, he employs his troops skillfully, but is forced to retreat in the face of violently overwhelming Chinese attacks. With the stabilization of the lines at the 38th Parallel, 1CAV goes into a trench-warfare modality. When the war 'ends', Colonel Rivers is assigned to the Armor School at Fort Knox in 1953, where he urges the adoption of a single class of tank (the main battle tank), an infantry fighting vehicle in lieu of the armored personnel carrier and artillery assets that can keep up with the mechanized forces.