| Henry John Coates | |
|---|---|
 Major General Coates in 1985. | |
| Born | 28 December 1932 (age 91) |
| Place of birth | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Allegiance |
 Australia |
| Service/branch | Australian Army |
| Years of service | 1955–1992 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Commands held |
Chief of the General Staff Royal Military College, Duntroon 3rd Cavalry Regiment |
| Battles/wars | Vietnam War |
| Awards |
Companion of the Order of Australia Member of the Order of the British Empire |
Lieutenant General Henry John Coates AC, MBE (born 28 December 1932) is a former senior officer in the Australian Army who served as Chief of the General Staff (1990–1992). Since retiring from the Army he has become an author and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian Defence Force Academy branch of the University of New South Wales (UNSW@ADFA) pursuing aspects of Australia's military history.
Military career[]
Educated at Ipswich Grammar School in Queensland, Coates graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1955 into the Royal Australian Armoured Corps.[1] He secured a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia in 1962, before completing Honours at the Australian National University in 1965.[1]
He was posted to the 3rd Cavalry Regiment and, as a major, was deployed to Vietnam[2] for which he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1971.[3] He secured an Master of Arts from the Australian National University in 1975.[1] He subsequently became Commanding Officer of his Regiment.[4]
He became Commandant of the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1983,[1] moving on to be Head of the Defence Staff in Washington, D.C. in 1984;[1] he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1987 in recognition of his service there.[5]
He was made Assistant Chief Defence Force (Policy) in 1987[1] and appointed Chief of the General Staff in 1990; he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1992 in recognition of his service to the Australian Army, particularly in that role.[6]
Retirement[]
In retirement he has written a number of books about the Australian Army and Australian military history more generally. These include:
- Suppressing insurgency: an analysis of the Malayan Emergency, 1948–1954 (1992)[7]
- Review of the Ready Reserve scheme (co-authored with Hugh Smith, 1995)
- Bravery above blunder: the 9th Division at Finschhafen, Sattelberg and Sio (1999)[8]
- The Australian centenary history of defence, co-editor (2001)
- An atlas of Australia's wars volume 7 of The Australian centenary history of defence (OUP, Melbourne, 2001)
- An atlas of Australia's wars, 2nd edition 2006.
He is also a Visiting Fellow in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Australian Defence Force Academy campus of the University of New South Wales (UNSW@ADFA).[9]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Papers of John Coates, 1916-1994, MS 366, Academy Library, UNSW@ADFA
- ↑ Henry John COATES Nominal Roll of Vietnam Veterans, www.vietnamroll.gov.au
- ↑ Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), 21 December 1971, It's an Honour
Gazetted: 16 December 1971, page 7595, position 7 - ↑ 17023 Lieutenant General Henry John Coates, (Rtd), Australian Military Units, Australian War Memorial
- ↑ Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), 26 January 1987, It's an honour
- ↑ Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), 26 January 1992, It's an Honour
- ↑ Coates, John (1992). Suppressing insurgency : an analysis of the Malayan Emergency, 1948–1954. Westview Press, Boulder. ISBN 978-0-8133-1436-5.
- ↑ Coates, John (1999). Bravery Above Blunder: The 9th Australian Division at Finschhafen, Sattelberg and Sio. Oxford University Press, Melbourne. ISBN 0-19-550837-8.
- ↑ Lieutenant General John Coates, Visiting Fellow, Humanities and Social Sciences, UNSW@ADFA
Further reading[]
- Bio of Major General John Coates, appearing at the end of Moral on the Battlefield, Defence Force Journal, No. 45, March/April 1984, p. 16
- Who's who in Australia 2007, p. 469–470.
- MBE - Major John Coates, Awards and Decorations - 3rd Cavalry Regiment, www.australian-armour.com
External links[]
- 1990 portrait by Heide Smith
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The original article can be found at John Coates (general) and the edit history here.