General Jack N. Merritt
Jean Pilk, Portrait of Jack N. Merritt, c. 1930 - 2018, oil on canvas, Oklahoma Hall of Fame and Gaylord-Pickens Museum, Portraits and Busts Collection.
Inducted: 1991
Hometown: Lawton, Oklahoma
Branch: United States Army
A member of the 1991 Class of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, General Jack N. Merritt was born in 1930 in Lawton, Oklahoma. He began his military career as a draftee in 1952 at Fort Sill. He completed officer candidate school in 1953, where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He was later stationed in Korea in 1955. Merritt completed Air Command Staff College in 1965 in Montgomery, Alabama. Following this accomplishment, he was assigned to the Pentagon to work with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
Beginning in 1968, Merritt was stationed in Vietnam in command of the 3rd Battalion, 34th Artillery, and 9th Infantry Division. Following this tour, Merritt received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with valor and two oak leaf clusters, the Soldier's Medal for heroism, the Legion of Merit with one oak leaf cluster, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He received the Soldier's Medal for heroism not involving conflict while rescuing a downed pilot and the Distinguished Flying Cross while taking part in an aerial flight exercise.
Merritt returned to Oklahoma in 1970 as the Commanding General at Fort Sill. He later became the Commandant of the Army War College in 1980 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He also served as the senior American on the NATO Military Committee in 1985. Merritt retired from the United States Army in 1987 as a four star general and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.