Retired U.S. Army Gen. Burwell Baxter “B.B.” Bell III has donated his personal papers and recently published memoir, “Memoirs of a Nondescript Four-Star General: A Love Story,” to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Library’s Special Collections.
A 1969 graduate of the University of Chattanooga, Bell commanded at every level from platoon to four-star general during his 39 years with the Army from 1969 to 2008. His career included serving as executive officer to Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm and as a brigade commander under Gen. Barry McCaffrey.
Bell’s Army career began after he was commissioned as a second lieutenant through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. He rose through the ranks to command the U.S. Army Armor Center at Fort Knox, Kentucky, III Corps at Fort Hood, Texas and U.S. Army Europe and NATO’s Land Component Headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany. As a four-star general, he later commanded U.S. Forces Korea and all Allied forces in Korea.
The donation includes a collection of materials chronicling both the personal and professional aspects of Bell’s life, from his childhood in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and years at the University of Chattanooga to his military service and family life with his late wife, Kathleen “Katie” Fields Bell – who died in 2023.
The Bells were married for 54 years.
“The collection consists of 37 chronologically organized boxes of my life and Katie’s life,” Bell says. “They trace my career from graduating from the University of Chattanooga, commissioning as a second lieutenant in 1969 and serving in assignments that ultimately led to my retirement as a four-star general.”
The papers include correspondence, photographs, awards, certificates, deployment records and “tons of letters,” Bell said, written between him and his wife while he was stationed around the world.
“I’d say noteworthy in the entire collection of my personal papers and memorabilia would be the personal notes that I took for Norm Schwarzkopf during the Desert Shield and Desert Storm campaigns,” Bell says. “That set of binders with all those personal notes is one of two that are known to exist on this planet.”
The six binders, containing the day-to-day log Bell kept while serving as Schwarzkopf’s executive officer, have been reviewed and declassified through the U.S. Department of Defense.
Alongside the papers, Bell’s memoir provides what he describes as “the key to interpreting the source material.”
“It was very meaningful to write my memoirs and put them into a book and have them published – simply to go through everything once more and remember my life as best I could and write it all down,” he says. “By laying my wife’s life out in a book for others to look at, it might give them some advice and counsel about how to live their lives.”
Bell’s 350-page volume weaves together his military service, a lifetime of leadership and a marriage that began in Chattanooga and endured through 33 moves across the globe.
“It was a 100% labor of love,” he says. “These are not my memoirs; these are our memoirs. Unfortunately, I wrote them for her because she had passed away. They were my best shot to leave [an account] of who [she] was and how important she was to our military and to its families and service members.”
Carolyn Runyon, director of UTC Library’s Special Collections, said Bell’s donation is part of a growing legacy of preserving the stories of Chattanoogans whose influence extends far beyond the city.
Bell’s papers are the latest collection acquired by Special Collections in recent years, following donations by composer Roland Carter, artist Barry Moser and state legislator Dr. Tommie Brown.
“Every time we add a new collection, we provide global access to materials that represent part of Chattanooga’s history,” Runyon said. “Collections like this help make Chattanooga part of the larger historical conversation.”
Special Collections will process the papers before making them fully available to researchers. A detailed finding aid will be published when processing is complete.
Bell said he’s grateful for the opportunity to share his story through UTC.
“I’m not seeking any publicity,” he adds, noting that all proceeds from the book’s sales benefit the Tunnel to Towers Foundation – a nonprofit organization supporting veterans and first responders. “These are just my memoirs. But if they help tell the story of my family, my wife and our lives of service, and if they help future students or historians understand what it means to lead and to love, then that’s a story worth preserving.”
To learn more about UTC Library Special Collections and its digital holdings, visit digital-collections.library.utc.edu.
Source: UTC