Official photo of Army Chief of Staff General William C. Westmoreland (1914-2005). William Childs Westmoreland (March 26; 1914 - July 18; 2005) was an American General who commanded American military operations in the Vietnam War at its peak from 1964 to 1968; with the Tet Offensive. He adopted a strategy of attrition against the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and the North Vietnamese Army. He later served as U.S. Army Chief of Staff from 1968 to 1972. In 1976; he published his memoirs; A Soldier Reports.