James Francis Hollingsworth (March 24, 1918 – March 2, 2010) was a United States Army lieutenant general.

Lt. General James F.Hollingsworth was born on 24 March 1918 in Sanger, Texas on the family farm. Born to James Newton Hollingsworth and Mamie Browning Hollingsworth. he was the oldest of four boys, all of whom served in the United States military in World War II. Hollingsworth went on to attend Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. In 1940 Hollingsworth graduated with a bachelor's degree in agriculture and a commission in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. The Lt. General was honored with a statue in the Corps. of Cadets Quad at the university September of 1999. Hollingsworth's statue bears the inscription "Danger 79er," which was the General's radio call sign for more than 20 years, including his command time in Vietnam.

Lt. General Hollingsworth was married to Katherine E. Hollingsworth until she died in1989. She was preceded in death by their only son James F. Hollingsworth II who died in an automobile crash in 1960 at the age of 18. Both Katherine and James II are buried at Ft. Sam Houston Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas. Hollingsworth married his second wife Janie Hollingsworth in 1999, Janie died in 2012, two years after the her husband.

Hollingsworth graduated from Texas A&M University and joined the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant.

Hollingsworth served in the Third Army during World War II with the 2nd Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment and was wounded five times.^[1] Hollingsworth rose from platoon leader to commander of a regimental-sized task force by the age of 26 in General Patton's 3rd Army. During one engagement while leading the 2nd Armored Division's Advanced Guard and moving toward the Elba River, Major Hollingsworth encountered dug-in German forces. Hollingsworth lined up his 34 tanks and gave the command "CHARGE!" as the unit shot forward the German forces broke and ran. General Patton latter called Hollingsworth one of the two great tank commanders in World War II.

Brigadier General Hollingsworth served as assistant commander of the 1st Infantry Division in 1966–67. Hollingsworth and new division commander Major General William E. DePuy relieved a number of commanders whom they regarded as combat ineffective.^[2] During this tour he was profiled by English journalist Nicholas Tomalin in his story The General Goes Zapping Charlie Cong, which was published in The Sunday Times on 5 June 1966. After reading of these activities DePuy and Hollingsworth were reprimanded by Chief of Staff of the United States Army Harold K. Johnson who wrote to DePuy: "If I had wanted a lead scout in command of the 1st Division you would not have gotten the job. Your value and Holly's is proportional to the responsibility that you have for something over 15,000 men. Your job is not to shoot VC. Your job is to see that other people shoot VC."^[3] Tomalin's story was later used as part of the inspiration for the character Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore in the film Apocalypse Now.^[4]

In 1972 Hollingsworth was serving as Commander of Third Regional Assistance Command in III Corps. During the Battle of An Lộc, part of the North Vietnamese Easter Offensive, Hollingsworth was responsible for organizing the air support that allowed the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces to hold the town and ultimately defeat the People's Army of Vietnam assault.^[1]

Hollingsworth served as commander U.S. Army Alaska until October 1971 when he was replaced by Major General Charles M. Gettys.

Hollingsworth served as commander of I Corps in the Republic of Korea from mid-1973. During his time in Korea Hollingsworth updated the existing operational plans for defense against a North Korean attack, OPLAN 5027, from a largely defensive strategy to a forward-based offensive strategy known as OPLAN 5027-74, in which after blunting the initial North Korean assault the US/ROK forces would seize Kaesong and then go on to capture Pyongyang.^[5]

Hollingsworth retired and was replaced by Lieutenant General John H. Cushman in March 1976. Hollingsworth's planned retirement was apparently accelerated following a January 13 1976 interview with the Wall Street Journal where Hollingsworth stated that he had prepared for "a short violent war" following any North Korean attack that the US/ROK forces would win in 9 days. He stated: "We'll need five days and nights of real violence, after that we'll need four more days to tidy up the battlefield."^[6]

Following his retirement from the Army, Hollingsworth was commissioned to prepare an analysis of the Army's conventional warfighting capabilities, particularly to repel a Warsaw Pact attack in Europe, this "Hollingsworth Report" published in 1976 was used to procure increased funding for Army and NATO readiness.^[7]

Hollingsworth died on 2 March 2010 in San Antonio, Texas and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.