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Lesley James McNair (May 25, 1883 – July 25, 1944) was a senior
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
officer who served during World War I and World War II. He attained the rank of
lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
during his life; he was killed in action during World War II, and received a posthumous promotion to
general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED On ...
. A
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
native and 1904 graduate of the United States Military Academy, McNair was a
Field Artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support army, armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the ear ...
officer with a background in the
Ordnance Department The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia. The broad mission of the Ordnance Corps is to supply Army comb ...
. A veteran of the Veracruz occupation and
Pancho Villa Expedition The Pancho Villa Expedition—now known officially in the United States as the Mexican Expedition, but originally referred to as the "Punitive Expedition, U.S. Army"—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the p ...
, during World War I he served as assistant chief of staff for training with the 1st Division, and then chief of artillery training on the staff at the
American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.) was a formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I. The A. E. F. was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of General John J. Pershing. It fought alo ...
headquarters. His outstanding performance resulted in his promotion to temporary
brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed to ...
; at age 35, he was the Army's youngest general officer. McNair's experience of more than 30 years with equipment and weapons design and testing, his administrative skills, and his success in the areas of military education and training led to his World War II assignment as commander of
Army Ground Forces The Army Ground Forces were one of the three autonomous components of the Army of the United States during World War II, the others being the Army Air Forces and Army Service Forces. Throughout their existence, Army Ground Forces were the larg ...
. In this position, McNair became the "unsung architect of the U.S. Army", and played a leading role in the organizational design, equipping, and training of Army units in the United States before they departed for overseas combat. While historians continue to debate some of McNair's decisions and actions, including the individual replacement system for killed and wounded soldiers, and a controversy over the use of
tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...
s or tank destroyers as
anti-tank weapons Anti-tank warfare originated from the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy tanks during World War I. Since the Triple Entente deployed the first tanks in 1916, the German Empire developed the first anti-tank weapons. The first deve ...
, his concentration on advanced officer education, innovative weapons systems, improved doctrine, realistic combat training, and development of combined arms tactics enabled the Army to modernize and perform successfully on the World War II battlefield, where the mobility of mechanized forces replaced the static defenses of World War I as the primary tactical consideration. He was killed by
friendly fire In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral country, neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy/hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cro ...
while in France to act as commander of the fictitious
First United States Army Group First United States Army Group (often abbreviated FUSAG) was a fictitious (paper command) Allied Army Group in World War II prior to D-Day, part of Operation Quicksilver, created to deceive the Germans about where the Allies would land in F ...
, part of the Operation Quicksilver deception that masked the actual landing sites for the
Invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Nor ...
. During
Operation Cobra Operation Cobra was the codename for an offensive launched by the United States First Army under Lieutenant General Omar Bradley seven weeks after the D-Day landings, during the Normandy campaign of World War II. The intention was to take ad ...
, an
Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces ...
bomb landed in his foxhole near
Saint-Lô Saint-Lô (, ; br, Sant Lo) is a commune in northwest France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy.heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...
s for
close air support In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and moveme ...
of infantry operations as part of the
Battle of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Nor ...
.


Early life

McNair was born in
Verndale, Minnesota Verndale is a city in Wadena County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 602 at the 2010 census. History A post office called Verndale has been in operation since 1878. The city was named for Vernie Smith, the granddaughter of an early ...
, on May 25, 1883, the son of James (1846–1932) and Clara (Manz) McNair (1853–1925). He was the second-born of their six children, and the first son. His siblings who lived to adulthood were: sister Nora (1881–1971), the wife of Harry Jessup; brother Murray Manz McNair (1888–1976); and sister Irene (1890–1979), the wife of Harry R. Naftalin. McNair attended school in Verndale through the ninth grade, the highest available locally; his parents then relocated to
Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...
so McNair and his siblings could complete high school. After graduating from South High School in 1897, he competed successfully for an appointment to the
United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is ...
. While he was on the Naval Academy waiting list as an alternate, he began studies at the Minnesota School of Business in Minneapolis, where he concentrated primarily on mechanical engineering and statistics courses. Frustrated with the wait to start at the Naval Academy, in 1900 McNair competed for appointment to the United States Military Academy and took an examination offered by U.S. Senators
Cushman Kellogg Davis Cushman Kellogg Davis (June 16, 1838November 27, 1900) was an American Republican politician who served as the seventh Governor of Minnesota and as a U.S. Senator from Minnesota. Early life and American Civil War Davis was born in Henderson, ...
and
Knute Nelson Knute Nelson (born Knud Evanger; February 2, 1843 – April 28, 1923) was an American attorney and politician active in Wisconsin and Minnesota. A Republican, he served in state and national positions: he was elected to the Wisconsin and Minnesot ...
. Initially selected as an alternate in July 1900, he was quickly accepted as a member of the class that began that August. While at West Point, his fellow students nicknamed him "Whitey" for his ash blond hair; they continued to use it with him for the rest of his life. The description of McNair which accompanied the photo of him in West Point's yearbook for his senior year refers to him as "Pedestrian Whitey" and details an incident when he had to walk from Newburgh to West Point, a distance of , after having missed the last train while returning from visiting his fiancée in New York City; the yearbook also contains an anonymously authored poem, "'Whitey's' Record Walk", about the same incident. Several of McNair's classmates also went on to prominent careers in the Army, including
George R. Allin George R. Allin (January 15, 1880 – June 2, 1956) was an American brigadier general who served during World War I and World War II. He is most noted as commanding general of the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma at the beginning of ...
, Charles School Blakely, Robert M. Danford, Pelham D. Glassford, Edmund L. Gruber,
Henry Conger Pratt Henry Conger Pratt (September 2, 1882 – April 6, 1966), professionally known as H. Conger Pratt, was a major general in the United States Army. He was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, and received awards from I ...
, Henry J. Reilly,
Joseph Stilwell Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell (March 19, 1883 – October 12, 1946) was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India Theater during World War II. An early American popular hero of the war for leading a column walking ...
, and
Innis P. Swift Innis Palmer Swift (February 7, 1882 – November 3, 1953) was a Major General in the United States Army. He was the grandson and namesake of Civil War Major General Innis Newton Palmer,''Gen. Swift, A Cavalryman'', San Antonio Light, Augu ...
. McNair graduated in 1904, and was commissioned as a
second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
. The top five or six graduates usually chose the engineer branch; McNair's high class standing (11th of 124) earned him a place in the second choice of most high-ranking graduates, the artillery branch.


Early career

McNair was first assigned as a platoon leader with the 12th Battery of Mountain Artillery at
Fort Douglas, Utah Camp Douglas was established in October 1862, during the American Civil War, as a small military garrison about three miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah, to protect the overland mail route and telegraph lines along the Central Overland Route. I ...
. While there, he requested duty with the
Ordnance Department The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia. The broad mission of the Ordnance Corps is to supply Army comb ...
, and passed a qualifying examination. After approval of his transfer request, he was first assigned to
Sandy Hook Proving Ground The Sandy Hook Proving Ground was a military facility along the Atlantic coast of New Jersey established by the Secretary of War on August 7, 1874, to serve as the United States Army's first proving ground for the testing of ordnance and materiel ...
, New Jersey, where he began a lifelong interest in testing and experimenting with new equipment and weapons. Initially, McNair's Ordnance testing centered on improving the
mountain guns Mountain guns are artillery pieces designed for use in mountain warfare and areas where usual wheeled transport is not possible. They are generally capable of being taken apart to make smaller loads for transport by horses, humans, mules, tractor ...
used by units including his 12th Battery for artillery support of troops in rugged terrain where
limbers and caissons A limber is a two-wheeled cart designed to support the trail of an artillery piece, or the stock of a field carriage such as a caisson or traveling forge, allowing it to be towed. The trail is the hinder end of the stock of a gun-carriage, which ...
could not travel. After assignment to the staff of the Army's Chief of Ordnance from 1905 to 1906, McNair was assigned to the
Watertown Arsenal The Watertown Arsenal was a major American arsenal located on the northern shore of the Charles River in Watertown, Massachusetts. The site is now registered on the ASCE's List of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks and on the US National ...
, where he completed self-directed academic studies in metallurgy and other scientific topics. In this posting, he gained experience with both laboratory and practical methods of experimentation, including analyzing bronze, steel, and cast iron to determine the best materials to use in manufacturing
cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during ...
s and other weapons. In addition, he gained firsthand experience with the uses and applications of several foundry machines, including
forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to the ...
s,
steam hammer A steam hammer, also called a drop hammer, is an industrial power hammer driven by steam that is used for tasks such as shaping forgings and driving piles. Typically the hammer is attached to a piston that slides within a fixed cylinder, but ...
s,
lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece to c ...
s, planing machines, and boring machines. His business college background in statistical analysis and engineering (including technical drawing) helped make him successful at testing and experimentation; as a result of his experience at Watertown, for the rest of his career the Army frequently relied on him to oversee boards that developed and tested weapons and other equipment, and made recommendations on which items were most suitable for procurement and fielding. He was promoted to temporary
first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...
in July 1905, and permanent first lieutenant in January 1907. In May 1907, McNair was promoted to temporary
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
. (His higher temporary ranks applied in the Ordnance branch, but not in the Artillery.)


Pre-World War I

In 1909, McNair returned to the Artillery branch and was assigned to the
4th Field Artillery Regiment The 4th Field Artillery Regiment is a Field Artillery Branch regiment of the United States Army first formed in 1907. History The 4th Field Artillery Regiment was first activated in 1907 from numbered companies of artillery. It was first orga ...
at Fort Russell, Wyoming. Assigned to command of Battery C, he earned accolades for his leadership skills and technical expertise.
Jacob L. Devers Jacob Loucks Devers (; 8 September 1887 – 15 October 1979) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the 6th Army Group in the European Theater during World War II. He was involved in the development and adoption of numerous ...
, who was assigned to Battery C after his 1909 West Point graduation, recalled McNair as an outstanding commander who set a superior personal example, and knew how to motivate his subordinates to perform to a high standard. During his battery command, McNair also worked with mixed success on recommendations to modernize pack howitzers,
pack saddle A pack saddle is any device designed to be secured on the back of a horse, mule, or other working animal so it can carry heavy loads such as luggage, firewood, small cannons, or other things too heavy to be carried by humans. Description Ideal ...
s, ammunition carriers, and other equipment (much of it of his own design) for the Army's mule-transported mountain artillery. In 1909, McNair commanded the 4th Artillery's Battery D at
Fort Riley Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Gea ...
,
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the w ...
, during tests designed to determine the battle-worthiness of different types of defensive works if they were attacked by various types of
cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during ...
s and howitzers. In 1911, he received three patents (998,711; 998,712; 1,007,223) for his designs of new artillery projectiles. McNair's skills in technical drawing, engineering, prototype building, and statistical analysis began to be known Army-wide; in 1912 the commandant of the
Field Artillery School The United States Army Field Artillery School (USAFAS) trains Field Artillery Soldiers and Marines in tactics, techniques, and procedures for the employment of fire support systems in support of the maneuver commander. The school further develop ...
requested him by name for assignment to his staff. Instructors at the school had spent more than a year gathering information on 7,000 rounds fired during tests and field exercises; because the school was short-staffed, the commandant called on McNair to compile the data into firing tables that would make it easier for Artillery crews Army-wide to plan and control indirect fire. While carrying out this assignment in 1913, he also spent seven months in France to observe and gather information on the French Army's artillery training, education, and employment. In April 1914, McNair was promoted to permanent captain, and from April to November 1914, McNair took part in the Veracruz Expedition as the 4th Field Artillery Regiment's commissary officer. Assigned following another by name request, this time from regimental commander
Lucien Grant Berry Lucien Grant Berry, Sr. (November 29, 1863 – December 31, 1937) was a brigadier general in the United States Army who served in three wars. Early life He was born on November 29, 1863 in Caton, New York to Samuel Spicer Berry and Olive E ...
, McNair was responsible for procuring, storing, maintaining, accounting for, and distributing the regiment's materiel, including equipment and weapons. During 1915 and 1916, he was again assigned to the Field Artillery School, where he continued to work on procedures for the implementation of the firing table data he had published. He also continued to experiment with different types of artillery pieces so he could make manufacturing and procurement recommendations as the Army began to prepare for possible involvement in World War I. He returned to the 4th Field Artillery Regiment for the
Pancho Villa Expedition The Pancho Villa Expedition—now known officially in the United States as the Mexican Expedition, but originally referred to as the "Punitive Expedition, U.S. Army"—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the p ...
on the Texas-Mexico border; initially an unassigned staff officer available for additional duties, he later commanded a battery. In May 1917, he was promoted to major and assigned to temporary duty as an instructor for the officer training camp at
Leon Springs, Texas Leon Springs is an unincorporated community in Bexar County, Texas, now partially within the city limits of San Antonio. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 137 in 2000. It is located within the San Antonio Me ...
.


World War I

In April 1917, the United States entered World War I. After his Leon Springs assignment, McNair was assigned to the 1st Division, then located at Camp Stewart, in El Paso County, Texas. Assigned to the division headquarters as assistant chief of staff for training, McNair was given responsibility for the organization's pre-deployment mobilization, individual soldier training, and collective unit training. When the division departed for France, McNair shared quarters aboard ship with the division's assistant chief of staff for operations, George Marshall. During their long ocean voyage, they forged a personal and professional bond that they maintained for the rest of their careers. McNair was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel in August 1917, soon after his arrival in France, and was assigned to the
American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.) was a formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I. The A. E. F. was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of General John J. Pershing. It fought alo ...
(AEF) headquarters as chief of artillery training and tactics in the AEF staff's training division (G-5). He was promoted to temporary
colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
in June 1918, and temporary
brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed to ...
in October; at age 35, he was the youngest general officer in the Army. He continued to impress his superiors with his technical and tactical expertise, and at the end of the war he received the
Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a high award of a nation. Examples include: *Distinguished Service Medal (Australia) (established 1991), awarded to personnel of the Australian Defence Force for distinguished leadership in action * Distinguishe ...
from John J. Pershing and the French
Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
(Officer) from Philippe Pétain. In June 1919, McNair was named to the AEF board that was charged with studying the problem of how to provide adequate mobile indirect fire support to infantry during combat. This panel, called the Lassiter Board after its chairman, Major General
William Lassiter William Lassiter (September 29, 1867- March 29, 1959) was a career in the United States Army. He was a veteran of the Spanish–American War, Occupation of Veracruz, World War I, and Occupation of the Rhineland and attained the rank of major gen ...
, was one of several formed by the AEF to review wartime plans and activities, and make recommendations for the Army's future equipment, doctrine, and training.


Post-World War I


School of the Line

McNair remained with the Lassiter Board only briefly because he received orders assigning him as one of the faculty members of the Army's School of the Line. The school had ceased operations during the war and was being re-formed at Fort Leavenworth to offer professional education to
field grade A senior officer is an officer of a more senior grade in military or other uniformed services. In military organisations, the term may refer to any officer above junior officer rank, but usually specifically refers to the middle-ranking group of ...
officers on planning and overseeing the execution of operations at division level and above. McNair reverted to his permanent rank of major, and remained on the faculty until 1921. In addition to receiving accolades for his work to help design and field the course curriculum, McNair also played a key role in another task traditionally assigned to the School of the Line: developing and promulgating the '' Field Service Regulations'', the Army's main document for codifying training and readiness doctrine. While on the School of the Line's faculty, he was one of the main authors of the 1923 revision of ''Field Service Regulations''. The officers who were assigned to the faculty and were responsible for restarting the School of the Line after World War I all received credit for having attended the course, including McNair.


Hawaiian Department

In 1921, McNair was posted to
Fort Shafter Fort Shafter, in Honolulu CDP, Page 4/ref> City and County of Honolulu, Hawai‘i, is the headquarters of the United States Army Pacific, which commands most Army forces in the Asia-Pacific region with the exception of Korea. Geographically, Fo ...
and assigned as assistant chief of staff for operations (G-3) at the headquarters of the Army's
Hawaiian Department Hawaiian may refer to: * Native Hawaiians, the current term for the indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants * Hawaii state residents, regardless of ancestry (only used outside of Hawaii) * Hawaiian language Historic uses * ...
. While in Hawaii, he became a participant in the Army's ongoing debate over the best methods for providing coastal defense, which engaged proponents of the
Coast Artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of c ...
branch and
Army Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial war ...
. Assigned to the project by Hawaiian Department commander Major General
Charles Pelot Summerall General Charles Pelot Summerall (March 4, 1867 – May 14, 1955) was a senior United States Army officer. He commanded the 1st Infantry Division in World War I, was Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1926 to 1930, and was President of ...
because of his reputation for objectivity in carrying out analysis and experimentation with military weapons and equipment, McNair created a committee made up of himself, two coast artillery officers, and an aviation officer to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the two branches, especially with regard to defending Army and Navy bases on
Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...
, and make recommendations on the best way to employ coast artillery and military aircraft. The McNair board carried out numerous tests of coast artillery and bomber aircraft in a variety of conditions, and compiled tables and charts to depict the results. The panel concluded that coastal artillery was sufficient for shore defense, provided that adequate listening and lighting equipment for detecting and illuminating enemy ships and planes was available, and that bombers were less accurate, but more effective at destroying enemy ships at longer distances from shore, provided they could overcome obstacles including inclement weather. In addition to his work on the coastal defense problem, McNair was also responsible for directing a review of War Plan Orange, the Army and Navy joint defense plan for countering an attack on Hawaii by Japan. This possibility was a major concern of U.S. military leaders during the years between World War I and World War II. Among McNair's contributions to updating this plan was the creation of several contingency plans ("branches and sequels" in Army parlance) to augment the main war plan. These contingency plans included: using chemical weapons to defend against a Japanese attack, declaring martial law in Hawaii, and determining how to maintain a defense against Japanese invaders while waiting for reinforcements from the U.S. mainland. In 1924 and 1925, McNair and Summerall defended McNair's work when it was criticized during the continuing debate about the future of the Army Air Service. The head of the Air Service, Major General Mason Patrick, argued that the McNair board's findings underestimated the capabilities of
bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an aircr ...
aircraft, and that the data the board had compiled was inaccurate. In response, Major General
Frank W. Coe Frank W. Coe (November 27, 1870 – May 25, 1947) was a major general in the United States Army. He is notable for having served as the Chief of Coast Artillery. Early life Frank Winston Coe was born in Manhattan, Kansas on November 27, 1870. H ...
, the chief of the Coast Artillery Corps, pointed out that McNair's panel included both Coast Artillery and Air Service officers, and that experiments with aircraft had included coast artillery officers as observers. In addition, the aircrews that participated in the McNair board experiments had the opportunity to provide input and voice concern over the board's methods and conclusions. Coe concluded his argument by recommending that the McNair board's findings be approved by the Army as its official position on the issue of coastal artillery versus bombers for shore defense. Coe's recommendation was not followed; subsequent panels and committees continued to investigate and debate the issue. In addition, the debate continued on the larger question of whether the Air Service should remain a component of the Army or become a separate branch of the military. McNair's involvement in the issue continued during the 1925 court-martial of Brigadier General
Billy Mitchell William Lendrum Mitchell (December 29, 1879 – February 19, 1936) was a United States Army officer who is regarded as the father of the United States Air Force. Mitchell served in France during World War I and, by the conflict's end, command ...
, whose zealous advocacy of creating a separate Air Force resulted in accusations of insubordination. Mitchell based his public assertions about non-aviation officers being ignorant of aviation matters on events he falsely claimed to have witnessed in Hawaii during the McNair board's experiments. Summerall was so incensed at the questioning of his and McNair's integrity that he attempted to be appointed as president of the court-martial. During Mitchell's trial, Major General Robert Courtney Davis, the Army's
adjutant general An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in sta ...
, ordered Summerall and McNair to provide testimony. They refuted Mitchell's claims that during his time in Hawaii in 1923 the Hawaiian Department had no plan to defend Oahu from Japanese attack. They also demonstrated that Mitchell was incorrect in stating that the Air Service was not treated fairly in the distribution of resources in Hawaii; in fact, Summerall had reallocated funding, equipment and other items from other branches to the Air Service. Mitchell was convicted, and sentenced to a five-year suspension from active duty. He resigned from the Army so he could continue to advocate for the creation of a separate Air Force. Despite the controversy, McNair's work enhanced his reputation as an objective and innovative thinker, planner, and leader, and he remained under consideration for positions of increasing rank and responsibility.


Purdue University

In 1924, McNair was appointed commandant and professor of military science and tactics for the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program at
Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mon ...
. In accordance with the
National Defense Act of 1920 The National Defense Act of 1920 (or Kahn Act) was sponsored by United States Representative Julius Kahn, Republican of California. This legislation updated the National Defense Act of 1916 to reorganize the United States Army and decentral ...
, ROTC offered a two-year course of instruction for freshmen and
sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...
s, which was compulsory at many universities, including Purdue. The program also offered advanced instruction for juniors and seniors who desired to continue military training and possibly earn a commission in the
Army Reserve A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...
,
National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. N ...
, or Regular Army. In addition to following this academic model, since 1919 Purdue had organized its ROTC cadets as a motorized field artillery unit, a circumstance which played to McNair's strengths. Purdue's president, Edward C. Elliott, was a strong advocate at the national level for ROTC, and a leading voice in opposition to the pacifist movement which gained strength and influence following World War I. McNair became an advocate for military preparedness generally and ROTC specifically, and also argued in opposition to the pacifists. Already a prolific author of professional journal articles on technical military subjects, he penned numerous articles and letters in favor of military training and readiness, and in opposition to the pacifist movement. He also continued to write on Army-specific subjects, including articles that argued for reforming the Army's officer promotion system to replace seniority with merit as the primary consideration. McNair also effected several positive changes to Purdue's ROTC program. As outlined by Elliott, Purdue ROTC had been the subject of several rapid leadership changes which had resulted in disorganization and low morale. McNair's leadership, technical expertise, and administrative abilities resulted in enhanced student participation and improved morale, and developed the program into the Army's largest light artillery unit. When the Chief of Field Artillery attempted to reassign McNair to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to lead revisions to the Army's field artillery regulations, Elliott protested; his request to keep McNair until the end of the usual four-year assignment for ROTC professors was granted, and McNair remained at Purdue until 1928.


Army War College

In 1928, McNair was promoted to lieutenant colonel and entered the
United States Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army educational institution in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instruction to senior military officer ...
, the highest-level formal education program for Army officers. In the 1920s the curriculum had been revised so that the program of instruction concentrated on economic, industrial, and logistics issues related to large-scale wartime mobilizations, as well as the doctrine, strategy, and tactics requirements associated with organizing, training, deploying, and employing large scale units for combat (typically division and above). In addition to completing seminars on staff functions (G-1 for personnel, G-2 for intelligence, G-3 for operations and training, and G-4 for logistics), McNair and his War College classmates served on committees that studied war plans and suggested improvements, reviewed regulations and proposed updates, and studied and discussed strategic-level foreign and defense policy issues to improve their understanding. Among his classmates were several officers who became prominent during World War II, including:
Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. ( ; July 18, 1886 – June 18, 1945) was a lieutenant general in the United States Army during World War II who served in the Pacific Theater. As commanding general of Alaska Defense Command, Buckner commanded Americ ...
,
Roy Geiger General Roy Stanley Geiger (January 25, 1885 – January 23, 1947) was a United States Marine Corps four-star general who served in World War I and World War II. In World War II, he became the first Marine Corps general to lead a field army. Ge ...
,
Oscar Griswold Oscar Woolverton Griswold (22 October 1886 – 28 September 1959) was a United States Army lieutenant general in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his command of the XIV Corps in the South Pacific Area and South West Pacifi ...
,
Clarence R. Huebner Lieutenant General Clarence Ralph Huebner (November 24, 1888 – September 23, 1972) was a highly decorated senior officer of the United States Army who saw distinguished active service during both World War I and World War II. Perhaps his most ...
,
Troy H. Middleton Lieutenant General Troy Houston Middleton (12 October 1889 – 9 October 1976) was a distinguished educator and senior officer of the United States Army who served as a corps commander in the European Theatre during World War II and later as p ...
, and Franklin C. Sibert. Upon graduating, McNair received an evaluation of "superior", with a recommendation from the commandant that he be considered for high command or a senior staff position on the War Department General Staff. In addition, the commandant forwarded to the War Department McNair's final research project on ways for the department to maximize efficiency when allocating funding for unit training, calling it "a study of exceptional merit made at the War College".


U.S. Army Field Artillery School

After his War College graduation, McNair was assigned as assistant commandant of the Field Artillery Center and School. In this position, he worked with the school's Gunnery Department to address field artillery doctrine issues that had lingered since World War I, including limited mobility, inadequate communications, and overly detailed fire direction techniques. Successive Gunnery Department directors Jacob Devers,
Carlos Brewer Major General Carlos Brewer (5 December 1890 – 29 September 1976) was a United States Army officer who commanded the 12th Armored Division during World War II. After training the 12th Armored Division, he was not permitted to command the divi ...
, and Orlando Ward recognized that continuing improvement to innovations including machine guns and tanks made the static trench warfare of World War I unlikely to be repeated. As a result, they experimented with new techniques, including increasing the speed of artillery support to mobile armor and infantry by empowering Artillery-qualified fire support officers attached to those formations to direct artillery fire. In addition, they pioneered techniques to enhance accuracy, including forward observers who could direct rounds onto targets based on seeing their impact, rather than the unobserved timed fire and rolling barrages that had prevailed in World War I. McNair supported these innovations, and prevented interference from senior officers who tried to block them. Devers, Brewer, and Ward also argued for directing artillery from the battalion level rather than the battery level. In their view, massing artillery and centrally controlling it from a brigade fire direction center enabled senior commanders to rapidly provide direct support to the areas on the battlefield where it was most needed. McNair had advocated this tactic since World War I; he again agreed with the Gunnery Department, and worked to help implement this doctrinal change while also protecting the Gunnery Department from outside interference. Over time, improvements to communications equipment and procedures and changes to doctrine enabled implementation of many of these changes, and they largely became the standard by which field artillery units conducted operations in World War II. At the completion of McNair's assignment as deputy commandant in 1933, he received the highest marks on his efficiency report, along with recommendations for promotion to colonel, and assignment to regimental or brigade command.


Battalion command

McNair commanded 2nd Battalion,
16th Field Artillery Regiment The 16th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army. The regiment served with the 4th Division in World War II and with the 4th and 8th Divisions between the World Wars. As the 16th Armored Field Artillery ...
at Fort Bragg from July 1 through October 1, 1933, when organizational changes re-designated the unit as 2nd Battalion, 83rd Field Artillery Regiment. McNair commanded the renamed unit until August 1934, and led it through its renaming and reorganization.


Civilian Conservation Corps

In August 1934, McNair was assigned to command of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) District E, part of the Seventh
Corps Area A Corps area was a geographically-based organizational structure (military district) of the United States Army used to accomplish administrative, training and tactical tasks from 1920 to 1942. Each corps area included divisions of the Regular Army ...
. Headquartered at
Camp Beauregard Camp Beauregard is a U.S. Army installation located northeast of Pineville, Louisiana, primarily in Rapides Parish, but also extending northward into Grant Parish. It is operated and owned by the Louisiana National Guard as one of their main ...
, Louisiana, District E was composed of thousands of CCC members based at 33 camps throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. As with other Regular Army officers who took part in organizing and operating the CCC, McNair's work to plan, direct, and supervise the activities over a wide area gave him practical experience at mobilizing, housing, feeding, providing medical care for, supervising, and improving the physical and mental resilience of thousands of young members. This experience working with large bodies of men was an asset as McNair ascended into the Army's senior ranks. In addition, McNair benefited from the experience of working with civilian government leaders to plan and direct CCC activities, which was also put to good use in his later assignments as one of the Army's highest-level commanders. He was promoted to colonel in May 1935.


Executive officer to the Chief of Field Artillery

With his promotion to colonel, McNair was assigned as executive officer for the Army's Chief of Field Artillery. In addition to carrying out the usual administrative duties of the position, such as managing the chief's appointment calendar and handling his correspondence, McNair was able to continue experimenting with and testing field artillery equipment and weapons, including trips to
Aberdeen Proving Ground Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) (sometimes erroneously called Aberdeen Proving ''Grounds'') is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work a ...
in Maryland to test the Hotchkiss Anti-Tank Gun and Hotchkiss Anti-Aircraft Gun. He also studied and authored articles on the use of
autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. W ...
s for field artillery targeting and indirect fire observation, which anticipated the use of helicopters in modern warfare. In January 1937, McNair was promoted to brigadier general.


Brigade command

In March 1937, McNair was assigned to command of the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade, a unit of the 2nd Infantry Division, then based at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The Army continued to experiment with equipment, weapons, and organizational design as it moved towards mechanization and modernization; the Army Chief of Staff directed tests of the triangular division concept (as opposed to the
square division A square division is a designation given to the way military divisions are organized. In a square organization, the division's main body is composed of four "maneuver," i.e., infantry regimental elements. Other types of regiments, such as artillery, ...
of World War I) through creation of a Proposed Infantry Division (PID). The 2nd Infantry Division was selected to conduct the tests, and McNair performed additional duty as the PID's chief of staff. In this position, he managed and supervised the PID's design, field tests, after-action reviews, and reports and recommendations to the War Department. The triangular division model was adopted, and became the Army's standard design for infantry divisions in World War II. In his annual performance appraisal, his division commander, Major General James K. Parsons, rated McNair as superior, and recommended him for assignment as a corps or army chief of staff. On the question of how McNair compared to his peers (unique to the appraisals of general officers), Parsons rated McNair second of the 40 generals personally known to him. McNair remained in command of the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade until March 1939, when he was appointed to serve as commandant of the Command and General Staff College.


Command and General Staff College

The Chief of Staff of the Army, General
Malin Craig Malin Craig (August 5, 1875 – July 25, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who served as the 14th Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1935 to 1939. He served in World War I and was recalled to active duty during World War ...
, selected McNair to command the Command and General Staff College because he believed its teaching methods needed to be updated, and that the combat unit planning and reporting processes it taught needed to be streamlined. Craig felt that McNair's background made him ideally suited to lead this effort; in addition, Craig's deputy, Brigadier General George Marshall, believed that the Command and General Staff College program of instruction was too rigid and too focused on a staff process geared towards leadership of Regular Army units. In Marshall's view, the curriculum needed to be overhauled to reflect the likely needs of the World War II army, including faster, more flexible methods for planning and execution of large scale mobilizations, and incorporation of processes for training draftees and members of the National Guard, who would report for duty with less training and experience than members of the Regular Army. In addition, Marshall wanted to ensure that graduates were prepared to plan and execute the offensive maneuver-based operations Army leaders anticipated would characterize World War II, as opposed to the defensive trench warfare of World War I. In addition to modernizing the curriculum, McNair reduced the course length to accommodate the civilian schedules of National Guard and Reserve officers, many of whom would otherwise be unable to attend. While working to update and streamline the curriculum, McNair updated the Army's core doctrine, the ''Field Service Manual''. He began his service as commandant in time to finalize publication of the 1939 edition, which was divided into three Field Manuals (FMs): FM 100–5, ''Operations''; FM 100–10, ''Administration''; and FM 100–15, ''Large Units''. Because of criticism of the 1939 edition, McNair almost immediately began work on an update, with Marshall, now the Army's Chief of Staff, directing that it be published no later than January 1, 1941. The work on the 1941 edition was still in progress when McNair was again reassigned; when it was published it became the primary doctrinal document for the Army's World War II activities. His efficiency reports continued to reflect his superior performance; for the first appraisal he received while commandant, Craig rated McNair second of the 41 brigadier generals he knew. In an evaluation of his performance in his additional duty as commander of the Fort Leavenworth post, Major General Percy Poe Bishop, commander of the
Seventh Corps Area The Seventh Corps Area was a Corps area, effectively a military district, of the United States Army active from 1920 to 1941. It initially was responsible for army forces in Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri (but not Jefferson Barracks), North Dakota, So ...
, ranked McNair fifth of the 31 brigadier generals he knew. By the time of his second appraisal as commandant, the War Department had waived the requirement for written evaluations of officers supervised directly by the Army Chief of Staff, but in his second role as commander of Fort Leavenworth, Bishop rated McNair as superior in all areas, recommended him for a high level command in combat, and ranked him first of the more than 30 brigadier generals Bishop knew.


World War II


General Headquarters, United States Army

In July 1940, McNair began his new assignment as chief of staff for General Headquarters, United States Army (GHQ), the organization the Army created to oversee World War II mobilization, organization, equipping, and training. Marshall was appointed to command GHQ in addition to his duties as Chief of Staff of the Army; in order to concentrate on his primary role, he largely delegated responsibility for running GHQ to McNair. As part of this working relationship, Marshall provided McNair broad advice and guidance, and McNair obtained approval from Marshall for the most important decisions. As GHQ's responsibilities increased following U.S. entry into the war, McNair's responsibilities were encroached upon by members of the War Department staff; for instance, the logistics staff section (G-4) retained authority over
corps area A Corps area was a geographically-based organizational structure (military district) of the United States Army used to accomplish administrative, training and tactical tasks from 1920 to 1942. Each corps area included divisions of the Regular Army ...
commands in matters involving billeting, equipping, and supplying soldiers undergoing mobilization training, which limited GHQ's ability to plan them and oversee their execution. In response, McNair proposed establishing GHQ's unity of command over the Army's four
field armies A field army (or numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps and may be subordinate to an army group. Likewise, air armies are equivalent formation within some air forces, and wit ...
and eight corps areas; under his concept, each corps area headquarters would have responsibility for all administrative functions within their areas of responsibility, enabling GHQ and the field armies, corps, and divisions to focus on organizing, training, and administering the mobilized troop units that were preparing to go overseas. Though Marshall was initially receptive, members of the War Department General Staff disagreed with McNair's proposal, and Marshall concurred with them. The small GHQ staff Marshall assembled included representatives from each of the Army's major field branches – Infantry, Field Artillery,
Cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...
, Coast Artillery,
Armor Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...
, Engineers, and Signal, along with liaison officers representing the National Guard and Army Reserve. As operations tempo increased, the staff expanded to include functional area representatives (G-1, G-2, G-3, and G-4). Among the individuals who served on the GHQ staff were Lloyd D. Brown, who later succeeded Omar Bradley as commander of the 28th Infantry Division, and
Mark W. Clark Mark Wayne Clark (May 1, 1896 – April 17, 1984) was a United States Army officer who saw service during World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. He was the youngest four-star general in the US Army during World War II. During World War I ...
, who went on to command the
15th Army Group The 15th Army Group was an Army Group in World War II, composed of the British Eighth and the U.S. Fifth Armies, which apart from troops from the British Empire and U.S.A., also had whole units from other allied countries/regions; like two of ...
. McNair's National Guard liaison was Kenneth Buchanan, who later served as assistant division commander of both the 28th and
9th 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...
Infantry Divisions, and commanded the
Illinois National Guard The Illinois National Guard comprises both Army National Guard and Air National Guard components of Illinois. As of 2013, the Illinois National Guard has approximately 13,200 members. The National Guard is the only United States military force em ...
as a major general after the war. As GHQ chief of staff, McNair played a leading role in planning and conducting the 1940 and 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers and
Carolina Maneuvers The Carolina Maneuvers were a series of United States Army exercises held around Southern North Carolina and Northern South Carolina in 1941. The exercises, which involved some 350,000 troops, was designed to evaluate United States training, logis ...
, large scale war games that enabled the Army to observe and draw conclusions with respect to training, doctrine, leadership, and other items of interest, which in turn led to changes in doctrine, equipment, and weapons. In addition, these maneuvers were used to identify which senior officers were most capable, enabling the Army to assign the best performers to command and top level staff positions, and relieve or reassign those perceived as less capable. McNair was promoted to temporary major general in September 1940, and temporary
lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
in June 1941. The War Department also assigned GHQ operational responsibilities, including planning for the defenses of facilities in Iceland, Greenland, and Alaska. McNair generally delegated the responsibility for this aspect of GHQ activities to his deputy, Brigadier General Harry J. Malony, so that he could concentrate on GHQ's organizational and training responsibilities, but maintained overall control of each role. McNair established the GHQ on the site of the Army War College (now the location of the
National War College The National War College (NWC) of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. History The National War Col ...
) at Washington Barracks (now
Fort Lesley J. McNair Fort Lesley J. McNair is a United States Army post located on the tip of Greenleaf Point, the peninsula that lies at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. To the peninsula's west is the Washington Channe ...
), as the college had been closed for the duration of the war. McNair continued to command Army Ground Forces from this location rather than moving into
the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metonym ...
when its construction was completed in 1943.


Army Ground Forces


AGF creation and operations

In March 1942, the Army eliminated the General Headquarters in favor of three new functional commands: Army Ground Forces (AGF), commanded by McNair; the
Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War I ...
(AAF), commanded by Lieutenant General Henry H. Arnold; and the
Services of Supply The Services of Supply or "SOS" branch of the Army of the USA was created on 28 February 1942 by Executive Order Number 9082 "Reorganizing the Army and the War Department" and War Department Circular No. 59, dated 2 March 1942. Services of Supp ...
(later the
Army Service Forces The Army Service Forces was one of the three autonomous components of the United States Army during World War II, the others being the Army Air Forces and Army Ground Forces, created on 9 March 1942. By dividing the Army into three large command ...
or ASF), commanded by Lieutenant General
Brehon B. Somervell Brehon Burke Somervell (9 May 1892 – 13 February 1955) was a general in the United States Army and Commanding General of the Army Service Forces in World War II. As such he was responsible for the U.S. Army's logistics. Following his death, ' ...
. McNair's task at AGF was to expand the Army's ground forces from their March 1942 strength of 780,000 officers and men to more than 2.2 million by July 1943, and more than 8 million by 1945. His duties grew significantly, and included all Army boards, formal schools, training centers, and mobilization camps, as well as special activities having to do with the four combat arms ( Infantry,
Field Artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support army, armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the ear ...
,
Cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...
, and
Coast Artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of c ...
). As part of this reorganization, the Army eliminated the branch chief positions which had been responsible for these arms, transferring their authority to McNair. In addition, he had authority over four new "quasi-arms" which did not fall under the traditional combat arms –
Airborne Airborne or Airborn may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Airborne'' (1962 film), a 1962 American film directed by James Landis * ''Airborne'' (1993 film), a comedy–drama film * ''Airborne'' (1998 film), an action film sta ...
,
Armor Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...
, Tank Destroyer, and
Antiaircraft Artillery Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
. The Army intended for this reorganization to end inter-branch rivalries and competition for pre-eminence and resources; in fact it met with mixed success as advocates for each branch continued to argue among themselves. Additionally, competition for authority and resources also emerged between the War Department General Staff and the three functional commands, and between the functional commands themselves. Used to working with minimal delegation, and functioning with a small staff, McNair largely concentrated on the task at hand, and avoided the rivalries as much as possible. Despite this approach, he was still involved in controversies with the other functional commands, including an ongoing rivalry over allocation of the best qualified recruits and draftees.


Personnel recruiting and training


=Training

= McNair organized and supervised instruction in basic soldiering skills, to help individuals become proficient generalists prepared for more complex unit training. Once individuals were qualified, units carried out collective training, beginning with the lowest level, and continuing to build through successive echelons until divisions, corps, and armies were capable of carrying out large scale simulated force-against-force exercises. He insisted that training be conducted in realistic conditions, including the use of live ammunition, or simulators that replicated live ammunition, so that soldiers and commanders would be prepared to fight once they deployed overseas.


=National Guard

= McNair had difficulty implementing a training program for National Guard units, chiefly because of their lack of prior military experience other than monthly drills and short annual training periods. He recommended a wholesale demobilization of the National Guard; Marshall and the Secretary of War disagreed, partly because they anticipated political backlash, and partly because the manpower they provided was in demand. McNair also found National Guard senior commanders wanting; in his view, National Guard officers should not progress beyond the grade of colonel, and professional full-time officers should command at the division level and above. In this, he was mostly successful; all but two National Guard division commanders were replaced by regular Army officers, and most National Guard generals carried out stateside assignments, or non-combat overseas assignments. Some served in roles below division commander (such as assistant division commander), or carried out administrative and training roles, such as provost marshal or school commandant. In addition, some accepted reductions in rank so they could serve in overseas assignments.


=Fielding army divisions

= Original War Department estimates called for the Army to raise, equip, train, and deploy as many as 350 divisions. Later estimates revised this number downward to between 200 and 220. One factor that enabled this downward revision was that U.S. divisions were better equipped in some areas of their organizations than those of their adversaries, particularly later in the war; for example, every type of U.S. division was completely motorized or mechanized, while equivalent German divisions often relied on as many as 4,000 horses for transporting soldiers, supplies, and artillery. A variety of other factors, including the entry of the Soviet Union into the war on the side of the Allies after
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
broke his non-aggression pact with Joseph Stalin by launching Operation Barbarossa, the need to ensure that enough farmers and agricultural workers were available for food production, and the need to maintain a U.S. workforce large enough to handle the production of weapons, vehicles, ammunition, and other equipment caused Army Chief of Staff Marshall to decide that maintaining the Army's ground combat strength at 90 divisions would strike the balance between too few soldiers to defeat the
Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were N ...
, and so many that there were not enough civilians in the U.S. workforce. To accomplish this goal, McNair and the AGF staff created new division manning and equipping tables, which reduced the number of soldiers required to man a division. This initiative had accomplished Marshall's goal by 1945, enabling the Army to field 89 divisions with the same number of soldiers it would have required to man only 73 divisions in 1943. The Army's effort to create and field a number of divisions sufficient to achieve victory also included the creation of airborne units. The Army had begun testing and experimenting with airborne formations in 1940; by 1943,
William C. Lee Major General William Carey Lee (March 12, 1895 –June 25, 1948) was a senior United States Army officer who fought in World War I and World War II, during which he commanded the 101st Airborne Division, nicknamed the "Screaming Eagles". Lee is ...
, an early proponent of airborne forces, had convinced McNair of the need for division-sized airborne organizations. Though McNair and a few other Army leaders sometimes advocated for creation of all-purpose light divisions that could be adapted for unique missions, the Army did create some specialized divisions, including airborne. This initiative included activating the
Airborne Command Airborne or Airborn may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Airborne'' (1962 film), a 1962 American film directed by James Landis * ''Airborne'' (1993 film), a comedy–drama film * ''Airborne'' (1998 film), an action film sta ...
to oversee the organization and training of airborne units, conversion of the 82nd and
101st The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operati ...
Infantry Divisions to airborne, and preparation of these divisions for paratrooper and glider missions in Europe. Another initiative McNair incorporated into the effort to field the Army's World War II division was the creation of light divisions. Recognizing that the rugged terrain of the Italian mountains and Pacific jungles required specialized units, the AGF reorganized three existing divisions as the 89th Light Division (Truck), 10th Light Division (Pack, Alpine), and 71st Light Division (Pack, Jungle). The results of pre-deployment training demonstrated that the 71st and 89th Divisions were too small to sustain themselves in combat, so they were converted back to regular infantry divisions. The 10th Division's early training results were also less than encouraging, but its identity as a mountain division was retained, and after completing training it served in combat in the Italian mountains. Overall, the Army's wartime division organization and reorganizations have been judged a success by historians, in that they provided an adequate number of units to win the war, while ensuring that agricultural and industrial production could continue.


=Individual replacement system

= As AGF commander, McNair worked to solve the problem of how to integrate replacement soldiers into units that had sustained casualties. Rather than adopt the model of replacing units that had sustained high casualties with new, full strength units, Marshall and McNair cited the need to allocate space on transport ships to equipment and supplies as the reason to provide individual replacement soldiers to units while the units remained in combat. In practice, the individual replacement system caused difficulties for both the replacement soldiers and the units they joined, especially during later stages of the war. New soldiers could have difficulty being accepted by the veterans of their units, since they were replacing buddies who had been killed or wounded, and had not shared the veterans' combat experiences. In addition, because new soldiers joined units that were already in the fight, there was often no time to teach them the tactics and techniques that increased their chances of surviving on the battlefield. Though soldiers were supposed to be allocated to requesting units from replacement depots based on their qualifications and the priority of the unit, McNair found that in practice many commanders in the combat theaters used replacement soldiers to form new units, or personally selected individual replacements from personnel centers without regard to their qualifications. Assigning soldiers to units for which they were not qualified, such as armor crewmen to infantry units, negated the training they had received before going overseas. To address these concerns, McNair advocated faster qualification of replacement soldiers by reducing their training from 24 weeks to 13. The War Department reduced the training requirement to 17 weeks, but mandated continued use of the individual replacement system. Because the AGF had responsibility for implementing the individual replacement system, McNair attempted improvements, including directing the establishment of the Classification and Replacement Division within his command, and streamlining the physical, psychological, and mental criteria used to determine fitness for service. Issues with the ASF's management of replacement centers within the United States led AGF to establish two new ones at Fort Meade, Maryland, and
Fort Ord Fort Ord is a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay of the Pacific Ocean coast in California, which closed in 1994 due to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action. Most of the fort's land now makes up the Fort Ord National Monument, m ...
, California. Because infantry soldiers suffered disproportionately high casualties in combat, McNair argued for, but only partially succeeded in procuring recruits and draftees deemed high quality (typically those with the most education and highest aptitude test scores) for the AGF. In addition, he undertook several initiatives to improve the morale and ''esprit de corps'' of infantry soldiers, and enhance the goodwill of the civilian population towards the infantry, including creation of the Expert Infantryman Badge, and implementation of the "Soldier for a Day Initiative", which gave civilian government and business leaders the opportunity to interact with mobilized soldiers before they left the United States for combat assignments. These initiatives were not always successful; by late 1944 and early 1945, the number of units fighting continuously or nearly continuously caused the replacement system to break down. As a result, rear echelon soldiers were often pulled from their duties to fill vacancies in front line combat units, and training for some replacement soldiers and units was cut short so they could be rushed into combat. Some units were worn down to the point of combat ineffectiveness. In others, low morale, fatigue, and sickness became more prevalent.


=Recruitment efforts

= Because of the difficulty in attracting to the AGF those trainees deemed to be "high-quality", McNair attempted to recruit through improved public relations. One part of this effort was the creation of an office attached to the AGF staff, the Special Information Section (SIS). Approximately 12 officers and enlisted soldiers with experience as writers and editors worked in the SIS to promote improved public appreciation for AGF soldiers, especially the infantry. In addition, the SIS worked with civilian writers and editors, musicians, cartoonists, film makers, and artists who worked in other mediums to enhance the prominence of infantrymen in their work. As part of this initiative, McNair wrote personally to several leading magazine and newspaper publishers to ask for their aid. In another effort to inform the public of the Army's personnel needs and improve the way the AGF was perceived, on
Armistice Day Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, Fr ...
in November 1942, McNair delivered a radio address over the
Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American Commercial broadcasting, radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the N ...
. In his remarks, titled "The Struggle is for Survival", McNair described the fighting capability and ruthless attitude of soldiers in the
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
and
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
armies, and stated that only similar qualities in American ground troops – by implication, meaning not "the more genteel forms of warfare" practiced by the AAF and ASF – would see the Allies through to victory. The public response to McNair's remarks was largely favorable, though he did receive some criticism for extreme language that seemed to suggest an unfeeling attitude towards death and destruction. More importantly, McNair's radio address did little to improve recruiting into the Army Ground Forces; the public may have developed a better appreciation for infantry, armor, and artillery, but volunteers and draftees continued to be attracted to the AAF and ASF, and the AAF and ASF continued to lobby for the bulk of new service members in the high quality category to be assigned to them.


=African-American soldiers

= During World War II, War Department regulations for
African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...
required that they be admitted into the Army in numbers proportionate to their share of the population. In addition, the Army was required to establish segregated African American units in each major branch of the service, and give qualified African Americans the opportunity to earn officer commissions. The AGF worked to reconcile these requirements with its mission of producing trained soldiers and units that were capable of meeting and defeating the enemy in battle. To that end, the AGF activated and trained African American units in all major branches of the ground forces, and black soldiers who graduated from officer candidate schools (OCS) were assigned to African American units as they received their commissions. At the peak of the Army's expansion in June 1943, there were nearly 170,000 African Americans training at AGF facilities, or about 10.5 percent of its personnel strength. These figures were in line with the War Department requirements; at the time, African Americans accounted for between 10 and 11 percent of the U.S. population. Beginning with a small number of African American units in the Regular Army and National Guard, the AGF organized and trained many more, including the African-American 92nd and 93rd Infantry Divisions, and the 2nd Cavalry Division. By 1943, the AGF had created nearly 300 African American units, including the 452nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion, the
555th Parachute Infantry Battalion The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, nicknamed The Triple Nickles, was an all-black airborne unit of the United States Army during World War II. History Activation The unit was activated as a result of a recommendation made in December 1942 ...
, and the
761st Tank Battalion The 761st Tank Battalion was a separate tank battalion of the United States Army during World War II. The 761st was made up primarily of African-American soldiers, who by War Department policy were not permitted to serve alongside white troops ...
. The War Department General Staff initially suggested incorporating African Americans into units with white soldiers at a ratio of 1 black to 10.6 whites. Based on difficulties with completing training, in large part because the abilities of the recruits were lagging as a result of having grown up in the segregated education system and culture then prevalent in the United States, McNair advocated for separate battalions of African American soldiers, arguing that they could be more effectively employed in this manner. In McNair's construct, such units could be deployed for functions including guarding lines of communication in rear areas and near front lines, or maintained as a reserve by division and corps commanders and committed where they were most needed during combat. The proposal that was adopted was closer to what McNair had advocated, and the AGF lengthened the initial training period. African American officers generally filled company grade positions as they completed OCS, with white officers holding the field grade and senior command positions. In cases where there were not enough African Americans, white officers filled the company grade positions as well.


Anti-tank weapons and doctrine

Developing and employing anti-tank weapons and creating suitable doctrine proved to be an ongoing challenge, for which some historians have faulted McNair. Marshall favored creation of self-propelled anti-tank weapons; McNair had long favored towed weapons, including the M3 gun. McNair recognized the limitations of the anti-tank weapons then available, and favored a defensive approach for their use, advocating that units emplace and camouflage them, but official doctrine called for a more offensive mindset. It also called for anti-tank units to conduct independent operations; McNair favored a combined arms approach. He believed the use of anti-tank weapons was an economical and efficient means to defeat enemy tanks, and would free up U.S. tanks for wider offensive operations. When the M3 anti-tank gun proved to be a less than optimum anti-tank weapon, the Army began development of tank destroyers – self-propelled tracked vehicles with a gun capable of engaging a tank, but which were faster and more maneuverable because they had thinner armor than a tank. When it appeared that the Infantry and Cavalry branch chiefs might subsume proposed tank destroyer units into their own task organizations, Marshall attempted to continue progress on tank destroyer development without generating active dissent by approving creation of the Tank Destroyer Center at
Camp Hood Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. Named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The post is the headquarters o ...
. In practice, the separate Tank Destroyer Center meant that commanders of armor and infantry units had little or no experience with anti-tank weapons, or the most effective way to employ them. After having initially fielded the anti-tank weapon it had available – the M3 towed gun – the Army began to field self-propelled anti-tank weapons, first the
M3 Gun Motor Carriage The M3 Gun Motor Carriage (GMC) was a United States Army tank destroyer equipped with a 75 mm M1897A4 gun, which was built by the Autocar Company during World War II. After observing the new and often decisive, uses of armored vehicles ...
, and then the M10 tank destroyer. As a result of the Army's inability to resolve the questions of equipment and doctrine, it continued to struggle with efforts to develop viable anti-tank doctrine, and efforts to employ anti-tank guns or tank destroyers as part of combined arms team often proved ineffective. The ongoing debate within the Army about which type of anti-tank or tank destroyer weapon to use, and what design specifications ought to be included, also hampered the AGF's abilities to field the weapons and provide adequate training. As a result, during their initial employment and use, AGF observers in combat theaters identified several issues, including some as basic as training ammunition for the M3 Gun Motor Carriage being used unknowingly during combat, which obviously limited its effectiveness. Over time, commanders in combat resorted to field expedient measures to solve the problems, including learning to employ anti-tank guns and later tank destroyers in mutually supporting positions, and integrating them with infantry and armor units to maximize their effectiveness as part of a combined arms effort. The AGF in turn incorporated these lessons learned into mobilization training, so that over time soldiers and units deploying for combat were making use of the most up to date doctrine and tactics.


Tanks

At the start of World War II, the United States fielded the M3 Lee and M4 Sherman as its primary medium tanks. After-action reports from the North African Campaign and other engagements convinced commanders including
Jacob L. Devers Jacob Loucks Devers (; 8 September 1887 – 15 October 1979) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the 6th Army Group in the European Theater during World War II. He was involved in the development and adoption of numerous ...
that the U.S. needed to deploy a heavier tank with more firepower in order to counter German
Tiger I The Tiger I () was a German heavy tank of World War II that operated beginning in 1942 in Africa and in the Soviet Union, usually in independent heavy tank battalions. It gave the German Army its first armoured fighting vehicle that mounted t ...
and Panther tanks. During his assignment as Chief of Armor earlier in the war, Devers had rejected the
M6 heavy tank The Heavy Tank M6 was an American heavy tank designed during World War II. The tank was produced in small numbers and never saw combat. Development Because of limited budgets for tank development in the interwar years, at the outbreak of Wor ...
for being under-powered and under-gunned for its weight and size. As a result, the Army's Ordnance Department had overseen the creation of the T20 Medium Tank. In 1942, Devers advocated the immediate shipment of 250 T20s to the European Theater. McNair opposed this request, still convinced that smaller but heavily armed self-propelled tank destroyers could be employed faster and more effectively, especially when considering factors such as available space on cargo ships transporting weapons and equipment to Europe. The Army attempted development of an improved version of the T20, the T23, but design flaws kept it from being moved into production. In December 1943, Devers and other commanders with tank experience succeeded in convincing George Marshall of the need for a tank with more armor and firepower than the M3 and M4. An improved prototype, the T26, was produced as the M26 Pershing, and the Army ordered 250 Pershings. McNair was opposed, stating that the M4 was adequate, and arguing that tank-on-tank battles requiring the U.S. to employ heavier tanks with bigger guns were unlikely to occur. The Pershings were fielded, but arrived in Europe too late to have an effect on the conduct of the war. McNair's views on the employment of tanks also factored into reorganizations of the Army's armored divisions. The Armored Force had been created in 1940, and grew to include
16 divisions The 16 Divisions of construction, as defined by the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI)'s MasterFormat MasterFormat is a standard for organizing specifications and other written information for commercial and institutional building projects ...
, though McNair unsuccessfully recommended reducing the number to six. The Armored Force created an armored corps headquarters in 1942, but it was deactivated at McNair's instigation after only a few months. In addition to arguing against the need for an armored corps, McNair believed the task organization for an armored division to be too large and unwieldy, again presuming that tanks would primarily serve as an exploitation force for rapid advances and as infantry support, but were not likely to engage in tank-on-tank battles. As a result, he played a key role in downsizing the armored divisions in 1942 and 1943, with the 1943 reorganization reducing the divisions by 4,000 soldiers and between 130 and 140 tanks. The downsizing enabled the creation of
separate tank battalion Separate tank battalions were military formations used by the United States Army during World War II, especially in the European Theater of Operations. These battalions were temporarily attached to infantry, armored, or airborne divisions accor ...
s, which could be deployed to support infantry divisions on an as-needed basis. (The downsizing did not affect the 2nd or 3rd Armored Divisions, which maintained their "heavy" task organization.)


Death and burial

In 1943, McNair traveled to North Africa on an inspection tour of AGF troops to acquire firsthand information about the effectiveness of training and doctrine, with the goal of making improvements in AGF's mobilization and training process. On April 23, he was observing front line troops in action in Tunisia when he sustained fragmentation wounds to his arm and head; a company first sergeant standing nearby was killed. McNair deployed to the European Theater in 1944; his assignment was initially undetermined, and Marshall and
Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
, the supreme commander in Europe, considered him for command of the
Fifteenth United States Army The Fifteenth United States Army, commonly known as Fifteenth Army, was a field army of the United States in the European Theater of World War II. It was the last United States field army to see service in northwestern Europe during the war an ...
or the fictitious
First United States Army Group First United States Army Group (often abbreviated FUSAG) was a fictitious (paper command) Allied Army Group in World War II prior to D-Day, part of Operation Quicksilver, created to deceive the Germans about where the Allies would land in F ...
(FUSAG). With Lieutenant General George S. Patton, the FUSAG commander, slated to take command of the actual Third United States Army after the invasion, the Army required another commander with a recognizable name and sufficient prestige to continue the Operation Quicksilver deception that masked the actual landing sites for Operation Overlord, the
Invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Nor ...
. Eisenhower requested McNair as Patton's FUSAG successor, and Marshall approved. In July 1944, McNair was in France to observe troops in action during
Operation Cobra Operation Cobra was the codename for an offensive launched by the United States First Army under Lieutenant General Omar Bradley seven weeks after the D-Day landings, during the Normandy campaign of World War II. The intention was to take ad ...
, and add to the FUSAG deception by making the Germans believe he was in France to exercise command. He was killed near
Saint-Lô Saint-Lô (, ; br, Sant Lo) is a commune in northwest France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy.Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces ...
fell on the positions of 2nd Battalion, 120th Infantry, where McNair was observing the fighting. In one of the first Allied efforts to use heavy bombers in support of ground combat troops, several planes dropped their bombs short of their targets. Over 100 U.S. soldiers were killed, and nearly 500 wounded. McNair was buried at the
Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial (french: Cimetière américain de Colleville-sur-Mer) is a World War II cemetery and memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, that honors American troops who died in Europe during World War II ...
in Normandy, France; his funeral was kept secret to maintain the FUSAG deception, and was attended only by his aide and Generals Omar Bradley, George S. Patton,
Courtney Hodges General Courtney Hicks Hodges (January 5, 1887 – January 16, 1966) was a decorated senior officer in the United States Army who commanded First U.S. Army in the Western European Campaign of World War II. Hodges was a notable "mustang" office ...
, and
Elwood Quesada Elwood Richard Quesada, CB, CBE (April 13, 1904 – February 9, 1993), nicknamed "Pete", was a United States Air Force Lt. General, FAA administrator, and, later, a club owner in Major League Baseball. Early years Elwood Richard Quesada was b ...
. When his death was reported by the press, initial accounts indicated he had been killed by enemy fire; not until August were the actual circumstances reported in the news media. McNair is the highest-ranking military officer buried at the Normandy cemetery. Along with
Frank Maxwell Andrews Lieutenant General Frank Maxwell Andrews (February 3, 1884 – May 3, 1943) was a senior officer of the United States Army and one of the founders of the United States Army Air Forces, which was later to become the United States Air Force. ...
,
Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. ( ; July 18, 1886 – June 18, 1945) was a lieutenant general in the United States Army during World War II who served in the Pacific Theater. As commanding general of Alaska Defense Command, Buckner commanded Americ ...
, and
Millard Harmon Millard Fillmore Harmon Jr. (January 19, 1888 – February 26, 1945) was a lieutenant general in the United States Army Air Forces during the Pacific campaign in World War II. He was presumed to have perished in February 1945 on a flight when t ...
, he was one of four American lieutenant generals who died in World War II. McNair's tombstone originally indicated his rank of lieutenant general. In 1954, Buckner and he were posthumously promoted to general by an act of Congress. The
American Battle Monuments Commission The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) is an independent agency of the United States government that administers, operates, and maintains permanent U.S. military cemeteries, memorials and monuments primarily outside the United States. ...
(ABMC) did not upgrade McNair's gravestone; upon being informed in 2010 that the original marker was still in place, the ABMC replaced McNair's headstone with one that indicates the higher rank.


Hearing loss

While generally in excellent physical condition even as he aged, McNair began to experience hearing loss early in his career. The condition progressed, and included
tinnitus Tinnitus is the perception of sound when no corresponding external sound is present. Nearly everyone experiences a faint "normal tinnitus" in a completely quiet room; but it is of concern only if it is bothersome, interferes with normal hearin ...
, but did not interfere with his work; physical examinations indicated he had no trouble with tasks including speaking on the telephone. By the time he reached the ranks of the Army's senior commanders, his hearing loss was severe enough that he compensated by reading lips, and by forgoing participation in events where his difficulty in hearing would pose an obstacle, such as large conferences. By the late 1930s, he worried that his hearing condition might result in his mandatory retirement for medical reasons. Instead, Marshall issued a waiver which allowed him to continue to serve. His hearing loss may have prevented him from obtaining a field command during World War II, but Marshall was unwilling to do without his abilities as an organizer and trainer.


Legacy


Reputation

McNair was held in high regard by his contemporaries, as evidenced by performance appraisals that routinely gave him the highest possible ratings. Marshall also held McNair in high esteem, as demonstrated by the fact that McNair was a top stateside commander during World War II, was considered for a top command in Europe, and was ultimately selected to command the First United States Army Group as part of a deception plan that required a general with a good reputation and high name recognition for successful execution. In addition, soon after McNair was assigned to serve as commandant of the Command and General Staff School, Marshall learned that he would become the Chief of Staff of the Army. In a letter to McNair, Marshall wrote: "You at the head of Leavenworth are one of the great satisfactions I have at the moment in visualizing the responsibilities of the next couple of years."
Mark W. Clark Mark Wayne Clark (May 1, 1896 – April 17, 1984) was a United States Army officer who saw service during World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. He was the youngest four-star general in the US Army during World War II. During World War I ...
served under McNair as operations officer (G-3) at AGF Headquarters before ascending to the general officer ranks. In his autobiography, Clark referred to McNair as "one of the most brilliant, selfless and devoted soldiers" he had ever encountered. McNair's primary legacy was his role as "the brains of the Army", in that his involvement in unit design (the triangular division), education (the Command and General Staff Officer Course), doctrine (updating the ''Field Service Manual'' and revising field artillery methods and procedures), weapons design and procurement (experimentation with field artillery, anti-tank weapons, and anti-aircraft weapons), and training of soldiers and units (as commander of Army Ground Forces), especially in the era between World Wars I and II, made him one of the primary architects of the Army as the United States employed it for World War II. Another enduring McNair legacy was his training method of beginning with basic soldier skills and then building through successive echelons until large units became proficient during exercises and war games that closely simulated combat. These concepts remain the Army's core principles for planning, executing, and overseeing individual and collective training.


Historical debate

McNair's decisions and actions during World War II continue to be debated by historians, particularly the individual replacement system and the difficulties with resolving the issue of tanks versus anti-tank guns and tank destroyers. With respect to the individual replacement program, historian Stephen Ambrose described it as inefficient, wasteful, and a contributor to unnecessary casualties. However, some recent assessments have viewed it more favorably. As one example, a 2013 essay by Robert S. Rush concluded "Success results NOT from rotating organizations in and out of combat but from sustaining those organizations while in combat." On the questions of fielding anti-tank guns and tank destroyers as the primary anti-armor weapons, and fielding light and medium tanks instead of a heavy tank capable of matching those in German armor units, historians including Mark Calhoun argue that McNair recognized the limitations of the anti-tank weapons then available, and the difficulties with providing better ones given time and production constraints, and so worked to develop a doctrine that made the best possible use of the weapons that were available. Other historians, including Steve Zaloga, argue that McNair's opposition to development and fielding of heavy tanks represented a "World War I mindset" that hindered the overall performance of the US Army during World War II.


Awards and honors

McNair received the
honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
of
LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...
from
Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mon ...
in 1941 and the
University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. It is classifie ...
in 1943. The Lesley J. McNair Bridge was a temporary structure over the Rhine River in Cologne, Germany; it stood from 1945 until it was dismantled after the erection of a permanent bridge in 1946.
Washington Barracks Fort Lesley J. McNair is a United States Army post located on the tip of Greenleaf Point, the peninsula that lies at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. To the peninsula's west is the Washington Chan ...
in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
, was renamed
Fort Lesley J. McNair Fort Lesley J. McNair is a United States Army post located on the tip of Greenleaf Point, the peninsula that lies at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. To the peninsula's west is the Washington Channe ...
in 1948. Roads and buildings on several U.S. Army posts carry the name "McNair", including McNair Avenue and McNair Hall (
Fort Sill Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (136.8 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost . The fort was first built during the Indian Wars. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark ...
), McNair Road ( Joint Base Myer–Henderson Hall), McNair Drive ( Fort Monroe), and McNair Hall ( Fort Leavenworth).
McNair Barracks The McNair Barracks was a US Army installation in Lichterfelde, a locality in southwest Berlin, Germany. The barracks were named after Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair, an American Army officer who served in World War I and World War II an ...
in Berlin, Germany, was named for Lesley J. McNair. The facility was closed as a U.S. military installation in 1994, and has since been redeveloped, but retains a museum which details its use as a U.S. base. McNair
Kaserne ''Kaserne'' is a loanword taken from the German word ' (plural: '), which means "barracks". It is the typical term used when naming the garrison location for American and Canadian forces stationed in Germany. American forces were also sometimes h ...
in Höchst, Germany, was also named in his honor. Home to several Army Signal Corps units, it was closed and turned over to the German government in 1992, and has since been redeveloped as residential and commercial space. Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5263 in Lawton, Oklahoma (near the Fort Sill Artillery Center and School) is named for him. McNair was inducted into the Fort Leavenworth Hall of Fame, which was created in 1969 and is managed by the
United States Army Combined Arms Center The U.S. Army Combined Arms Center (USACAC) is located at Fort Leavenworth and provides leadership and supervision for leader development and professional military and civilian education; institutional and collective training; functional training; ...
. The Fort Leavenworth Hall of Fame honors soldiers who were stationed at Fort Leavenworth, and significantly contributed to the Army's history, heritage, and traditions. In 2005, McNair was inducted into the U.S. Army's Force Development Hall of Fame. There is a collection of McNair papers at the National Archives and Records Administration.
Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mon ...
maintains another folder of papers related to McNair's service there.


Family

McNair married Clare Huster (1882–1973) of New York City on June 15, 1905. They were the parents of a son, Douglas (1907–1944).


Clare McNair

After McNair's death, Clare McNair was employed by the United States Department of State to investigate working conditions for female members of the United States Foreign Service Auxiliary, the organization created to augment the Foreign Service during World War II. She traveled to several foreign locations, including North Africa, Europe, and Latin America to interview employees and observe working conditions in order to make recommendations for improvements.


Douglas C. McNair

Douglas Crevier McNair was born in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...
, Massachusetts, on April 17, 1907, while his father was stationed at the
Watertown Arsenal The Watertown Arsenal was a major American arsenal located on the northern shore of the Charles River in Watertown, Massachusetts. The site is now registered on the ASCE's List of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks and on the US National ...
. He was a 1928 graduate of West Point, and became an artillery officer after initially qualifying in the infantry branch. The younger McNair advanced through command and staff positions to become chief of staff of the
77th Infantry Division 77th Division or 75th Infantry Division may refer to: * 77th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht), Germany * 77th Infantry Division of Khurasan, Iran * 77th Division (Imperial Japanese Army) * 77th Division (People's Republic of China) * 77th Division ( ...
with the rank of
colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
. He was killed in action on the island of Guam on August 6, 1944, only 12 days after the death of his father. He died when two other 77th Division soldiers and he became involved in a skirmish with Japanese soldiers while scouting locations for a new division command post. Douglas McNair posthumously received the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, and
Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...
. First interred on Guam, in 1949 he was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. The 77th Division named its temporary encampment near Agat, Guam, "Camp McNair" in his honor. Another Camp McNair, this one near Fujiyoshida, Japan, served as a U.S. military training facility from the late 1940s until the 1970s, and was used extensively during the Korean War. In addition, the McNair Village housing development at
Fort Hood Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. Named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The post is the headquarters ...
, Texas, was also named for him.


Military awards

Lesley McNair's awards and decorations included: Note: Two Distinguished Service Medals, one Purple Heart, and the World War II Victory Medal were awarded posthumously.


Dates of rank


Works by McNair

(Partial list) * * * * * * * *


References


Sources


Books

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Internet

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Magazines

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Newspapers

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Further reading

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External links

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"General Lesley J. McNair: Unsung Architect of the US Army"
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