Charles T. Menoher

Charles T. Menoher

Charles Thomas Menoher (born March 20, 1862 in Johnstown , Pennsylvania , † August 11, 1930 in Washington, DC ) was an American officer in the United States Army , most recently Major General , the division and corps commander of the American Expeditionary during World War I. Forces (AEF) and was the first chief of the United States Army Air Service after the war .

Life

Menoher was born the son of an Irish-born participant in the Civil War on the Northern side . He graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1886 , where he had been a classmate of future AEF Commander-in-Chief, John J. Pershing . He then came to the artillery and completed the course at the artillery school in 1894. During the Spanish-American War of 1898 he served as aide-de-camp for Brigadier General Edward B. Williston in Cuba and later completed three tours of duty in the Philippines , where he was promoted to captain in 1901 . He was one of the first members of the US Army General Staff, formed in 1903, and one of the first to graduate from Army War College , after which he was promoted to major in January 1907 . Another stay followed in Cuba, where he worked as Provost Marshal in the occupation forces. In May 1911 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel .

From June 1916 to August 1917 he commanded the rank of Colonel of the 5th Field Artillery Regiment and the Provisional Field Artillery Brigade in El Paso , Texas. After the USA entered the war as a member of the AEF, he was shipped to France, where he was in charge of the AEF's field artillery training school in Saumur from September 1917 and was temporarily in discussion as the commander of the 1st Infantry Division . In December 1917 he was appointed commander of the 42nd Infantry Division ("Rainbow Division"), which he led until shortly before the armistice of November 11, 1918 . His chief of staff was the future five-star general and Chief of Staff of the Army Douglas MacArthur . With the 42nd Division he was deployed in Lorraine from February to June 1918 , followed by transfer to the Marnefront after the German breakthrough offensive on the Aisne . In July 1918 the division took part in the Battle of the Marne , in September in the Battle of St. Mihiel and finally in the Meuse-Argonne offensive . On the penultimate day of the war, November 10, Menoher was given command of the VI Corps, which he held until December 1918.

He was then transferred to Washington to take on the vacant position of Director of Air Service . He stayed in that post until October 1921, when a trial of strength with Billy Mitchell , then Assistant Director of Air Service and commander of the 1st Provisional Air Brigade , who carried out experiments with bombers against sea targets, led him to resign. In February 1922 he took over command of the Hawaiian Division stationed in Hawaii instead . In August 1924 he was promoted to command of the Hawaiian Department , which he remained until February 1925. Menoher subsequently became commander of the IX Corps Area , based in the Presidio of San Francisco . In March 1926 he went into statutory retirement. Menoher died in 1930 at the age of 68 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery .

His awards for service in World War I include the Army Distinguished Service Medal , the World War I Victory Medal with five clips, and several awards from allied states.

literature

• George Washington Cullum etc. (Ed.): Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, since its establishment in 1802. 1891 ff.
• James J. Cooke: Pershing and His Generals: Command and Staff in the AEF. Greenwood Publishing, 1997.

Web links

Commons : Charles T. Menoher  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Charles T. Menoher at arlingtoncemetery.net
• Short biography on usarpac.army.mil
• Grace Greenwood: The Menohers: A US Military Family on signaturesofwar.com