Francis K. Newcomer

Francis K. Newcomer (born September 14, 1889 in Byron , Illinois , † August 16, 1967 ) was an American officer. Between 1948 and 1952 he was governor of the Panama Canal Zone .

Career

Between 1909 and 1913, Francis Newcomer graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point . He then began a long career as an officer in the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army . He was deployed to various locations in the United States and also took part in the First World War. Between 1919 and 1924 he taught mathematics at the Military Academy in West Point. He was then transferred to Charleston , South Carolina , where he was responsible for the river and port facilities. In 1928 he became a teacher at a Corps of Engineers school in Fort Belvoir ( Virginia ). In 1939 he graduated from the Army War College in Washington, DC as a lieutenant colonel. In 1940 he was transferred to Vicksburg , Mississippi , where he was a member of the command to control the lower reaches of the Mississippi River .

In 1944, Francis Newcomer was hired to maintain the Panama Canal. He held this office for four years. In the same year he was promoted to brigadier general. He then succeeded Joseph Cowles Mehaffey as the new governor of the Panama Canal Zone. He held this office between 1948 and 1952. He died on August 16, 1967.

Web links

• Short biography at the Panama Canal Authority