Roots of U.S. WWII Generals

[Ken McCanliss]

Hi Steen.

Thank you for your post. I agree that the Ancell-Miller work is a usefull tool, despite it's many shortcomings. I only hope the authors and publisher have a revised edition in their plans.

I am currently working on a list of Army and Army Air Corps generals that should have been included in a work of this scope, and will post it here when I complete my research. Then I will undertake the same for the National Guard generals. I hope the reasearch community will find these useful (and that Ancell & Miller take note).

Best regards,
~ Ken

[Steen Ammentorp]

Hi Ken,

I for one am looking forward to the list with great expectation!!

Kind Regards
Steen Ammentorp
The Generals of World War II

[Ken McCanliss]

Following is a list of 58 post-bellum Navy Flag Officers with retroactive commissions reflecting wartime rank:

Albert MacQueen Bledsoe
Joseph Francis Bolger
Calvin Matthews Bolster
Walter Frederick Boone
Rico Botta
Charles Randall Brown, Jr.
Clarence John Brown (MC)
Eliot Hinman Bryant
Frederick Lawton Conklin (MC)
Roy Thomas Cowdrey
Richard Harold Cruzen
Arthur Herbert Dearing (MC)
Wallace Rutherford Dowd
George Carroll Dyer
Frederick Irving Entwistle
Edward Coyle Ewen
Emmet Peter Forrestel
James Hicks Foskett
Joseph William Fowler
William Vincent Fox (SC)
Lucien McKee Grant
Frederick Edward Haeberle
Wesley McLaren Hague
Lloyd Harrison
Charles Clifford Hartman
Hugh Elliott Haven
Ernest Edward Herrmann
Roscoe Henry Hillenkoetter
Herbert Gladstone Hopwood
John Madison Hoskins
Stuart Howe Ingersoll
Felix Leslie Johnson
William David Johnson, Jr.
Claude Owen Kell
Fred Durrel Kirtland
Paul Frantz Lee
Wilson Durwood Leggett, Jr.
Theodore Clayton Lonnquest
Robert Perche McConnell
Ralph Edward McShane
Stuart Shadrick Murray
Francis Paxton Old
Henry Richard Oster
Norborne Lewis Rawlings
John Roland Redman
William Lehigh Rees
John Wesley Roper
John Arthur Snackenberg
Wendell Gray Switzer
Evander Wallace Sylvester
William Gosnell Tomlinson
Ernest Herman Von Heimburg
Homer Norman Wallin
Richard Morgan Watt, Jr.
Charles Wellborn, Jr.
Charles Delorma Wheelock
Richard Francis Whitehead
Edmund Tyler Wooldridge

The above names do not appear in Ancell-Miller. I list them here because those authors include 23 such names in their Biographical Dictionary. The ones in this category that they do recognize are:

Paul Morris Albright (MC)
John Hazard Carson
David Henderson Clark
Maurice Edwin Curts
Austin Kelvin Doyle
Lewis Dreller
Daniel Vincent Gallery, Jr.
John Edward Gingrich
Cato Douglas Glover, Jr.
Grover Cleveland Klein
Heber Hampton McLean
Charles Bowers Momson
Paul Braids Nibecker
Charles Ambrose Nicholson II
Roger Ward Paine
William Kearny Phillips
Thomas Hinckley Robbins, Jr.
Thomas Greenhow Williams Settle
Thorwald Arthur Solberg
Apollo Soucek
Leslie Clark Stevens
John Enos Wood (SC)
Thomas Pilmore Wynkoop, Jr.

And while the names of George Clifford Crawford, Thomas Browning Inglis, Frederick William McMahon, Harvey Edward Overesch, and Paul Edward Pihl all appear in the Biographical Register as commodores, they also held retroactive commissions as rear admirals. (Another wartime commodore they missed altogether was Fred Durrel Kirtland, who's name appears above due to his receiving a retroactive promotion to rear admiral.)

In a future post, I will endeavor to provide a list of names of Marine Corps general officers who likewise held their rank thru post-war retroactive promotions.

[miller31]

He father's brother's cousin's sister's former roomate was from Spain. Just a fun fact for the day, that I thought you guys might want to know.

[HFK]

Hello Ken, How are you doing with the list of generals and admirals ? I hope you will be finished soon, and I can't wait to see the lists. Best regards, Harry

[Lornito Uriarte Mahinay Jr.]

Of course, Brigadier Vicente P. Lim was born in the Philippines beacuse he is a FILIPINO by blood. He retired in the United States Army (Philippine Scouts) in 1934 upon the creation of the Philippine Army under Commonwealth Act Number 1. Months before the outbreak of the war on 07 December 1941, the Philippine Army and the Philippine Constabulary were inducted into the USAFFE making the officers and soldiers of both units part of the United States Army. So, not only BG Lim but also the other Filipino generals.

[Thesamurai]

I know this is a very, very old thread...but to correct the list... Major-General Truman Casper Thorson was NOT born outside the USA. He was born in a very small town called Scandinavia, Wisconsin, USA.

[genstab]

Comments on two of the general/flag officers mentioned: William S. Knudsen was a civilian and high ranker in the early Ford Motor Company before switching to Chevrolet where he headed the division and then General Motors. He never was an officer or served in the military until FDR appointed him to a senior position in the defense effort and he got a commission as a general due to his invaluable production expertise to help him deal with the military brass.

The loss of Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, Commander Battleship Division Twelve, who was killed when his flagship USS Arizona exploded at Pearl Harbor touched my family in that he was from Cleveland (West High School, 1902) and my grandmother attended classes with him. It is a real tragedy when a man serves his country for thirty years, attains flag rank and then is killed on the first day of the war before he can help defend his country. I read that his remains were never found- just his Annapolis class ring.

Best regards,
Bill in Cleveland