The Brains of the Army - Lesley J. McNair (July 25, 1944)

On August 6, 1940 Lesley J. McNair became Chief of Staff to Gen. George C. Marshall. Their staggering task was to prepare the standing army of the United States, about 240,000 men organized in 12 divisions, to fight the Axis powers. By that time, Hitler’s forces had already conquered Poland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Holland and France. Japan was running wild in the Pacific. All that stood between the triumph of Nazism and the last island of freedom was the RAF, and the outcome looked uncertain and bleak. By July 25, 1944, when he was killed in the most famous “friendly fire” incident in our history, McNair had played his part in one of the greatest military expansions in world history, organizing, equipping, and training more than 7 million men.

Before the war was over, America had fielded 83 ground force divisions (Infantry, Armored, and Paratroops) as well as countless independent brigades, regiments, and other fighting units that span the range of modern land warfare. All of it - the men, facilities, buildings, schools, and infrastructure that made up the land component (Army Ground Forces) was McNair’s responsibility. He had a singular insistence on “realistic” combat training which inspired the “infiltration” course, complete with live bullets zipping overhead. Most of all, he believed that the key to success on the battlefield was finding and promoting the natural leaders. One of the major benefits of the large-scale maneuvers held before the war (Louisiana, Tennessee, etc.) was the emergence of those leaders. While he received almost no public recognition or praise during the war years, he could very well be described as the architect of the modern American army.” George Marshall, not a man prone to excesses of speech, referred to his deputy as “the brains of the army.”

After graduating from West Point in 1904, McNair - known as “Whitey” because of his shock of blond hair - began his career in the field artillery. He served in Funston’s march on Vera Cruz in 1914, as well as Pershing’s Mexican Border Expedition in 1915-16. During the Great War he was at American Expeditionary Force (AEF) Headquarters as an artillery expert in the Training Section. The French were particularly impressed with the young officer, whose language skills had been honed during his assignment in 1913 as an observer of French units. McNair also attracted Pershing’s attention and favor and he became the youngest brigadier general in the AEF. It was impressive career advancement, even during wartime. Pershing awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal and the French Legion of Honor – and kiss – were bestowed by the great hero, Henri Petain. At the end of the war McNair was reduced in rank to major. It would take nearly 20 years to get that star back.

            After the war began McNair went to the fighting fronts to see first hand the result of his efforts. Once should have been enough. The very day he arrived in Tunisia April 23, 1943, he was hit by German shell fragments that ripped through his helmet and body, seriously wounding him. It was a close call. In connection with the Normandy invasion, McNair was sent to England and assigned the job of “commanding” the phantom First US Army Group, a major element in the extensive Operation FORTITUDE plan to deceive the Germans about our real intentions. Once again, McNair went forward to take a look. This time he picked an observation post near St. Lo just several hundreds of yards behind the line of departure for Operation COBRA. The previous day the massive air armada of 1,500 B-17’s, used for the first time in tactical support, had been recalled, but not before dropping some bombs on Americans. This time, everybody thought, they would get it right. By the end of the day, in spite of early disappointment in the ground advance, “Lightning Joe” Collins’ VII Corps was on the verge of a great breakout into France and Lesley McNair was dead.

            There is an apocryphal story – started by a GI, probably – that all they found of McNair was a bloody finger with a West Point ring. Not true. The coffin carried by the most senior generals in France – friends of Leslie McNair – was empty. His widow collected two posthumous oak leaf clusters to his DSM – his only tangible career reward – and Congress got around to making him and Lt. General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. CG of the Tenth Army, killed on Okinawa – full generals in 1954. The beautiful Army War College campus, where McNair and his small staff built the ground army is now called Fort McNair, in honor of the highest-ranking US Army general ever killed in combat and the highest ranking officer killed during the twentieth century. In a grim stroke of evil fortune, his only son, Col. Douglas McNair - also an artillery officer and Chief of Staff of the 77^th Infantry Division - was killed by a Japanese sniper on August 6, 1944. He was the highest- ranking casualty of that campaign.