What were the future Joint Chiefs Chairmen up to during World War II?

Unto the Breach ^ | Dec. 29, 2022 | Chris Carter

[fugazi]

Maj. Gen. Mark Clark’s secret submarine operation to secure French cooperation in Operation TORCH has been discussed in previous posts. Clark is pictured on page five with the three officers that accompanied him to his meeting in Cherchell, Algeria. We have already mentioned Navy captain Jerauld Wright. Also participating was Brig. Gen. Lyman Lemnitzer, who served as a coastal artillery officer before becoming Lt. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s Assistant Chief of Staff during the North African campaign. He will later serve on the teams that negotiate surrender with Italy and Germany. Lemnitzer commands the 7th Infantry Division during the Korean War, and he is selected by Pres. Eisenhower to become the fourth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Before retiring, he is named NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

While there is not an official Joint Chiefs until 1949, Adm. William D. Leahy became Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief in July 1942 and will serve in that position until 1949. The current “Joint Chiefs” are Leahy, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Marshall, Chief of Naval Operations and Commander in Chief of the United States Fleet Adm. Ernest King, and Chief of the Army Air Forces Lt. Gen. “Hap” Arnold.

What are the men who become Joint Chiefs Chairman up to now? Here are the ones who served during the Second World War:

Maj. Gen. Bradley recently handed over command of the 82nd Airborne Division to Maj. Gen. Matthew Ridgway and currently heads the 28th Infantry Division. Capt. Radford is currently stateside, refining the training program for Naval aviators. Next year he is promoted to rear admiral and given a carrier division command. Twining, a first sergeant in the Oregon National Guard before his nomination to the U.S. Military Academy, serves as

[Alas Babylon!]

I met and spoke to Vessey in the middle of the night in the Pentagon Intelligence Command Center. It was during the 1985 Athens TWA highjacking. My job was to take telex off the printers and hang them on clipboards by topic on a wall. I was told to not let anyone except the battle Staff touch them because the analysts would still sometimes take them back to their desks to read. I would xerox them if they wanted a copy, but no one could touch them. Written warnings were in big letters on the wall. My job was to be there and ensure that order was obeyed.

Gen Vessey was in his civvies reading them. He took one down so I proceeded to tell him to put the fn thing back. He did! Then the Colonel who ran the battle Staff told me who I just yelled at was. Vessey was cool, though. I apologized and said I didn’t know. He said, “No problem, sergeant glad to see you doing your job!”

[Jolla]

You and I obviously disagree on this issue. Yet you have been most cordial. And I hope I have been, too. I enjoy such conversations.

Indeed, a practice much ignored which often keeps my thoughts off of the board. It HAS been enlightening.

[fugazi]

The SEALs can get away with operating in landlocked areas like Afghanistan because they carry water in their canteens. :)

And while cleaning out redundancy is a good, the Marines and Army are so different that it would be hard to just give the ground combat role to soldiers. The USMC has fought for their existence since Moses was a corporal, generally have inferior equipment, and have such a minimal budget compared to other services that it has created a culture of adversity that Marines constantly overcome.

Maybe handing in their M1 tanks like they are doing is a good thing, but I have never agreed with the idea that Marines should primarily be an amphibious force and everything else left to the Army. Both services have infantry but (no disrespect to the Army), an Army unit would have a very tough time defeating a Marine unit. Generally speaking, Marines are better at taking ground and the Army is good at holding it.

[fugazi]

Fascinating story. Vessey was a mustang officer, getting a battlefield promotion from first sergeant in 1943. It would be interesting to have a time machine where you could switch the WWII vet Joint Chiefs with modern-day ones and see what happens.

[KC Burke]

Joint Chiefs were in the chain of command in those days which has not benn the case for over thirty years. Now they are administrators for their branches, not war fighters. Policy advice only is the role of the Chairman. .

[Glad2bnuts]

Why not co equal Chiefs, who answer to one appointed by the President as one who can be fired at will?

[sasportas]

Thanks for your post. Lest I be taken wrong, I’m not opposed to the existence of the Marines and SEALs, far from it, they are some of our best. It is just the fact that their names don’t jibe with where they are asked to fight nowadays. The names denote the sea, or in some way related to it - amphibious.

The SEALs evolved from the UDT, Underwater Demolition Team. Operating in the air, land, and sea, nowadays. But they are still Navy, still sailors, the Navy doesn’t operate far inland, like in Afghanistan, for instance.

[Captain Peter Blood]

Leahy was not only the Chief of Staff, he was also Roosevelts Military adviser and for the last year of his Presidency the unofficial President of U.S. handling many of Roosevelt’s duties as his health declined. He was without a doubt the second most powerful man in the War, wherever Roosevelt went so did Leahy.