General John J. Pershing, C-in-C of the AEF, and Major General Menoher, commanding the 42nd Division, in front of the 42nd Division's headquarters, Chatel, France, June 1918.
Menoher served in Cuba and the Philippines during the Spanish–American War. He later graduated from the Army War College and was selected for the original General Staff Corps, where he served from 1903 to 1907. He was commander of the 5th Field Artillery Regiment from 1916 to 1917.[1]
He was still in command of the regiment until late August 1917, almost five months after the American entry into World War I, when, earlier that month, he received a promotion to the temporary rank of brigadier general and was sent to France to take command of the American Expeditionary Forces's (AEF) School of Instruction, Field Artillery, located in Saumar.
Menoher held this post until mid-December when he was selected by General John J. Pershing, commander-in-chief (C-in-C) of the AEF and a West Point classmate, to succeed Major General William A. Mann as commanding general (CG) of the 42nd "Rainbow" Division.[2][3] He would remain in command of the 42nd for the next 10 months, commanding the division throughout almost all of its period of combat service on the Western Front, participating in the Champagne-Marne offensive and in the successful Allied offensives of Saint Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne. In November, Menoher was succeeded in command of the 42nd by Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur, formerly the division's chief of staff but now commanding its 84th Infantry Brigade, in this position.[4]
As the war was coming to an end, Menoher was placed in command of the VI Corps (United States).[4] He later received the Army Distinguished Service Medal, along with foreign awards from France, Belgium, and Italy.[4] The citation for his Army DSM reads:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Major General Charles Thomas Menoher, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. In Command of the 42d Division from Chateau-Thierry to the conclusion of the Meuse-Argonne offensive, including the Baccarat sector, Reims, Vesles, and at St. Mihiel salient, General Menoher with his division participated in all of these important engagements. The reputation as a fighting unit of the 42d Division is in no small measure due to the soldierly qualities and the military leadership of General Menoher.[5][6]
Following the end of the war, Menoher became first Director and then Chief of Air Service, where he began a famous (and ultimately losing) conflict with his Assistant Chief, Brigadier General Billy Mitchell.[7] He was promoted to major general in March 1921. Requesting an assignment with troops, Menoher then took command of the Hawaiian Division in 1922 before taking over the entire Hawaiian Department. After this, he commanded the IX Corps Area in San Francisco until his mandatory retirement on March 20, 1926.[8][9]
Personal life
He married Nannie Pearson. They had four sons: Charles, Pearson, Darrow, and William.[10][4] His three youngest sons all graduated from West Point, and served in the Army during World War II. Pearson (1892–1958), a classmate of both Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar Bradley, reached the rank of major general during the Korean War, after seeing service in both of the world wars.[citation needed]
^Clodfelter, Mark A. , 'Molding Air Power Convictions: Development and Legacy of William Mitchell's Strategic Thought', in Melinger, Phillip S. ed., The Paths of Heaven: The Evolution of Air Power Theory, Alabama, Air University Press, 1997, 79–114, p. 91
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