83 Facts About Henry Aurand

Lieutenant General Henry Spiese Aurand was a United States Army career officer.

Henry Aurand was a veteran of World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.

Henry Aurand was commissioned in the Coast Artillery Corps, but later transferred to the Ordnance Department.

Henry Aurand served in the Philippines from 1925 to 1927, and on the faculty of the Ordnance School at Watertown Arsenal from 1929 to 1930.

Henry Aurand became the Chief of the International Division, Army Service Forces in 1942 and later that year the secretary of the Combined Production and Resources Board.

In 1944, Henry Aurand was assigned as the Assistant Chief Ordnance Officer, European Theater of Operations, United States Army and Communications Zone.

Henry Aurand become the Commanding General, Normandy Base Section, in December 1944.

Henry Aurand returned to the United States as the Commanding General of the Sixth Service Command, and he was commander of the Africa-Middle East Theater in 1946.

Henry Spiese Aurand was born in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, on April 21,1894, the only child of Peter Augustus Aurand, a conductor on the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, and his wife Annie Speise.

Henry Aurand attended Shamokin Area High School, where he played violin in the school orchestra, captained the debating team, and edited the school literary magazine.

Henry Aurand's ambition was to go to Pennsylvania State College and become a civil engineer, but he sat the examination for the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, and received a nomination as an alternative.

McHenry Aurand replied that he had already been declined twice, and would not take no for an answer.

Henry Aurand entered West Point on June 14,1911, becoming a member of the class of 1915, which became known as "the class the stars fell on" because no less than 59 of the 164 members of the class who graduated became generals.

Henry Aurand was ranked twentieth in the class, which was high enough to have a completely free choice.

Henry Aurand graduated and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery on June 12,1915.

Henry Aurand's first posting was to the 169th Company at Fort Monroe, Virginia, from September 11,1915, to April 15,1916.

Henry Aurand's father, Davis Evan Decker, was a Texas state senator and judge; her grandmother, Nancy Elizabeth Morrow, was the oldest daughter of Sam Houston.

From October 3,1916, to November 1,1917, Henry Aurand was a student officer at the Ordnance School at the Sandy Hook Proving Ground.

Henry Aurand was promoted to captain on July 25,1917.

Henry Aurand's first assignment with the Ordnance Department was an assistant to the officer in charge of the design and construction of the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Major William R King.

Henry Aurand was promoted to major in the Ordnance Department on January 14,1918.

Henry Aurand returned to the Sandy Hook Proving Ground, where he spent the rest of World War I working with civilian scientists on the development of flashless propellant.

Henry Aurand formally transferred to the Ordnance Department on July 1,1920, with the rank of major, but reverted to captain again on November 4,1922.

From September 10,1921, to November 6,1922, Henry Aurand was a student officer at the Ordnance School at the Watertown Arsenal in Massachusetts, and took a summer course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Henry Aurand differed with the senior instructor at the Watertown Arsenal, arguing that ordnance officers should be trained in field repairs, leaving the complex tasks to civilians.

On November 6,1922, Henry Aurand became the Ordnance Officer for the V Corps Area at Fort Hayes, Ohio.

Henry Aurand told Aurand that this was where his true talent lay and he should forget about engineering.

On Embick's recommendation, Henry Aurand attended the Command and Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after which he returned to Fort Hayes as the G-4 of the V Corps Area from June 27,1928, to August 16,1930.

From August 17,1930, to June 30,1931, Henry Aurand was one of the two Ordnance Department officers to attend the Army War College that academic year.

Henry Aurand produced a study of Germany's mobilization during World War I, and one of the British Zeebrugge Raid.

Henry Aurand returned to Washington, DC, where he worked on a special study.

Henry Aurand was critical of the Army's mobilization policies, and advocated replacement of horse-drawn transport with motor vehicles.

Henry Aurand was critical of the make up of the faculty, which he felt contained too many men from the combat arms.

Henry Aurand was promoted to lieutenant colonel on April 1,1936.

At the Army Industrial College, Henry Aurand had assisted in the production and development of an industrial mobilization plan, but he had been critical of the process.

Henry Aurand argued that the notion of defining grand strategy, determining how to pursue it, and then deciding what resources can be applied, had the process backwards: the means should be determined first, and realistic ways and ends derived from them.

Henry Aurand believed that logistics was the decisive factor in modern warfare, and rejected the cautious assumption that the public would not countenance the creation of the machinery for industrial mobilization in peacetime.

Henry Aurand submitted an article to the Army Ordnance journal in which he attacked the Ordnance Department's approach to ammunition design.

Henry Aurand complained about the assignment to Colonels Russell L Maxwell and Walter M Robertson, and they arranged for him to meet with Brigadier General Richard C Moore, the G-4 of the War Department General Staff.

Moore was sufficiently impressed to have Henry Aurand's orders changed, reassigning him as Chief of the G-4 Requirements and Distribution Section in June 1940.

Henry Aurand advocated the establishment of a Transportation Corps, and the creation of a consolidated logistical system.

Henry Aurand supported arming aircraft with cannon, and urged the adoption of the jeep.

Henry Aurand observed the Louisiana Maneuvers, spending an afternoon with Eisenhower, who was now the Chief of Staff of the Third United States Army, and with his G-4, Lieutenant Colonel LeRoy Lutes.

Henry Aurand considered the performance of the logistical units in the maneuvers to be poor, but he was impressed with an IBM keypunch and sorting machine.

Henry Aurand had to take the needs of the British and Canadians into account as well as the American forces.

Henry Aurand dealt with a British delegation headed by Lieutenant Colonel Donald Campion.

Henry Aurand prepared a study that study formed the basis of the initial $7 billion Lend Lease appropriation.

Henry Aurand was promoted to brigadier general on January 30,1942.

Henry Aurand's authority was circumscribed, with some functions transferred to Clay and others to the Operations Division of the War Department General Staff, leaving the International Division as little more than a statistical reporting organization.

On June 20,1942, Henry Aurand left the USASOS to become secretary of the Combined Resources and Production Board ; Somervell and Patterson had pushed hard for Henry Aurand's appointment, possibly to get rid of him, and Jean Monnet had pushed for it from the British side.

Donald Nelson was the head of the American half of the CPB, but he served on a part-time basis, so Henry Aurand was left effectively in charge.

Henry Aurand knew that he was being kicked upstairs, but decided to accept.

Henry Aurand assumed the command and was promoted to the rank on September 8,1942.

Henry Aurand sent all his new 1-B recruits through basic training at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin.

The singularly distinctive accomplishments of General Henry Aurand reflect the highest credit upon himself and the United States Army.

Henry Aurand was ordered to go to the European Theater of Operations.

Henry Aurand would be assigned as the Assistant Chief Ordnance Officer in the ETO and Communications Zone.

Henry Aurand assured Eisenhower that he had no objection to such an arrangement.

Henry Aurand then saw the G-4 of the 12th Army Group, Brigadier General Raymond G Moses, who detailed plans for upcoming operations, and explained that the theater reserves of ammunition were inadequate.

Henry Aurand soon located large stockpiles being held by the First Army.

Henry Aurand then visited the Ninth Army headquarters at Maastricht, where he was warmly received by its commander, Lieutenant General William H Simpson, whom he had known at the Army War College.

Henry Aurand replaced American soldiers with French civilians and German prisoners of war, and placed greater reliance on the rehabilitated railway network instead of the roads.

Henry Aurand asked Brigadier General Benjamin O Davis, the Army's only African American general officer, for a report.

Henry Aurand adopted and carried through Davis's recommendations for improving the living and working conditions and recreational facilities available to African Americans, and reports of serious crimes declined during 1945.

Henry Aurand became the Commanding General, Services of Supply, in the China Theater on May 25,1945.

Henry Aurand found that there had been conflict between his predecessor, Major General Gilbert Cheves, and theater headquarters, which invariably had been resolved by the theater staff removing functions from the SOS.

Henry Aurand found living conditions were primitive; tents were heavy and bulky, so instead of flying them over the Hump, the men lived with Chinese families or in their own version of the typical peasant's hut.

American rations were scarce, so the men supplemented their diet with local purchases, resulting in a high rate of intestinal diseases, and Henry Aurand was no exception.

Henry Aurand was especially disturbed at the ragged appearance of his soldiers.

Henry Aurand considered the whole plan a logistical nightmare; almost impossible to support in the manner required, and likely to fail if it was not.

Henry Aurand visited his soldiers with the message that they still had a job to do, and would not be going home soon; priority would be given to the combat troops.

SOS was absorbed by theater headquarters in November 1945, and Henry Aurand returned to the United States.

Henry Aurand had thought of retirement, but Eisenhower offered him his old post of commanding general of the Sixth Service Command, and he accepted.

Henry Aurand had been impressed by the work Aurand has done closing down the SOS in the China Theater, and wanted him to do the same in the Africa-Middle East Theater.

Henry Aurand accepted this assignment, and it turned out to be far more enjoyable than China.

Henry Aurand, still planning to retire, declined both offers, but when Eisenhower offered him the position of Director of Research and Development at the War Department, he accepted.

Henry Aurand became the first commander of the Logistics Division, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general on January 22,1948.

Henry Aurand emphasized long-term projects rather than ones aimed at improving existing equipment.

Henry Aurand had to report to Royall that the Army had 15,526 tanks, but only 1,762 were serviceable.

On March 21,1949, Bradley, who had succeeded Eisenhower as Chief of Staff, appointed Aurand the Commanding General, United States Army, Pacific, a position he held until his retirement On August 31,1952, when he was replaced by John W O'Daniel.

Henry Aurand enjoyed Hawaii so much that he decided to buy a house and settle there.

Henry Aurand left Hawaii in 1963, and moved to St Louis, Missouri.

Henry Aurand's papers are in the Dwight D Eisenhower Presidential Library.