US Army General. The grandson of Senator John McAuley Palmer, he was the Army's principal theorist of the early 1900s, influencing Chiefs of Staff Wood, Pershing and Marshall. Palmer graduated from West Point in 1892, served in Cuba as Aide to General Samuel Sumner during the Spanish-American War, and served with the 15th Infantry during the China Relief Expedition. At the outset of World War I he prepared the Draft Act and the plan for forming the American Expeditionary Force. He was Operations Officer of the AEF and commanded the National Guard's 58th Brigade in combat at Verdun and Meuse-Argonne. Convinced that citizen soldiers were essential to maintaining a democracy, Palmer countered advocates of eliminating the National Guard by proposing a standing Army that could be expanded through activating National Guard and Reserve soldiers, and he succeeded in having his ideas codified in the National Defense Act of 1920. Palmer retired as a Brigadier General in 1923 and wrote on military topics, including 1930's "Washington, Lincoln, Wilson: Three War Statesmen", 1937's "General von Steuben", and 1941's "America in Arms". Recalled in 1941 as an advisor to Marshall, he was the oldest American to see military service during World War II, after which he retired to his Washington, DC home. General Palmer's decorations included two Distinguished Service Medals.
US Army General. The grandson of Senator John McAuley Palmer, he was the Army's principal theorist of the early 1900s, influencing Chiefs of Staff Wood, Pershing and Marshall. Palmer graduated from West Point in 1892, served in Cuba as Aide to General Samuel Sumner during the Spanish-American War, and served with the 15th Infantry during the China Relief Expedition. At the outset of World War I he prepared the Draft Act and the plan for forming the American Expeditionary Force. He was Operations Officer of the AEF and commanded the National Guard's 58th Brigade in combat at Verdun and Meuse-Argonne. Convinced that citizen soldiers were essential to maintaining a democracy, Palmer countered advocates of eliminating the National Guard by proposing a standing Army that could be expanded through activating National Guard and Reserve soldiers, and he succeeded in having his ideas codified in the National Defense Act of 1920. Palmer retired as a Brigadier General in 1923 and wrote on military topics, including 1930's "Washington, Lincoln, Wilson: Three War Statesmen", 1937's "General von Steuben", and 1941's "America in Arms". Recalled in 1941 as an advisor to Marshall, he was the oldest American to see military service during World War II, after which he retired to his Washington, DC home. General Palmer's decorations included two Distinguished Service Medals.
Bio by: Bill McKern
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