WHEELER TO TAKE OVER I-B
Roundup Staff Article Lt. Gen. Raymond A. Wheeler, veteran of more than three years' service in the Far East and three times awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, will shortly assume command of the India-Burma Theater when Lt. Gen. Dan I. Sultan leaves for Washington, D.C. for an important undisclosed assignment in the United States. An I-B Headquarters news release announced that Wheeler, Deputy Supreme Commander and Principal Administrative Officer of South East Asia Command, will continue to hold his SEAC assignments, in addition to his new command.
Handsome, 59-year-old Wheeler, native of Peoria, Ill., commanded SOS in the formative days of the CBI Theater, from March, 1942, to November, 1943, when he became Principal Administrative Officer of the then newly-formed South East Asia Command. DEPUTY SUPREMO Wheeler was appointed Deputy Supreme Commander under Supremo Lord Louis Mountbatten a year later, in November, 1944, when Lt. Gen. A. C. Wedemeyer was selected to command the new China Theater which resulted from the split of the CBI Theater. The new I-B Theater commander was graduated from West Point in 1911 with a commission in the Corps of Engineers. As regimental commander of the 4th Engineers in France during World War I with the temporary rank of colonel, Wheeler was awarded his first DSM for his work in the Aisne-Marne, St. Mihel and Meuse-Argonne offensives. After the war, he was an instructor at Fort Benning's Infantry School from April, 1920, until July, 1922. Then came a four year tour as Assistant Engineer Commissioner of the District of Columbia, followed by attendance at the Command and General Staff School. In June, 1927, as a major, Wheeler became assistant engineer of maintenance for the Panama Canal. DISTRICT ENGINEER From April, 1930, until August, 1936 he served as district engineer at Wilmington, N.C., and later at Rock Island, Ill. After graduation from the Army War College in 1937, he became resident member of the Board of Engineers, Washington, D.C. In September, 1941, he was promoted to brigadier general and assigned to the office of the Chief of Staff in Washington. He became acting Assistant Chief of Staff, Supply Division, G-4, on the General Staff. Late in 1941, he was assigned to the Army Group, Washington, D.C., and went overseas with a military mission charged with developing a supply line to Russia through the Persian Gulf. He was subsequently promoted to major general and assigned as Commanding General, SOS, in CBI. After his transfer to SEAC, Wheeler received his first Oak Leaf Cluster to the DSM for his organization, direction and supervision of supply and maintenance activities in CBI. He was promoted to lieutenant general, Feb. 21, 1944. Wheeler was recently awarded the second Oak Leaf Cluster to the DSM for his services as Deputy Commander, SEAC. |
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ANCHOR MAN (Or Low Man on a Totem Pole) Stupendous! Colossal the tonnage is great. So shout the Generals of Five-Star rank. And so these Generals with all the stars Hand out to the Officers hundreds of Bars The Pfc. Radio Operator is positively told "My God! Man don't you malum the T/O is closed Then the Techs in Operations take up this wild chant More tonnage, more tonnage they scream and they rant. But the Pfc. Radio Operator is still politely told "My God man didn't I tell you the T/O is closed." A C. Q. Sergeant with wild wicked glee, From day until night hunts this poor Pfc. "More tonnage, more tonnage, you're on flight don't you see! If you don't get on the ball, I'll lose my stripes, Holy Gee! To the Area Shuttle, the Pfc. madly runs A proud, hearty Cpl. drives this two-and-a-half ton And so to himself this Pfc. thinks Somewhere, somehow, this T/O stinks. After a weary flight "well done." An aproned Staff pours a measly shot of rum. For his shot he doesn't have to fly the Hump All day long just sits on his rump. Then on the Bulletin Board proudly displayed From the General a note so you won't be dismayed. "You're Colossal, Terrific, the tonnage is great! But as for a Rating, T/S, you're too late!" - PFC. ARTHUR V. SMITH, R/O 1330 AF B.U. Sq. B. APO 466 |
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