Basically OT- fastest promotion?

Between casualties and the rapid expansion from a small peace time establishment to a massive wartime force in about three years, there were some U.S. Army Air Corps gents who went from 2nd Lt. to Lt. Colonel in about 27 months. Phil Cochran and Gabby Gabreski come to mind, and I think maybe Carson.

Bill Shuey

Jimmy Doolittle?

Doolittle was kind of a special case- he didn't really start out on the same playing field as the others. Gabreski and the guys Bill mentioned were more in line with what I was getting at. Regular joes that demonstrated aptitude in line with what a wartime force demanded and were put in positions of greater and greater responsibility.

I was thinking more along the likes of Audie Murphy. He started as a private and ended up as what, a captain?

Happy Veterans' Day, guys.

-- John The history of things that didn't happen has never been written. . - - - Henry Kissinger

Are there cases in any war of a private being fast tracked all the way to general? PS Thanks to all the Vets on your day.

John B. England was was 22 at the end of WW-II (born Jan 1923) and he was a full Colonel.

-- -- -- -- -- "We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." George Orwell

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Probably dozens of these cases in the American Civil War.

I believe Nathan Bedford Forest originally enlisted as a private, before making it all the way to Lt. Gen, CSA.

I am sure there were cases in the Union Army as well.

My father, Russell Murray, made Lt. Col. in Patton's Third Army as an infantry battalion commander by his 25th birthday. I asked him how he advanced so quickly. He said that as so many new stateside units were formed so quickly during the war , anyone with organizational skills advanced. (My dad was the most organized man I've ever met). He also said setting up new units was a real pain so not many volunteered to create them. Everytime they asked for volunteers to start a new unit, he stepped up. Being a 1939 Citadel grad didn't hurt either.

Staying alive was probably the major determinant. Many of his battalion staff, younger than he but all equally talented, were killed or severely wounded. (Dad turned down 2 Purple Hearts).

At the end of the war in Europe (age 27), he was offered Full Bird if he would remain in Germany with the Occupation troops for an additional six months. He had never seen my older brother who was born after he left for Europe, so he declined. The truly sad part is the SOB longshoremen went on strike on the East coast just as he was to return and he got stuck in Europe an extra 3-4 months anyway.

He was recalled to active duty in 1948 for 359 days (so the Army could claim he didn't qualify for an extra year of service - cute, the way we treat our military,huh?) and again for Korea.

Art

The record belongs to Galusha Pennypacker of Pennsylvania. Enlisted at