Major General James A. Ulio: How the Adjutant General of the U.S. Army Enabled Allied Victory

By Alan E. Mesches

The first biography of the man who served as the U.S. Army’s chief administrative officer from 1942 to 1946 and helped the Allies win World War II.

Major General James A. Ulio helped win World War II, though his war was fought from the desk. As adjutant-general throughout the war years, many American families would have recognized his name from one of nearly 900,000 telegrams he signed—all of which began with the words: “. . . regret to inform you . . .” However, his role was far wider than overseeing these sad communications.

Ulio faced the task of building an Army large enough to fight wars in Europe, North Africa and the Pacific. Through his efforts, the Army increased in size from around 200,000 soldiers to eight million—in less than five years. He advocated and navigated around lowering the draft age to eighteen. He led and oversaw training efforts that quickly and efficiently prepared soldiers. The general correctly projected that those methods would be a positive outcome of the war. His team identified the appropriate allocation for incoming troops. In order to field sufficient troops to ensure an Allied victory, Ulio had to address and challenge commonly held beliefs on race and gender. It was his order in 1944 that ended segregation on military transportation and in recreational facilities on Army posts.

Through radio addresses, newspaper interviews, and public appearances, Ulio became the face of the Army during the war. He served as troop morale booster, advocate, and cheerleader for the war effort. Finally, he led demobilization planning to bring home millions of soldiers after the war, transitioning them back into civilian life.

The son of an immigrant career soldier, General Ulio grew up on Army posts and had an eleventh-grade education. A West Point alternate, Ulio enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army in 1900. In 1904, he earned his commission as a lieutenant, and served in France during World War I. Without a college degree, he graduated from the Army's Command and Staff School and the Army War College and five colleges would eventually award him honorary doctorates. Ulio’s military career spanned 45 years and he served as military aide to two presidents. This biography sets Ulio’s achievements in context and explores the magnitude of his part in facilitating an Allied victory World War II.

Praise for Major General James A. Ulio

“Mesches’ research overwhelmingly demonstrates that the general was a transformational leader, that he significantly reinterpreted and expanded the roles and responsibilities of the Army’s Adjutant General Corps, and in many ways, was a secret weapon in the success of the Army during World War II as well as today.” —Military Review

• Language: English
• Publisher: Casemate Publishers
• Release date: Aug 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781612008271

Book preview

MAJOR GENERAL JAMES A. ULIO

MAJOR GENERAL JAMES A. ULIO

How the Adjutant General of the U.S. Army Enabled Allied Victory

ALAN E. MESCHES

Philadelphia & Oxford

Published in the United States of America and Great Britain in 2020 by

CASEMATE PUBLISHERS

1950 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083, USA

and

The Old Music Hall, 106–108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JE, UK

Copyright 2020 © Alan E. Mesches

Hardcover Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-826-4

Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-827-1

Kindle Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-827-1

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

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Front cover image: National Archives P3487

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Preface

1Ulio’s Early Years

2Ulio’s Army Service from World War I to World War II

3Adjutant General

4The Telegram

5V-Mail

6Juggling the Generals

7Facing up to Prejudice in the Army

8Women in the Army

9On the Home Front

10 Completion of a Career

Epilogue: Today’s Adjutant General

Selected Bibliography

Endnotes

Dedication

To my wife of nearly 47 years, Jane L. Mesches. I appreciate her love and friendship. I am grateful that she reviewed my manuscript with the well-trained eye of a teacher.

In memory of Robert L. Mesches, my father who served in World War II. His memories of fellow soldiers inspired this book.

In memory of Dr. Roy C. Kauffmann, professor of English at Grove City College and World War II Purple Heart recipient. When I struggled with his English 101 class, he suggested that I work on the student newspaper. That suggestion changed my life.

Acknowledgments

I appreciate the following for providing information, documents, photos, editing assistance, and encouragement:

Paul Mesches, my brother, who provided editorial support and was the first person to suggest this biography.

Frankie Pittman, my sister-in-law and her husband Mack, for letting me use their North Carolina mountain home as I worked on this project.

Jeannette Layton Brantley (1928–2019) for sharing memories of her brother, Frank W. Layton, who suffered serious wounds while serving in Italy.

Allen Mesch, a friend, fellow Western New Yorker, and I can now say fellow author, for suggesting that I write a book.

Michelle Cunningham for providing details of General Ulio’s high school years from the archives of the Miles City, Montana public library.

Lt. Col. Mary A. Ricks, William M. Costello, and Lt. Col. Jason D. Billington of the U.S. Army for arranging interviews with Brig. Gen. Robert W. Bennett and retired Brig. Gen. James I. Iacocca.

Maj. Gen. James Adkins, retired Maryland Adjutant General, for sharing correspondence and photos of his wife’s uncle, Rolland J. Luce, Jr.

Eileen Elizabeth Keating, University Records Manager and Assistant Archivist at Cornell University, for providing background information about Stephanie Czech Rader.

Grover and Richard Czech, cousins of Stephanie Czech Rader, for providing personal insight into the life of Mrs. Rader.

Ken Elder, friend, neighbor and business partner of Stephanie Czech Rader, for sharing stories about Mrs. Rader.

Tracey Yarbro of the American Contract Bridge League for providing biographical material relating to the founder of War Orphans Scholarship, Inc.

Monica Little, a distant relative of General Ulio, for assisting me with the history of the general’s family.

Diana O. Russell, a retired U.S Army Chief Warrant Officer, who talked to me about her experience in the Women’s Army Corps.

Barbara A. Kievit-Mason, University Archivist at the Newton Gresham Library at Sam Houston State University, for providing correspondence and a copy of General Ulio’s commencement speech at the college.

Jill Borin, University Archivist at Widener University (formerly Pennsylvania Military College), for providing materials relating to General Ulio’s commencement speech and his service on the university’s board.

Frank Dennis, University Archivist at St Bonaventure University for aiding me with copies of correspondence and the general’s commencement speech.

Maureen Schlagen and Monica Weddle for helping develop an accurate story of their grandfather who died from enemy fire a few months before the war in Europe ended.

Paul Hobby for taking time talk to me about his grandmother, Oveta Culp Hobby, first director of the Women’s Army Corps.

Sharon Whaley Harville for sharing the story of the father she never met with interviews and copies of correspondence.

Frisco (TX) Public Library for obtaining books for my research.

Inforum, Fargo (ND), staff for providing copies of stories about General Ulio that appeared in their paper.

The staffs of the Presidential Libraries of Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower for taking time to answer my questions.

The National Archives Records Administration (NARA) for providing documents and photos.

Hilary Walczak, Archivist, and Melissa MacLeod, Senior Director of Alumni and College Relations, at Grove City College (PA), for information about the college during World War II.

Many thanks to Alison Boyd for guiding me through the editing process. Her patience and suggestions were greatly appreciated.

In memory of staff members of Grove City College’s newspaper, The Collegian, from December 1941–September 1946. Their stories highlighted more than 400 former Grove College students who served in World War II.

Preface

For thousands of World War II Army and Army Air Force families, the words The Secretary of War regrets… would change their lives forever. To keep messages succinct, Major General James Alexander Ulio simply signed those telegrams Ulio, the Adjutant General. Behind those telegrams stood a soldier who wore the single stripe of an Army private in 1900.

An Army winning a war through administration might be difficult to believe. Historians studying wars look at battles and the generals who led the soldiers. This book does not minimize those who faced enemy fire in combat. This book focuses on the behind-the-scenes efforts that resulted in victory in World War II. Before entering the fight, the Army needed soldiers. Someone had to find them, determine their skills, assign them to the right positions, train them, and make sure the soldiers and their families were paid. Incoming soldiers just did not grab a rifle and head for the front lines.

In World War I, the Army had four million soldiers. After the war, the size of the Army dropped to 400,000. By the late 1930s, the Army was less than half that size. Facing a global conflict with Germany and Italy in Europe and North Africa, along with Japan in the Pacific, the nation had to quickly gear up for war. In 1940, Congress set the minimum age for draftees at 21. When the United States entered the war on December 8, 1941, the Army needed a significant build-up. By 1945, the Army had increased to more than eight million soldiers. Establishing processes and procedures to meet the needs of the war fell to the leadership of Major General James Alexander Ulio. The one-time private, with more than 40 years of Army experience, took command of the administrative side of the war. General Ulio had a multi-faceted task. He pushed for lowering the draft age to 18. His team developed manuals and systems to train not only the new young soldiers but also the instructors. Visual aids became part of the training system. Battlefield commanders needed soldiers. When some of those men lost their lives, suffered wounds, or were missing, more trained troops had to replace them. Families needed to know when their soldier lost his life, suffered wounds, or was missing. At different times, Ulio served as the face of the Army when he encouraged support for the war effort and explained the need for more soldiers. Depending on the situation, Ulio served as cheerleader or scold. Nearly 900,000 times, one man had to send the telegram no family ever wanted. General Ulio held that responsibility.

American society experienced changes during the war years. Issues relating to women, sexuality and African Americans came to the forefront. During the early stages of the war, women came into the service. Many women brought technical and clerical skills to the Army. Often, men needed training as telephone operators, typists, or clerks, while women had trained for those jobs in the civilian economy. General Ulio’s team identified more than 200 Army assignments that women could undertake. With women taking those tasks, men moved to the front lines. Women in the Army was but one societal change. The Army in 1939 still attempted to deny gay men the chance to serve their country, using a range of measures to try to identify them during enlistment. Ulio’s attempts to increase the size of the Army therefore came up against this institutional prejudice.

African Americans faced historic institutional racism. African American soldiers were assigned to work details such as road building. They did not receive opportunities for other assignments. Often, they did not receive training on the use of weapons. By the war’s end, African Americans made up just over 10 percent of the Army’s soldiers. That equaled the percentage of African Americans in the general population. African Americans served with a balloon unit on the beaches of Omaha and Utah on D-Day. They fought with distinction in Italy. The Tuskegee Airmen provided fighter aircraft escort. An all-African American tank unit successfully served in the Third Army under Gen. George S. Patton. However these achievements were against the background of a segregated army. A memo from General Ulio made a significant change in discriminatory segregationist practices. That directive did not go over well in southern states, but the Army held its position.

When POWs from Germany and Japan came to the U.S., Ulio reminded the camp leaders to follow the Geneva Convention rules for treating prisoners. He did that in spite of the fact that neither Japan nor Germany followed the Geneva Convention when dealing with Americans held as POWs. Ulio worked with business and agriculture to utilize POWs to fill jobs on farms and factories. The labor shortages resulted from the number of young men in the Army. POWs earned money when they worked on farms, in factories, and on community projects. All POWs received food, housing, and medical care. The work of the German and Japanese prisoners helped farmers harvest crops, communities build public works projects, and aided in factory work.

After helping to build the force for a war fought around the globe, the general had to help bring the troops home. Ulio set up training programs to aid returning soldiers as they returned to civilian life. He publicly advocated hiring veterans. When Ulio retired from the Army, he worked for a grocery chain. One of his responsibilities was to help the chain get returning veterans back to work. He also served on a board of an organization that provided scholarships to college and trade schools for young men and women who had a parent killed during the war.

The general did not have a typical senior officer’s background. He was a West Point alternate. He did not get in. He never went to college. He graduated from a small school in Montana that did not offer a fourth year of high school. He enlisted in the Army. After rising to battalion sergeant major in four years, Ulio took a competitive exam to earn a commission as a second lieutenant. Part of a military family, his father, an immigrant, served during the Civil War and had a 40-year career in the Army. His maternal grandfather spent 10 years in the Army. An uncle, his mother’s brother-in-law, was an Army brigadier general. Ulio received five honorary doctorate degrees, graduated from the Army’s War College, and served as a military aide to two U.S. Presidents. A decorated veteran of World War I, he also had three tours of duty in the Pacific.

***

Major General James A. Ulio began as a father-son project. Father-son projects usually involve making or fixing things. My father, Robert L. Mesches, could make projects out of wood. He built shelving for the basement and bookshelves for the bedroom. Unfortunately, I never acquired that skill. My dad was 92 and I was 66 when we finally found a father-son project. Instead of wood, our project used words relating to World War II. Dad served in the United States Army Signal Corps during World War II. He reached the rank of sergeant. He held assignments in England and served as part of the occupation force in Tokyo. He returned home after 46 months of Army duty. My father’s memories of fellow soldiers who served in World War II inspired this book. As Dad and I tracked down the story of a long-forgotten high school classmate of his, I began finding other human-interest stories. My wife shared her father’s story. An artillery shell wounded her father while he fought in Italy. A memorial ad in a newspaper presented a story of a daughter longing for her still-missing father, a bomber pilot. She never met him. A 101-year-old retired African American sergeant who served in the segregated Army provided another perspective. Army records, manuals, unit histories, interviews with family members, college archives, and newspaper stories from the 1940s offered new stories and information. Before my father died in 2016, I shared my new findings with him. He asked me what I was going to do with all that stuff. I told him that I was writing a book. His response, oh. That was not exactly what I was expecting to hear, but Bob Mesches was never a very effusive man. As I continued my research, the name Ulio kept popping up. Yes, mechanized warfare and airplanes played a significant role in winning the war. Hollywood never made a movie called Ulio. That general never wrote his memoirs. Nor did anyone else write his story. He did not donate his papers to a library. Yet, the administrative side of the Army played a key role in the U.S. victory in World War II.

CHAPTER 1

Ulio’s Early Years

Named first alternate for appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, James. A Ulio did not get the coveted slot. One of those selected, George V. Strong, went on to a 44-year career in the Army. He and Ulio were lieutenant colonels when they served together in the IV Corps during World War I. Strong earned his first star one year ahead of Ulio. In 1940, he became a major general, two years before Ulio. Strong retired in 1944. Although he never attended college, General Ulio graduated from the Army’s Command Staff and War College training programs. Prior to the end of World War II, he received five honorary college doctorate degrees. He also served as trustee of one of those colleges.

While Strong edged out Ulio for the West Point slot, they both retired as twostar generals. However, Strong’s career combined operational and staff roles, while Ulio made his mark as a staff officer. Between 1935 and 1942, Strong held three command assignments. From 1935 to 1937, he commanded the 11th Infantry Regiment. During a six-month period that began in December 1940, Strong served as Commanding General of VII Corps Area. He moved to Commanding General VIII Corps in May 1941. The general held that post through April 1942, before moving to his final active duty position in May 1942 when he became Assistant Chief for Intelligence. Due to his telegrams and many speeches, Ulio became the better known of the two.

Throughout his nearly 46 years in the United States Army, Maj. Gen. James Alexander Ulio lived by this creed, "My intense interest in my work, regardless of the rank, and the desire to give a little more than was expected of me, and in the best way I knew how, was my creed." Those words carried the first-born son of an immigrant career soldier from the enlisted ranks through major general.

Ulio’s military path mirrored his father’s early career. Ulio’s grandfather, Alexander Graham, and his family immigrated to the United States from Dublin, Ireland. Graham’s son James was 14 when the family arrived in New York. In mid-19th-century America, there was an anti-immigration effort led by a group calling themselves Know Nothings, and the young James would have faced anti-Irish sentiment, including reading employment advertisements that stated No Irish Need Apply. In response to these rising anti-immigration political attitudes, the young man changed his name to Ulio. The name change would affect the family nearly 90 years later when, following Italy’s surrender in World War II, Army leaders suggested sending General Ulio to Italy as a morale booster. In the end, they learned that the general’s family came from Ireland, not Italy. As a result, the Army dropped that idea.¹

The newly renamed James Ulio senior joined the United States Army as a private at age 18, on May 29, 1855. He first served with Company I of the Ninth U.S. Infantry. He earned promotions to sergeant. He eventually rose to the rank of first sergeant on November 9, 1860. Two years later, he moved up the ranks as an officer. Seven years after enlisting, Ulio earned a commission as a second lieutenant. During the Civil War, Lieutenant Ulio served in California with Company A of the 6th Infantry Regiment. Promoted to first lieutenant in 1863, he held the adjutant general’s post with the Sixth California Infantry Regiment. In 1864, Ulio earned a promotion to captain. He then earned a promotion to brevetted major. Brevetted described a rank honoring outstanding performance resulting in a promotion to higher rank without a pay increase. Simply put, the Army paid him a captain’s salary while giving him the responsibility of a major. He took command of Company K of the Sixth California Infantry Regiment. His company guarded the Presidio.² Although there were no Civil War battles fought in California, the state’s gold mines made it a potential target. The Sixth did provide protection for Northern California during skirmishes with Indian tribes. Lieutenant Ulio’s reports as the Sixth Infantry Regiment’s Adjutant General provided details of Indian battles during 1864, according to the Regiment’s history. Much of their work included protecting California ranchers. Captain Thomas Buckley and Lieutenant Ulio signed the reports with the words very respectfully, your obedient servant. The unit also protected people and livestock crossing mountain trails. In addition, K Company provided a detachment to guard Pacific Mail steamships. Prior to the Civil War, the elder Ulio served at Fort Colville, about 70 miles from Spokane, Washington. At the end of the Civil War, he briefly left the Army. In 1866, he returned to the Army as a second lieutenant. Ulio held assignments at Fort Spokane and Fort Sherman, Idaho, near Coeur d’Alene. He fought in the Nez Perce conflict. Members of an American Indian tribe, the Nez Perce, did not want to give up their land and move to a reservation in Idaho. The tribe finally gave up after fighting the Army and moved to the reservation in 1877.³ Ulio held an assignment at Fort Walla Walla in the early 1880s.

While at Fort Walla Walla, 1st Lt. Ulio met Caroline Kohlhauf. Her father, William F. Kohlhauf, an immigrant from Bavaria, served in the United States Army for 10 years, attaining the rank of sergeant. At 28, he came to the Washington Territory (Washington became a state in 1889). After leaving the Army, Mr. Kohlhauf continued a life of public service. He was a member of Walla Walla’s city council and after moving to Spokane served on that city’s council. Mr. Kohlhauf claimed to have built Walla Walla’s first home with doors and windows. In an area which at that time was mainly inhabited by Native Americans, the local newspaper referred to his daughter, Caroline, as the first white girl born in Walla Walla.⁴

The couple married on September 6, 1881 in Walla Walla, Washington. Ulio senior was 45, his bride 24 years younger. The newly married Ulios remained in Walla Walla.

Both sides of the new Ulio family had strong Army ties; in addition to her father’s service, Caroline’s sister, Anna, was married to Harry E. Wilkins, a graduate of the 1887 class of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Wilkins rose through the ranks of the Army to brigadier general. During the Spanish–American War, Wilkins served as an aide to Gen. John C. Baker. He held infantry and quartermaster corps assignments. He was part of the staff of Gen. John J. Pershing, Allied Expeditionary Force commander during World War I. The general retired after the war. He died about a year before his nephew reached the rank of major general. The army connections would continue, with Ulio’s niece Lois, daughter of his sister Anna, marrying Army Lt. Col. David Wilson.

James A. Ulio was born in the Washington territory on June 29, 1882 while his father was serving at Fort Walla Walla. The baby’s middle name honored Lieutenant Ulio’s father, Alexander Graham. Also growing up at Fort Walla Walla was his friend, future General Jonathan Wainwright. Wainwright, later known for his heroism at Corregidor during World War II, was a year younger than Ulio. He was a POW of the Japanese in the Philippine Islands. Fort Walla Walla later became a Veterans Administration facility with the hospital named after Wainwright.

Ultimately, the senior Ulio reached the rank of captain in 1885 when his son was three. The Ulios relocated to Montana where Captain Ulio began serving his final tour of duty at Fort Keogh, Montana, during the 1890s. His son graduated from Custer County High School in 1899. The school did not offer classes beyond the eleventh grade. The high school had a few classrooms in the Washington School in Miles City. That school combined both elementary and high school students. At one point, students from Fort Keogh attended school there. In 1898, Ulio and his sister Anna came to the Washington School. Students from the fort, known as Keogh Kids students, boarded a wagon pulled by mules and forded a river every day, except when the water was too high.⁵ The younger Ulio was one of four graduates that year. The local paper covered the event, held at a church, as the school was too small to accommodate the ceremony. They reported, James Ulio recited in a finished manner selections from Quo Vadis.⁶ The direct translation of Quo Vadis from Latin to English means where are you marching—a telling phrase for a future career soldier.

Ulio senior retired from the Army at the mandatory age of 60 in 1896.⁷ Between them, the father and son Ulio duo served under 20 of the nation’s first 33 presidents, ranging from President Franklin Pierce to President Harry S. Truman between 1856 and 1946. An Ulio served in the Army for nearly 86 years.

Five years after retiring, Captain Ulio began a 10-year stint as commandant of the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at North Dakota Agricultural College (NDAC) in Fargo. Today, that school is North Dakota State University. After his appointment by Secretary of War Elihu Root, Ulio was the first commandant of cadets at NDAC, where he also served as professor of military science and tactics.⁸ The Hope Pioneer (ND) covered the captain’s appointment and predicted he would be a valuable acquisition to the faculty.⁹ Ulio stepped down from that assignment in 1911 with the rank of major.¹⁰ Major Ulio developed a curriculum for the ROTC unit. The ROTC unit eventually became the Bison Battalion.¹¹ After announcing that he would retire with plans to move to the west coast, The Grand Forks Herald said the major was one of the best known members of the A. C. (Agriculture College) faculty. The paper added, "All the residents in the city who