#4-625
To General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower
December 26, 1944 Radio Washington, D.C.
Top Secret
Personal for Eisenhower from Marshall.
We are searching the world for a replacement for General Porter as G-3,1 who not only can handle the routine G-3 business but can take the lead for us in the matter of selling both to Congress and to various groups the necessity for compulsory military training as well as protect us from the inevitable assaults on personnel which will follow the cessation of hostilities in the European Theater, not that there is any immediate indication of a cessation at this holiday season. Among the men being considered is Arthur Wilson, now your supply man for Devers' group, whose assistant is Brigadier General Ralph Immell, former Wisconsin National Guardsman. Wilson is particularly able and skillful in dealing with Congress and outside organizations and of course knows the War Department staff like a book, having been shot at from most of its compartments. There are a number of individuals being considered but I should like to get your preliminary reaction to the possible release of Wilson.2
Document Copy Text Source: George C. Marshall Papers, Pentagon Office Collection, Selected Materials, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia.
Document Format: Typed radio message.
1. Porter was soon to command an Infantry division in the European theater; see note 7, Marshall to Eisenhower, December 22, 1944, Papers of George Catlett Marshall, #4-620 [4: 708].
2. Major General Arthur R. Wilson had been in G-4 between 1938 and 1942; he commanded supply organizations in North Africa and Italy in 1943 and 1944 before being assigned to logistical support of Devers's Seventh Army in France. There is no reply from Eisenhower's headquarters in the Marshall papers. On December 26, Marshall asked Arnold if Major General Id wal H. Edwards, who had served as head of G-3 for a year (1942–43) prior to Porter's term, should go back to G-3. (Marshall Memorandum for General Arnold, December 26, 1944, GCMRL/G. C. Marshall Papers [Pentagon Office, Selected].) At this time, Edwards, as Ira Eaker's deputy, was in actual practice running the headquarters of Army Air Forces, Mediterranean Theater of Operations. Edwards officially became assistant chief of staff, G-3, on February 14, 1945.
Recommended Citation: The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, ed. Larry I. Bland and Sharon Ritenour Stevens (Lexington, Va.: The George C. Marshall Foundation, 1981– ). Electronic version based on The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vol. 4, “Aggressive and Determined Leadership,” June 1, 1943–December 31, 1944 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), pp. 712–713.