Lesley James McNair was a senior U.S. Army officer who served during World War I and World War II. He attained the rank of lieutenant general during his life, and received a posthumous promotion to general. He was killed by friendly fire while in France to act as commander of the fictitious First United States Army Group, part of the Operation Quicksilver deception.
About Lesley J. McNair in brief
Lesley James McNair was a senior U.S. Army officer who served during World War I and World War II. He attained the rank of lieutenant general during his life, and received a posthumous promotion to general. He was killed by friendly fire while in France to act as commander of the fictitious First United States Army Group, part of the Operation Quicksilver deception that masked the actual landing sites for the Invasion of Normandy. While at West Point, his fellow students nicknamed him “Whitey” for his ash blond hair; they continued to use it with him for the rest of his life. The description of McNair which accompanied the photo of him in West Point’s yearbook for his senior year refers to him as “Pedestrian Whitey” and details an incident when he had to walk from Newburgh to West Point after missing the last train while returning from visiting his fiancée in New York City. The yearbook also contains an anonymously authored poem, “‘Whitey’s’ Record Walk”, about the same incident. The top five or six graduates usually chose the high-ranking artillery branch; McNair’s high standing earned him a second place in the most prestigious class of 1904. Several of his classmates also went on to prominent careers in the Army, including George R. Allin Allin, Robert M. Danford, Henry Conger Pratt, Joseph Stilwell, and Charles J. Innis Pilwell. He died of a heart attack in 1945; his funeral was held in St.
Louis, Missouri, on June 14, 1945. He is buried in the family cemetery in Verndale, Minnesota, where he was a member of the South High School class of 1897. His siblings who lived to adulthood were: sister Nora, the wife of Harry Jessup; brother Murray Manz McNair ; and sister Irene, the wives of Harry R. Naftalin and Harry J. Jessup, among others. The family moved to Minneapolis so McNair and his siblings could complete high school; he was the second-born of their six children, and the first son of James and Clara McNair. The McNair family was active in the Minneapolis Kiwanis Club, a social club for young men and women. McNair served in World War One as a Field Artillery officer with a background in the Ordnance Department. He also served in the Pancho Villa Expedition, and was assistant chief of staff for training with the 1st Division, and then chief of artillery training on the staff at the American Expeditionary Forces headquarters. He served as a platoon leader with the 12th Battery of the Mountain Artillery at Fort Douglas, Utah. In 1904, McNair graduated from West Point and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. While there he passed a qualifying examination and was assigned to Sandy Hook, Utah, to serve as a field artillery officer. His outstanding performance resulted in his promotion to temporary brigadier general; at age 35, he wasthe Army’s youngest general officer.
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