Douglass T. Greene
Major General Douglass Taft Greene (April 23, 1891 – June 16, 1964) was a United States Army officer during World War II. He served as commanding general of the 16th Armored Division and the 12th Armored Division during their training in the United States. Despite being an officer during both World War I and World War II, he never held a combat command, and was assigned to active duty positions within the continental United States during both wars.[1][2]
Douglass Taft Greene was born on April 23, 1891, at Fort Logan, Colorado, the son of Colonel Lewis Douglass Greene, USMA Class of 1878, and Lillian Taft Adams Greene.[1]
Greene was appointed to West Point from Illinois and entered the Military Academy on March 1, 1909. He graduated with the Class of 1913, was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. and was stationed at Fort Shafter, HI with Co. I, 2nd Infantry Division. On May 15, 1916, he was promoted to 1st Lt. and was assigned to the Schofield Barracks in Hawaii from August 17, 1916, to February 4, 1917. He was transferred to the 21st Infantry Division at Camp H. Beacom in Calexico, California, from March 16 to April 22, 1917. On May 15, 1917, he was promoted to captain of the infantry and became adjutant at Camp Beacom. From May 2 to August 15, 1917, he was an instructor at the 1st Officers Training Camp at the Presidio, San Francisco. On December 13, 1917, he was transferred to command of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Div. at Camp Taliaferro, San Diego, California. On June 17, 1918, he was promoted to Major in the National Army (USA) and became Adjutant of the 162nd Depot Brigade at Camp Pike, Ark. between June 19 and August 29, 1918. On September 1, 1918, he became an instructor in the Department of Tactics at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point until August 1922.[1][3]
He attended the Infantry School at Camp Benning, Georgia in 1922−23, then the Tank School at Fort Meade, Maryland 1923−24, the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas from 1928 to 1929. He became the commanding officer of the 17th Heavy Tank Battalion from 1923 to 1928. From 1929 to 1933, he was the executive officer of the Tank School at Fort Meade. From 1933 to 1934 he attended the Army War College in Washington, D.C.. From July 1934 to July 1940, he was Professor of Military Science & Tactics and Commandant of the ROTC Program at the Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1][3][4] While he was there he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on August 1, 1935.[5]
_at_West_Point_in_1913.png)