Ewart G. Plank

Between 1 September 1939 and 4 February 1940, Plank attended the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He then commanded the Topographic Company at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he was promoted to major on 1 July 1940.[6] On 22 December 1940, he became the head of the National Defense Projects Branch in the Office of the Chief of Engineers in Washington, D.C. As such, he was responsible for the airbase construction program, which had recently been transferred to the Corps of Engineers from the Quartermaster Corps. Major Henry F. Hannis, a fellow member of the class of 1920 and a fellow graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, served as the liaison with the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC).[7][8][9]

"When we took over the air force construction from the Quartermaster, it was just simple chaos," Plank later noted.[10] The Quartermaster Corps handed over blueprints and designs for airbases, but not basic engineering data and criteria for the design of paved runways, and designs for specialized Air Corps facilities was often lacking.[11] Plank had to build a new organisation from scratch; it grew to a hundred people in six months. The effort was made possible through decentralization, with Plank leveraging the Corps of Engineers' division and district offices, who were given permission to approve contracts of up to $500,000 and $100,000 respectively.[10] The head of the Air Corps' Building and Grounds Division, Colonel Frank M. Kennedy, had a policy of accepting tracts of land donated by local authorities for airbase construction. "How old do you have to be," Plank asked rhetorically, "to know what kind of land you get under those circumstances?"[12]

Planned increases in the size of the size of the Air Corps expanded the program. A goal was announced of expanding the Air Corps to 84 groups, fed by a training program that would turn out 30,000 pilots a year. This necessitated the construction of two dozen new installations.[13] By November 1941 the airbase construction program had grown to $708 million and was 66 percent complete, and airmen were occupying new facilities at 96 stations.[14] On 16 December, all military construction, not just airbases, was assigned to the Corps of Engineers.[15] The former Quartermaster Construction Division was merged with the groups engaged in construction at the Corps of Engineers. Plank was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Army of the United States (AUS) on 11 December 1941,[16] and became the head of Air Corps Projects Section, and now reported to Colonel Leslie Groves.[7][17] That same day saw the German declaration of war against the United States, just four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which brought the United States into World War II.

On 9 May 1942, Plank became the deputy chief of staff of the new European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) Services of Supply, under the command of Major General John C. H. Lee. Plank was promoted to colonel (AUS) on 1 July 1942,[16] and on 20 August he became chief of staff of the Eastern Base Section in the UK, which, due to its relative flatness and proximity to Germany, was chiefly involved in the construction and support of airbases. He succeeded Colonel Cecil R. Moore as its commander on 16 September.[7][18] His permanent (Regular Army) rank of major was upgraded to lieutenant colonel on 2 July 1943.[16]

Experience in Italy demonstrated the value of a logistical agency that worked closely with the army it was supporting, so in December 1943 an Advance Section (ADSEC) was organized under Plank's command; it was officially activated on 7 February 1944. In the initial stages of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy, ADSEC would be attached to the First Army, and would later take over the operation of base areas, supply dumps and communications from the First Army as it moved forward.[19] Plank was promoted to brigadier general (AUS) on 24 February 1944,[20][16] and was awarded the Legion of Merit for his services as commander of the Eastern Base Section.[21]

As the commander of ADSEC, Plank supported the operations of the First Army and then the 12th Army Group. ADSEC unloaded ships,[22] built fuel pipelines,[23] reconstructed railways,[24] repaired bridges,[25] and rehabilitated ports.[26] It established supply dumps and depots.[22] During the period of the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine, it ran the Red Ball Express.[27] When the Germans attacked in the Ardennes Offensive, ADSEC removed supplies from dumps and depots that were threatened, and supported the Third Army's counter-offensive.[28] By this time, ADSEC was supporting over a million soldiers.[29] "I do not care who is right or who is wrong," Plank told his troops, "the point is that we have to satisfy our customers and do so in a way which pleases them."[30]

For his service as commander of ADSEC, Plank was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and two Bronze Star Medals.[7][21] He also received foreign awards, including the Cross of Merit from Poland, Croix de Guerre from France and the Distinguished Service Medal from Greece. He was made a Commander of the Order of Leopold II by Belgium, a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the UK, and a chevalier of the Officer of the Legion of Honor by France.[7][31]