James W. McAndrew

James William McAndrew was born in Hawley, Pennsylvania, on June 29, 1862, the son of John Richard and Eliza (Kane) McAndrew.[1] John McAndrew was employed in the Hawley office of the Pennsylvania Coal Company.[1] McAndrew attended the schools of Hawley, and then St. Francis Xavier College in New York City.[1] Appointed to the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, in 1884, he graduated 12th in his class in June 1888 and was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry.[1] Among his classmates there were several men who would, like McAndrew himself, eventually attain the rank of general officer, such as Peyton C. March, William M. Morrow, William Robert Dashiell, Robert Lee Howze, Peter Charles Harris, Eli Alva Helmick, Henry Jervey Jr., William Voorhees Judson, John Louis Hayden, Edward Anderson, William H. Hart, Charles Aloysius Hedekin and William S. Peirce.

Assigned to the 21st Infantry Regiment, McAndrew served initially in the western United States, and took part in the Ghost Dance War against the Sioux in 1890–1891.[1] He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1894, and assigned to the 3rd Infantry.[1] McAndrew served in Cuba during the Spanish–American War, and took part in the Battle of El Caney and the Siege of Santiago.[1] In 1899, McAndrew was promoted to captain, and he served in the Philippines during the Philippine–American War.[1] From 1905 to 1906, he served with the 3rd Infantry in Skagway, Alaska.[1]

Andrews was an instructor at the Army Service Schools until 1909.[1] He was an honor graduate of his Army School of the Line class in 1910, and graduated from the Command and General Staff College in 1911, after which he remained on the faculty and was promoted to major.[2] In 1913 he graduated from the Army War College, after which he served on the Army staff at the War Department.[2] He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1916, and was appointed as commandant of the Army Service Schools.[1]

From left to right: Major General Francis J. Kernan, Major General James W. McAndrew, General John J. Pershing, Major General James Harbord and Brigadier General Johnson Hagood in Tours, France, July 1918.

Major General James W. McAndrew (center) with Secretary of War Newton D. Baker (right), Major General Andre W. Brewster (left) and a group of German prisoners in September 1918.

Shortly after the American entry into World War I in April 1917, McAndrew was promoted to colonel and assigned as commander of the 18th Infantry.[1] He led his regiment to France, and commanded it until he was promoted to temporary brigadier general in August 1917 and appointed to command 2nd Brigade, 1st Division.[1] He was then assigned as commandant of the American Expeditionary Forces Staff College in Langres, where in addition to the staff college, he organized the AEF School of the Line, Officer Candidate School, Infantry School, and Tank School in order to train soldiers for their combat duties.[3]

General John J. Pershing (center) and members of his staff. Stood to Pershing's right is his chief of staff, Major General James W. McAndrew.

In May 1918, AEF commander John J. Pershing named McAndrew to succeed James Harbord as AEF chief of staff.[4] He was promoted to temporary major general while in this post, and served until June 1919.[4] McAndrew was praised for the leadership and management style he brought to the AEF staff, including speeding up the planning process and preparation of operations orders by delegating as much authority as possible, including allowing senior staff officers to issue directives in Pershing's name when circumstances required it.[4] Though his initiatives enabled the AEF staff to function more efficiently, they were also criticized for creating resentment between the AEF staff and subordinate army and corps commanders, who believed that their authority was being diminished.[4]

McAndrew was promoted to permanent brigadier general in November 1918.[5] After serving with the post-war Army of Occupation in Germany, McAndrew returned to the United States in 1919 to become commandant of the Army War College.[1] He was promoted to permanent major general in 1921.[1]

McAndrew's exertions during World War I aggravated a heart condition, and he was often in ill health beginning in 1920.[1] He died at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., on April 30, 1922.[1] His wife was with him at his death, as were two of his sisters, longtime friend Colonel James B. Gowen, and General Pershing.[1] He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 3 Grave 2519.[6]

McAndrew's siblings included: Richard, who was ordained as a priest in 1877 and served for many years in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania;[7] Patrick, a career Army surgeon who attained the rank of colonel;[7] Jane, the wife of Scranton, Pennsylvania, merchant M. J. Healey;[7] Mary, a school teacher; Harriet, an Ursuline nun who lived and worked in Youngstown, Ohio;[7] Eliza, the wife of locomotive construction superintendent Thomas F. Howley of Dunmore, Pennsylvania;[7] and Kathryn, the wife of Erie Railroad agent John Creighton, of Caldwell, New Jersey.[7]

On November 26, 1889, McAndrew married Nellie Elizabeth Roche of Scranton.[1] They were the parents of a daughter, Mary Aloysiz McAndrew, who died in 1908.[1]

For his World War I service, McAndrew was a recipient of the Army Distinguished Service Medal,[5] Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (Great Britain),[5] Croix de Guerre with two Palms[8] and Officer of the Legion of Honor (France),[5] Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown (Belgium),[5] Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus[5] and Order of the Crown of Italy (Italy),[8] Order of Prince Danilo I (Montenegro),[8] and Medal of La Solidaridad (Panama).[5]

In 1918, McAndrew received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Fordham University.[8]

• Cooke, James J. (1977). Pershing And His Generals. Westport, CT: Praeger. ISBN 978-0-275-95363-8.
• Davis, Henry Blaine Jr. (1998). Generals in Khaki. Raleigh, NC: Pentland Press. ISBN 978-1-57197-088-6.
• Lengel, Edward G. (2014-03-04). A Companion to the Meuse-Argonne Campaign. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4443-5094-4.
• Association of Graduates, United States Military Academy (1922). Fifty-Third Annual Report of the Association of Graduates. Saginaw, MI: Seeman & Peters.

• Media related to James W. McAndrew at Wikimedia Commons