Edward L. Rowny
we were readier than any other unit. We were sent to Liberia in early 1942 to
construct an airfield and be a possible base of operations for combat in North
Africa.
The day after we sailed from Charleston for our 10-day trip to Liberia, Colonel
Wood opened up his secret instructions. They were in the form of a 20-page letter
of instructions and five volumes of detailed plans. Colonel Wood assembled the
officers in his cabin and read aloud the letter of instructions. He then asked me-1
was then the operations officer-to open the porthole. I thought it was to let in
some fresh air. To the astonishment of all of us, Wood got up on a chair and
tossed the five volumes out to sea.
"These damned bureaucrats in Washington don't know how to assign mission-type
orders," he said. " T h e letter of instructions is all we need." And at that he
instructed us to draw up detailed plans to carry out the instructions.
To this day, I don't know whether the detailed plans we threw away were any
good. But it gave us something to do for the next nine days at sea, and we had no
one to blame but ourselves for how the instructions werecarried out. In retrospect,
I think we did pretty well. The planning exercise forced us to think through what
needed to be done.
Later in 1942, Colonel Wood was promoted to brigadier general. He returned to
the U.S. to establish the cadre for the 92d Division. He had me come back to
work for him. General Wood had a lot to do with initiating basic reforms in the
Army. He was ahead of the times in developing concepts to promote military
efficiency.
92d Infantry Division, Fort Huachuca
Q ..
Where was the cadre for the 92d Division located?
A
The division cadre was divided among four locations. The headquarters and
division artillery were at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Each of the three regiments
was located in a different state, one at Camp Breckenridge, Kentucky, a second in
Anniston, Alabama, and the third in Fort Donaldson, Tennessee. The Army was
afraid to put more than one regiment in any one state in the South. In 1943 we
assembled the entire division at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, replacing the 93d
Division which had been sent to the Pacific Theater.
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