Original Source Documents: September 4, 1943 - Gen. E. W. Fales to Gen. Lynch
Contributor: Robert A. Notman
Source: Major General George A. Lynch Papers
you turned over to me the responsibility for the development, among other things, of Infantry communications equipment and Infantry motor transport equipment.
You are, therefore, personally responsible for placing me in a position where I could put into effect many of the ideas that I had gathered in the preceding years,
Had frequently been his resp. Untrue
It had grown in weight and in silhouette far beyond what we had wanted.
Largely I originated this thru f.
Towards the end of May, 1940, you directed me to attend a three day conference at Holabird on the revision of military characteristics for motor vehicles.
Fales had nothing to do with it.
I recall that I sat right down at my desk and drafted a letter to the Adjutant General, for your signature as Executive, requesting the immediate initiation of a project for such a vehicle, which I tentatively designated as a "Liaison and Reconnaissance Car", and in which I stated the military characteristics to be incorporated in it.
False
As you remember, Lieutenant Colonel W. F. Lee had shortly before been assigned to the office and was then the Chief of the AEF Section.
About a year.
From then on Bill Lee became as enthusiastic as anyone and I suppose between you and him you won General Lynch over to the project.
No.
Because if the sad experience you and I had had previously in attempting to get the Quartermaster Corps to develop any new type of vehicle, and the fact that the Ordnance Department has much greater freedom of action in that regard, we agreed that it would be desirable to have the Ordnance Department designated as the development and procurement agency for the new vehicle. To accomplish this we included , in the original characteristics, a paragraph for a small section of "face armor", because, under the peculiar rules covering the division of responsibilities between those two departments, any vehicle with integral armor or part armor was the responsibility of the Chief of Ordnance.
This ????? ???? ???? personal idea.
However, the only action taken by the Ordnance Department was to strike out our requirement for face armor,
Technical Committee not Ord.