Armor's Heritage: Lieutenant General Daniel Van Voorhis

Armor’s Heritage Lieutenant General Daniel Van Voorhis Daniel Van Voorhis was born in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1878 and died in Washington, D.C. in 1956, at the age of 77. In his military career, he was the key figure in the mechanization of the Army and the creation of the Armored Force as we know it today. During the 1920s and 1930s, “Billy” Mitchell, an Army Air Corps general, made national headlines as he expounded his vision of an air corps as a separate branch of the nation’s defense forces. General Mitchell was court-martialed for his vociferous efforts and retired soon after to private life. But his dream was realized early in WW 11 with the creation of the US. Army Air Force.

General Mitchell was not alone in his “cry in the wilderness” for much-needed doctrinal and equipment improvements for a specific branch of the armed forces. There was yet another band of officers -mostly horse cavalry officers at that - who were equally, but more quietly, at work to create what they foresaw as a vital need for the Army. They called for a mechanized force that would forever banish their treasured horses to pasture.

One such cavalry officer was Lieutenant General Daniel Van Voorhis, who was named “Grandfather of the Armored Force” by no less a personage than General Creighton Abrams, the Army chief of staff from 1972 to 1974.

Van Voorhis began his military career in 1898 as a corporal in the 10th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Later that same year, he was appointed captain and sent to the Philippines where he tookpart in the War of Insurrection. Two years later, he was appointed a 2d Lieutenant, Cavalry, in the Regular Army. During WW I, Van Voorhis served as chief of staff, Port of Embarkation, Newport News, VA, and later as assistant chief ofpersonnel at the Base Section, Brest, France. Both of these positions were of a highly administrative nature and gave Van Voorhis a solid grounding in the intricacies of Army procedures. After the war, Van Voorhis served in the office of the Chief of Cavalry and in 1929, he graduated from the Army War College. In 1930, now a full colonel, Van Voorhis was given command of the 12th Cavalry and was selected by the Army chief of staff to command the experimental Mechanized Force that was being organized at Fort Eustis, VA, not far from Yorktown. I n 1931, the experimental Mechanized Force completed a remarkable 300-mile road march from Fort Eustis to Fort Bragg, NC. Colonel Van Voorhis wrote to his daughter, Betty Bell, that the force had marched 11 9 miles the first day. 109 miles the second day and 76 LTG Daniel Van Voorhis 3-day march was mostly a policy of fix it with spit and wire and press on. The successful completion of the grueling marchproved Van Voorhis’determination to succeed in the face of all odds - and it gave him valuable, first-hand experience in handling a mechanized unit on the move.

The experimental Mechanized Force was disbanded after a year, but it was with that force, under Van Voorhis, that the basic concepts of mobile war were formulated, concepts in which the tank replaced the horse. When the force was disbanded, Colonel Van Voorhis led the cavalry portion to Fort Knox, KY, where it was redesignated the “‘Detachment for Mechanized Cavalry Regiment.” I n 1933, this unit became the 1st Cavalry Regiment (Mechanized). Three years later, in 1936, the 1st Cavalry Regiment (Mechanized) became the 7th Cavalry Brigade, Mechanized. The following year, Colonel Van Voorhis was transferred to Hawaii to serve as the chief of staff, Hawaiian Department.

1 st Cav troops man ”combat cars” at Fort Knox in mid-1 9309. When the 7th’Cavalry Brigade was formed, a new insignia was created for it and in 1940 that insignia (the track, the gun and the lightning bolt) was superimposed on the Armor Force shoulder patch to become the patch we know today.

Van Voorhis returned to Fort Knox in 1937, and as a brigadier general resumed command of 7th Cavalry Brigade, Mechanized. There he played a major role in the formulation of the doctrine that guided the initial efforts of the Armored Force when it was organized in miles the third day, an outstanding feat for the times. 1940. The infant Mechanized Force was largely equipped In 1938, now a Major General, Van Voorhis took with badly-worn WW I vehicles and there had been command of V Corps Area and a year later, as a neither time nor opportunity to stabilize maintenance Lieutenant General, was transferred to Panama to routines ingarrison, let alone for a marching unit. Due command the Caribbean Defense Command. In 1941, to the chronic shortage of spares, ~. ___ maintenance . -on the he returned to V Corps Area and retired in 1942.

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