MCNARNEY: A NATIONAL FIGURE

General Joseph Taggert McNarney

Soon, downtown Emporium could have a visible tribute to one of Cameron County's most famous native sons.

Borough Council members propose to rename Fourth Street in honor of Joseph Taggert McNarney, a United States Army (and later Air Force) four-star general who served as the youngest deputy chief of staff of the U.S. Army under General Marshall during WWII.

McNarney is already memorialized in a separate section of the Cameron County Little Museum in Sterling Run.

He was born in 1893 in Emporium, graduated from West Point in 1915 with Eisenhower, Bradley and 55 other U.S. generals. He became a flying ace during WWI and operated flying schools at Gerstner Field, Louisiana; Langley Field, Va.; March Field, Calif., and Randolph Field, Texas.

McNarney was an instructor at the Army War College in Washington from 1933 to 1935, when he returned to Langley Field, helping in the organization of the new General Headquarters of the Army Air Force.

When the Air Force was split from the Army, post-WWII, McNarney was honored with serial number 1A in recognition of his contribution to the formation of the Air Force. His special ID card is on display at the Little Museum.

McNarney became a member of the Joint Army-Navy Planning Committee in 1939. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, McNarney was promoted to major general and appointed to the War Department Reorganization Board that consolidated the Army down from 18 departments to four in 1941. Throughout WWIIMcNarneyservedasGeneral Marshall's right hand man and was responsible for many behind the scenes activities that helped to win the war. He developed a plan for anti-submarine warfare that eventually destroyed the German hold on sea lanes.

He was promoted to full general in 1945 and became acting Supreme Allied Commander of the Mediterranean Theater. He was later named commander in chief, U.S. Forces of Occupation in Germany, and was Military Governor of Occupied Germany for two years.

The general was the first U.S. soldier to receive the Distinguished Service Medal five times. Later, he was knighted by King George VI and received many medals from countries throughout the world in recognition of his contributions to the war effort.

After World War II, he became chief of the Defense Department's Management Committee. McNarney retired in 1952 and held executive positions with General Dynamics. He died on Feb. 1, 1972.

His collection of military and personal artifacts came to Cameron County at the insistence of his wife, who wanted them to "come home." Collections of this significance are usually housed in military museums.