Fort Adams, the massive fortress standing guard at the entrance to Narragansett Bay, is one of 16 coastal defense fortifications built between 1703 through 1943 in the Ocean State. The string of gun batteries was designed to defend the 40 miles of strategically important Rhode Island coast line stretching from Fort Mansfield at Napatree Point in Westerly to Fort Church on Sakonnet Point, in Little Compton, against invasion.
The gun pits were filled with an array of artillery from 16 inch howitzers on barbette carriages, 12 inch guns on disappearing carriages, six inch guns, and “Panama Mounts,” circular concrete pads for the use of the towed M1918 155mm gun. The coastal guns were designed to protect the sacrosanct three-mile limit which, at the time, defined a country’s territorial waters, was the effective range of cannons fired from land. With the advent of the dreadnought battleships, armed with 16 inch naval rifles capable of shooting a 2,000 pound shells 24 miles, the value of the coastal fortification was seriously reduced.
Manned by the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) between 1901 and 1950, the batteries were provided with fire control stations, ammunition storage bunkers, barracks, officers’ housing, mess halls, hospitals and other necessary buildings for both efficient operation and troop comfort. After graduating from West Point in 1920 and completing the CAC Basic Officer’s Course at Fort Monroe a young Lieutenant Lyman Lewis Lemnitzer reported to the 10th Coast Artillery Regiment based at Fort Adams in the summer of 1921 as a Range Officer for one of the.
As a lad as he grew up in rural Honesdale, Pennsylvania Lemnitzer did odd jobs to earn a few dollars to indulge his vices, one of which was supplying his 22 caliber rifle with ammunition so he could improve his marksmanship skills.. He developed a sharp and steady hold with the rifle later honed by shooting for the West Point Rifle Team.
Lemnitzer qualified as an expert with the rifle in 1921 and was appointed to the Coast Artillery Rifle Team and would stay with the team for several years. He earned a Bronze Medal as well as a Bronze Army Team Badge towards the Distinguished Marksman Badge at the 1923 National Matches at Camp Perry. Coast Artillery placed fourth in a field of 64 in the National Trophy Team Match with Lemnitzer posting the fourth highest score on the ten man team.
After two years at Fort Adams, half of which was spent detached to the Coast Artillery Rifle Team as a rifleman and mess officer, Lemnitzer was ordered to Fort Mills, Corregidor in the Philippines. He arrived in time to participate in the Philippines Department rifle matches and earned a gold medal. He now had accumulated three medals in national competition and was awarded the prestigious Distinguished Marksman Badge in 1924. The award was one of his most prized decorations and it would appear on his blouse when important photographs were taken.
Lemnitzer is one of only four men to lead United States military services who are Distinguished. General of the Armies John J. Pershing and Marine Commandants Generals Thomas Holcomb, rifle, and David Shoup, pistol, are his companions in that exclusive club. He is the only Chairman of the Joint Chiefs authorized to wear the Badge.
The Distinguished Marksman Badge was awarded by all services for preeminence in service rifle shooting until 1956 when the Army and Air Force, along with their reserve components, changed the title from Marksman to Rifleman. At the time, the award of the Distinguished Badge to civilians was the responsibility of the office of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship which was a small bureau within the Department of the Army, so it followed suit. The more traditional sea services, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard retained the old title. The Army and Air Force decided to make the change because the term marksman was also used in regular annual qualification and it was felt that it was not a sufficiently dignified a title for an award of this importance. This change could only be pulled off by a man who combined both high rank and impeccable shooting credentials, as the award and its title had been in existence for nearly three quarters of a century, and General Lyman Lemnitzer was just that man.
Marksmanship was dear to him throughout his professional life, so much so that at the 1960 national convention of the Veterans of Foreign War Lemnitzer, then Chief of Staff, told the assembly that, “We must not forget that the military purpose of war is to achieve control over land and the people who live in it…the success with which that domination is established, maintained, and extended depends in large part on the soldier’s mastery of his rifle.” The civilian leadership of the Department of Defense must have agreed because a month later he was selected to be the fourth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces and the principal military advisor to the president and the secretary of defense.
Fort Adams, the massive fortress standing guard at the entrance to Narragansett Bay, is one of 16 coastal defense fortifications built between 1703 through 1943 in the Ocean State. The string of gun batteries was designed to defend the 40 miles of strategically important Rhode Island coast line stretching from Fort Mansfield at Napatree Point in Westerly to Fort Church on Sakonnet Point, in Little Compton, against invasion.
The gun pits were filled with an array of artillery from 16 inch howitzers on barbette carriages, 12 inch guns on disappearing carriages, six inch guns, and “Panama Mounts,” circular concrete pads for the use of the towed M1918 155mm gun. The coastal guns were designed to protect the sacrosanct three-mile limit which, at the time, defined a country’s territorial waters, was the effective range of cannons fired from land. With the advent of the dreadnought battleships, armed with 16 inch naval rifles capable of shooting a 2,000 pound shells 24 miles, the value of the coastal fortification was seriously reduced.
Manned by the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) between 1901 and 1950, the batteries were provided with fire control stations, ammunition storage bunkers, barracks, officers’ housing, mess halls, hospitals and other necessary buildings for both efficient operation and troop comfort. After graduating from West Point in 1920 and completing the CAC Basic Officer’s Course at Fort Monroe a young Lieutenant Lyman Lewis Lemnitzer reported to the 10th Coast Artillery Regiment based at Fort Adams in the summer of 1921 as a Range Officer for one of the.
As a lad as he grew up in rural Honesdale, Pennsylvania Lemnitzer did odd jobs to earn a few dollars to indulge his vices, one of which was supplying his 22 caliber rifle with ammunition so he could improve his marksmanship skills.. He developed a sharp and steady hold with the rifle later honed by shooting for the West Point Rifle Team.
Lemnitzer qualified as an expert with the rifle in 1921 and was appointed to the Coast Artillery Rifle Team and would stay with the team for several years. He earned a Bronze Medal as well as a Bronze Army Team Badge towards the Distinguished Marksman Badge at the 1923 National Matches at Camp Perry. Coast Artillery placed fourth in a field of 64 in the National Trophy Team Match with Lemnitzer posting the fourth highest score on the ten man team.
After two years at Fort Adams, half of which was spent detached to the Coast Artillery Rifle Team as a rifleman and mess officer, Lemnitzer was ordered to Fort Mills, Corregidor in the Philippines. He arrived in time to participate in the Philippines Department rifle matches and earned a gold medal. He now had accumulated three medals in national competition and was awarded the prestigious Distinguished Marksman Badge in 1924. The award was one of his most prized decorations and it would appear on his blouse when important photographs were taken.
Lemnitzer is one of only four men to lead United States military services who are Distinguished. General of the Armies John J. Pershing and Marine Commandants Generals Thomas Holcomb, rifle, and David Shoup, pistol, are his companions in that exclusive club. He is the only Chairman of the Joint Chiefs authorized to wear the Badge.
The Distinguished Marksman Badge was awarded by all services for preeminence in service rifle shooting until 1956 when the Army and Air Force, along with their reserve components, changed the title from Marksman to Rifleman. At the time, the award of the Distinguished Badge to civilians was the responsibility of the office of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship which was a small bureau within the Department of the Army, so it followed suit. The more traditional sea services, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard retained the old title. The Army and Air Force decided to make the change because the term marksman was also used in regular annual qualification and it was felt that it was not a sufficiently dignified a title for an award of this importance. This change could only be pulled off by a man who combined both high rank and impeccable shooting credentials, as the award and its title had been in existence for nearly three quarters of a century, and General Lyman Lemnitzer was just that man.
Marksmanship was dear to him throughout his professional life, so much so that at the 1960 national convention of the Veterans of Foreign War Lemnitzer, then Chief of Staff, told the assembly that, “We must not forget that the military purpose of war is to achieve control over land and the people who live in it…the success with which that domination is established, maintained, and extended depends in large part on the soldier’s mastery of his rifle.” The civilian leadership of the Department of Defense must have agreed because a month later he was selected to be the fourth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces and the principal military advisor to the president and the secretary of defense.
No one could deny his credentials or authority. He was Distinguished and committed to training every soldier in marksmanship. As the Chief of Staff he was the United States Army’s senior soldier with broad powers to make the change, which he did. But did he swap his old Distinguished Marksman Badge for a new Distinguished Rifleman Badge? Lemnitzer was awarded the Officer Degree of the Legon of Merit for successfully completing a dangerous meeting with the Nazi allied Vichy French leadership in Morocco to negotiate their cooperation prior to Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. Later the criteria for award was changed and recipients were instructed to exchange it for a new medal. Lemnitzer refused to do so as he felt it was awarded for an act for which he was particularly proud, and it would be wrong to take it away. He continued to wear the old medal and ribbon and one cannot doubt it was the same for his Distinguished Marksman Badge.
No one could deny his credentials or authority. He was Distinguished and committed to training every soldier in marksmanship. As the Chief of Staff he was the United States Army’s senior soldier with broad powers to make the change, which he did. But did he swap his old Distinguished Marksman Badge for a new Distinguished Rifleman Badge?
Lemnitzer was awarded the Officer Degree of the Legon of Merit for successfully completing a dangerous meeting with the Nazi allied Vichy French leadership in Morocco to negotiate their cooperation prior to Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. Later the criteria for award was changed and recipients were instructed to exchange it for a new medal. Lemnitzer refused to do so as he felt it was awarded for an act for which he was particularly proud, and it would be wrong to take it away. He continued to wear the old medal and ribbon and one cannot doubt it was the same for his Distinguished Marksman Badge.
