View source for Frank S. Besson Jr.

{{Short description|United States Army general (1910–1985)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}{{Use American English|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Frank S. Besson Jr.
| image         = Frank besson.jpg
| image_size    = 
| alt           = 
| caption       = General Frank S. Besson Jr.
| nickname      = 
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1910|5|30|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1985|7|15|1910|5|30|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Walter Reed Army Medical Center]]
| placeofburial = 
| allegiance    = United States
| branch        = [[United States Army]]
| serviceyears  = 1932–1970
| rank          = [[General (United States)|General]]
| servicenumber = 
| unit          = 
| commands      = [[United States Army Materiel Command]]<br />[[Transportation Corps]]<br />[[Military Railway Service (United States)|Military Railway Service]]
| battles       = [[World War II]]
| awards        = [[Army Distinguished Service Medal]] (3)<br />[[Legion of Merit]] (2)
| relations     = 
| spouse        = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Nancy Sessions Morris|1935|1974|reason=Died}}
* {{marriage|Beatrice Veronica (O'Boyle) George|1975|1978|reason=Died}}
* {{marriage|Frances Rogers "Betty" (Howell) Wheeler|1980}}
}}
| laterwork     = Director, [[National Rail Passenger Corporation]]
}}
'''Frank Schaffer Besson Jr.''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE}} (30 May 1910 – 15 July 1985) was a [[United States Army]] general who most notably served as the first commander of the [[US Army Materiel Command]].

==Early life==
Besson born on 30 May 1910, in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]].  His father Frank Schaffer Besson Sr. was a West Point graduate and a colonel in the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Corps of Engineers]].

==Military career==
Besson graduated seventh in his class from the [[United States Military Academy]] in 1932 and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers. In 1935, he received an M.S. degree in civil engineering from the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]. His research project was a collaboration with [[Rush B. Lincoln Jr.]] and two other West Point classmates under the supervision of Glennon Gilboy.<ref>{{cite thesis |url=https://mit.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma990007921630106761&vid=01MIT_INST:MIT |title=Flow through permeable earth dams on permeable foundations |first1=Rush B. |last1=Lincoln |first2=George |last2=Kumpe |first3=Frank S. |last3=Besson |first4=William F. |last4=Powers |date=1935 |publisher=Department of Civil and Sanitary Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |access-date=August 31, 2022}}</ref> His early career was noted for the role he played in the development of portable military pipelines, [[Marston Mat|Perforated Steel Planking (PSP)]] (steel landing mats) for airplanes, and steel treadway bridges. He is credited with the studies leading to the army's adoption of the [[Bailey bridge]], used extensively in all theaters in World War II.

Besson became assistant director of the Third Military Railway Service (with rank of lieutenant colonel) in 1943, and was promoted to Director (with rank of colonel) the following year. As Director of the Third Military Railway Service in Iran from 1944 to 1945, Besson ensured the flow of war materials to the Russian forces through the [[Persian Corridor]]. He was promoted to brigadier general, becoming, at just 34, the youngest general officer in the Army Ground Forces and Chief of the Railway Division. Toward the end of World War II, he was Deputy Chief Transportation Officer of the Army Forces in the Western Pacific and, when Japan's collapse was imminent, assumed full control of railroads in Japan. During the first year of occupation, Besson directed the rehabilitation of the Japanese rail system, moving more than 200,000 troops and 150,000 tons of supplies in the first two months.

Subsequent assignments included a tour as Assistant Chief of Staff, [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe]] (SHAPE), where Besson formulated logistics plans and overall programs to meet the complex requirements of the fifteen nations of the NATO alliance. His efforts in instituting a system for "costing out" five-year programs, thereby bringing force goals into consonance with available resources, earned him the first [[Army Distinguished Service Medal]] to be awarded at SHAPE headquarters. He was formally transferred to the Army [[Transportation Corps]] on 28 July 1950.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BaSYlfAgVUEC&pg=PA46 |title=U.S. Army Register: United States Army Active and Retired List |date=January 1, 1966 |volume=I |page=46 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |access-date=August 31, 2022}}</ref>

Besson introduced the [[roll-on/roll-off]] technique for the rapid loading and discharge of wheeled and tracked vehicles. He further refined these concepts upon assuming command of the Transportation Center and School at [[Fort Eustis]], Virginia, in 1953. Besson was the Chief of Transportation, United States Army from March 1958 until 2 April 1962, when he took charge of the [[United States Army Materiel Command]].

Besson was the first Commander of the Army Materiel Command, formed in 1962 during a major army reorganization. During his command, the mammoth logistical organization, with an annual budget exceeding $14 billion and an inventory of $21 billion, employed more than 160,000 civilian personnel, in addition to its military complement of 14,000. In November 1962, Besson assigned Col. John F. Sullivan as project officer for [[Project Flat Top]], a program that involved conversion of a former seaplane tender, the ''[[USS Albemarle]]'' (AV 5), into a floating helicopter repair shop for use off the coast of Vietnam.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=James W. |title=A History of Army Aviation: From Its Beginnings to the War on Terror |date=September 2005  |isbn=978-0-595-36608-8 |page=141 |publisher=iUniverse |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Be6XiVviR-QC |access-date=February 10, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Army |date=1964 |publisher=Association of the United States Army |location=University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3HEue_KetcoC}}</ref>

In 1965, Besson permitted [[Malcom McLean]] of [[SeaLand]] to develop a plan to improve U.S. [[military logistics]] [[Vietnam War|in Vietnam]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Marc|last=Levinson|title=[[The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger]]|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2006|page=177}}</ref> McLean would go on to recommend [[containerization]] as a solution to logistical problems faced by the U.S. military.{{sfn|Levinson|2006|p=178}} In 1966, Besson asked the [[Military Sea Transportation Service]] to contract SeaLand to operate regular [[container ship]] routes between [[Oakland, California]], and [[Okinawa, Japan]].{{sfn|Levinson|2006|p=179}}

[[File:GEN Frank S. Besson Jr. final command portrait.jpg|thumb|left|200px| Besson in 1969.]]
As the first AMC Commander, Besson was charged with consolidating six army technical service organizations into a single command without disrupting effective materiel support for the army. His success resulted in his receiving the Merit Award of the Armed Forces Management Association in 1963. On 27 May 1964, Besson became a full general. He was the first army officer to achieve that rank as head of a logistical organization in peacetime.

In 1969, Besson was appointed by [[United States Deputy Secretary of Defense]] [[David Packard]] to be chairman of the Joint Logistics Review Board, formed to review logistic activities in support of the Vietnam War. Besson retired in September 1969 and the review board's report was released to the public on 6 November 1970. The report was highly critical of the [[Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson administration]] for not calling up [[Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces|reserve forces]] until 1968, which created "personnel shortages, especially in logistic skills". It was believed to be the first time the military publicly criticized the Johnson administration.<ref>{{cite news |title=War Review Panel Assails Johnson's Administration |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/06/archives/war-review-panel-assails-johnsons-administration.html |access-date=April 22, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=November 6, 1970}}</ref> The report also pushed for the centralization of logistical operations, the widespread use of [[intermodal container]]s, and the phasing out of [[Conex box]]es.{{sfn|Levinson|2006|p=183}}

Besson's awards and decorations include the [[Army Distinguished Service Medal]] with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the [[Legion of Merit]] with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Iranian [[Order of Homayoun]], Honorary [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]], and the Republic of Korea's [[Order of Military Merit (Korea)|Order of Military Merit]], Second Class (Ulchi).<ref>[http://www.transchool.eustis.army.mil/museum/Besson.htm U.S. Army Transportation Corps Museum bio] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080314111512/http://www.transchool.eustis.army.mil/museum/Besson.htm |date=March 14, 2008 }}</ref>

==Amtrak==
[[File:Grave of Frank Schaffer Besson, Jr.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Grave of Besson and his first two wives in Section V of [[West Point Cemetery]]]]
While in retirement, Besson wrote about transportation and related problems in numerous professional journals. In 1971, he was nominated by [[Richard Nixon]] as one of the founding directors of the [[National Rail Passenger Corporation]], which ran [[Amtrak]].<ref name="WP obit" /> He was confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] on 3 May 1971, and remained on the board until 1977, when [[Jimmy Carter]] chose not to reappoint him.<ref>{{cite news |title=Senate Confirms Directors For the Board of Amtrak |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/04/archives/senate-confirms-directors-for-the-board-of-amtrak.html |access-date=April 22, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=May 4, 1971}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Carter Nominates Five To Board of Amtrak, Renominates Another |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=October 19, 1977}}</ref>

==Personal life and death==
Besson married Nancy Sessions Morris in 1935. They had three sons.<ref name="WP obit"/> After his wife's death in 1974, Besson married Beatrice Veronica (O'Boyle) George, who had four children from her first marriage. His second wife died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1978.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/146889839 |title=Beatrice Besson, Realty Firm Employe, Former Airline Clerk |date=November 23, 1978 |page=B12 |newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=August 31, 2022|id={{ProQuest|146889839}} }}</ref> In 1980, Besson married Frances Rogers "Betty" (Howell) Wheeler, the widow of General [[Earle Wheeler|Earle G. Wheeler]].<ref name="WP obit"/>

On 15 July 1985, Besson died of cancer at [[Walter Reed Army Medical Center]].<ref name="WP obit">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1985/07/18/retired-gen-frank-besson-dies/33c135bc-61be-478c-9456-3b9862ef1b71/ |title=Retired Gen. Frank Besson Dies |date=July 18, 1985 |author1=J.Y. Smith |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}}</ref> He was buried beside his parents and his first two wives at the [[West Point Cemetery]] on 19 July 1985.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/index.html#/search-all/results/1/CgZCZXNzb24SBUZyYW5rGghTY2hhZmZlcjoIMTkxMC1fLV8-/ |title=Besson, Frank Schaffer |website=Army Cemeteries Explorer |publisher=United States Army |access-date=August 31, 2022}}</ref> Betty Wheeler resumed using her first husband's name and was buried with him at Arlington National Cemetery in 2004.<ref name="militaryhallofhonor.com">{{Cite web|title= Frank Schaffer Besson, Jr. General, U.S. Army|url= https://militaryhallofhonor.com/honoree-record.php?id=189|access-date=April 8, 2024|website=militaryhallofhonor.com}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:US Navy 090614-N-3218H-026 Logistic Support Vessel General Frank S. Besson (LSV 1) participates in Joint Logistics Over-The-Shore (JLOTS) operations.jpg|thumb|left|The USAV ''General Frank S. Besson Jr.'' unloading cargo during an exercise at [[Camp Lejuene]]]]

In 1985 the [[United States Army]] commissioned the [[USAV General Frank S. Besson Jr.|USAV ''General Frank S. Besson Jr.'']] the [[lead ship]] of the [[General Frank S. Besson-class support vessel|''General Frank S. Besson''-class]] of [[Roll-on/roll-off]] support vessels.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Army Ship Photo Index|url=http://www.navsource.net/archives/30/10/1001.htm|access-date=June 4, 2021|website=NavSource}}</ref> The ship was christened by Frances Rogers Wheeler, Besson's third wife, In 1988.<ref name="militaryhallofhonor.com"/>

In 1986 Besson was inducted into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame.<ref name="militaryhallofhonor.com"/>

==Medals and decorations==
[[File:Besson Westmoreland.PNG|thumb|right|200px| As commander of [[United States Army Materiel Command|Army Materiel Command]], Besson receiving the [[Army Distinguished Service Medal|Distinguished Service Medal]] from General [[William C. Westmoreland]], 1968]]

{| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
|-
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=3|type=oak|ribbon=U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}}
|{{ribbon devices|106px|number=2|type=oak|ribbon=Legion of Merit ribbon.svg}}<span style="position:relative; top: -0px; left: -64px; display: inline-block; width: 0;">[[File:Oak leaf cluster, bronze.svg|20px]]</span>
|{{ribbon devices|106px|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Army Commendation Medal ribbon.svg}}
|-
|[[File:European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign ribbon.svg|106x106px]]
|{{ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}}
|{{ribbon devices|106px|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=World War II Victory Medal ribbon.svg|}}
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Army of Occupation ribbon.svg|width=106}}
|[[File:National Defense Service Medal ribbon.svg|106x106px]]
|[[File:Phliber rib.svg|106x106px]]
|-
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=Order of the British Empire (Military) Ribbon.png|width=106}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=|ribbon=Eulji Cordon Medal.png|width=106}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=|ribbon=Medal of Homayoun Ribbon Bar - Imperial Iran.svg|width=106}}
|-
|colspan="3"|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|other_device=|ribbon=Philippines Presidential Unit Citation.png|width=106}}<span style="position:relative; top: 2px; left: -64px; display: inline-block; width: 0;">[[File:Oak leaf cluster, bronze.svg|20px]]</span>
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
|-
!1st Row Awards
|[[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Army Distinguished Service Medal]] with three [[Oak Leaf Clusters]]
|[[Legion of Merit]] with two [[Oak Leaf Clusters]]
|[[Commendation Medal|Army Commendation Medal]]
|-
!2nd Row Awards
|[[European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal]]
|[[Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal]] with 1 [[Service Star]]s
|[[World War II Victory Medal]]
|-
!3rd Row Awards
|[[Army of Occupation Medal]]
|[[National Defense Service Medal]]
|[[Philippine Liberation Medal]] 
|-
!4th Row Awards
|[[Order of the British Empire]]
|South Korean [[Order of Military Merit (South Korea)|Order of Military Merit, Second Class]]
|Iranian [[Badges of honor in Iran|Order of Homayoun]]
|-
!5th Row Awards
| colspan="3" |[[Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation]]
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [[General Frank S. Besson-class support vessel|''General Frank S. Besson, Jr.'' class Logistics Support Vessel]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://generals.dk/general/Besson/Frank_Schaffer_Jr./USA.html Generals of World War II]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Besson, Frank}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:United States Military Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Detroit]]
[[Category:United States Army Corps of Engineers personnel]]
[[Category:MIT School of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:United States Army generals of World War II]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Legion of Merit]]
[[Category:United States Army generals]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)]]
[[Category:Honorary commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Military Merit (South Korea)]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Burials at West Point Cemetery]]