For a number of years after the Great War, only about one-fourth of the officers and one-half of the enlisted men of the Regular Army were available for assignment to tactical units in the Continental United States. Many units existed only on paper, almost all had only skeletonized strength. In 1928 the United States and France joined in drafting the Pact of Paris, which denounced war as an instrument of national policy. Thereafter, the United States announced to the world that, if other powers did likewise, it would limit its armed forces to those necessary to maintain internal order and defend national territory against aggression and invasion.
In the summer of 1932, the Fourth Army [the ‘A-Plus’ Army] was activated at Omaha, Nebraska, with a mission “to deal with the Pacific Coast.” As a training army, it prepared and equipped about half the combat troops sent overseas during WWII. Initially largely a paper organization, it was responsible for the Seventh and Ninth Corps Areas. Fourth Army headquarters, under Maj. Gen. Johnson Hagood, had as its mission responsibilities for the western states. On paper it commanded four army corps consisting of eleven divisions (Regular Army, National Guard, and Organized Reserve) and four cavalry divisions (Regular Army and National Guard).
On 18 June 1936, fourth Army headquarters transferred to the Presidio of San Fransico where Maj. Gen. George S. Simonds
commanded both the Ninth Corps Area and the Fourth Army. Ninth Corps Area was comprised of the eight states while Fourth Army. Ninth Corps Area was comprised of the eight states while Fourth Army consisted of four infantry divisions and the coast artillery units within those same states.
The 1935, “Joint Action” plan divides the coasts of the United States into four parcels, the North Atlantic Coastal Frontier that stretched from Maine to North Carolina; The Southern Coastal Frontier that stretched from North Carolina to the Mexican Border; the Great Lakes Coastal Frontier that covered the Great Lakes on the Canadian Border, and the Pacific Coastal Frontier that included the entire Pacific Coast. The frontier boundaries coincided with those of army areas-the First Army backed the North Atlantic Frontier; the Third Army backed the Southern Coastal Frontier; the Second Army backed the Great Lakes Coastal Frontier and the Fourth Army, the Pacific Coastal Frontier.
Note: FAB Collection, Texana/Genealogy Department, San Antonio Public Library- edited by Howard L. Bell.
In 1940, the Presidio of San Francisco was commanded by LT. Gen. John L. DeWitt and the Army was deployed throughout the Ninth Corps Area, which, also under the command of Gen. DeWitt, encompassed Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Utah. Arizona was added to this group in 1941.
On March 17, 1941, this region and its military organizations became the Western Defense Command, with Gen. DeWitt as Commander. Its main troop component was the Fourth U.S. Army, and its primary mission was: “Responsible in peacetime for planning all measures against invasion of area under command, and in case of invasion of area, responsible for all offensive and defensive operations until otherwise direct by the War Department.”
On December 11, 1941, the Western Defense Command, with Alaska included, became the Western Theater of Operations. Its headquarters, combined with those of its major constituent units, was at the Presidio of San Francisco. It was under the command of General Headquarters, War Department, and General DeWitt was theater commander. Actually, in 1942, the top staff of the Western Defense Command, In Conjunction with certain officers in the G-1 section of the general staff, influenced the development of the national policy governing the dealings with aliens on the West Coast, and the Fourth U.S. Army furnished troops and support that carried out the War Department’s alien control program in the area, including the evacuation of the Japanese.
In 1941, the Fourth U.S. Army conducted highly instructive command post exercises at the Hunter Liggett Military Reservation in California (with troops which included the Third Corps under the command of Maj. Gen. Joseph Stilwell), and army maneuvers in Washington and Oregan. These maneuvers, as well as the static disposition of units, involved all the elements of extra-military area sanitation and control of communicable diseases, except malaria, that have been discussed previously, Aspects of civil affairs and military government public health activities, conspicuous and prophetic in the maneuvers conducted in the eastern, northern, and southern regions of the United States, were equally notable in the Fourth U.S. Army maneuvers.
Through its location in the Pacific Coast States, the Western Defense Command, since late 1941, had been concerned in activities which involved the Army with various civilian and government agencies. These interests were represented by the war disaster relief plans, which were a responsibility of the Ninth Corps Area. The plans included such matters as bomb disposal, camouflage, shelters, antisabotage, and general disaster relief. In April 1942, this responsibility was transferred from the Ninth Corps Area to the Western Defense Command, which soon prepared a “War Disaster Relief Plan-Western Theater of Operation, 1942.” In this plan, provision was made for cooperative effort by troops of the Western Defense Command and the Fourth U.S. Army with local, state, and other federal agencies. Detailed plans were prepared for each geographic subdivisions of the command. In 1943 these responsibilities were returned to the Ninth Service Command, and the Western Defense Command was relieved of them. The status of the Western Defense Command as a theater of operations was terminated on October 27, 1943, and the Western Defense Command was discontinued on March 6, 1946.
During the period from March 2-November 3, 1942, the Western Defense Command and Fourth U.S. Army gradually became 
engaged in an operation which has been characterized as “one of the army’s largest undertakings in the name of defense during World War II.” This undertaking was the relocation of approximately 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry from California, Southern Arizona, and the western halves of Oregon and Washington. Some persons of Japanese ancestry were removed from Alaska, and a beginning was made on a proposed transfer of such persons from Hawaii to the continental United States. German and Italian resident of these areas were allowed to remain there. Only the Japanese, regardless of American citizenship and without benefit of legal trails, were evacuated. They were moved first to assembly centers under control of the Western Defense Command, in California, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona, and thence transferred to relocation centers under the control of the War Relocation Authority, in dispersed places throughout the country. Mass Exclusion was directed and continued until late 1944. Nearly all the interned Japanese were held in custody until the last months of 1944 when a few were allowed to return to the “restricted areas.” The majority were retained at the relocation centers and were to be released between January and June 1945.
The mass evacuation of the Japanese was a controversial issue from the start, and continues to be criticized. Conflicting opinions as to its “military necessity” were held by both individuals and agencies. The War Department was convinced that it was essential to national security. The department of justice, one the other hand, wished to protect the civil rights of individuals within reasonable provisions for national security. Economic and political factors influenced decisions. Public opinion was manipulated, and the fact that the Japanese in the pacific States, and especially in California, had been targets of hostility and restrictive action for several decades was a factor that unquestionably influenced the measures taken against them following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Fourth U.S. Army moved its headquarters from the Presidio of Monteret, California to Fort Sam Houston, Texas on January 7, 1944, to assume duties of Headquarters. The third U.S. Army proceeded to the European Theater. Continuing as a great training army, the Fourth U.S. Army formed two combat armies in 1944, the Ninth and the Fifteenth U.S. Armies. Late in 1944, it was supplying at least half of the combat units shipped overseas.
Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, was established in 1875, and by 1917 the installation had been raised to general depot status and was supplying the Mexican frontier, including General John J. Pershing’s pursuit of Francisco “Pancho” Villa. In 1940, it was the largest army post in the United States, and it served as a major interment center for prisoners of war during World War II. By 1949, Fort Sam Houston had 1,500 buildings on more than 3,000 acres and was the headquarters for the Fourth U.S. Army.
General Jonathan Wainwright was commanding American and Filipino troops in northern Luzon, the Philippine Islands, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. When MacArthur was ordered off Bataan in March 1942, Wainwright, promoted to temporary LT. General, succeeded to the command of U.S. Army Forces in the far East. Bataan fell April 9,1942. President Roosevelt authorized Wainwright to continue the fight or make terms as he saw fit. Wainwright chose to continue the battle, from Corregidor, despite the urgings of some that he leave. At noon, May 6,1942, General Wainwright surrendered to Japanese General Homma. General Wainwright spent the next three years in Japanese prison camps in the Philippines, China, and Formosa (Taiwan). He emerged from captivity little more than a Skelton. General Wainwright was commander of the Fourth U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston from January 1946 until his retirement from the Army in August 1947.
In October 1946, Fourth U.S. Army established seven separate recruiting districts in the Southwestern Unted States. Recruiting District Dallas was one of these original districts. In 1949 the seven districts were consolidated into two districts. One was the U.S. Army and the U.S. Airforce Texas Recruiting District with its headquarters at fort Sam Houston, and it was subsequently re-designated the U.S. Army Fourth Recruiting District as the Army and Airforce established separate recruiting services. In December 1956, the name was changed to fourth U.S. Army Recruiting District and covered the five states of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. In September 1964, Headquarters, U.S. Army Recruiting Command, was activated as part of the USA Continental Army Command, and the Fourth U.S. Army Recruiting District was separated from Fourth U.S. Army and re-designated U.S. Army Fourth Recruiting District. Eleven subordinate stations, known as U.S. Army Recruiting Main Stations, were established at this time. One of these Main Stations was headquartered in Dallas.
Note: FAB Collection, Texana/Genealogy Department, San Antonio Public Library- edited by Howard L. Bell.
In July 1971, Fourth and Fifth U.S. Armies were consolidated as fifth U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston. Between 1984 and 1992, Fort Sheridan served as the headquarters of the Fourth Army and U.S. Recruiting Command. During that time, Fort Sheridan was the headquarters for activities at 74 U.S. Army Reserve Centers located in northern Illinois, Northwest Indiana, and the lower peninsula of Michigan. Headquarters Fourth U.S. Army was at “The Army’s Biggest Little Post,” Fort Sheridan.
The fort was founded in 1887, named for Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, Civil War Union Cavalry leader and commanding general of the army, 1883-1888. It is located-on 695 acres on the shore of Lake Michigan, 29 miles north of Chicago Loop. The post serves as an administrative and logistics center of Midwest defense installations. It is also home of the Army Recruiting Command, U.S. Military Enlistment Processing Command, 425th Trans. BDE (USAR), Army Readiness GP., 4th Recruit BDE and Recruit BN, Chicago. In December 1988, the BRAC Commission recommended the closure of Fort Sheridan. The BRAC Commission also recommended relocation of the headquarters, Fourth Army, and the headquarters, U.S. Army Recruiting Command to Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana.
There were eight numbered armies in fiscal year (FY) 90, but they were reduced to seven in FY 91 with elimination of Fourth U.S. Army at Fort Sheridan, Illinois.
The seven remaining armies were:
The third Army served as a tactical field army and as ARCENT, the U.S. Army component command of CENTCOM during the Persian Gulf War. The five continental United States (CONUSAs)-the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Armies-commanded the USAR troop units within their geographical areas. They also directed the training of ARING units within their geographical areas in accordance with HQDA and FORSCOM guidance. FORSCOM assigned the CONUSAs operational control for mobilization and deployment at all mobilization stations in their areas. In the event of full-scale mobilization, the CONUSAs were scheduled to become Joint Regional Defense Commands.
Note: FAB Collection, Texana/Genealogy Department, San Antonio Public Library- edited by Howard L. Bell.
