Originally Posted by
crewdawg
Anything is possible during war...Lemay went form 1LT to Maj Gen in 4 years.
Dates of rank
Army ROTC Cadet: September 1924
Second Lieutenant, Field Artillery Reserve: June 14, 1928
Second Lieutenant, Ohio National Guard: September 22, 1928
Flight Cadet, Army Air Corps: September 28, 1928
Officer Commissions Terminated: October 2, 1929
Second Lieutenant, Air Corps Reserve: October 12, 1929
Second Lieutenant, Army Air Corps: February 1, 1930
First Lieutenant, Army Air Corps: March 12, 1935
Captain, Army Air Corps: January 26, 1940
Major, Army Air Corps: March 21, 1941
Lieutenant Colonel, Army of the United States: January 23, 1942
Colonel, Army of the United States: June 17, 1942
Brigadier General, Army of the United States: September 28, 1943
Permanent in the Regular Army: June 22, 1946
Major General, Army of the United States: March 3, 1944
Lieutenant General, United States Air Force: January 26, 1948
General, United States Air Force: October 29, 1951
General, USAF (Retired): February 1, 1965
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Pretty fast promotion track - but it doesn't seem that he went from O-2 to O-9 in only 4 years. THe part of the article below shows Captain to MajGen in 3 years, though some were temporary ranks it seems.
Promotions certainly could come fast in time of war - especially counting for battlefield promotions and when MAJORS were in command of B-17 units! I wonder if such fast promotion tracks were anywhere the norm except for maybe the most exceptional in the 50s and beyond?
LeMay experienced slow advancement throughout the 1930s, as did most officers of the seniority-driven regular army. By 1940, he was still a captain but, beginning in 1941, began to receive temporary advancement in grade in the expanding Army Air Forces. LeMay advanced from captain to brigadier general in three years and by 1944 was a major general. When World War II ended, he was appointed to the permanent rank of brigadier general in the Regular Army but held his temporary rank of major general in the Army until promotion to lieutenant general in the now separate United States Air Force in 1948. He then was promoted to full general in 1951 and held this rank until his retirement in 1965.
USMCFLYR