The son of an American Civil War veteran, Menoher was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1862 and graduated 16 in a class of 77 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1886 with a commission as an artillery officer.

[1] Several of his classmates included men who would, like Menoher himself, eventually rise to general officer rank, such as John J. Pershing, William H. Hay, Walter Henry Gordon, Edward Mann Lewis, Mason Patrick, Julius Penn, Avery D. Andrews, John E. McMahon, Ernest Hinds, George B. Duncan, James McRae, Lucien Grant Berry and Jesse McI.

[1] He was still in command of the regiment until late August 1917, almost five months after the American entry into World War I, when, earlier that month, he received a promotion to the temporary rank of brigadier general and was sent to France to take command of the American Expeditionary Forces's (AEF) School of Instruction, Field Artillery, located in Saumar.

[4] The citation for his Army DSM reads: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Major General Charles Thomas Menoher, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I.

The reputation as a fighting unit of the 42d Division is in no small measure due to the soldierly qualities and the military leadership of General Menoher.