George Henry McManus was born December 23, 1867, in Hudson, Iowa.

[1] He graduated with a degree from Iowa State Teachers College, and then entered the United States Military Academy and graduated number nine of fifty-one in the class of 1893.

He served in the China Relief Expedition and the Philippine–American War, as well as in the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Philippines.

[2] During World War I, he was a troop movement officer at the port of embarkation in Hoboken, New Jersey.

For his performance of this duty, he received the Distinguished Service Medal and the Navy Cross.