Ira T. Wyche

A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, during World War I he served in the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on the Western Front, and returned to the United States to train artillery students.

He served as Inspector General of the Army from January 1947 to September 1948, during which he investigated charges that John C. H. Lee misused enlisted men under his command in occupied Italy.

[1] His classmates included John P. Lucas, Frederick Gilbreath, Alexander Surles, Thompson Lawrence, Charles P. Hall, Joseph Cowles Mehaffey, Jesse A. Ladd, Gustave H. Franke, James R.N.

Weaver, Herbert Dargue, Philip Bracken Fleming, Harold F. Nichols, Karl Slaughter Bradford, Raymond Albert Wheeler, John R. Homer, Paul W. Baade, and William Henry Harrison Morris Jr.[6] Wyche served from September 1911 to February 1912 at Fort Mason, in California, before he was transferred to the Presidio of Monterey in California.

[7] Upon joining the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on 18 May 1917, Wyche was promoted to the temporary rank of major then lieutenant colonel.

He embarked for France on 22 June 1917, and spent most of his time in the St. Dié sector on the Western Front, before returning to the United States to help train gunners in early August.

[7] He took command of an artillery regiment at Camp Jackson, in South Carolina, from July to December 1918, a month after the Armistice with Germany which ended World War I.

After leaving Camp Jackson, Wyche traveled to Washington, D.C., to work with the Purchase, Storage, and Traffic Division of the War Department.

He also attended the United States Army Field Artillery School and United States Army Command and General Staff College, and at one point commanded the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Field Artillery Regiment.

[5] Wyche left Fort Riley in August 1933 to attend the United States Army War College.

[2] While commanding the 79th Infantry Division, Wyche created a new program for funneling replacement troops into front line units.

This pool repeated most of the checking that new men had received at the forward replacement battalions, including the zeroing of rifles.

[9] While inspector general, he investigated charges raised by newspaper columnist Robert Ruark against Lt. Gen. John C. H. Lee, that he misused enlisted men under his command in occupied Italy.

At West Point in 1911
The shoulder insignia of the 79th Infantry Division, which Major General Ira T. Wyche commanded from 1942−1945
The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill (center), crosses the River Rhine to the east bank, south of Wesel, in an American Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (or Higgins boat) with Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery (left of Churchill), who is talking to U.S. Lieutenant General William H. Simpson , Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke (furthest right) who is standing in front of U.S. Major General Leland Hobbs . To Simpson's right is Major General John B. Anderson , who is talking to Major General Ira T. Wyche. Picture taken on 25 March 1945.