A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, ranked 20th in the class of 1911, Ladd served in the Hawaii and with the Pancho Villa Expedition in Mexico.

Jesse Amos Ladd was born in Bradner, Ohio, on 21 September 1887,[1] the oldest of a large family of seven boys and three girls.

The 4th Division relocated to Camp Lewis, Washington, and on 2 September he transferred to the 21st Infantry Regiment at Fort Douglas, Utah.

He attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,[4] from 19 August 1925 to 19 June 1926, where his classmates included Major Dwight D.

He then served there on the staff of the Fourth United States Army, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 1 August 1935 after 17 years as a major.

He was a student officer at the Army War College from 1 August 1937 to 25 June 1938, and commanded the 1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, from 7 July 1938 to 26 October 1939, and the 15th Infantry Regiment at Fort Lewis, Washington, from 8 December 1939 to 11 August 1941, with the rank of colonel from 1 May 1940,[6] with Eisenhower as his executive officer.

Ladd, who was promoted to brigadier general on 4 August 1941, assumed command of Fort Richardson, Alaska on 4 September 1941.

[9] Ladd's next assignment was as commander of Camp Reynolds and the Army Service Forces Replacement Depot, from 17 December 1943 to 20 February 1945.

[10] Ladd then went to the European Theater of Operations, where he commanded the Western District of the Normandy Base Section from 27 February 1945 to 17 May 1945.

He too reached the rank of colonel, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry in the Korean War.