He attained the rank of lieutenant general and was most notable for his service as a division and corps commander during World War I. William M. Wright was born in Newark, New Jersey, on September 24, 1863,[2] He was the son of Dora Mason and Army Colonel Edward H. Wright a career officer whose service included assignments as aide-de-camp to Generals Winfield Scott and George B.

[7] Wright failed his semiannual exams in December 1882 and left West Point in January 1883, resigning before school authorities took action to dismiss him.

[8] In 1884, Wright joined the New Jersey National Guard, receiving a captain's commission and appointment as aide-de-camp to the commander of the 1st Brigade.

[10] One of the final acts of outgoing President Chester A. Arthur, Wright's controversial commission received nationwide publicity; it was supported by fellow New Jersey resident Frederick T. Frelinghuysen,[11] the U.S. Secretary of State, and opposed by U.S. Secretary of War Robert T. Lincoln, who argued that someone who had not passed the program of instruction at West Point should not receive the same reward as those who had.

Volunteers, he served in Cuba as aide-de-camp to Major General John C. Bates, commander of the 3rd Division.

[32] After the American entry into World War I in April 1917, Wright was promoted to brigadier general and assigned to command the Hoboken, New Jersey Port of Embarkation.

[33] Wright served in France during the second half of 1918, successively commanding the 35th Division,[34] the III,[35] V,[36] and VII Corps.

[37] As VII Corps commander, Wright led the unit while it served under the French Eighth Army in the Vosges Mountains).

[43] Detractors suggested Wright wanted to capture Stenay because it had cachet as the recent headquarters of Prince Rupprecht, a senior commander of German troops.

[57] Pershing also commended Wright's leadership during World War I, as did former Army Chief of Staff Leonard Wood and senior British commander Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).

[61][62][63] In 1942, the U.S. Congress passed legislation allowing retired Army generals to be advanced one rank on the retired list or posthumously if they had been recommended in writing during World War I for a promotion which they did not receive, and if they had received the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross or the Army Distinguished Service Medal.

He commanded in turn the Thirty-fifth Division; the Third, Fifth, and Seventh Army Corps, under the Eighth French Army in the Vosges Mountains, and later commanded the Eighty-ninth Division in the St. Mihiel offensive and in the final operations on the Meuse River, where he proved himself to be an energetic and aggressive leader."