Military Service
During World War II, Bill Jackson (II) served in the United States Army (1942–1945) as an intelligence officer on the staff of General Omar Bradley in 1944-45. At the urging of Tommy Hitchcock, a friend and famous polo player, Bill Jackson had entered military service as a commissioned 'Captain' in the Army-Air Corps working in air intelligence. After graduating from Air Intelligence School at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Jackson was assigned to the headquarters of the Army Air Force Anti-Submarine Command which operated under the control of the Navy's Eastern Sea Frontier.
According to Montague's World War Two historical account "...Captain Jackson had the temerity to produce an analysis of the effectiveness of anti-submarine warfare as it was then being conducted off the U.S. East Coast. He showed that it was a dismal failure and urged that the Army units involved be sent to reinforce the Royal Air Force Coastal Command for a concerted attack on the German submarines at their source in the Bay of Biscay. Captain Jackson's paper infuriated the U.S. Navy, from Admirial King on down, but it delighted the Army Air Force. Jackson was reassigned to be Assistant Military Air Attache in London, in liaison with the Costal Command. His recommendation was eventually carried out, although it took the personal intervention of the Secretary of War to over come the bitter opposition of the Navy."
Jackson achieved the rank of full 'Colonel' in the Army Air Force and served as 'Deputy G-2' under Brigadier General Edwin Sibert ('G-2') at Headquarters, 12th Army Group, SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces) on General Bradley's staff.
Read more about this topic: William Harding Jackson
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