John McAuley Palmer (general) - Later Career and World War I

Later Career and World War I

In 1910 he rejoined his regiment in Tientsin (Tianjin) China and was promoted to the permanent rank of major. He was then transferred to the 24th Infantry on Corregidor and was instrumental in creating the plans for the defense of the Bataan Peninsula (1914–1916).

Following this assignment, he returned to the General Staff in Washington, D.C. (1916) and on the outbreak of the First World War was instrumental in drafting the Draft Act of 1917 and plans for an American Expeditionary Force (AEF). This work caught the notice of John J. Pershing, who selected Palmer to become his Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations, G-3, where he went to France and set up operational plans and staff schools for the American Army. He left the AEF staff due to illness, but recovered in time, as a colonel, to command the 58th Infantry Brigade of the 29th Division in combat against the enemy at Verdun in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive that helped to end World War I. He received the Distinguished Service Medal for his service in France.