Walter Bedell Smith - Between The Wars

Between The Wars

The staff of the 2nd Infantry moved to Fort Sheridan, Illinois, in 1921. In 1922, Smith became aide de camp to Brigadier General George Van Horn Moseley, the commander of the 12th Infantry Brigade at Fort Sheridan. From 1925 to 1929 Smith worked as an assistant in the Bureau of the Budget. He then served a two-year tour of duty overseas on the staff of the 45th Infantry at Fort William McKinley in the Philippines. After nine years as a first lieutenant, he was promoted to captain in September 1929.

Returning to the United States, Smith reported to the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, in March 1931. Upon graduation in June 1932, he stayed on as an instructor in the Weapons Section, where he was responsible for demonstrating weapons like the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle. In 1933 he was sent to the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Afterward, he returned to the Infantry School but was detached again to attend the Army War College, from which he graduated in 1937. He returned to the Infantry School once more, where he was promoted to major on 1 January 1939 after nine years as a captain. Such slow promotion was common in the Army in the 1920s and 1930s. Officers like Smith who were commissioned between November 1916 and November 1918 made up 55.6 percent of the Army's officers in 1926. Promotions were usually based on seniority, and the modest objective of promoting officers to major after seventeen years of service could not be met owing to a shortage of posts for them to fill.