Charles Thomas Menoher was born on March 20, 1862, in Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Samuel M. Menoher and Sarah Jane Young Menoher. He was first married to Nannie Wilhelmina Pearson Menoher and later to Elizabeth Painter Menoher. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1886, earning a commission in the artillery.

During the Spanish-American War, he served in Cuba and the Philippines. He later graduated from the Army War College and became a member of the original General Staff Corps, serving from 1903 to 1907. From 1916 to 1917, he commanded the 5th Field Artillery Regiment. After the United States entered World War I, Menoher was promoted to brigadier general in August 1917 and sent to France to command the American Expeditionary Forces’ Field Artillery School at Saumur. In December, he was selected by General Pershing to take command of the 42nd “Rainbow” Division, succeeding Major General William A. Mann. He led the division for nearly ten months, overseeing its combat operations on the Western Front, including the Champagne-Marne offensive, and the major offensives at Saint-Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne. In November 1918, he was succeeded by Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur. As the war drew to a close, Menoher was placed in command of VI Corps.

After the war, he became the first Director and later Chief of the Air Service, where he engaged in a well-known dispute with his assistant, Billy Mitchell, over the future of military aviation. Promoted to major general in 1921, he later commanded the Hawaiian Division and then the Hawaiian Department. He went on to lead the IX Corps Area in San Francisco before retiring in 1926. He died of pneumonia on August 11, 1930, at the age of 68, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His legacy is honored through places such as Menoher Boulevard in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and Menoher Drive at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, both named in his honor.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, en.wikipedia.org