page_title: Stephen J. Chamberlin
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Stephen J. Chamberlin / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: 1942-03-18. Lt. Gen. George H. Brett, Deputy Supreme Commander and Chief of Allied Air Forces in the South West Pacific, with his chief of staff, Brigadier General Stephen Chamberlin.
context_page_description: Stephen Jones Chamberlin was a lieutenant general in the United States Army who served during World War II as General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, the staff officer in charge of plans and operations.
  Born in Spring Hill, Kansas on 23 December 1889, he was a 1912 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. During World War I, he was aide-de-camp to Major General David C. Shanks, the New York Port of Embarkation commander at Hoboken, New Jersey, for which he was one of twelve Army officers who received the Navy Cross.
  After the war, he attended the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and served on the staff of the Chief of Infantry in the War Department. He attended the Army War College and was posted to the staff of the Army's Hawaiian Division at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, as Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3.
  In 1938, he became assistant chief of the Construction Branch in the G-4 Division of War Department General Staff. He became involved in the vast construction program of arsenals, depots, airbases and coastal defenses as the United States rearmed prior to its entry into World War II.
context_section_description: In 1938, Chamberlin became Assistant Chief of the Construction Branch in the G-4 Division of War Department General Staff. At this time, the United States was embarking on a military buildup in response to a worsening international situation, which culminated in the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939. A major component of this build up was a vast construction program of arsenals, depots, airbases and coastal defenses. Some $175 million was allocated to construction under the Expansion Program, as it became known.
  On 7 May 1940, the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-4, Major General Richard C. Moore, G-4 of the War Department General Staff, asked for an estimate of the cost to house an additional 1,200,000 men and balked at the estimate he received of $800 per head. To save on the cost of cantonments, Moore decided not to paint them. Chamberlin disagreed on the grounds that paint would reduce maintenance costs. President Franklin Roosevelt intervened and directed that the buildings be painted. As a result, an order was placed for 96,500 US gallons (365,000 l; 80,400 imp gal) of paint, resulting in an $11 million budget shortfall. Chamberlin was promoted to colonel on 14 February 1941. Commenting after the war on the construction program, he wrote:
  Actually a phenomenal standard was set, one in which all Americans can glory. As far as wasting a few dollars was concerned, the construction effort cannot hold a candle to Lend-Lease, the Marshall Plan, or the Military Assistance Program. Had it not been for the courageous performance of those in charge of the War Department in the emergency, we might well have been defeated, and how then would the expenditure of a few millions have loomed in the long-range picture?
  In January 1942, Chamberlin was appointed Assistant Chief of Staff, G-4, of US Army Forces in Australia, arriving by air from Washington, D.C., on 9 January. He soon became Chief of Staff of US Army Forces in Australia, first under Major General Julian F. Barnes, and then under his successor, Lieutenant General George H. Brett. Chamberlin was promoted to brigadier general on 15 February 1942. General Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia on 17 March to become Supreme Commander of the newly established Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA), which now included the US Army Forces in Australia. On 19 April, MacArthur formally established his General Headquarters (GHQ), and Chamberlin was appointed its Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3.
  As G-3, Chamberlin was one of the most highly rated members of the GHQ staff, although not being part of the "Bataan Gang" – the group of officers who had escaped with MacArthur from the Philippines – made him something of an outsider at GHQ. Chamberlin was responsible for planning and overseeing the execution of MacArthur's major operations, including the New Guinea, Philippines and Borneo campaigns. One member of the staff later recalled:
  Chamberlin, G-3, was an outstanding staff planner: quiet, unassuming, methodical, determined, aggressive in defending his position when challenged. He had a fine sense of timing and integration. He manipulated his three separate planning teams to move down parallel paths toward the same objective, or, when necessary, to move along divergent paths to map out a change of direction. Once an objective had been defined in long-run terms, Chamberlin and his planners set the basic sequence of events. All major commanders participated in the planning process, with Chamberlin coordinating and adjusting to smooth out conflicts. Considering the huge distances involved and the necessity for working in the humid heat of equatorial islands, the performance was stupendous. The apparent ease that characterized the operations reflected the thoroughness of the planning process. On those occasions when MacArthur required a sudden and pressing shift of direction, Chamberlin delivered, not always with great patience. The deadlines were met with a finely turned operational plan.
  Chamberlin jealously guarded his position. In late 1943, Chamberlin differed with one of his planners, 
caption: Lieutenant General George H. Brett (left) with Chamberlin
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