Question: Who commanded the military body McLaren served in from 1942 to 1945? Passage 1:Like his father, Mellon consistently supported the Republican Party, and he frequently donated to state and local party leaders. Through state party boss Matthew Quay, Mellon influenced legislators to place high tariffs on aluminum products in the McKinley Tariff of 1890. During the early 20th century, Mellon was dismayed by the rise of progressivism and the antitrust actions pursued by the presidential administrations of Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson. He especially opposed the Taft administration's investigations into Alcoa, which in 1912 signed a consent decree rather than going to trial. In the aftermath of World War I, he provided financial support to Henry Cabot Lodge and other Republicans in their successful campaign to prevent ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. Mellon attended the 1920 Republican National Convention as a nominal supporter of Pennsylvania Governor William Cameron Sproul (Mellon hoped Senator Philander Knox would win the nomination), but the convention chose Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio as the party's presidential nominee. Mellon strongly approved of the party's conservative platform, and he served as a key fundraiser for Harding during the presidential campaign.
 Passage 2:He was born at Launceston in Tasmania to draper Alexander Morrison McLaren and Elsie Elizabeth Gibbins. He attended Caulfield Grammar School and then the University of Melbourne, becoming an accountant. In 1938 he embarked on a world tour, returning in 1939. He served in the Royal Australian Navy from 1942 to 1945 and returned to become a partner in the accountancy firm Harris & McLaren. On 16 April 1941 he married Eileen Porter, with whom he had four children. From 1945 to 1947 he was the independent member for Glen Iris in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. Following his defeat he joined the Liberal Party, and served on Malvern City Council from 1951 to 1953. From 1957 to 1963 he was national president of the YMCA, and he served as world vice-president from 1961 to 1969; he was also awarded the OBE in 1959. In 1965 he returned to the Legislative Assembly as the Liberal member for Caulfield, changing seats to Bennettswood in 1967. From 1973 he was Deputy Speaker. McLaren retired from politics in 1979, and died in 2000.
 Passage 3:In 1341, the Byzantine Empire was in a state of turmoil, and despite the restoration of the Empire's capital to Constantinople and the recovery of a measure of its former power by Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282), the policies implemented during his reign had exhausted the state's resources, and the Empire's strength waned under his successor, Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328). During Andronikos II's long reign, the remaining Byzantine possessions in Asia Minor slowly fell to the advancing Turks, most notably the newly established Ottoman emirate. This caused a flood of refugees into Byzantium's European provinces, while at the same time the Catalan Company wrought havoc in the imperial domains. Taxes also rose dramatically to finance tributes to the Empire's enemies. A combination of these failures and personal ambition moved the Emperor's grandson and heir, the young Andronikos III Palaiologos, to revolt. Supported by a group of young aristocrats led by John Kantakouzenos and Syrgiannes Palaiologos, Andronikos III deposed his grandfather after a series of conflicts during the 1320s. Although successful in removing the old Emperor from power, the war did not augur well for the future, as the Empire's neighbours—the Serbs, Bulgarians, Turks, Genoese and Venetians—took advantage of Byzantine infighting to gain territory or expand their influence within the Empire.

Output: 2