caption serviceyears laterwork branch commands death_date death_place birth_place allegiance awards placeofburial_label battles birth_date rank image article_title name
general frank s. besson , jr. 1932 & ndash ; 1970 director , national rail passenger corporation united states army military railway service transportation corps u.s. army materiel command 15 july 1985 walter reed army medical center detroit , michigan united states of america distinguished -lrb- 2 -rrb- service medal -lrb- 3 -rrb- legion of merit place of burial world war ii 30 may 1910 30px general frank besson.jpg frank s. besson , jr. .
 frank s. besson , jr.
frank s. besson , jr. .

frank schaffer besson , jr. , cbe -lrb- may 30 , 1910 -- july 15 , 1985 -rrb- was born on may 30 , 1910 in detroit , michigan .
his father was a west point graduate and a colonel in the corps of engineers .
frank s. besson , jr. graduated seventh in his class from the united states military academy in 1932 .
in 1935 , he received a master 's degree from the massachusetts institute of technology .
his early career was noted for the role he played in the development of portable military pipelines , steel landing mats for airplanes , and steel treadway bridges .
he is credited with the studies leading to the army 's adoption of the bailey bridge , used extensively in all theaters in world war ii .
he became assistant director of the third military railway service -lrb- with rank of lieutenant colonel -rrb- in 1943 , and was promoted to director -lrb- with rank of colonel -rrb- the following year .
as director of the third military railway service in iran from 1944 to 1945 , besson ensured the flow of war materials to the russian forces through the persian corridor .
he was promoted to brigadier general , becoming , at 34 , the youngest general officer in the army ground forces and chief of the railway division .
toward the end of world war ii , he was deputy chief transportation officer of the army forces in the western pacific and , when japan 's collapse was imminent , assumed full control of railroads in japan .
during the first year of occupation , general besson directed the rehabilitation of the japanese rail system , moving more than 200,000 troops and 150,000 tons of supplies in the first two months .
subsequent assignments included a tour as assistant chief of staff , supreme headquarters allied powers europe -lrb- shape -rrb- , where general besson formulated logistics plans and overall programs to meet the complex requirements of the fifteen nations of the nato alliance .
his efforts in instituting a system for `` costing out '' five-year programs , thereby bringing force goals into consonance with available resources , earned him the first distinguished service medal to be awarded at shape headquarters .
general besson stimulated both military and commercial adoption of containerization and improved water terminal practices .
he introduced the roll-on/roll-off technique for the rapid loading and discharge of wheeled and tracked vehicles .
he further refined these concepts upon assuming command of the transportation center and school at fort eustis , virginia in 1953 .
general besson was the chief of transportation , u.s. army from march 1958 until april 2 , 1962 , when he took charge of the u.s. army materiel command .
general besson was the first commander of the army materiel command , formed in 1962 during a major army reorganization .
during his command , the mammoth logistical organization , with an annual budget exceeding $ 14 billion and an inventory of $ 21 billion , employed more than 160,000 civilian personnel , in addition to its military complement of 14,000 .
as the first amc commander , general besson was charged with consolidating six army technical service organizations into a single command without disrupting effective materiel support for the army .
his success resulted in his receiving the merit award of the armed forces management association in 1963 .
on may 27 , 1964 , 53-year-old frank besson became the 75th officer in the u.s. army 's 189-year history to wear the four stars of a full general .
he was the first army officer to achieve that rank as head of a logistical organization in peacetime .
in march 1969 , general besson left amc to become chairman of the joint logistics review board , formed to review logistic activities in support of the vietnam war .
he retired in july 1970 and was promptly recalled to active duty to establish procedures to implement the board 's recommendation .
he permanently retired in october 1970 .
while in retirement , general besson was nominated by president richard m. nixon as one of the founding directors of the national rail passenger corporation , which ran amtrak .
he was also director of the services national bank in alexandria and of ecr international .
on july 15 , 1985 , general besson died of cancer at walter reed army medical center .
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&grid=47293817 .
his awards and decorations include the army distinguished service medal with two oak leaf clusters , the legion of merit with one oak leaf cluster , the iranian order of homayoun , honorary commander of the order of the british empire , and the republic of korea 's order of military merit , second class -lrb- ulchi -rrb- .
