Walter Short

Walter Campbell Short
Major General Walter C. Short
Born	March 30, 1880 Alton, Illinois, U.S.
Died	March 9, 1949(1949-03-09) (aged 68) Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1902–1942
Rank	Major general
Commands held	1st Infantry Division I Corps Hawaiian Department
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Army Distinguished Service Medal

Walter Campbell Short (March 30, 1880 – March 9, 1949) was a lieutenant general in the United States Army and the U.S. military commander responsible for the defense of U.S. military installations in Hawaii at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Short was born in 1880 in Fillmore, Illinois. The son of a doctor, he graduated from the University of Illinois in 1901.

He was commissioned a second lieutenant on March 13, 1902, and assigned duty at the Presidio of San Francisco. He served in the Philippines and later Alaska, and took part in the expedition into Mexico with the 16th Infantry Regiment in 1916. During World War I, he served on the general staff of the 1st Division and as assistant chief of staff for the 3rd Army. After the war, Short became a member of the War Department General staff and served with the Far Eastern section of the Military Intelligence Division until 1924. He then attended the Army War College and after graduation served as a staff school instructor. Short commanded the 1st Division at Fort Hamilton, New York, from 1938 to 1940, before commanding the 4th Army Corps and the 1st Army Corps. General George Marshall appointed him to the Hawaiian command on February 8, 1941. He earned the Distinguished Service Medal and was considered to have had a successful career at that time, especially in light of his promotions during peacetime.

On December 17, 1941, General Short was removed from command of the U.S. Army's Hawaiian Department as a result of the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian Islands. Short was ordered back to Washington, D.C. by Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall. In disgrace, he was reduced in rank from his temporary rank of lieutenant general to his permanent rank of major general, since his temporary rank was contingent on his command. In 1942 after he retired from the Army, he headed the traffic department at a Ford Motor Company plant in Dallas, Texas. He retired in 1946 and died in 1949 in Dallas of chronic heart ailment.