Archer Lynn Lerch (January 12, 1894 - September 11, 1947) was a United States Army officer with the rank of Major general, who served as Provost Marshal General of the Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Early life and career

Lerch was born in

Sumner, Nebraska Sumner is a village in Dawson County, Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri t ...

. He enrolled in the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

, graduating in 1917 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

. Shortly thereafter Lerch was drafted into the

Officers Reserve Corps The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. History Origi ...

and commissioned a Second Lieutenant, assigned to the 63rd Infantry Regiment. He was quickly commissioned to the Regular Army and served with the

American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was a formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I, composed mostly of units from the United States Army, U.S. Army. The AEF was establis ...

in France during 1918. Following the end of World War I, Lerch attained the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

and was stationed in California, the Philippines, and Hawaii. He served as a legal advisor to the Hawaiian

Public Works Administration The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by United States Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was ...

, and was promoted to the rank of

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in August 1935, after which he underwent further infantry training at the U.S. Army's

Command and General Staff School The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

Fort Leavenworth Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...

. He was responsible for the prosecution and court-martial of notorious draft dodger,

Grover Cleveland Bergdoll Grover Cleveland Bergdoll (October 18, 1893 – January 27, 1966) was an American socialite, early aviator, and amateur racing driver, who became notorious as a draft dodger in World War I. He was imprisoned for this in 1920 but soon escaped t ...

World War II

Lerch was promoted to Lieutenant colonel in August 1940. He obtained a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

in 1942 and was subsequently admitted to the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

. After the United States entered World War II, Lerch was assigned to the

Army of the United States The Army of the United States was one of the four major service components of the United States Army. Today, the Army consists of the Regular Army, the Army National Guard of the United States, the Army National Guard while in the service of the ...

and was stationed at

Fort Custer Training Center Fort Custer Training Center, often known simply as Fort Custer, is a federally owned and state-operated Michigan Army National Guard training facility, but is also used by other branches of the armed forces and armed forces from Illinois, Indian ...

, where he was Commandant of the Provost Marshal General School. On June 21, 1944, Lerch became Provost Marshal General of the U.S. Army, a capacity in which he served until December 3, 1945. In recognition for his service as Provost Marshal General, Lerch was awarded the

Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a high award of a nation, state or country. Examples include: *Distinguished Service Medal (Australia) (established 1991), awarded to personnel of the Australian Defence Force for distinguished leadership in act ...

. Following his service as a Provost Marshal, Lerch participated in

Operation Blacklist Forty Operation Blacklist Forty was the codename for the United States occupation of Korea between 1945 and 1948. Following the end of World War II, US forces landed within the present-day South Korea to accept the surrender of the Japanese, and help c ...

, serving with the Eighth Army as the American Military Governor of Korea. While stationed in Korea, Lerch suffered a massive heart attack; he died as a result on September 11, 1947.

References

1894 births 1947 deaths United States military governors of Korea {{Improve categories, date=August 2024