James Benjamin Lampert (April 16, 1914 – July 10, 1978) was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

, Superintendent of the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

(1963–1966), and early pioneer of nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Lampert was General Leslie Groves' executive officer as part of the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ...

after

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 ...

.Tucker, pp. 93-94 Lampert was a grandson of Wisconsin U.S. representative Florian Lampert.

Early life and education

Born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, on April 16, 1914, Lampert was the son of Lt. Col. James G. B. Lampert, USMA 1910, who died in January 1919 while serving with the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe. He spent his childhood in

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, where his mother moved after his father died. He received an appointment to

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

as a member of the class of 1936. Upon graduating 36th in his class of 276, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the

Field Artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support army, armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the ear ...

branch, but within a year transferred to the

Engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

branch. He studied civil engineering at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

, earning his MS in 1939. His thesis was entitled ''A Study of Methods of Determining Flood Damages and of Evaluating Flood Control Benefits'' and his advisor was Harold K. Barrows.

Early military career

With the onset of

, Lampert was assigned to the South Pacific where he commanded an engineer aviation battalion in the Fiji Islands and

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

. In January 1944 he became the XIV Corps chief engineer, where he participated in the invasion of Luzon, Philippines, and the subsequent liberation of Manila in March 1945. During the war, Lampert was awarded the

Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against a ...

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

, and Bronze Star. Following the war, Lampert joined the Air Force's Special Weapons Project and became the executive officer to

Leslie R. Groves, who was chief of the

(1947–1949).

Senior military career

Lampert was the chief district engineer in the

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

, and

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

, districts from 1949 to 1952. He returned to the field of nuclear energy in 1952, he became the Officer-in-Charge of the joint Nuclear Power Program. In 1957, Lampert attended the

National War College In the United States, the National War College (NWC) is a school within the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. History The National ...

. He then was assigned to

Saigon, Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

, where he became Deputy Chief for Logistics for the Military Assistance Advisory Group-Vietnam (later MACV). After his tour in Vietnam, Lampert was assigned to the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

as the director of military construction at the Office of the Chief of Engineers, a post he held until assuming command at West Point in as the 46th Superintendent (1963–1966). After leaving the academy, Lampert was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower (1966–1968). In 1969 he became the commanding general and high commissioner of the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

and commanding general of IX Corps until his retirement in 1972.

Post military

Lampert became vice president for Resource Development at MIT in 1972. He was a member of the Board of Directors of West Point's Association of Graduates (AOG) and became AOG's president in 1978. Lampert contracted cancer and died at

Walter Reed Army Medical Center The Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC), officially known as Walter Reed General Hospital (WRGH) until 1951, was the United States Army, U.S. Army's flagship medical center from 1909 to 2011. Located on in Washington, D.C., it served more ...

in Washington, D.C., in 1978.

Personal

Lampert married Margery Frances "Gerri" Mitchell on June 26, 1937, at the Military Academy Cadet Chapel. Her father was Brig. Gen. William A. Mitchell. Their first child Margery Katharine died four months after birth. They later had two sons and another daughter. Lampert is buried with his wife and infant daughter at the

West Point Cemetery West Point Cemetery is a historic cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, West Point, New York (state), New York. It overlooks the Hudson River, and served as a burial ground for Continental Army s ...

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lampert, James Benjamin 1914 births 1978 deaths United States Military Academy alumni Military personnel from Washington, D.C. United States Army Corps of Engineers personnel MIT School of Engineering alumni American civil engineers United States Army personnel of World War II Recipients of the Silver Star National War College alumni Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War United States Army generals Superintendents of the United States Military Academy Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Deaths from cancer in Washington, D.C. Burials at West Point Cemetery 20th-century American academics