Myron Cady Cramer (1881–1966) was a U.S. Army

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

who served as Judge Advocate General 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 ...

when the Judge Advocate General's Department underwent an unprecedented expansion to meet wartime needs and was reorganized.

Early years

Cramer was born in

Portland, Connecticut Portland ( ) is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region, Connecticut, Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region. The population was 9,38 ...

on November 6, 1881. He attended

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

where he obtained an A.B. degree in 1904, he then entered

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, receiving the LL.B. in 1907. Cramer entered the practice of law in

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, spending three years on the legal staff of a large insurance company. In 1910 he moved to Tacoma, Washington, where, for a time, he engaged in the general practice of law and then served as Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Pierce County.

Further life

During that time he joined the Washington National Guard as a private, and was commissioned a second lieutenant of

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

in November 1911. In 1916, while still serving as the deputy county prosecutor, Cramer was called into active service for Mexican border duty. This service concluded, he returned to the prosecuting attorney's office for a brief period before the Guard was again federalized for

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. First stationed at

Camp Greene Camp Greene was a United States Army facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, during the early 20th century. In 1917, both the 3rd Infantry Division (United States), 3rd Infantry Division and the 4th Infantry Division (United States) ...

, North Carolina, Cramer went overseas in January 1918 as a captain with the 41st division. While in France he attended the General Staff College at Langres. Upon his graduation in June 1918 he rejoined the 41st Division as Assistant Chief of Staff. Awarded the Ordre de l'Etoile Noir of France for his

World War A world war is an international War, conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World War I ...

service, Cramer returned to the United States in July 1919 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Cramer then resumed his civilian practice in Tacoma for about a year, but in July 1920 accepted a commission as a major in the Judge Advocate General's Department. As a member of the Regular Army he first served as judge advocate of the 3d Division and later the 4th Division at Fort Lewis, Washington. Other assignments took him 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 assistant professor of military law-at the United States Military Academy, and to

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

as judge advocate of the Philippine Department. Returning from Manila, General Cramer became chief of the Contracts Division, JAGO, which office he held until he became The Judge Advocate General on December 1, 1941. Called to the Army's top legal post only days before Pearl Harbor, General Cramer presided over the immense expansion of the Judge Advocate General's Department necessitated by

. The proportions of this expansion are reflected by corps strengths: there were 190 judge advocates in the Army in 1941. By 1945 there were 2,162. The workload increased tremendously on all fronts, and new areas of endeavor were undertaken. In the field of military justice, alone, more than 82,000 general court-martial records were reviewed. During the war years, General Cramer briefly returned to the practice of his predecessors by serving as co-prosecutor of the German saboteurs who landed in Florida and Long Island by submarine in 1942. He was the first Judge Advocate General to serve in this kind of tribunal since the 1860s. The Army joined with the Department of Justice with General Cramer prosecuting for the Army and Francis Biddle for the Justice Department. After World War II General Cramer retired to private practice in Washington, D.C., but was recalled to active duty in 1946 to act as the United States member of the 11-nation

International Military Tribunal for the Far East The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial and the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on 29 April 1946 to Criminal procedure, try leaders of the Empire of Japan for their cri ...

for disposition of Japanese war crimes, after the resignation of John Patrick Higgins. Upon conclusion of the war crimes trials he returned to his practice. General Cramer died on March 25, 1966, in Washington, D.C.

References

External links

* https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/lawyer.pdf
Generals of World War II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cramer, Myron 1881 births 1966 deaths People from Portland, Connecticut Wesleyan University alumni Harvard Law School alumni Military personnel from Connecticut Judge advocates general of the United States Army Judges of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East United States Army personnel of World War I United States Army generals United States Army generals of World War II