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Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless .380 ACP - Issued to Major General Wallace Copeland Philoon

Colt Model M .380 ACP serial number 135657 issued to Major General Wallace C. Philoon.

Major General Wallace Copeland Philoon was born in Auburn, Maine, on October 13, 1883. He was a graduate of Edward Little High School, Auburn, Maine. He received a A.B. degree from Bowdoin College as a member of the class of 1905, a B.S. degree from the United States Military Academy in 1909. He played center on the football team, he was captain his last year and served as a coach for three years following his graduation. He was a graduate of the Army War College, the Infantry School, advanced course, and a distinguished graduate of the Command and General Staff School. He was an instructor at the Command and General Staff School from 1929 to 1933 and received an honorary M.S. degree from Bowdoin College in 1944.

For his military service, General Philoon served in Hawaii from 1914 to 1917 and in China from 1919 to 1923. As commanding officer of the Army post at Zamboanga, Philippine Islands in 1934-35, General Philoon served on the War Department General Staff from 1936 to 1940. He later went to the Panama Canal Zone as Commander of the 14th Infantry Regiment and in 1941 became chief of staff of the Panama Canal Department, under Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews. He became commander of the Infantry Replacement Training Center at Fort McClellan, Alabama in April, 1942. In 1944, General Philoon was promoted to deputy commander of the Alaskan Department. His decorations include the Legion of Merit and Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster.

Major General Philoon was elected and served as an Overseer of Bowdoin College from 1941 to 1960, and he received Bowdoin's Alumni Achievement Award in 1948. General Philoon retired to Brunswick, Maine and lived for many years on McKeen Street until his death on January 16, 1970.
 

Accompanying General Philoon's pistol is the original brown WWII holster.

Philoon, Wallace C. BG, Pistol Auto Cal .380, Shipped to: Fort McClellan, Ala. 9/26/44 5B-3398 - Original RIA index card with record of issue.

USMA Howitzer Yearbook Class of 1909 - Wallace C. Philoon, Auburn, Maine (right side)

[Source: New York Times, 01-Dec-1908]

 

FS94230..WATCH YOUR CREDIT..INTERNATIONAL NEWS PHOTOS SLUG..(MAJOR TRUESDELL GRP)

December 17, 1941 - NEW DEPUTY COMMANDER OF PANAMA CANAL DEPARTMENT

BALBOA, CANAL ZONE....NEWLY APPOINTED DEPUTY COMMANDER OF THE PANAMA CANAL DEPARTMENT, MAJOR GENERAL KARL TRUESDELL (CENTER) IS PICTURED UPON HIS ARRIVAL HERE RECENTLY. ON THE LEFT IS BRIG. GENERAL WALLACE PHILOON, CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE CARIBBEAN DEFENSE COMMAND ANd ON THE RIGHT IS BRIG. GENERAL HARRY C. INGLES, SIGNAL OFFICER OF THE CARIBBEAN DEFENSE COMMAND.

Gen. Philoon Deputy Commander in Alaska - Brig. Gen. Wallace C. Philoon has succeeded Brig. Gen. Frank L. Whittaker as deputy commander of the Alaskan Department, according to an announcement.  Gen, Philoon recently was a visitor in this city, leaving several weeks ago to assume his new command.  His wife is spending some time with her sister, Mrs. Walter F. Martin, North Court street.  Gen Philoon is a former chief of staff of the Caribbean Defense Command and former commanding general in the Infantry Replacement Training Center at Fort McClellan, Ala. where he was stationed prior to his Alaskan assignment.

[Source: The News, Frederick, MD, 4-Septermber-1944]

[Source: Lewiston Evening Journal 06 Sep 1944]

Brig. Gen Wallace Philoon Appointed Deputy Commander Of Alaskan Department

HEADQUARTERS, ALASKAN DEPARTMENT – Brig. Gen. Wallace C. Philoon, of Auburn, Maine, former chief of staff of the Carribean Defense Command and commanding general of the Infantry Replacement Training Center at Fort McClellan, Ala., has succeeded Brig. Gen. Frank L. Whittaker as deputy commander of the Alaskan Department, it was announced recently by Lt. Gen. Delos C. Emmons, Alaskan Department commander.

Commanding officer of the Army post at Zamboanga, Philippine Islands in 1934-35, General Philoon served on the War Department General Staff from 1936 to 1940. He later went to the Panama Canal Zone as Commander of the 14th Infantry Regiment and in 1941 became chief of staff of the Panama Canal Department, under Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews. He became commander of the Infantry Replacement Training Center at Fort McClellan in April, 1942, where he had served until his present assignment. General Philoon also served in Hawaii from 1914 to 1917 and in China from 1919 to 1923.

General Philoon is a graduate of Edward Little High School, Auburn, Bowdoin College and also the U.S. Military Academy at West Point where he was a classmate of General Emmons. He played center on the football team, he was captain his last year and served as a coach for three years following his graduation. He is a graduate of the Army War College, the Infantry School, advanced course, and a distinguished graduate of the Command and General Staff School. He was an instructor at the Command and General Staff School from 1929 to 1933.

General Philoon’s wife lives at Frederick, Maryland, and his only son, Wallace C. Philoon, Jr., was recently inducted into the army from Bowdoin College where he was a student. He is not stationed at Camp Wheeler, Georgia.

His brother, James Philoon, is Androscoggin County clerk of courts.

The new assignment for General Whittaker, who recently was awarded the Legion of Merit for performance of outstanding service during his tour of duty in Alaska, has not been announced. General Whittaker, who was appointed deputy commander early in 1943, was cited for the part he played in directing the supply and transportation of several large task forces during the Aleutian campaign.
[Source: Lewiston Evening Journal 06 Sep 1944]

 

Brigadier General Wallace C. Philoon receives Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster, 1944.

Legion of Merit

SYNOPSIS: Major General Wallace Copeland Philoon, United States Army, was awarded the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Commanding General Infantry Replacement Training Center, Fort McClellan, Alabama, from 1941 to 1944.
Action Date: 1941 - 1944

Service: Army

Rank: Major General

 

Legion of Merit

Awarded for actions during the World War II

(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Major General Wallace Copeland Philoon, United States Army, was awarded a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Second Award of the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Deputy Commanding General Alaskan Department, from 1944 to 1945.
Action Date: 1944 - 1945

Service: Army

Rank: Major General

Company: Deputy Commanding General

Division: Alaskan Department

The Lewiston Daily Sun
Tuesday Morning, September 11, 1945

TRUEMAN WANTS PHILOON RAISED
President Nominates Auburn Man for Major General

Brigadier General Wallace C. Philoon was nominated for promotion to Major general, yesterday, by President Truman. Another Maine man among six named for that rank by the President was Frank E. Lowe of Portland, a reserve officer and executive to the Senate War Investigating Committee. The local man is a Regular Army officer with 36 years of service. He has held executive positions in the Caribbean and Alaska areas as well as in continental United States during World War Two.

WON LEGION OF MERIT

General Philoon was born in Auburn and graduated from Bowdoin College and West Point, the latter in 1909. In 1944, while commander of the Infantry Replacement Training Center at Fort McClellan, Ala., he won the Legion of Merit medal for "unusual foresight and forceful leadership." Early in the war he was chief of staff of the Caribbean Defense Command, and after the service at Fort McClellan he was deputy commander of the Alaskan Department.

In 1942 General Philoon was named an overseer of Bowdoin College. His brother, James E. Philoon, is Androscoggin County Clerk.

General Lowe, an artillery captain in World War One, lived in Maine form 1921 until he went back to the Army in 1940. In 1933, he retired from the presidency of he Kennebec Wharf and Coal Co. of Portland and Bath. He later was executive secretary of the Associated Industries of Maine. He is a native of Springfield, Mass.

 

Wallace C. Philoon (Photo ca. 1947-49)
 

Wallace C Philoon, Maine, Major General Infantry, World Was I & II LM & OLC, Oct 13, 1883 - Jan 16, 1970,
Buried at the Mount Auburn Cemetery, Auburn, Maine

 

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