Major General
Amos A. Fries

Major General Amos A. Fries was born in Wisconsin on March 17, 1873 and graduated from the Untied States Military Academy in 1898.

He was instrumental as an engineer lieutenant fighting in the Philippines in 1901 under Captain (later General) John J. Pershing. General Fries organized America's first gas service as part of the American Expeditionary Force in France in 1917, and directed its activities through the 1918 campaigns.

In 1919, as a Brigadier General, he headed the Chemical Warfare Service, Overseas Division. Most of that division was organized as the First Gas Regiment (originally the 30th Engineers), which conducted extensive gas, smoke, and incendiary operations in the American sectors of the Western Front in World War I.

Upon activation of the permanent Chemical Warfare Service on July 1, 1920, General Fries became its first peacetime Chief, remaining in that capacity until his retirement in 1929. As one of the founding fathers of the U.S. Army Chemical Corps, General Fries was the first Chemical officer to be inducted into the Ordnance Hall of Fame.