Major General
Horace F. Bigelow

Major General Horace F. Bigelow was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts on January 30, 1908 and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1932.

During World War II, he commanded the 232nd Ordnance Base Depot which provided logistical support to the U.S. Fifth Army.

After World War II, he served as Executive Officer to the Assistant Chief of Ordnance, Field Service. Through his efforts, this office, the controlling activity for the supply and maintenance of Ordnance, was modernized and the numerous problems associated with the early phases of the Korean Conflict were manageable.

He then commanded the U.S. Army Letterkenny Ordnance Depot and was later assigned as the Ordnance Officer and G-4 of Headquarters, U.S. Army Forces, Far East-Eighth Army.

In 1958, he was reassigned to the Office Chief of Ordnance and served as Assistant Chief of Ordnance Manpower. He was appointed Deputy Chief of Ordnance in 1960, and in June 1962, was appointed Chief of Ordnance.

In August 1962, he was reassigned as the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics. In this position, he was in charge of Procurement Equip­ment and Missiles Army programs. His tenure was intended to be as Acting Chief of the Ordnance Department in its final phase. However, it became necessary to appoint him Chief to effect a smooth phase-out of the Office Chief of Ordnance into the operations of a new Army Organization. Thus, he became the last Chief of Ordnance until the office was reinstituted in 1985.

He properly disposed of records and handled the final personnel matters of the Ordnance Department. General Bigelow retired on October 31, 1964, and was recalled to active duty on October 1, 1965, to become the Vice Chairman of the Army Logistics Systems Study Group, subsequently known as the Army Logistics Survey Board. General Bigelow died in 1978.