Major General
Gunnar C. Carlson
Major General Gunnar C. Carlson was born on September 19, 1908 in Moline, Illinois. He graduated from the United States Military Academy with the class of 1931 and was commissioned into the Infantry Branch.
His early Infantry assignments included command of a Civilian Conservation Corps camp in northern Wisconsin. After completing the Infantry Course at Fort Benning and a second company command, in the summer of 1940, then-Captain Carlson was approached by senior technical service officers asking him to accept a detail into the Ordnance Corps. Three years later, he made it permanent and transferred to the Ordnance Branch in February 1943.
After some education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Aberdeen Proving Ground, Carlson briefly served as the Executive Officer for the Ordnance Non-Commissioned Officer School at Raritan Arsenal, NJ, in late 1940. Following this, he was promoted to Major and given command of the Ordnance Unit Training Center at Savanna Army Depot, Illinois, from 1940 to 1942. In 1942, Carlson was promoted to lieutenant colonel and tasked to establish and operate a new Unit Training Center at the Mississippi Ordnance Plant in Flora, Mississippi. His training regimen received praise from his superiors due to the realistic situations he established.
In early 1944, the Chief of Ordnance selected Carlson to become one of four Lieutenant Colonels sent to Detroit Arsenal to sort out the problem of spare parts shortages and overages in Ordnance units and depots around the world. In November 1944, Carlson remained in Detroit as a Deputy Chief at the Detroit Arsenal in charge of Stock Control and was promoted to Colonel.
In June 1945, Carlson received orders to the Pacific Theater in preparation for the invasion of Japan. However, by the time he reported to the 5th Replacement Command in Manila, the two atomic bombs had been dropped and Japan had surrendered. He arrived in Japan on September 25, 1945. He began as Chief of Staff, Kobe and Kyushu Bases. In 1946, he became the Ordnance Supply Officer for 8th Army and was later given command of the 229th Ordnance Base Depot near Yokohama. He found that much of his responsibility was in destroying Japanese ammunition stocks as well as the collection, inventory and shipment of discarded American equipment back to the United States.
After a year at the Naval War College, Carlson received orders to Rock Island Arsenal in 1949. He served as Arsenal Production Officer involved in the development of the T44E4, which became the M-14 Rifle. During the Korean War, Carlson returned to Aberdeen Proving Ground as the Deputy Commander for the Ordnance Training Command. In late 1953, Carlson was assigned to the Ordnance Tank Automotive Center to become the Chief of the Field Service Division.
After an assignment in the Office of the Chief of Ordnance as Chief of the Program Coordination Division, he was sent to South Vietnam as a Deputy Chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group for Logistics. Arriving in Saigon in January 1957, Carlson was one of three American flag officers in South Vietnam charged with the mission of advising the Army of South Vietnam. Brigadier General Carlson often briefed President Diem on logistics issues.
Returning to Washington, D.C. in late 1958, Carlson became the Assistant Chief of Ordnance, Industrial, Office of the Chief of Ordnance. Following promotion to Major General in 1960, Carlson retired on July 31, 1962. Major General Gunnar C. Carlson died on April 13, 1983.