Major General
Horace F. Bigelow

Horace Freeman Bigelow was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on 30 January 1908, the son of a farmer who moved his family to North Westminster, Vermont, when Horace was still quite young. Following graduation from high school and a year and a half at Norwich University, Bigelow entered West Point, where he graduated 12lst in a class of 262 men in June 1932. Assigned to the field artillery, he spent several years as battery officer at Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont, and at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. After recovering from tuberculosis at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, he was sent to the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, which he completed in 1937. He was then detailed as of ficer in charge of the West Point Preparatory School at III Corps Headquarters, Fort McPherson, Georgia, for several years. At Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he spent the years from 1939 to 1942, he rose to the grade of major while serving in a variety of capacities with the 83rd Field Artillery, as battery officer, battery commander, battalion staff officer, and battalion commander.

In March 1942, he was assigned to Ordnance and attended a course at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, after which he completed a short course at the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth. In August 1942, Bigelow became Ordnance Officer for the 102nd Infantry at Camp Maxey, Texas, where in October of that same year, he was made a lieutenant colonel. He subsequently assumed similar duties with the XVIth Corps at Fort Riley, Kansas, in December 1943. From June until August, 1944 Bigelow served as Assistant Ordnance Officer at headquarters, Second Army, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was then placed with the Army Ground Forces Board in the Mediterranean Theatre from August 1944 until February 1945, and then was named Ordnance Supply Officer, Headquarters Peninsular Base Section in Italy from February 1945 until April 1945. He then became commander of the 232nd Base Depot (April to November 1945), where he was promoted to colonel in August 1945; Deputy Ordnance Officer, Peninsular Base Section (November 1945 to January 1946); Chief Officer for the Peninsular Bay Section and Allied Force Headquarters, Mediterranean Theatre of Operations, Italy (Jan uary 1946 to April 1947); and Ordnance Officer, Headquarters, Mediterranean Theatre of Operations (April to November 1947). He had in the meantime reverted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in May 1946.

Returning to the States, Bigelow was named Executive Officer to the Ordnance Board at Aberdeen Proving Ground in November 1947, and in October 1948, Executive Officer to the Commanding General of the Proving Ground. For brief periods, he was successively assistant director, Development and Proof Services, at Aberdeen (January to March 1950), and Chief, Arms and Ammunition Division, Development and Proof Services at the same post (March to September 1950). By September 1950, newly promoted to the rank of full colonel, Bigelow was a student at the Army War College in Washington, and following his graduation in June 1951, he was assigned to the Office, Chief of Ordnance, as Executive Officer for the Field Service Division.

In August 1954, Bigelow was named commander of Letterkenny Ordnance Depot, where he received his first star two months later, and he remained there for a year. In August 1955, General Bigelow was Ordnance Officer at the headquarters of US Army Forces, Far East Eighth Army Rear) in Tokyo, Japan, and in July 1957, he moved up to the post of Ordnance Officer for Headquarters, US Army, Japan, and United Nations Command, Eighth Army in Japan. His final assignment in Japan was as Assistant Chief of Staff, G4, Headquarters US Army, Japan, United Nations Command, Eighth US Army (Rear).

Upon his return to the U.S. in September 1958, General Bigelow became Chief of the Office of Manpower within the Office, Chief of Ordnance, and in December of that year, Assistant Chief of Ordnance for Manpower, a post he held until February 1960. At that time, he was named Deputy Chief of Ordnance, and he was promoted in March of that same year to major general. His tenure as Deputy Chief continued until May 1962. General Bigelow was initially expected to serve as acting Chief of Ordnance when General Hinrichs retired at the end of May 1962, but it was determined that a smoother phasing out of the Office, Chief of Ordnance, would be accomplished if he was given official status as its Chief. He held the position from 1 June until 31 July 1962, during which time he efficiently supervised the proper disposition of records anrl dealt with the final personnel problem associated with the disestablishment of his office.

General Bigelow moved on in August 1962, to become Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics (Programs) within the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics at the Pentagon, a two year assignment which ended with his retirement in the fall of 1964. One year later, in October 1965, General Bigelow was recalled to active duty as Vice Chairman of the Army Logistics Systems Study Group within the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army. This assignment lasted for approximately on year, after which General Bigelow retired for the second time. General Bigelow made his home in Florida. There, his sudden and unexpected death, which resulted from choking on a piece of food, occurred on 14 December 1970, six weeks before his 71st birthday.