Major General
Levin H. Campbell Jr.

Levin Hicks Campbell, Jr., was born on 23 November 1886 in Washington, D.C. He has the distinction of having been the only Chief of Ordnance to have graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy (in June 1909). Upon graduation, Campbell resigned from the Navy to accept a position with United States Steel. He relinquished his post after nearly two and a half years to reenter military service. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army's Coast Artillery Corps in December 1911, serving initially at Fort Monroe, Virginia, and at Fort Frant, Canal Zone. From 1915 until the spring of 1918, Campbell, by then a first lieutenant, participated in the first officer training camp program at Plattsburgh, New York.

Campbell's first ordnance duty came as a captain in April 1918, when he was assigned as assistant in the Motor Carriage Section, Artillery Division, Manufacturing Service, Office, Chief of Ordnance in Washington. Rising within months to lieutenant colonel, he soon became Chief of the section. Here he was primarily concerned with the engineering development of self-propelled gun mounts and ordnance automotive vehicles. Campbell reverted to the rank of major in July 1920. For the next three years, he was concerned with the study of artillery materiel production. He first worked under Pliny Holt, an early and renowned automotive engineer, in the latter's plant in Stockton, California, where Campbell was involved in the development of engineering processes.

This work was then continued at Aberdeen Proving Ground until the fall of 1923. At Aberdeen, Major Campbell served as proof officer in charge of tanks, tractors, self­propelled mounts, and mobile artillery. Later in 1923, Campbell began a tour of duty at Rock Island Arsenal, where he inaugurated new manufacturing techniques in the production of gun carriages and self­propelled fighting vehicles. There he instituted operational procedures and adopted production methods which quickly transformed the arsenal's manufacturing system to meet the pressing demands upon the Ordnance Department at a time when fiscal support was most meager. Here he began to develop his reputation as a military engineer.

Following his assignment at Rock Island, he spent a tour in the Office, Chief of Ordnance, where he was primarily concerned with the design and procurement of tanks. He then returned to Rock Island Arsenal and continued with the work he had instituted there earlier. Promoted to lieutenant colonel in August 1935, he was transferred in that same year to Frankfort Arsenal. There he revolutionized artillery ammunition production in several of its most important aspects, including the machining of shell casings, the manufacture of cartridge cases, and the production of mechanical time fuses. By applying mass production methods to the manufacturing of shells and mechanical fuses, he paved the way for the expansion of the ordnance industry during World War II.

Promoted two grades, Campbell was made a temporary brigadier general in October 1940. He was given responsibility for building ordnance plants around the country, particularly for the production of chemicals and explosives and the loading of ammunition. Most were built by the government and operated under contract for the Ordnance Department by qualified and specially selected civilian company executives who had demonstrated organizational and management ability. On 1 January 1942, the value of these highly efficient operations was placed at approximately $3.5 billion. In January 1942, named Assistant Chief of Ordnance, General Campbell was placed in charge of all industrial production. By the spring of 1942, he had been promoted to major general.

In June 1942, General Campbell was named Chief of Ordnance. Among his major accomplishments in that post was the development of what the General later termed the Industry-Ordnance Team. He was concerned from the outset about productivity. He went on record with the statement that "whenever a member of the Ordnance Department, regardless of rank, encounters 'red tape' in conducting our business: throw the red tape out the window! Accept that please, as a definite General Order." During World War II, General Campbell was responsible for the streamlining of materiel production methods. Until General Campbell devoted his talents to this area, improvements in manufacturing techniques had progressed only to a limited degree. To do this, General Campbell brought in some of the best people from science and industry. Costs were also reduced. TNT, for example, which had run as much as 55 cents per pound during World War I and about 29 cents per pound at the time of Pearl Harbor, cost but 6 cents per pound by the close of World War II. The unit cost of the so-called "tommy gun" dropped from around $90 at the war's onset to approximately $21. Other production costs were cut by anywhere from 25 to 68 percent.

While it is true that these reductions were in part due to the greater quantities of ordnance produced and utilized during the years from 1941 through 1945, more efficient production methods also played a role. The development, production, and maintenance of Army Ordnance became a $30 billion-dollar-a-year industry during World War II. By decentralizing his department's administrative structure, a necessary step in light of his world-wide responsibilities, General Campbell was able to overcome many of the unprecedented difficulties faced by ordnance personnel during the war.

From August until November 1945, General Campbell was on temporary duty as deputy to the Director of War Mobilization and conversion. Given the temporary rank of lieutenant general in April 1946, General Campbell was retired as a major general in May 1946. He was, however, advanced to the grade of lieutenant general on the retired list in June 1948. Following his retirement in 1946 , he was appointed Vice President and later Executive Vice President of the International Harvester Company. He also served as board chairman or director for six other firms. Between 1953 and 1955, General Campbell was the president of the American Ordnance Association. He passed away on 17 November 1976, six days prior to his 90th birthday.