The History of the Base Commanders

It has long been written that Kearns had only four Base Commanders. However, through research and other military records, I learned that there were other Base Commanders of Kearns. 

All the personal histories of these Colonels came from their families. Some of the families did help clarify the facts. For example, the history of Colonel Converse R. Lewis was a challenging one, primarily because he had a son who also served in the military with the same name at the same time, who almost mirrored his father's military career and crossed paths with him many times throughout both of their careers.

Colonel Walter F. Siegmund's family also helped with not only getting the dates and area straightened out, but also with some of the facts.

Leo F. Post

Leo F. Post was born August 13, 1895, in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the son of a famous Russian aviator and balloonist pioneer, Fedor Alexis Postnikov, who had used balloons during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. It was due to the family's embarrassment at the time that they immigrated to the United States in 1905. The hot air balloon had failed badly, and Fedor not only took its failure personally but also felt that his and his family's safety was in danger. After entering the United States, the name was shortened to Post. 

The Census shows that Leo, having already served in WWI, was a Lieutenant in the Army in 1930, and he had not become a naturalized citizen; his military career lasted nearly 35 years.

One of the earliest records is from October 5, 1917, showing that Leo took his pilot's license test, which was conducted on a Curtis J. N. 4 at San Diego. On November 14, 1917, Leo Post received his Aero Club of America Pilot License No. 931. By June 8, 1917, Leo was a Private, and by December 10, 1917, he had been promoted to Private First Class in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, serving in the Aviation Section. From that point on, he advanced rapidly in the military; on January 11, 1918, he was promoted to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. In July 1920, he served as a 1st Lieutenant of the Air Service at Crissy Field in San Francisco, California. Between 1924 and 1926, Leo Post was stationed at Luke Field in Honolulu, Hawaii. Military records indicate that he was on leave in late 1926 and early 1927. In early 1927, he was stationed at Brooks Field in Texas, followed by Kelly Field in Texas. By November 1927, he was stationed at March Field in Riverside, California, where he remained until spring 1932, earning a reputation as a top-rated air pilot. By October 1, 1930, he was promoted to Captain, and in July 1932, he was transferred to Mitchell Field in Hempstead, Long Island, New York, where he stayed until mid-1938. During that time, he temporarily held the rank of Major as of April 20, 1935. In October 1932, he received orders to relocate to Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Alabama, where he remained until mid-1938. By June of that year, he was promoted permanently to the rank of Major. It appears that he was then assigned to Scott Field in Belleville, Illinois, where he remained until mid-1941, during which time he graduated from the Air Corps Technical School. He was temporarily promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on June 23, 1940, and became a permanent Colonel in October 1941 when he was sent to Keesler Field in Biloxi, Mississippi. He was at Keesler Field on December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and he was promoted to Colonel. As a Colonel, his first assignment was to Kearns, Utah, to help establish the new base there, starting July 17, 1942.

Colonel Post retired from the United States Air Force on December 31, 1951. He and his family moved back to Riverside, California. Colonel Post had two children: a daughter, Mary, and a son named Leo F. Post Jr., who entered the United States Air Force in 1952. He passed away in February 1958. On April 18, 1978, Colonel Leo F Post passed away, still living in California.

John W. Monahan

Colonel John W. Monahan became Commander of Kearns on September 12, 1942, after the first formal review was held.

John William Monahan was born September 25, 1891, in Amboy, Illinois, a small railroad town established in 1876. The family soon moved to Chicago after his birth. He entered the military on June 5, 1917. By 1920, he was stationed at Carlstrom Field, located in DeSoto, Florida, as a Lieutenant in the Army Air Service. Soon after World War II ended, the field was abandoned, leaving the state of Florida to purchase the land for a dollar. The field was then turned into a state mental hospital, known as the G. Wood Pierce State Mental Hospital. The original buildings were reconstructed, and the hospital is still in use today. The next record found is that on July 12, 1924, he left New Yoke for San Francisco, California, aboard a US Army Transport known as St. Mihiel. They arrived in San Francisco on July 28, 1924.

The history recorded about Kearns Army Air Base, found on microfilm, states he was the Base Commander from around mid-September to the end of September. When Col. Monahan received orders and was transferred away from Kearns. He returned to Kearns on December 21, 1943, with the 34th Bombardment Group as Colonel of the unit. They left Kearns early on Christmas Day, heading off to war. 

Colonel John William Monahan passed away on May 15, 1959, and was laid to rest at the Fort. Sam Houston National Cemetery: he served his country in both World War I and World War II.

Converse R. Lewis

Converse R. Lewis was born January 30, 1882, in Montana. He became the Commanding Officer of the Basic Training Center #5 located in Kearns, Utah.

He arrived at Kearns on September 15, 1942, only three months after Kearns was officially dedicated, and upon accepting the soldiers, he was fortunate enough to set many milestones for the base. He was the commander for the first Thanksgiving at Kearns, Christmas, and Memorial Day at Kearns for the one-year celebration of the opening of the base. He set the example during the first year for many of the celebrations that the base carried on with for the next four years.

During this first year, twenty-six men who had been through Kearns and trained had been killed in action by Memorial Day. Col. Lewis created a ceremony to honor the memories of those who made sacrifices for their country.    The base was still under construction during his time at Kearns, and he felt responsible for addressing the challenges of Kearns being new, primarily the dust problems caused by the wind blowing and the steam shovels moving up and down on dirt roads. His comment, for which he is best known at Kearns, was, “Welcome to Kearns, where we are honored to serve you your daily requirements of dirt, dust, and grim.”

His term at Kearns was brief, as he had to say goodbye on September 15, 1943. By all accounts, Colonel Lewis was a highly respected man and well-regarded by the men he served with. One of his drivers, when asked what he remembered most about Colonel Lewis, said that he was a very caring and generous person. He loved to read, and when he found something he thought the others would enjoy, he always shared it with us. His motto was that a day wasted was one where nothing was learned. He made sure that those who worked closely with him learned something new every day.

From 1936 to 1937, he served as the Commander at Texas A&M University. Afterward, he went to Fort Leavenworth for a short period before being reactivated and sent to Kearns. After leaving Kearns, he returned to Fort Leavenworth to serve as the Commander of Fort Leavenworth as a Federal Officer. He passed away on March 20, 1956, at the age of 74. He was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

Colonel Lewis had a son and a grandson who also bore his name. The son, Converse R. Lewis, was in the military and served at the same time as his father. It took several months of working with the family to verify all the details for the correct Colonel Converse R. Lewis, who was the base commander at Kearns. Both of their birthdays were only days apart, they were born in the same area, and their military service closely paralleled each other. For example, when Colonel Lewis was stationed at Camp Kearns, Utah, his son was nearby at Fort Douglas. It wasn't until the first Thanksgiving menu from Camp Kearns was discovered that the correct Converse R. Lewis could be identified. Both men retired from the same branch of service with the same rank as Colonel. The name Converse R. Lewis also appears on the Vietnam Memorial Wall. This young man was Colonel Lewis's grandson.

Walter F. Siegmund

Colonel Walter F. Siegmund was born on May 18, 1887, in St. Louis, Missouri. As a young boy, he learned the importance of freedom and held the merits of those freedoms in high regard, values instilled in him by his parents, who immigrated to America from Germany.                            

He spent most of his life defending those freedoms, beginning his military career as a second lieutenant in the 1st Missouri Infantry in 1914. He held the rank of full Colonel for 22 years before retiring from active duty on July 4, 1944, at Lincoln Army Air Field in Nebraska. Throughout his military service, he was assigned to infantry, field artillery, cavalry, and the air corps.

In 1938, after years of service, he requested to be transferred to the inactive reserve. In private life, he was an executive of the Western Cartridge Co., East Alton, IL, and its subsidiary, Winchester Repeating Arms Co. He was also a sales manager of Stifel, Nicolaus & Company of St. Louis, an investment banker, in 1930.

St. Louis was proud of their son. Whenever there was a parade in town, they always called on Colonel Walter Siegmund. He would put on his colonel’s uniform and take his place as the grand marshal at the front of the line, leading the procession.

After being recalled to active duty on September 5, 1942, he was transferred from the Cavalry to the Air Corps and assigned to the staff of the Commanding General of the Technical Training Command at Headquarters, Knollwood Field in North Carolina.

Colonel Siegmund was assigned the task of visiting various Basic and Overseas Training Centers of the Technical Training Command to establish instruction courses. These courses aimed to qualify Army Air Force personnel in the use of weapons, physical preparation for personal and close combat, and general combat training. The goal was to enable them to effectively defend Army Air Force Installations and Fields against attacks by paratroopers, airborne infantry, raiders, and commandos.

In November 1942, he was transferred to Kearns Field in Utah and assigned to command the Overseas Replacement Training Center. At his own request, he was then transferred to the Second Air Force by General Arnold in May 1943. After completing a trip to various aerial gunnery centers for training purposes, he was appointed to the Plans and Training Offices of the 18th Wing, Second Air Force, in Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition to his other duties, he designed, developed, and supervised several aerial gunnery training programs at the Army Air Bases in Utah. Kearns was known for having one of the best and largest gunnery training ranges in the West. He was highly commended for his accomplishments by the Commanding General of the 18th Replacement Wing, Second Air Force.

On October 1, 1943, he returned to Kearns. By then, he was 63 years old and was appointed as the Commanding Officer of the Kearns Army Air Base when the base was transferred from the Technical Training Command to the Second Air Force. Various specialized schools for the Air Forces were established, and small arms training was provided, along with many other functions related to processing and training personnel for overseas duty. Additionally, the Overseas Replacement Training Center of the Training Command was located on the base, which created a dual role and responsibility for the Base Commander.

On April 15, 1944, the Second Air Force mission at Kearns was completed, after which the base was transferred to another command to form the Overseas Replacement Department No. 2. When Colonel Sigmund learned he would be leaving Kearns, it deeply affected him. He read the letter informing him that his mission at Kearns was over, then placed it on his secretary’s desk, silently entered his office, and shut the door. Sigmund loved Kearns and had hoped to retire there as its last Colonel. Rumor had it that Kearns would soon be decommissioned. He was one of the strictest Colonels assigned to Kearns, yet he genuinely loved his job and the base, taking great pride in all the personnel there. Those who knew Colonel Sigmund often spoke of him kindly, recalling, "You never left his office without seeing his gun collection. And hearing about some of his more special guns."

Colonel Walter Sigmund was known for his impressive gun collection, including the famous Winchester 73 once owned by Buffalo Bill Cody. On July 4, 1950, he gave it to his niece, Mary Jester Allen, who was the director of the Buffalo Bill Museum. He also owned the legendary "Old Betsy," a firearm previously owned by Davy Crockett. He acquired it through a series of exchanges until it ended up with his uncle, Henry Koch, the then-Mayor of St. Louis. Sigmund restored the gun, which was displayed at the Jefferson Memorial in St. Louis for 20 years before he took it to Texas and presented it on November 2, 1947, to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, custodians of the Alamo. With a passion for history, he also gifted Utah a treasured scrapbook detailing his time at Kearns Base. Additionally, Sigmund was an author; his book "How to be a Successful Soldier" outlined 21 points for men in service and was widely distributed to new enlistees entering the armed forces.

He was a versatile, athletic sportsman, expert horseman, swordsman, and skilled shooter in rifle, pistol, wing, trap, and skeet. He won three national professional skeet shooting championships in San Francisco in 1939 and the world all-gauge professional skeet shooting championship in Asheville, North Carolina, in 1940.

Colonel Walter F. Siegmund passed away on a Friday afternoon, December 11, 1964, at Brooke General Hospital in San Antonio, Texas; he was 84 years old. He was laid to rest in the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery with full military honors.

Weldon W. Doe

Weldon W. Doe was born on April 11, 1892, in North Carolina. His military records became available in 1910, when he was a student at the United States Military Academy at West Point in New York. He graduated on June 12, 1914, and was then assigned to the 15th Infantry, U.S. Army, on June 12, 1915.

A new chapter in the 57-year history of Fort Logan will begin at midnight on Friday, when the Army Air Service command takes over the post from the Army Air Forces Western Technical Command, which has operated it since March 1, 1941, as a clerical school. Under the Air Service Command, Fort Logan will become a center for training convalescent Air Force service members returning from overseas duty. Col. Doe, who had been the commanding officer at Fort Logan, Colo., was transferred to Camp Kearns, Salt Lake City, after being assigned as the commander of the overseas training depot.

The colonel and his wife made their home at 2418 Walkers Lane during their stay in Salt Lake City. They had a son, Major Weldon W. Doe, Jr., also in the Army Air Corps. At the time Col. Doe was sent to Kearns, his son was stationed in Okinawa. Colonel Doe arrived at Kearns in July of 1944 and took over the command of the Base.

Brigadier General Richard C. Sanders

The youngest general in the U.S. Air Force history is Brig. General Richard C. Sanders of WWII; born August 19, 1915, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was promoted to Brigadier General in June 1944 at 28 years old, making him the youngest general in the U.S. Air Force at that time.

He graduated from the University of Utah in 1937 with a Bachelor of Science degree and was appointed as a second lieutenant in the Field Artillery Reserve on September 4, 1936, while still in college. He served on extended active duty from July 28, 1937, to June 30, 1938, and again from July 5, 1938, to September 30, 1938. He then enlisted as a flying cadet on October 4, 1938, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Reserve upon completing his training on August 25, 1939. He was called to active duty the following day and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Corps, Regular Army, on July 1, 1940.

In July 1937, he was ordered to Fort Lewis, Washington, where he served with the 10th Field Artillery as battalion reconnaissance and supply officer. He was with the 5th Infantry Brigade on Civilian Conservation Corps duty at Camp Soda Springs, Yakima, Wash., from July to September 1938, when he began his primary flying training at Randolph Field, Texas. Upon graduation from the Air Corps Primary Flying School, he went to Kelly Field, Texas, for advanced training, and upon graduation from the Air Corps Advanced Flying School in September 1939, was assigned to Mitchel Field, Long Island, N.Y., as assistant squadron adjutant, 18th Reconnaissance Squadron. He later served at Langley Field, Va., and Greenville Army Air Base, S.C., with the 18th Reconnaissance Squadron as an intelligence and engineering officer. In February 1942, he was assigned to the Tenth Air Force at Patterson Field, Ohio, and Fort Myers, Fla. He was assigned to the IX Bomber Command in August 1942 and served overseas in the North African and European Theater of Operations as executive officer of a Bombardment Group, chief of staff of the XX Bomber Command, and in November 1943, became the commanding officer of a bombardment group. In January 1944, he was appointed administrative officer of the IX Bomber Command in the European Theater of Operations. In November 1944, he was announced as chief of staff of the IX Bomber Command, which was then stationed in France. In December of 1945, he became the Base Commander at Camp Kearns, Utah. In August 1945, he became the commanding general of the 99th Bomb Wing in Germany, and three months later, was assigned to Headquarters, Air Forces Personnel Distribution Command, Louisville, KY.

He retired from Military duty on July 1, 1950. Among his many awards were the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal and Distinguished Service Medal. Brigadier General Sanders passed away on September 20, 1976.

Guy Frost Hix

Guy F. Hix was the last Company Commander stationed at Camp Kearns. He was born on May 25, 1900, in Flat Creek, Tennessee. He entered the military in 1917, enlisting from Tennessee. Colonel Hix was a WWI and Korean War veteran. He passed away at the age of 85 on September 14, 1985, in San Antonio, Texas, and was laid to rest at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

In 1946, he was assigned to Camp Kearns, where he handled deactivation activities, transferred personnel to other bases, closed the books and records, and sent them to headquarters for review and oversight.

Over one hundred buildings remained at the base; the medical area was sold to Texas A&M and was still under construction when it could be removed. That responsibility was then transferred to Fort Douglas for completion. All the medical equipment was sent to Hill Field Hospital. Fort Douglas requested the entire headquarters area, and their request was granted. Those buildings were used as overflow for the military area at the University of Utah for many years until they were replaced in 2002.