U.S. ARMY CHEMICAL CORPS
Hall of Fame
1995
Colonel George F. Unmacht
Colonel George F. Unmacht was born on 20 September 1887. Before World War I, he enlisted as a private in the Iowa National Guard, but became an officer and ended the war as a Lieutenant Colonel, perhaps the youngest man at that rank in the U.S. Army.
Colonel Unmacht transferred to the Chemical Warfare Service in 1923. In 1941, he was the Chief Chemical Officer of the Hawaiian Command and he developed and implemented a plan that provided all citizens of the island with protective masks within days after Pearl Harbor.
During World War II, Colonel Unmacht was the Chief Chemical Officer for the Central Pacific Theater and developed the flame tank for both the U.S. Army and U.S. Marines, and also persuaded the Army Air Force to use incendiary devices in bombing of Japan.
Colonel George F. Unmacht died on 10 January 1954.