A History of the Commanding Officers at Fort Monmouth ... - CECOM

General Olmstead retired from the Army in January 1944 and died inSeptember 1965.Colonel Alvin C. VorisColonel Alvin C. Voris became the ninthCommanding Officer of Fort Monmouth on 30April 1937.Voris was born in Illinois in January 1876. Heentered the United States Army as a private inthe 4th Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, in May1898. He was commissioned a SecondLieutenant in the 4th Illinois Infantry on 23December 1898. He served with the SignalCorps as early as 1903 and graduated fromthe Army Signal School in 1912. Voris served inCOL Alvin C. VorisFrance and Germany in World War I successivelyas Chief Signal Officer, I Corps, and Chief Signal Officer, ThirdArmy, American Expeditionary Forces.Colonel Voris assumed command ofFort Monmouth while concurrentlyserving as commandant of the SignalSchool until his retirement on 31 July1938. He died in November 1952.Colonel Arthur S. CowanVoris Park, betweenRussel and AllenAvenues, was namedin COL Voris’ honor on27 September 1957.Colonel Arthur S. Cowan first commandedCamp Alfred Vail from September 1917 -June 1918. He was the third commander ofthe post at that time. Cowan, a graduate ofthe Class of 1899, U.S. Military Academy,later returned to Fort Monmouth to becomecommandant of the Army Signal School inJune 1929. He then became the eighthCommanding Officer of Fort Monmouth thatSeptember while concurrently serving ascommandant of the School.COL Arthur S. CowanColonel Cowan's tenure as the eighthCommanding Officer of Fort Monmouth spanned the worst years ofthe Great Depression. In spite of this, or because of this, the second31/32 .