American Airpower Comes of Age

AMERICAN AIRPOWER COMES OF AGE
tively in North Africa after the Torch invasion and evolved so
importantly in northern Europe after D-Day.
The Marshall–Arnold relationship has not been as fully documented
as the historian would like. The proximity of their Pentagon
offices to each other allowed frequent unrecorded interchanges
that were occasionally continued in their homes, where
they lived side-by-side once Arnold moved into quarters on
nearby Fort Myer in 1942. As the diaries reflected, they often
traveled together and were billeted near to each other or together
during wartime conferences. Their walks of several miles after
long hours of deliberations at several of these meetings provided
physical and mental relaxation along with time for serious private
discussions away from the tedious sessions. This helped to
forge a closeness that continued in the midst of their wartime
stress. They shared a love of fishing and hunting and, as the
diaries indicate, were able to indulge occasionally in these relaxing
pursuits. By this point in the war, Marshall was ending his
unofficial correspondence to Arnold with a word rarely used by
him with other officers: “Affectionately.”
On the other hand, Marshall was rarely reluctant in advising,
chastising, or criticizing Arnold (albeit not in public) when
necessary. His admonitions ranged from his September 1942
perceptive advice as Arnold prepared for his Pacific trip, for
the aviator not to get mad and to “let the other fellow tell his
story,” to sharp rebukes of what Marshall considered as
Arnold’s extravagant and wasteful expenditure of his limited
physical energies following Hap’s heart attacks. 15 Their work
habits differed, with Marshall effectively using rare free weekends
to slip away from his quarters on Fort Myer to his nearby
Leesburg home where he relaxed and tended his gardens.
Arnold, on the other hand, viewed the arrival of the weekend,
when many of the AAF staff would normally not be available,
as a delay in getting the war won. More often than not, Hap
was in his Pentagon office with part of his staff during some if
not the majority of wartime Saturdays and Sundays.
Whatever disagreements existed between the two of them
were rarely articulated for the record. In JCS and CCS sessions,
Arnold expressed his viewpoints but remained aware
that he and the AAF were integral parts of, and subordinate to,
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