154 ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR WAR 



Director of the Requirements Division of the Army Service Forces. His 

 assistant as War Department Liaison Officer was Colonel Ralph M. Osborne 

 of the Field Artillery. General Wood continued as Liaison Officer for a few 

 months only, when he in turn was succeeded by Colonel Osborne on Janu- 

 ary 4, 1944. On May 15, 1944, Colonel Osborne also became Director of the 

 Research and Development Division. After Colonel Osborne's departure for 

 overseas duty, Colonel Philip R. Faymonville was designated War Depart- 

 ment Liaison Officer on February 10, 1945, but soon after was relieved from 

 duty in Washington and on June 28, 1945, Brigadier General Eugene A. 

 Regnier, who had become Director of the Research and Development Divi- 

 sion, was designated War Department Liaison Officer for NDRC. He con- 

 tinued as such to the end of hostilities. 



In the five years and two months from the creation of NDRC to V-J Day, 

 seven officers served as War Department Liaison Officer. One of these served 

 twice. Three officers only, General Williams, General Somers and Colonel 

 Osborne, served as long as one year. In contrast. Rear Admiral Furer, Navy 

 Co-ordinator of Research and Development, served three years and five 

 months, from a week after Pearl Harbor until after V-E Day. 



Project Liaison Officers 



Those means of liaison with the Services which have been mentioned 

 were at the higher levels only, involving few persons and having little day- 

 by-day contact with the scientific work that was being done by thousands 

 of scientists in hundreds of laboratories throughout the United States. The 

 nineteen divisions and several panels and committees of NDRC were work- 

 ing each in a different field, and each one was directing work on a number 

 of contracts, most of which were on different projects. These activities were 

 multifarious. Day-by-day contact between the Army and Navy and the 

 activities of OSRD was provided by means of Project Liaison Officers. 



Project Liaison Officers usually were named by the technical branches of 

 the War Department or bureaus of the Navy Department, and sometimes 

 by the combat arms or by the command. It was their responsibility to pro- 

 vide to the scientific group the point of view of the using arm. One Liaison 

 Officer ordinarily served as such for a number of projects, usually in the 

 same general field. Officers of good quality were required. Sufficient back- 

 ground of technical training was needed to enable them to perceive the 

 elements of the particular problem, although it was no part of their duty 

 to suggest to the scientists how the problem was to be solved. Enough ex- 

 perience in the military or naval service was necessary to enable them to 

 reflect the point of view of the users. Some Project Liaison Officers were of 

 little value because they lacked both technical background and Service 

 experience. 



