Edward Lyman Munson – Brigadier General, United States Army

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Edward Lyman Munson, M.D., Preventive Medicine: San Francisco (1869-1947)

Brigadier General Edward Lyman Munson, U.S.Army (retired), Professor of Preventive Medicine, Emeritus, passed away in Grace Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut, the city of his birth on July 7, 1947.

Dr. Munson received his Doctorate in Medicine at Yale University in 1892, and his Master of Arts degree in 1893, and shortly thereafter joined the Army as Lieutenant in the Medical Corps. During the Spanish-American War he saw service in China, and in 1901 he was sent to Washington as an assistant to the Surgeon General. Dr. Munson was one of the surgeons who attended President William McKinley after he was wounded by an assassin in Buffalo, September 6, 1901.

While Professor of Military Hygiene at the Army Service School in Washington, in 1912, Dr. Munson designed the military field shoe, the boon to infantrymen, variously known as the “Munson Last,” the “hobnail brogan” of World War I, and the “G.I. shoe” of World War II. General Munson wrote several books on Army hygiene, including the authoritative treatise, The Soldier's Foot and the Military Shoe. He was four times health officer for the Philippine Government, before and after the first World War.

In 1917 he was promoted to Colonel and thereafter developed the system of field training for medical troops. In 1919 he returned to the general staff in Washington as brigadier general, and was assigned to organize the Morale Section, a branch
unprecedented in the United States Army. During World War II this branch became the Army Information Branch. For this work he received the Distinguished Service Medal and the Companion Order of the Bath of the British Army.

In 1923 General Munson was sent to earthquake-stricken Japan and took charge of the American medical relief unit. In recognition of his accomplishments, he was given the decoration, Order of the Red Cross, by the Japanese government. In 1931 he became assistant surgeon general, and one year later retired from the Army. In 1933 he was invited to become Lecturer in Preventive Medicine at the University of California Medical School, and in 1934 he became its first Professor of Preventive Medicine. His many years of experience in the teaching of military hygiene became a valuable adjunct to his program of development of the Sub-division of Preventive Medicine at the University of California. His influence has been felt by many
generations of medical students. He retired from active teaching in 1939 and spent the remainder of his life in the city of his birth.

He is survived by his wife, a son, and a daughter.

He was a member of the American Medical Association, the American College of Surgeons, and the Association of Military Surgeons. He belonged to Zeta Psi fraternity, the Elihu Society of New Haven, and the Bohemian Club of San Francisco.
Funeral services were held on July 10 at Fort Myer Chapel, followed by interment in Arlington National Cemetery.

elmunson-gravesite-photo-august-2006

MUNSON, EDWARD L
BRIG GEN USA

  • VETERAN SERVICE DATES: Unknown
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 12/27/1868
  • DATE OF DEATH: 07/07/1947
  • DATE OF INTERMENT: 07/10/1947
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 3  SITE 1690-A
    ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

MUNSON, MARTA JANE W/O EDWARD L

  • DATE OF BIRTH: 06/22/1872
  • DATE OF DEATH: 10/16/1954
  • DATE OF INTERMENT: 10/19/1954
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 3  SITE 1690-A
    ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
  • WIFE OF EL MUNSON – BRIG GEN MED CORPS GEN STAFF USA

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