James C. Magee

James Carre Magee (January 23, 1883 – October 15, 1975) was an American medical officer and later Surgeon General of the United States Army from 1939 – 1943. He went with the American Expeditionary Force during World War 1 and worked as an assistant to the chief surgeon.

Personal life James Magee was born on January 23, 1883, in County Donegal, Ireland to Edward Carre Magee and Elizabeth Armstrong Magee. He was the fourth son of a Pennsylvania businessman who was working in Ireland. The Magees returned to Pennsylvania where James Magee spent his youth. He attended Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and received his M.D. in 1905. After graduating he joined the Medical Department as a contract surgeon in 1907 and was commissioned in the Medical Reserve Corps in 1908. He graduated from the Army Medical school in 1909 and joined the medical corps as a first lieutenant. He was part of the American Expeditionary force and went to France from 1917 to 1919.

World War 1 Magee, who was promoted to Major on May 15, 1917, and traveled to Base Hospital No. 12 in France. In August 1918, he was assigned as assistant to the chief surgeon Colonel Alexander Stark. While working with Stark, he participated in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives from September - November 1918. He was awarded the Purple Heart for meritorious services in these operations.

Interwar period He returned to the United States in 1919 and was transferred to Fort Sam Houston in December. While at Fort Sam Huston he worked as an instructor for the National Guard Medical Department. In June 1922, he went to Washington, D. C., for the Advanced Course in Preventive Medicine at the Army Medical School. Upon completion, he returned to Fort Sam Houston where he served as the division surgeon for the 2nd Division and commanding officer of the 2nd Medical Regiment. The outbreak of World War II in Europe in September 1939 and the declaration of a limited national emergency by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that month confronted the new Surgeon General with enormous difficulties as the Army slowly began preparing for war. Magee had to confront the huge problems in preparing the Army Medical Department for its wartime expansion.