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Regular army officers each had a definite position in a promotion file or pecking order.  It was something like a mile-long escalator, with one man and one only on each step.  Men with commissions like Boylan's got in the escalator below all the West Point men, but the escalator moved upward as the army expanded.  As long as Boylan did not incur a dishonorable discharge he was assured of promotion at brief intervals.  There was no such automatic promotion for the officers of the National guard or the US Reserves.  Each man was on his own.  He could be promoted only on special recommendation by his immediate commander and approval by the higher-ups.  When Littauer, in August, recommended promotion for Jordan, Wheeler and me, he was told that the Air Service division of the Signal Corps had no authority to promote us.  We were not Air Service but Artillery.  When the recommendations were sent to our respective units (The First Division, for Jordan and me) they was turned down.  Littauer of course did not tell us about this at the time.  He told me long afterward.

Eventually, in the final weeks of the war, this foul-up was straightened out.  All the observers were transferred to the Air Service division of the Signal Corps, and there were promotions.  But by then I was out of the running.