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Andy was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, on 2 November 1895, where his father was a professor at Lafayette University. Andy spent one year at Lafayette before entering West Point in 1916. At the Military Academy he was an active member of the football squad and made many friends, not only in the Corps but also among the newsmen. Several coached him in their trade, which led to assignments as public relations officer for the Association of Graduates and later in the War Department. Upon graduation he chose the Field Artillery and attended the School of Fire until in 1922 he was assigned to the fith Field Artillery. That year he married Josephine Carroll Relley of Phillipsburg, New Jersey. They had three children; Francis A, Jr., resident in Washington, DC: Carroll (Mrs. Leroy E. Powell) now of Abilene, Texas; and Joanna (Mrs. Robert J. Mayer) of San Jose, California.</div>
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Andy spent the next few years attending and instructing in the artillery schools, followed by Reserve Officers Training Corps duty at the University of Illinois. In 1942 he went to Fort Claiborne as commanding officer 320 Glider Field Artillery Battalion. In 1943 he was in North Africa as Executive Officer of the 82d Airborne Division Artillery. The Division took part in the invasion of Sicily and Italy, where he became commanding officer of the Division Artillery. It then went to England to prepare for the Normandy invasion. During this action he earned the Silver Star and was promoted to brigadier general (Army of the United States) just before the Battle of the Bulge in which he took an active part. He served in the Army of Occupation as Commanding General, 82d Airborne Division. As a result of his European service, he received, in addition to the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, Army Commendation Ribbon, Russian Peoples War, French Croix de Guerre avec Palm, Holland Bronze Lion, French and Belgian Fourragere, and Holland's Orange Lanyard.</div>
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He returned to the United States in 1946 to become as colonel, United States Army, Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Ohio State University. He had a short tour at the War Department and then went to Fort Sill as a Department Director at the Field Artillery School. In 1951 he went to Panama as Chief of Staff of the Caribbean Command as brigadier general, and he was shortly made Deputy Commanding Officer of the Command.</div>
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He was retired for physical disability when cancer and diabetes showed up in his annual physical examination. He was sent to Walter Reed for a successful operation on cancer. He and his wife retired to San Antonio in 1953. They enjoyed a few years being fairly active with their many Army friends, residing there until about 1960 when his eyesight failed due to the diabetes. In the spring of 1965 his wife Josephine also became ill and they moved to adjoining rooms in a nursing home in San Antonio, continuing to enjoy the support of old friendships. Mrs. March died in San Antonio in November 1965. Mrs. Mayer, the only member of the family permanently located, brought her father to Los Gatos, California, and placed him in a nearby nursing home, as he was totally blind. Andy died there on 2 November 1967. His body was taken to San Antonio and placed beside that of his wife, with full military honors.</div>
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<em>—Joanna Match Mayer and Allison Miller, Nov 1918</em></div>